Foreign Affairs is possibly Waits' most consistently "Chandlerian" album, a series of vignettes from "dimestore novels" and "penny arcades" that could all take place in the same seedy block of skid row Los Angeles (or New York, in the case of "Potter's Field"). Features Waits' duet with Bette Midler on the singles-bar dialogue "I Never Talk to Strangers" and his take on his Beat predecessors Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy on "Jack & Neal."

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Cinny's Waltz
2. Muriel
3. I Never Talk To Strangers - Feat. Bette Midler
4. Medley: Jack & Neal / California Here I Come
5. A Sight For Sore Eyes
6. Potter's Field
7. Burma-Shave
8. Barber Shop
9. Foreign Affair