| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/13/2026 : 13:09:35
Oh, it's been years since I listened to them, or even Frank's solo work and the Pixies, so much of a good thing, a great thing I needed to take a break.
Returning to Fb & the C's have me loving their music even more than before, which, considering of how high the esteem I hold these recoreds in, is quite frankly, incredible.
Six albums, five years, great sound quality, performances that both show off individual's skills and yet are mixed in like perfect seasoning.
How You Went So Far feels like walking into some late night basement bar where the greatest unknown band is there playing away their heartbreak, and trying to cure yours too, and if they can't well, they can sympathize.
Who knew the Pixies would have a second life and the Catholics would remain the great secret waiting to be told? |
| 35 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 06/26/2026 : 07:36:29
It was very brutal, and yet, worse things have happened since, so...silver lining? |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/25/2026 : 15:51:56
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
Southbound Bevy is a beautiful song. And even though BLD was low on my ranking, I absolutely love that album, except for a few songs I skip. I love the sound and the feel of that album.
I actually can't listen to Whispering Weeds because it has a painful association with my putting our dog down. I've tried but it just kills me. It was my favorite song on the album before that. I also can't listen to Dog in the Sand (the song) for obvious reasons.
It would be cool if a Catholics song got popular, but it also makes the Catholics feel more authentic and special that it's a bit below the radar and only cool people like us really know the songs.
Like for example, years ago I was doing a radio show on WNYC because we had some connections there. The engineer told me to test the mic. I sang "HERMAPHRODITOS IS MY NAME!" into it. He went "ALRIGHT! The Catholics!"
What a special moment! I was in shock he knew what I was singing.
Sorry about your dog, that is a horrible pain and grief to go through. |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 06/25/2026 : 12:17:06
Southbound Bevy is a beautiful song. And even though BLD was low on my ranking, I absolutely love that album, except for a few songs I skip. I love the sound and the feel of that album.
I actually can't listen to Whispering Weeds because it has a painful association with my putting our dog down. I've tried but it just kills me. It was my favorite song on the album before that. I also can't listen to Dog in the Sand (the song) for obvious reasons.
It would be cool if a Catholics song got popular, but it also makes the Catholics feel more authentic and special that it's a bit below the radar and only cool people like us really know the songs.
Like for example, years ago I was doing a radio show on WNYC because we had some connections there. The engineer told me to test the mic. I sang "HERMAPHRODITOS IS MY NAME!" into it. He went "ALRIGHT! The Catholics!"
What a special moment! I was in shock he knew what I was singing. |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/25/2026 : 07:01:58
Interesting point. I recall years back some mention of Frank working with someone regarding his voice and it had a positive effect. The first time I saw them live, I couldn't believe the VOLUME this man produced, this vortex of sound.
One of my favorite songs of theirs is Southbound Bevy, an example of Frank doing that wonderful falsetto. This is such a great band.
What they probably needed (?) was a big movie tie-in hit, like the way Where Is My Mind played out during the end of Fight Club.
Regardless, that there are six powerful albums, each with their own character as well as the True Blue sessions and the additional material is what counts. |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 06/24/2026 : 16:43:27
It's interesting comparing Frank's voice on that record and then the ones after. I remember reading an interview where he said at some point during the Catholics, he realized he should take better care of his voice and he got strict with vocal lessons.
In my estimation you hear the results of that comparing his voice on Pistolero to his voice on Dog in the Sand and after. |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/24/2026 : 12:14:50
Lately I've been listening to a lot of Pistolero, it's this great mix of rock songs, strange pop-like rock western tunes and with those three big epic songs. I love the sound of it too, deep, rich powerful drums. When Rich hits those high squeals right near the end of I Want Rock & Roll, it's fantastic, feels like the whole record is melting! |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 06/24/2026 : 09:51:28
Catholics had great energy, I agree!
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Skatealex1 |
Posted - 06/23/2026 : 16:45:41
That sounds right. I know there's also a Catholics version for Sunny Sunday Mills Valley Groove Day.
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| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 06/23/2026 : 16:32:10
Correct me if I'm wrong but we get a sense of that with the Catholics (right?) version of Selkie Bride. It's similar but a little more aggressive in sound. Like even softer songs like Stupid Me or Southbound Bevy have an energy to them that is too hot to handle for the Honeycomb album which is crazy gentle.
I love Honeycomb and Fastman but I'd be down for Catholics versions of those songs for that little bit more oomph. |
| Skatealex1 |
Posted - 06/23/2026 : 15:38:16
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Do you think that Honeycomb and Fast Man Raiderman could have been Catholics albums in some form or another?
To me they sort of felt like the natural continuation of the direction he was going with SMYT.
I could see Honeycomb is a Catholics albums with some revisions. IE- maybe a little more rocking out, given how laid back it is now. Even Show Me Your Tears, while it can be chill it does have some more edge in some tracks.
