Robbie Robertson - The Far, Lonely Cry of Trains - Various Songs (1980-1994)

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 are officially unreleased. Their sound quality is a bit lower than the rest, but only a bit.

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.

By the way, before I post the next stray tracks album from him, there are three more rare songs of his I'm looking for:  "Catwalk," "In the War Zone," and "Between Dog and Wolf." If you have any of those, please let me know.

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. Storyville (Robbie Robertson)
10. The Far, Lonely Cry of Trains (Robbie Robertson)
11. Canon [Part 2] (Hal Willner with Robbie Robertson)
12. Slo Burn [Instrumental] (Robbie Robertson & the Gil Evans Orchestra)

https://www104.zippyshare.com/v/eKGS8dOJ/file.html

The cover art uses a photo of Robertson from 1988.