I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. Disjointed stopping and starting, no choruses, no solos to speak of, and lots of noise and screaming. Keep in mind that this was 1991 and I had come from a mostly rural area in Virginia. In my mind, AC/DC was pretty out there and Pink Floyd was the ultimate in musical artistic expression. “Surfer Rosa” was, in comparison, incomprehensible.
So we gave each other our cds back, neither all that impressed with the other’s taste in music. I kept listening to my stuff until “Nevermind” by Nirvana came out. I don’t have to tell you what kind of impact that had on music, it had a dramatic one on me. It was a new version of the Sex Pistols, making all that had come before them pointless. Nirvana was the band that completely shifted my approach to rock and roll.
When asked what he thought of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Kurt Cobain said that it sounded like a pretty good Pixies rip off. It’s no surprise that I gave the Pixies another listen. “Surfer Rosa” eventually grew on me, becoming my favorite Pixies album. I’ll go a step further and say that it’s one of the best albums I’ve ever heard. Yes, I’d put it up there with “Pet Sounds”, “Help”, Trinity Sessions” and others. At their best, the songs on "Surfer Rosa" have a kind of Bauhaus (and no, I'm not referring to the band) Zen feeling to them. It is wild and disjointed but very tight, there doesn't seem to be a random note on the whole thing. I find most of the rest of the Pixies output to be interesting, but not something that is rewarding to listen to repeatedly. This may sound like sacrilege to the hordes that swear that “Dolittle” was their best album, but I actually think that it was their worst.
How important were the Pixies? 8 years after they broke up, most of the bands on the radio were trying to sound like them. They were so far ahead of the curve that their album sales didn’t take off until several years after they had broken up.
When they broke up, Kim Deal’s band The Breeders was the first with a hit on the radio. I distinctly remember telling someone that I was glad that Kim got the talent in the divorce. In hindsight, I may have been blinded by my obsession of female bass players. Kim Deal, Kim Gordon, Tina Weymouth, and a local one in Ithaca named Darelynn. She was an adorable, petite woman that cranked out the nastiest bass grooves in a dance band called Flashlight (presumably named after the Parliament song). In any event, I was eagerly awaiting the release of anything by Kim Deal, and when “Last Splash” came out, I bought it. “Last Splash” can best be described as smart, if not smart alecy. There are some catchy tunes on there, made palatable by the noise experiments done by the Pixies previously. The album hasn’t aged well however. It sounds like something that was cooked up for the “alternative” market but didn’t have the structure or the song writing that the Pixies were able to consistently put on their albums.
Frank Black’s first big release after the Pixies was a bit of a disappointment. It became clear that he was the architect behind the sound of the Pixies and he also was the songwriter. The album had a few high points. “Los Angeles” is a real rocker and is a great example of what was possible in the mid 90’s in the rock and roll world. “Hang on to your Ego” really intrigued me,.
The general feel of Frank Black's eponymously titled first album was one of tying too hard. You could almost imagine the producer asking for more of “That Pixies sound”. I, and many others saw a great future for Kim and her band and little from Frank Black.
As it turned out, both have faded into obscurity, neither coming close to radio play or even a major label. Frank Black has kept recording though, and I have just recently stumbled onto these more recent works. I downloaded a handful of them and loaded them into my cd changer to see what they were like. I have listened to these albums more over the last month and change than I have of the Breeder’s last album in the 8 or so ears it has been out.
The new albums can be divided into two groups. The first group contains the albums that are just Frank Black. That includes the album “Frank Black” and “Frank Black Francis”. The other group are by Frank Black and the Catholics.
My original thoughts about “Frank Black” still hold, not very satisfying but clever. “Frank Black Francis”
Frank’s new band, the Catholics, have a very different feel. Some of that is due to the way they are recorded. “Pistolero”
Making albums like this is a bit of a throwback, but in a good way I think. The immediacy and honesty of the songs remind me a lot of the old time rockers like Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc. Don’t get me wrong, the style of the music is completely different from these guys, but the “feel” is similar. There is the occasional missed note in the vocals, and some of the guitar solos are a bit loose but this just adds character to the recordings. These little blips certainly don't detract from the over all feel.
“Black Letter Days”, aside from the macabre first and last song, is a great album. Frank really flexes his storytelling muscles and is the most conventional of all of his albums. It really reminds me of Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend" album, lot's of decent songs and the occasional stand out. If you’ve never listened to any of this stuff before, I’d highly recommend this album. If you’re a Pixies freak, you’ll like “Pistolero”. It is different from his Pixies days, but there is definitely an echo of his pst in these songs. On both albums, expect tight, energetic performances. Frank, it’s great to have you back!