Maybe similar with Fastman Raiderman though some songs I can see fitting the Catholics sound as is like Johnny Barleycorn and Highway to Lowdown. |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 06/23/2026 : 14:14:31
Do you think that Honeycomb and Fast Man Raiderman could have been Catholics albums in some form or another?
To me they sort of felt like the natural continuation of the direction he was going with SMYT. |
| two reelers |
Posted - 06/23/2026 : 13:24:17
Albums ranked:
(1) Brown album (self-titled) / Black Letter Days
(2) Show me your tears / Dog in the sand
(3) Pistolero
(4) Devil's workshop
I joined the cult of Souled American / 'cause they are a damn' fine band |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 06/23/2026 : 07:54:05
My ranking:
Devil's Workshop
Frank Black & The Catholics
Pistolero
Dog in the Sand
Black Letter Days
Show Me Your Tears
edit: ahh I don't know. Maybe Dog ahead of Pistolero but lately Pistolero just really hits hard for me. For a while Dog was my number 1. And maybe the self-titled is my number 1. But I love the songwriting on DW, I think it's some of his best melodies. |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/23/2026 : 03:53:11
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
quote:
Originally posted by billgoodman
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Another reason why I like the alphabetical box set is I just absolutely never listen to albums any more.
Just shuffle songs.
Someone says, "check out this album" and I'll just shuffle it with other tracks, don't know why I can't do albums any more, maybe a Gen Alpha thing or whatever. I can still remember the track order for 1.0 stuff but could never tell you track order of FB&C's albums or anything after those any more
This was physically painful for me to read.
Couldn't agree more, Jordan!
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?
Sorry guys
I get it. Not how I want to listen to music generally, aside from maybe a party mix with an eclectic grouping of tracks, but I understand. I also get the other gentlemen's distaste, it feels like taking apart a perfectly cooked cheeseburger and eating each part separately and mixed in with other random food.
The other day I listened to Fields of Marigold and think that and San Antonio, TX are two of the best things Frank ever wrote and the band performed, just incredible songwriting!
|
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/23/2026 : 03:41:33
I consider DITS their best record but I've probably listened to it too much over the years. Pistolero has gone up over the years. I can't rank 'em, aside from SMYT being last. It's still really good, a powerful and melancholic record but my least favorite of the bunch.
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| billgoodman |
Posted - 06/23/2026 : 02:27:59
I guess that's almost my ranking too
But I would put Pistolero in the top 3.
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 06/22/2026 : 17:08:44
Can't help myself, here's my current album ranking:
Dog in the Sand
Black Letter Days
Show Me Your Tears
(One More Road for the Hit)
Frank Black & The Catholics
Pistolero
Devil's Workshop
(Snake Oil) |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 06/22/2026 : 09:44:13
quote:
Originally posted by billgoodman
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Another reason why I like the alphabetical box set is I just absolutely never listen to albums any more.
Just shuffle songs.
Someone says, "check out this album" and I'll just shuffle it with other tracks, don't know why I can't do albums any more, maybe a Gen Alpha thing or whatever. I can still remember the track order for 1.0 stuff but could never tell you track order of FB&C's albums or anything after those any more
This was physically painful for me to read.
Couldn't agree more, Jordan!
---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?
Sorry guys |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 06/22/2026 : 08:06:58
It's worth noting that there was indeed a second box set - the complete studio albums on vinyl. Very nice set, especially since they were recorded via analogue. Also picked up the vinyl (re)issues of Snake Oil, One More Road for the Hit (one of my favourite Catholics albums), and True Blue (I also really enjoy this one). So I'm just missing a few of the rarities from the alphabetical boxset. |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 06/22/2026 : 01:55:41
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Another reason why I like the alphabetical box set is I just absolutely never listen to albums any more.
Just shuffle songs.
Someone says, "check out this album" and I'll just shuffle it with other tracks, don't know why I can't do albums any more, maybe a Gen Alpha thing or whatever. I can still remember the track order for 1.0 stuff but could never tell you track order of FB&C's albums or anything after those any more
This was physically painful for me to read.
Couldn't agree more, Jordan!
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 06/21/2026 : 15:15:20
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Another reason why I like the alphabetical box set is I just absolutely never listen to albums any more.
Just shuffle songs.
Someone says, "check out this album" and I'll just shuffle it with other tracks, don't know why I can't do albums any more, maybe a Gen Alpha thing or whatever. I can still remember the track order for 1.0 stuff but could never tell you track order of FB&C's albums or anything after those any more
This was physically painful for me to read. |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 06/21/2026 : 12:03:23
Another reason why I like the alphabetical box set is I just absolutely never listen to albums any more.
Just shuffle songs.
Someone says, "check out this album" and I'll just shuffle it with other tracks, don't know why I can't do albums any more, maybe a Gen Alpha thing or whatever. I can still remember the track order for 1.0 stuff but could never tell you track order of FB&C's albums or anything after those any more |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/21/2026 : 11:17:18
It just occurred to me, by making the box set alphabetical, it's a nice bookend to the Catholics, their first album being alphabetical and their last release being the same.
