''Black Letter Days'' is the first of two albums by Frank Black and the Catholics simultaneously released in 2002 (along with ''

Devil's Workshop ''Devil's Workshop'' is the second of a pair of albums by Frank Black and the Catholics to be simultaneously released on August 20, 2002 (along with '' Black Letter Days''). "His Kingly Cave" was originally recorded for an aborted album project ...

''). The title implies the opposite of the term "

Red Letter Day A red letter day (sometimes hyphenated as red-letter day or called scarlet day in academia) is any day of special significance or opportunity. Its roots are in classical antiquity; for instance, important days are indicated in red in a calendar ...

s" which are holidays – a "black letter day" being all the ordinary days in a given month.

Background

When asked by writer and

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

er Jonathan Ball in 2002 if ''Black Letter Days'' and ''

'' were meant to be companion pieces or stand-alone albums, Frank Black said, "Either/or, I guess. You can buy one, you can buy both. I made two records this year, so I'm releasing two records." Black added, "It's two different sections, two different lineups, two different producers. So it's sort of out of deference to some of the people involved. I didn't mix and match, I just kind of left them separate." ''Black Letter Days'' is bookended with two covers of the same

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

song, "

The Black Rider ''The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets'' is a self-billed "musical fable" in the avant-garde tradition created through the collaboration of theatre director Robert Wilson, musician Tom Waits, and writer William S. Burroughs. Wi ...

". Black explained that he and the band started to play the song on tour and during recording sessions: "We tried a couple of different covers when we were recording, but that was the one that we did the best. Even then, I wasn't happy with the way we were doing it . . . so we started to fool around with it a bit and have some fun, and the result was one reel of tape with probably seven different versions of "The Black Rider," one devolving into the next and getting sillier, so what you hear is the first take and the last take. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously, we're just doing the song because we like it."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Black Francis, except where noted. # "California Bound" – 3:24 # "Chip Away Boy" – 2:57 # "Cold Heart of Stone" – 3:19 # "Black Letter Day" – 3:26 # "Valentine and Garuda" – 3:13 # "How You Went So Far" – 4:05 # "End of Miles" – 3:49 # "1826" – 6:40 # "The Farewell Bend" – 3:23 # "Southbound Bevy" – 3:07 # "I Will Run After You" – 3:58 # "True Blue" – 1:49 # "Jane the Queen of Love" – 5:10 # "Jet Black River" – 1:51 # "21 Reasons" – 5:40 # "Whispering Weeds" – 3:39 # "The Black Rider" (Waits) – 3:09

Personnel

Frank Black and the Catholics *

Frank Black Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. F ...

– vocals, guitar * Scott Boutier – drums *

Eric Drew Feldman Eric Drew Feldman (born April 16, 1955) is an American musician. Feldman has worked with Captain Beefheart, Fear, Snakefinger, The Residents, Pere Ubu, Pixies, dEUS, Katell Keineg, Frank Black, The Polyphonic Spree, Tripping Daisy, Reid Paley, C ...

– keyboards, synthesizer, additional vocals * Rich Gilbert – guitar, pedal steel guitar, keyboards, saxophone, additional vocals * David McCaffery – bass, backing vocals * Dave Phillips – guitar, pedal steel guitar, additional vocals Additional musicians *

Moris Tepper Moris Tepper, sometimes credited as Jeff Moris Tepper, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and artist. Tepper first came to prominence in the late 1970s with Captain Beefheart. He has also worked with singers Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Rob ...

– guitar, vocals * Nick Vincent – maracas Technical * Nick Vincent – producer * Ben Mumphrey – engineer * Robert Vosgien – mastering * Sammy Zax – photography * Butter x 10 – cover design

Notes and references

{{Authority control 2002 albums Frank Black and the Catholics albums SpinART Records albums Cooking Vinyl albums