Label: Island

Reissued 10/6/2023, Originally released 1993

2023 Marks 30 years since Tom Waits released The Black Rider. Originally released in 1993 on Island Records, The Black Rider is Tom Waits’ 12th studio album. The Black Rider is a musical comedy/horror collaboration between artists: Robert Wilson (director/designer) writer/Beat guru, William S. Burroughs (text) and Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan (music). Not a cast album, this Island Records release is Tom’s interpretation and performance of the songs he had originally created for the stage production of The Black Rider. The music is a Waitsian concoction of pop, vaudeville, rock, cabaret and blues – a brew that is strangely familiar yet absolutely fresh. A cross between the musical, Cabaret and The Threepenny Opera, The Black Rider is brimming with the sort of inspired originality that can only flow from the mind of Tom Waits. The album is newly remastered for the first time ever from the original ½” flat master tape and personally overseen by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan. Mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering under the guidance of Waits’ longtime audio engineer, Karl Derfler. The album packaging has also been restored. The Black Rider includes tracks such as “November,” “Russian Dance” and “The Briar And The Rose.” Available on 180g black vinyl.

Track listing:

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
11. Gospel Train/Orchestra
12. I'll Shoot the Moon
13. Flash Pan Hunter
14. Crossroads
15. Gospel Train
16. Interlude
17. Oily Night
18. Lucky Day
19. The Last Rose of the Summer
20. Carnival