The Black Rider (album)

Infobox Album
Name = The Black Rider
Type = studio
Artist = Tom Waits


Released = September 1993
Recorded = 1989, 1993
Genre = Cabaret
Blues
Avant-garde
Length = 56:08
Label = Island
Producer = Tom Waits
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wf9fs38ya3vg link]
*Robert Christgau Rating-Christgau|hm3 [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Tom+Waits link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/tomwaits/albums/album/138091/review/5940421/the_black_rider link]
Last album = "The Early Years, Volume Two"
(1993)
This album = "The Black Rider"
(1993)
Next album = "Beautiful Maladies"
(1998)

"The Black Rider" is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1993 on Island Records. The album contains studio versions of songs Waits wrote for the play "The Black Rider", directed by Robert Wilson and co-written by William S. Burroughs. The play is based on the German folktale "Der Freischütz", which had previously been made into an opera by Carl Maria von Weber.

"The Black Rider" premiered on March 31, 1990, at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, Germany. Its world English-language premiere occurred in 1998 at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.

Waits's collaboration with Wilson would later continue with the plays "Alice" (1992) and "Woyzeck" (2000), the music to which was released on the albums "Alice" and "Blood Money", respectively.

There is a German vinyl release of this album featuring quite different tracks. It was released by Alka-Seltzer Medien GmbH in 1999 containing some liner notes concerning the Black Rider stage play. The vinyl is transparently red with only "A" and "B" printed on the labels respectively.

Track listing

All songs written by Tom Waits, except where noted. Recorded in 1989 by Gerd Bessler at his Music Factory in Hamburg, Germany (2, 3, 6–9, 14–16, 19, 20), and in 1993 by Chad Blake at the Prairie Sun Recording Studios in Cotati, United States (1, 4, 5, 10–13, 17, 18).

