The Briar And The Rose - Nimh (not a typo) Parsons did a very good cover of the Briar and the Rose on the album Celtic Women of Song.

    Totally inaccessible to me for the best part of 4 years, it sat amongst the Waits cds looking dangerous and forboding. Bought a new HiFi and now Black Rider gets played at least once a week and stops me in my tracks everytime. It is a true master piece that is spell binding to listen to and inwardly sinister. I think that anyone who has written this one off as the wild rantings from a deranged mind should keep going back to it every now and then - and one day it may all fall into place for you, as it did me. Well worth the wait.

    Robert Wilson is a theatrical genius. He is one part architect, and two parts painter. The music he uses conveys the emotion and themes of his living tableaus. It is no wonder he chose Waits as his musician for 'Alice,' 'Woyzcek,' and 'Black Rider.'
    The problem with producing an album based on the visuals of Robert Wilson are that the music is only one third of the overall impact. This is why I feel 'Black Rider' fell flat with most fans. For anyone who witnessed the play (with book by none other than William S. Burroughs), you know that musically, it was Waits at his best, while the album, certainly was not. 'Black Rider' was also a change for Wilson, because there was an actual story line to coenside with the tableaus.

    If strange music is your cup of tea then step this way. This is probably the least accessible and strangest Waits album but also a favourite of mine. One can only imagine what sort of play would have music like this. Most listeners would give up upon hearing the fingernails on blackboard harmony of 'Lucky Day Overture' but this throws one into the world Waits seems to like so much, human oddities. From the first listen of this album I was filled with much joy. We have the joys of the title track sung with its strange German accent, 'Just The Right Bullets' with its spaghetti western interludes and Les Dawson piano and 'I'll Shoot The Moon' with its dreamy sighing demeanour. Instrumentals abound, the creepy 'Black Box Theme', the calming 'Flash Pan hunter Intro', the foot stomping 'Russian Dance' and the annoying 'Gospel Train' and 'Oily Night'. 'Lucky Day' is up there with my favourite Waits songs, a track that always makes me merry. Whilst listening to this track a passing listener commented, 'That sounds demented, did you actual buy that?'