The Black Rider (2023 Reissue)

Tom Waits collaborated with director Robert Wilson and librettist William Burroughs on the musical stage work The Black Rider in 1990. A variation on the Faust legend, the 19th century German story allowed Waits to indulge his affection for the music of Kurt Weill and address one of his favourite topics of recent years, the devil.

Here, the collaboration and the established story line served to focus Waits' often fragmented attention, lending coherence and consistency. He then had three years to adapt the score into a record album in which he did most of the singing and writing (though Burroughs contributed, singing one song and writing lyrics to three), and he used the time to come up with his best recording in a decade, a varied set of songs that work whether or not you know the show.

Side A

1. Lucky Day Overture
2. The Black Rider
3. November
4. Just The Right Bullets
5. Black Box Theme
6. 'Tain't No Sin
7. Flash Pan Hunter/Intro
8. That's The Way
9. The Briar And The Rose
10. Russian Dance

Side B

1. Gospel Train/Orchestra
2. I'll Shoot The Moon
3. Flash Pan Hunter
4. Crossroads
5. Gospel Train
6. Interlude
7. Oily Night
8. Lucky Day
9. The Last Rose Of The Summer
10. Carnival