# "Lucky Day Overture" – 2:27
#*Tom Waits – vocal, calliope
#*Ralph Carney – sax
#*Bill Douglas – bass
#*Kenny Wollesen – percussion
#*Matt Brubeck – cello
#*Joe Gore – banjo
#*Nick Phelps – French horn
#*Kevin Porter – trombone
# "The Black Rider" – 3:21
#*Greg Cohen – bass, percussion, banjo, viola
#*Tom Waits – organ, vocal
# "November" – 2:53
#*Tom Waits – piano, banjo, vocal
#*Greg Cohen – bass, accordion
#*Don Neely – saw
# "Just the Right Bullets" – 3:35
#*Matt Brubeck – cello
#*Kenny Wollesen – percussion
#*Joe Gore – banjo
#*Ralph Carney – bass clarinet
#*Tom Waits – vocal, piano
#*Larry Rhodes – bassoon
#*Bill Douglas – bass
#*Francis Thumm – organ
# "Black Box Theme" (instrumental) – 2:42
#*Tom Waits – chamberlain
#*Don Neely – saw
#*Bill Douglas – bass
#*Matt Brubeck – cello
#*Kenny Wollesen – percussion
#*Nick Phelps – French horn
#*Larry Rhodes – bassoon
#*Joe Gore – banjo
# "'T' Ain't No Sin" (Walter Donaldson / Edgar Leslie) – 2:25
#*William Burroughs – vocal
#*Tom Waits – marimba, Emax
#*Greg Cohen – bass clarinet, Emax
# "Flash Pan Hunter/Intro" (instrumental) – 1:10
#*Henning Stoll – contra bassoon
#*Stefan Schäfer – bass
#*Volker Hemken – clarinet
# "That's the Way" (music: Waits, lyrics: William S. Burroughs) – 1:07
#*Hans-Jorn Braudenberg – organ
#*Henning Stoll – viola
#*Stefan Schäfer – bass
#*Volker Hemken – clarinet
#*Tom Waits – vocal
# "The Briar and the Rose" – 3:50
#*Hans-Jorn Braudenberg – organ
#*Henning Stoll – viola
#*Stefan Schäfer – bass
#*Volker Hemken – clarinet
#*Tom Waits – vocal
# "Russian Dance" (instrumental) – 3:12
#*Tom Waits – Emax strings
#*Matt Brubeck – cello
#*Linda Deluca – viola
#*Bill Douglas – bass
#*Kathleen Brennan, Clive Butters, Tom Waits, Francis Thumm, Joe Marquez – boots
# "Gospel Train/Orchestra" (instrumental) – 2:33
#*Linda Deluca – viola
#*Nick Phelps – French horn
#*Larry Rhodes – bassoon
#*Kevin Porter – trombone
#*Ralph Carney – bass clarinet
#*Joe Gore – guitar
#*Kenny Wollesen – percussion
#*Bill Douglas – bass
#*Matt Brubeck – cello
# "I'll Shoot the Moon" – 3:51
#*Kevin Porter – trombone
#*Francis Thumm – organ
#*Bill Douglas – bass
#*Ralph Carney – sax
#*Kenny Wollesen – percussion, marimba
#*Joe Gore – guitar
#*Matt Brubeck – cello
#*Tom Waits – vocal
# "Flash Pan Hunter" (music: Waits, lyrics: Burroughs) – 3:10
#*Ralph Carney – bass clarinet
#*Matt Brubeck – cello
#*Joe Gore – banjo
#*Larry Rhodes – bassoon
#*Bill Douglas – bass
#*Francis Thumm – organ
#*Kenny Wollesen – percussion
#*Don Neely – saw
#*Tom Waits – vocal
# "Crossroads" (music: Waits, lyrics: Burroughs) – 2:43
#*Tom Waits – guitar, chamberlain, vocal
#*Greg Cohen – bass
#*Gerd Bessler – viola
# "Gospel Train" – 4:43
#*Tom Waits – train whistle, vocal, conga, log drum
#*Greg Cohen – percussion, bass
#*Ralph Carney – bass clarinet
#*Bill Douglas – bass
# "Interlude" (Greg Cohen) (instrumental) – 0:18
#*Henning Stoll – bassoon
#*Christoph Moinian – French horn
#*Volker Hemken – clarinet
# "Oily Night" – 4:23
#*Matt Brubeck – cello
#*Kenny Wollesen – percussion
#*Bill Douglas – bass
#*Ralph Carney – sax, bass clarinet
#*Nick Phelps – French horn
#*Kevin Porter – trombone
#*Larry Rhodes – contra bassoon
#*Joe Gore – banjo, guitar
#*Linda Deluca – viola
#*Featuring "The Boners"
# "Lucky Day" – 3:42
#*Tom Waits – organ & vocal
#*Bill Douglas – bass
#*Ralph Carney – baritone horn
#*Matt Brubeck – cello
#*Kenny Wollesen – percussion
#*Joe Gore – guitar
# "The Last Rose of Summer" – 2:07
#*Tom Waits – organ, vocal, chamberlain
#*Greg Cohen – bass
# "Carnival" (instrumental) – 1:15
#*Tom Waits – chamberlain, Emax
#*Greg Cohen – bass

Hans-Jörn Brandenburg, Volker Hemken, Henning Stoll, Christoph Moinian, Dieter Fischer, Jo Bauer, Frank Wulff, and Stefan Schäfer were The Devil's Rhubato Band (Hamburg); Ralph Carney, Bill Douglas, Kenny Wollesen, Matt Brubeck, Joe Gore, Nick Phelps, Kevin Porter, Lawrence "Larry" Rhodes, Francis Thumm, Don Neely, Linda Deluca were The Rhubato West Group (San Francisco).

Songs performed in the play, but not included on the album: "Chase the Clouds Away", "In the Morning".

Alka-Seltzer release

ide one

#"Black Rider (Opening)"
#"November"
#"The Right Bullets"
#"The Briar and the Rose"
#"George Schmid"
#"Chase the Clouds At"
#"Flash Pan Hunter"

ide two

#"Instrumental"
#"? by W. S. Burroughs"
#"In the Morning"
#"Gospel Train"
#"I'll Shoot the Moon"
#"Instrumental"
#"The Last Rose of Summer"

Trivia

Waits's wife Kathleen Brennan contributed one of her paintings for the sleeve insert.