Robbie Robertson - The Far, Lonely Cry of Trains - Non-Album Tracks (1980-1991)

Robbie Robertson is best known as the writer of many classic hits by the Band, such as "The Weight," Up on Cripple Creek," and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." He broke up the Band in 1976 and has been a solo artist ever since. His output has been sporadic, putting out only one or two new albums every decade, and he's very rarely performed in public. I suppose he's treated his solo career more like a hobby than a career, because he'll always be rich from his songwriting royalties.

That said, what he has released solo has been of a high and consistent standard, in my opinion. That extends to his stray tracks. His solo work isn't that well known though, probably due to his voice, as well as his low profile. Personally, I like his voice. It has a limited range, true, but it's expressive and full of character, much like the voices of Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen.

I've managed to find three albums' worth of Robertson's stray tracks. Since he's only put out five studio albums in four decades, they add a lot to his musical legacy. All of these are studio recordings, which isn't that surprising considering how rarely he's played in public since leaving the Band. Three of them (tracks 3,4 and 5) are officially unreleased. Their sound quality is a bit lower than the rest, but only a bit.

Four of the songs here (tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8) are from movie soundtracks. "Tailgate" is a B-side. "Storyville" and "The Far, Lonely Cry of Trains" are bonus tracks. "Chief Seattle Speaks" comes from the album "One World."

Since the Band broke up in 1976, Robertson rarely played with the other former members of the Band. In particular, he had a bad falling out with singer and drummer Levon Helm. But in 1989, the Band took part in the annual Juno music awards. This was a big enough occasion for Robertson to reunite with two former Band members, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson. Robertson and Danko shared lead vocals on the classic Band hit "The Weight," which is especially interesting since Robertson didn't sing lead on the original version.

I'm pretty sure all the songs here are written or co-written by Robertson, with the exception of "The Fat Man," which is a Fats Domino song. That comes from the Carny movie soundtrack in 1980. There are some instrumentals he did on that soundtrack as well, but I didn't consider them strong enough for inclusion here, since they're mood music for the movie. "Christmas Must Be Tonight" is a song he wrote for the Band, but this solo version has a significantly different arrangement.

This album is 45 minutes long.

UPDATE: On August 16, 2023, I updated the mp3 download file. I removed two songs, "Canon (Part 2)" and "Slo Burn," moving them to the next album in this series instead. I added one song, "The Weight."

01 The Fat Man (Robbie Robertson)
02 Between Trains (Robbie Robertson)
03 Tear Down the Walls (Robbie Robertson)
04 Got It All Worked Out (Robbie Robertson)
05 Runaway Train (Robbie Robertson)
06 Modern Blues [Instrumental] (Robbie Robertson & Gil Evans)
07 Tailgate (Robbie Robertson)
08 Christmas Must Be Tonight (Robbie Robertson)
09 The Weight (Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson & Blue Rodeo)
10 Chief Seattle Speaks (Robbie Robertson)
11 Storyville (Robbie Robertson)
12 The Far, Lonely Cry of Trains (Robbie Robertson)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15575721/RobbieR_1980-1994_FarLnelyCryTrains_atse.zip.html

The cover art uses a photo of Robertson from 1988.