After recording the songs from the theatrical work "Black Rider," Waits had completed his most experimental and avant-garde period. Then a few years of pause, something here and there (a beautiful song written for Johnny Cash) and finally, at the turn of the 20th century, here he comes with the Mule Variations, 16 songs more beautiful than the last, culminating in the final apotheosis of "Come On Up to the House." And if on one hand Tom summarizes and revisits sounds that have been typical of Waits' style for 15 years, the novelty of this album lies in going back, in a paradox. An album that in some marvelous tracks recaptures sounds, sensations, almost smells of the rural Blues of its beginnings, of the Mississippi and the mud. The umpteenth masterpiece.
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