Pixie unleashed!
The Pixes were of course a hugely influential band, and one that Kurt Cobain always harped on about regarding his main musical influences. The lead singer of this said alt-rock band was of course Frank Black, the full figured and follicley challenged guy who was also known as Black Francis, and before that christened Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV. So this is the works of Mr Black throughout his solo career spanning over a ten year period from 1993 – 2003.
The first of the 22 songs is, 'Los Angeles' which is a classic Frank Black & The Catholics song (although still under the monarchy of Frank Black), starting off with an acoustic guitar and Frank's distinctive voice before the drums kick in and we have some rocking large riffs. 'Ten Percenter' could easily have been a Pixies song, and you are almost disappointed not to hear the sweet backing vocals from Kim Deal. It's not surprising then that the first handful of songs are not that too far removed from anything done by the Pixies. 'Old Black Dawning' is probably the best from this period of 1993.
The next five songs come from 1994's 'Teenager Of The Year' album and what you get are some cleanly produced songs that are simple and yet affective. 'Abstract Plan' is quite beautiful, as is the mid-tempo rock of, 'Calistan'. 'Headache' is a little bit 60's Rolling Stones doing a slow number with extra high-hat and tambourine on the drum beats, and even some piano chords.
The guitars are a bit more fuzzy in, 'Men In Black' which is the first of a trio of songs from 1996's, 'Cult Of Ray', showing a little more rock'n'roll edge to his portfolio, Frank comes across a little more like Bob Dylan, and the music is slightly more haphazard, as you can hear in, 'You Ain't Me'. It's then interesting to see that for the rest of the album we have only two songs from each album, which possibly shows you that Frank Black, a man that spawned many great songs from only a handful of albums, has less accessible songs on his later solo albums, and why for the most part, a lot of the music buying public has forgotten about him.
'All My Ghosts' and 'I Gotta Move' have a very one-dimensional vocal range from a guy that we know can screech out loud as well as singing softly. Here in both of these songs from 'Frank Black & The Catholics' from 1998, his voice is slightly more gravelly, and unfortunately both songs sound fairly ordinary. Moving only slightly from this, Frank Black has now a more bluesy voice, and possibly this is through age, or through his own choice and so, 'Bad Harmony' is a blues/rock song, albeit with big balls, and the slightly better, 'Western Star' shows that although a million miles away from The Pixies, this isn't too bad, and perhaps the new direction shows a real chance to carve out a new musical career finally shrugging the ex-Pixies tag.
By 2001, we a have a slightly cleaner sound of, 'Dog In The Sand' nodding back to 1994's 'Teenage Of The Year' production-wise with the bluesier sound progression from 1999's 'Pistolero'. 'Hermaphroditos' has slide guitar but a more screaming Frank Black shows that he can still pull a decent song out of the bag. 'Velvety' and 'California Bound' have a more catchy feel to the songs, and if Mr Black had dipped slightly in his talented song writing abilities then these show that in 2002, he is back on his way up the musical mountain. This can also be said of the great, 'Massif Centrale' which has everything that we loved from his original stuff including vocals so high at times that even members of the Bee Gees may be wincing. 'Manitoba' is another song that is slow, clean in production and full of country (with a touch of The Pogues), which is a clear indication of where he would go in the future, as he has with his most recent double album, 2006's 'Fastman/Raiderman'. We also have a brand new track from his new album, 'Bluefinger' in September, called, 'Threshold Apprehension' which shows a complete turn around with it's quick, brash rock, that is slightly punk rock, and a little bit Detroit rock, like a faster White Stripes song. Quite frankly it's the best song here, and is an exciting prospect of an album full of these!
Frank Black is a genius. The Pixies were a fantastic band, and for the most part Frank Black has been great solo. The middle section of this album isn't brilliant, but it's by no means poor either, and add to the double album he recorded after this which showed him back to form, and also the taster from the new album there is obviously still loads to be excited about for the future.
This pack also includes a bonus CD with 9 songs on, including 'Remake/Remodel' by Bryan Ferry, and the traditional song, 'All Around The World'. So all in all it's a nice collector's package of the great Mr Frank Black. Here's to more of this greatness, sir!