Maps of Music

The Black Rider (1993)

Where the lyrics of The Black Rider take you, and where it was really made.

The songs began as music for a stage play, and the album was recorded in Hamburg in 1989 and in California in 1993.

Key places

Recorded at Prairie Sun in Cotati (1993)

Recording site Prairie Sun Recording Studios — Tchad Blake recorded most of the album in 1993 at the Prairie Sun Recording Studios in Cotati, California, with Joe Marquez assisting. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Music Factory in Hamburg (1993)

Recording site Music Factory (Hamburg) — Gerd Bessler recorded part of the album in 1989 at his Music Factory in Hamburg, Germany. The point marks the city only. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Black Rider: twelfth studio album by Tom Waits
• Released in 1993 on Island Records
• Contains studio versions of songs written for the play The Black Rider (1990)
• The play was directed by Robert Wilson and co-written by William S. Burroughs
• The play is based on the German story The Fatal Marksman by Johann August Apel
• Carl Maria von Weber had earlier turned the same story into an opera
• The play is about a clerk who makes a Faustian bargain for magic bullets, with tragic results
• Will Pinfold describes the album's sound as distinctly European

Background

• The play premiered on March 31, 1990, at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, Germany
• Its world English-language premiere took place in 1998 at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival
• Waits also collaborated with Wilson on Alice (1992) and Woyzeck (2000)
• Songs from those two projects were released in 2002 on the albums Alice and Blood Money
• Waits is credited with the lyrics of most songs; Burroughs is credited with three songs
• One track is a jazz standard by Walter Donaldson and Edgar Leslie, performed by Burroughs

Recording

• Recorded in 1989 by Gerd Bessler at his Music Factory in Hamburg, Germany
• Recorded in 1993 by Tchad Blake at Prairie Sun Recording Studios in Cotati, California
• All songs mixed by Biff Dawes at Sunset Sound Factory in Hollywood, California
• Musical director: Greg Cohen

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Tom Waits, born Thomas Alan Waits on 7 December 1949 in Pomona, California, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, music director and actor.
• Known for his gravelly voice, cynical texts and theatrical stage presence, he blends blues, jazz, bluegrass, vaudeville and country with rock.
• His lyrics portray the bizarre and overlooked people and places, while his work also shows romanticism and humour.
• Debuted in Los Angeles in 1971 after signing with manager Herb Cohen; the album Closing Time (1973) received good reviews, and the Eagles' cover of Ol' 55 brought success in 1974.
• Mid-1980s albums Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years featured eclectic instrumentation, marking a less conventional period after leaving Asylum for Island Records.
• Worked with his wife Kathleen Brennan on musicals such as The Black Rider with William S. Burroughs, and moved toward theatre alongside a parallel acting career.
• Acted in films by Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Robert Altman and Terry Gilliam; composed the score for Coppola's Coup de cœur.
• Won Grammy Awards for Bone Machine (1993) and Mule Variations (2000); inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
• Has consistently refused to license his music for advertising and won lawsuits against several companies that ignored this.

Sources: fr.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's Lorraine Ari gave the album four out of five stars
• Ari called it an odd, operatic collaboration with Burroughs and Wilson that does not fully fit Waits's earlier bar-stool image
• Ari wrote that the album continues Waits's move into more surreal realms
• Los Angeles Times critic Chris Willman gave the album three out of four stars
• Willman wrote that the album sounds much like the next Waits record, with a mix of chamber-like music and percussion similar to Bone Machine
• Willman judged the songs not quite as strong as those on Bone Machine, but still found good ballad writing

Reappraisal

• Will Pinfold of Spectrum Culture ties the album's sound to European folk music and cabaret
• Pinfold picks songs that mix European folk with cabaret as the album's most effective ones
• Pinfold finds Burroughs's vocal on one song ironic, since his singing sits out of tune
• Pinfold calls the album full of unnerving and off-kilter delights

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Recording at Gerd Bessler's Music Factory in Hamburg took place in 1989, several years before the 1993 sessions at Prairie Sun in Cotati.
• The play contains two songs that are not on the album: Chase the Clouds Away and In the Morning.
• Crossroads alludes to Burroughs's experiences with addiction.
• Burroughs compared the magic bullet in the original German story to heroin.
• Kathleen Brennan painted some of the pictures in the album's inner booklet.
• The standard jewel case comes with a 16-page booklet.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact