Tom Waits - The Black Rider (1993 Studio Cast)

Summoned to Hamburg, Germany, to write music for a live stage production of Robert Wilson's The Black Rider, musical mastermind Waits took to the task at hand with gusto, assembling an eclectic crew of musicians to become "the pit band [he'd] always dreamed of." Several years later Waits assembled another "orchestra" in San Francisco to record many of the songs he'd written for the live production. Those tracks are found here, alongside a few rough gems from sessions in Hamburg. You'll find some musical matter familiar to Waits fans: accordions, carnivals, violas, banjos, the devil (a key figure in The Black Rider), a singing saw, bassoons, and trombones. Waits's many voices tell the rather disjointed story with a variety of musical styling, and the assembled whole is pretty much a sum of its parts (but at least they're interesting parts): a touch of Day of the Dead, a whiff of carny, a nod to Brecht, a dash of film noir, and the scent of narcosis (William Burroughs makes an appearance here). Not easy listening, by any means, but a feast for the ears. --Lorry Fleming Amazon.com

Waits' best ...

What a perfect project for Tom Waits! Like Woyzeck (Blood Money), not to mention Alice, The Black Rider (Der Freischutz) is perfectly complimented by Waits' inimitable style(s). Carnival music (which is just the creepy version of a waltz anyway) and avant-garde orchestrations brought a whole new aspect of Tom Waits to the foreground at the time. Now, he's done the aforementioned albums and so, looking back, it only seems natural.

William S. Burroughs (of which I'm a huge fan as well) co-wrote many selections and is even featured vocally on "TAint No Sin". So, his inclusion is even more of a treat, which shows why this is my biased review, as well favourite album.

I do agree with the previous reviewers here, in that I would not recommend this album as an introduction to Waits. Other more accessible albums would be better (perhaps Alice, Heartattack and Vine, Rain Dogs, Heart of Saturday Night - maybe even Real Gone). Nevertheless, once you're initiated, there's no better album in the Tom Waits' catalog. December 9, 2007

The Waits Rider.

Yes Rain Dogs, Bone Machine, and maybe even Mule Variations, Closing Time or Alice, are indeed the great works by Tom Waits - But The Black Rider is the most sublime and un-selfconcious and inspired in my opinion.
Pick it up If you havent already. July 13, 2007

Macabre and strangely addictive

Tom Waits's THE BLACK RIDER is one of his most ecclectic albums...and that's saying a lot, as Waits fans well-know. RIDER features instrumentals that are just as disturbing as some of the lyrics. The saw in "November" will have you looking over your shoulder; the macabre
recitation that opens the album will have you dreading what comes next.

Written/arranged/compiled with sidekick Greg Cohen, as well as William Burroughs, RIDER comes off as a piece of art--a portrait all its own, where the sum of its parts merge to create a picture whose image is distorted and out of focus, but is no less beautiful. RIDER is proof that a Tom Waits record is thoroughly a Tom Waits record; there are a couple songs here he doesn't even play on, yet you have no doubt that it is pure Tom Waits. Tom Waits is not just a musical artist, he's a musical EVENT, and THE BLACK RIDER is the perfect example. Still...for anyone just getting started with Waits's music, you might want to go elsewhere first. RIDER is not for the uninitiated. March 21, 2007

And the first one's always free...

First off, to the best of my knowledge there is no commerically released cast recording of The Black Rider. The music on this album is arranged differently than that from the stage show, and all the main vocals are by Tom Waits.

That being said, this is easily Tom Waits's most underappreciated album. On a first listen, it can be intimidating; even die-hard fans of Real Gone may have trouble getting through tracks like "Oily Night". The lyrics are, let's face it, terrifying, and if you're not expecting it, it's rather jarring.

The thing about the album is that once you hear it, you just have to hear it again. It crawls into your head and just won't get out. It's easy to see why The Black Rider has a cult following. It's seductive and entrancing, and it just won't let you go. October 20, 2006

Post-Rock Kurt Weill+More

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant. Not since The Doors' rendition of Alabama Song has their been such perfect cabaret-art rock - though to be fair such music really defies any strict attempts at categorizing. It's just great music. September 18, 2006

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