TOM WAITS - THE BLACK RIDER UK LP

Original UK Out Of Print LP!

LABEL INFO: ISLAND RECORDS

CATALOGUE NUMBER: ILPS 8021

YEAR: 1993

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK

TRACKLIST: Lucky Day Overture/ The Black Rider/ November/ Just the Right Bullets/ Black Box Theme/ T'Ain't No Sin/ Flash Pan Hunter (intro)/ That's The Way/ The Briar And The Rose/ Russian Dance/ Gospel Train (Orchestra)/ I'll Shoot The Moon/ Flash Pan Hunter/ Crossroads/ Gospel Train/ Interlude/ Oily Night/ Lucky Day/ The Last Rose Of Summer/ Carnival

Possibly the RAREST Tom Waits LP, 'The Black Rider' began life as a collaboration between Tom Wilson, William Burroughs and Mr. Waits. Essentially a soundtrack album to the play, the record breezes a long wonkily and drunkily in the great Waits tradition. Fans of Brechtian or European avant garde theatre will get the dramatic references, and sonic lovers will simply adore the fabulous production reproduced on the vinyl.

Though not as popular as 'Swordfishtrombone' or any of the solid Waits' classic studio albums, the overall atmosphere and flow of this record make this one of his finest. Of course, this is VERY rare on vinyl, coming out as it did in 1993 - the dawn of the CD era, a period in time which saw a temporary decline in vinyl pressings. Add to this the slightly more 'difficult' nature of the record and you get a great LP which was pressed in a limited run and sold fewer copies. This is a great artistic statement and it sounds all the better on 12" LP. The record comes in a lovely lyric inner bag, with the play's director Robert Wilson's artwork lavishly splashed all over it and the cover. This is a lovely GEM of an LP!

CONDITION OF VINYL: VERY GOOD +. The vinyl is in great condition, with PLAYBACK graded at EXCELLENT. Visually, the playing surface shows a few signs of having been played, but not much. There are a few light surface marks, but none of these are deep and none of them can be felt. These are merely aesthetic paper scuffs as a result of taking the record in and out of the inner. There is one scuff on SIDE B which touches two tracks, but again there is NO surface noise from this. PLAYBACK is superb. Apart from the usual static pop here and there (common on NEW records!), the sound reproducion was jaw dropping on my deck. The quiet songs are clean, and the louder tracks have brilliant clarity. I remember hearing the slap and rub of a de-tuned string instrument on one of the tracks and being struck by how awesome it sounded. The sound is bass-y where it needs to be, and delicate at the right points: the record plays EXCELLENT, and is a thoroughly satisfying listen! YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!

CONDITION OF SLEEVE: EXCELLENT -. The sleeve is in lovely shape: the front and rear of the sleeve are perfect, with no dints, creases or any other blemish. The spine has a few of spots of wear which I have provided a photograph of! (How many other sellers would photograph the imperfections?!?) These spots only interrupt the text at 'B' of 'Black' and 'R' of 'Rider.' The bottom edge has a couple of inches of similar, minor wear at the corner. The spine itself is absolutely stiff and there is NO dog-earing or creasing on the sleeve. The INNER is NEAR MINT: completely unsullied! This is a GREAT copy of this LP... GOOD LUCK!

I am an avid collector of many, many genres and keep my records in IMMACULATE condition. I grade according to the Record Collector Price Guide 'Ready Reckoner' and almost NEVER sell anything which is below EXCELLENT condition. Rest assured that my EXCELLENT is bloody EXCELLENT! Oh yeah and I NEVER GRADE ANYTHING MINT THAT IS NOT SEALED!! Near Mint is the highest grading I use for unsealed records.

All records will be sent within two days MAXIMUM of receipt of payment (usually within 4/5 hours of payment received). Your record will be expertly packed in a professional brown mailer, using one or two stiffeners and housed in a PVC 12" sleeve with the record in a paper inner placed outside the sleeve as is standard practice. I've always been lucky when buying records from ebay (save the odd occasion) and would like all buyers of my records to be 100% SATISFIED!

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