Dirty Baby

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	74/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
All About Jazz	[4]
The Guardian	[5]
Rolling Stone	[6]
PopMatters	8/10[7]

Dirty Baby received mainly positive reviews on release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 74, based on 6 reviews which is categorised as generally favorable.[2] The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars out of 5, stating "Dirty Baby is a singular accomplishment, presented in a fashion that demands more of the listener's attention but buy pays off handsomely. It adds immeasurably to the depth of Cline's contributions as a musician -- and offers another way of seeing and hearing this body of Ruscha's work".[3] Writing for All About Jazz, Mark Corroto stated "Cline and his collaborators perform an encyclopedic array of styles and forms, the pieces clocking in from a half minute to three-and-a-half to explore noise, rock, free jazz and chamber classical, much like the work of John Zorn".[4] The Guardian's John Fordham rated the album 3 stars out of 5, saying, "Nels Cline has been an uncategorisable innovator for two decades, and certainly remains one".[5] Rolling Stone's Will Hermes rated the album 3½ stars out of 5, noting "Overall, it's less about abstract guitar heroics than his usual projects. But hearing Cline get freaky with such a wide palette and such a sharp ensemble (including twin brother Alex on drums) is a new shade of thrill".[6] PopMatters' John Garratt stated "the eclecticism of Dirty Baby makes for such a strong listening experience. You will be more fascinated than bewildered (though I can’t rule the latter word out for some listeners)".[7]

All compositions by Nels Cline

Disc One:

1. "Part I" - 4:11
2. "Part II" - 3:38
3. "Part III" - 7:13
4. "1-4 Part IV" - 3:31
5. "Part V" - 10:52
6. "Part VI" - 12:38

Disc Two:

1. "In God We Trust" - 1:40
2. "Hi There, My Old Friend" - 1:31
3. "If I Was You I'd Do Just Like I Tell You To Do" - 1:16
4. "Do As I Say or..." - 1:14
5. "No Mercy" - 1:49
6. "Do As Told or Suffer" - 1:16
7. "Agree To Our Terms or Prepare Yourself For a Blast Furnace" - 0:55
8. "Your a Dead Man" - 3:14
9. "Hey You Want To Sleep With the Fishes?" - 1:22
10. "A Columbian Necklace For You" - 0:43
11. "Note We Have Already Got Rid of Several Like You - One Was Found In River Just Recently" - 1:22
12. "Be Cautious Else We Be Bangin On You" - 3:34
13. "You Won't Know When You Won't Know Where You Won't Know Who and You Won't Know Why" - 1:27
14. "It's Payback Time" - 2:13
15. "I'm Going To Leave More Notes and I'm Going To Kick More Ass" - 0:47
16. "You Cross Me I Wanna See Blood" - 2:02
17. "I Heard You Moved To Pahrump, Nevada You Cannot Escape" - 1:14
18. "Little Snitches Like You Endup in Dumpsters All Across Town" - 0:59
19. "I'll Be Getting Out Soon and I Haven't Forgotten Your Testimony Put Me In Here" - 2:37
20. "You Talk You Get Killed" - 2:05
21. "Do Not Let the Information Be Known To Any Person or You Die" - 1:25
22. "Don't Threaten Me With Your Threats" - 2:31
23. "I Just Might Act Ugly If You Talk" - 0:53
24. "When I'm Released I'm Smoking a Straight Line To You: Got Me?" - 1:18
25. "Want To Get To Know My Boiling Point?" - 0:38
26. "You Dirty Rotten Bitch" - 0:43
27. "You Will Eat Hot Lead" - 1:16
28. "I Can't Take It No More" - 0:28
29. "I Might Just Act Ugly If You Get Up on That Stand and Say Something Unpleasant to My Ears" - 0:41
30. "I Thought I Told You That We Won't Stop" - 2:01
31. "I Will Wipe You Off the Face of This Earth" - 1:01
32. "Give Up the Gold or Give Up Your Life" - 2:21
33. "You and I Are In Disagreement" - 1:35

• Nels Cline – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, cigarbox guitar, lap steel guitar, effects, loops, megamouth, quintronics drum buddy
• Bill Barrett - chromatic harmonica
• Wayne Peet - organ
• Jon Brion - electric piano, EMS synthi, voice
• Jeremy Drake - guitars, string instrument
• Glenn Taylor - pedal steel guitar
• Scott Amendola - drum set, percussion, loops/electronics
• Devin Hoff - contrabass, bass guitar
• Danny Frankel - percussion, ½ drum set
• Vinny Golia - flute, clarinet, saxophones
• Dan Clucas - trumpet, flute
• Jeff Gauthier - violin
• Jessica Catron - cello
• Brad Dutz - xylophone, vibraphone, frame drum, bongos
• Alex Cline - percussion

The Dirty Baby multi-media book was published by Delmonico Books/Prestel Publishing in 2010. It features sixty-six paintings by Ruscha, Cline's original music, and poems by Breskin that employ the ancient Arabic poetic form of the ghazal. The book consists of two parts or "sides": side A describes the rise of human civilization, and side B provides an account, in a variety of voices, of the second Iraq War.[8][9] The book includes four CDs, two featuring Cline's music and two of spoken-voice poetry.