Flash Pan Hunter - The Black Rider [216]

Waits returns to more directly narrative material through the lyrics of William Burroughs, as Jenny, Sam and Martin talk about vocal quality, musical dissonance, and the extraordinary musical stylings of Björk. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Flash Pan Hunter, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993)

Hunter, Homogenic, Björk (1997)

Flash Pan Hunter at 1h1m40s from The Black Rider: The Casting of the 12 Magic Bullets (filmed at the Weiner Festwochen, via YouTube), Wilson/Burroughs/Waits (1990)

Hunter music video (dir. Paul White, via YouTube), Björk (1997)

Bolero, Ravel/London Symphony Orchestra (1928/1995)

Mars, The Planets, Gustav Holst (1914/1987)

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I'll Shoot The Moon - The Black Rider [215]

A second week with Jenny Conley-Drizos sees her talking with Sam and Martin about restraint, morbidity and violence in this crooner ballad. With some of Sam’s “Overworked Lyric Unpicking” (patent pending) and Martin’s Smooth Marble Egg theory of music, we have one of the most stereotypical episodes of Song by Song yet... sorry folks, we’re 100% on-brand this week.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
I'll Shoot The Moon, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993)

I'll Be Seeing You, Dreamy, Sarah Vaughan (1960)

I'll Shoot The Moon at 1h26m30s from The Black Rider: The Casting of the 12 Magic Bullets (filmed at the Weiner Festwochen, via YouTube), Wilson/Burroughs/Waits (1990)

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Gospel Train/Orchestra - The Black Rider [214]

The mental gymnastics are in full force for this odd atonal instrumental, as Martin and Sam are joined by Jenny Conley-Drizos of the Decemberists to discuss the orchestral creation of “the essence of train”, Scott Johnson’s intense 80s editing strategies, and to list some instruments Sam has owned but never bothered to practice. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Gospel Train/Orchestra, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993)

John Somebody Part 1, John Somebody, Scott Johnson (1982)

Scott Johnson: Soliloquy (1991) from How It Happens (The Voice of I.F. Stone), Short Stories, The Kronos Quartet (1993)

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