Still, I definitely prefer albums on their own, unique artistic statements of time and place, perhaps it's why I'm generally not interested when albums (or books, movies etc.) are re-released in some altered form. Sure, sometimes it's an improvement but usually it doesn't feel right in some way.
So. Bay isn't just genius, particularly the way Frank's singing rises up in pitch during the outro, but is the perfect ending to the record, it leaves the listener with good feelings, its a summation to Pistolero that is no longer in place on the box set.
But then, in a way, best of both worlds, to those who just enjoy the mammoth chunk of music in a to zed they've got the box set, for others, like on this board and beyond, each album tells its own tale.
Each of the Catholics's records have only grown more resonant over time and especially, as I stated at the beginning of this thread, with a good amount of distance. My ears catch more texture in the songs and that 99% is live to two-track is just incredible.
BLD is a phenomenal recording, so many different moods and song styles, a double album with even more on DW.
And SMYT feels like the epilogue to the Catholics's tale, a wrapping up and closing of the curtain.
|
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 06/20/2026 : 11:22:29
I'm in the anti-alphabetical order camp. It happens to work for self-titled (thank God "All My Ghosts" starts with an "A"), but not the catalogue. I'm more of a tracklist mystic than Charles. |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 06/20/2026 : 05:36:10
quote:
Originally posted by billgoodman
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
I hate that he put the songs in alphabetical order on the box set. It's so the opposite of what I love about albums.
Yeah, that was a mistake FBF made in my opinion
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?
I personally like it. I think Frank's reasoning makes sense. |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 06/19/2026 : 06:54:32
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
I hate that he put the songs in alphabetical order on the box set. It's so the opposite of what I love about albums.
Yeah, that was a mistake FBF made in my opinion
---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 06/18/2026 : 16:50:17
I hate that he put the songs in alphabetical order on the box set. It's so the opposite of what I love about albums. |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/18/2026 : 15:04:35
While I'm expounding on the band, while I understand Frank's mindset, when it comes to songs relatives to albums, and set lists, and I think the alphabetical boxset is an interesting approach, I definitely prefer the albums.
Each its own unique artistic statement.
Self-titled has a great flow to it, the weakest song on there being the Larry Norman cover, I generally prefer Frank's originals. The song order works. But I'm glad he didn't use that approach on the rest of the Catholics.
There's this majestic feel to the songs on the first album, maybe All My Ghosts sets the pace with le bridge fantastique, some of the tracks deeply resonate, like Do You Feel Bad About It, like the best songs, feels both personal and universal-but then that's art.
|
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/18/2026 : 09:16:49
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
My favorite is still probably the first FB&C album, so I fully disagree.
For me, it was a huge shift to go from Cult of Ray (and TOTY and the self-titled) to FB& the C's first record. It wasn't as immediately accessible, and like I said earlier, felt musically flat.
But overtime I came to appreciate and then love songs like "All My Ghosts", "Steak n Sabre" "Back To Rome," and "Dog Gone." Now I find them phenomenal with interesting parts and dynamic shifts as well as a really smooth flow.
The Catholics entire run has a warm inviting feel.
|
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/18/2026 : 09:13:52
quote:
Originally posted by Brank_Flack
quote:
What I find incredible, is how the band traverses well-worn rock-country roads yet always stray from these into more interesting routes.
This is a good way of putting it!
I would also like to second your admiration for Billy Radcliffe. Quintessential FB lyrics.
Thanks. |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 06/16/2026 : 19:13:31
My favorite is still probably the first FB&C album, so I fully disagree. |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 06/16/2026 : 18:03:39
quote:
What I find incredible, is how the band traverses well-worn rock-country roads yet always stray from these into more interesting routes.
This is a good way of putting it!
I would also like to second your admiration for Billy Radcliffe. Quintessential FB lyrics. |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/16/2026 : 15:29:52
quote:
Originally posted by Brank_Flack
Yeah, I revisited the Catholics last year and was pretty blown away (hence that Best of the Catholics thread I made).
I'll stir the pot a bit: I think the alt-country albums have aged like fine wine (Black Letter Days gets better with each passing year), but the 90s rock albums are still hit and miss for me.
I'll have to go back and look for it.
That is definitely some serious pot-stirring.
I enjoy all of the stages of their arc, it's why I think DITS is the most archetypal record of theirs for its looking back to their rock beginnings (three years earlier ha ha) while pointing ahead to what they'd become, but I understand your perspective.
What I find incredible, is how the band traverses well-worn rock-country roads yet always stray from these into more interesting routes.
Cheers
|
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/16/2026 : 15:25:39
quote:
Originally posted by Skatealex1
This thread encouraged me to listen to some Frank stuff again too.
Oddballs- on the road. A fun album of 'oddball' tracks. I think how prolific he was in these times made it fun to follow. Random b-sides and off the cuff sounding albums and releases.
Today- rocking with Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day. Another fun b-sides album, from the Catholics this time. A few of these tracks did end up getting released. Always dug Humboldt County Massacre too.
That's a great song.
Perhaps a rare misstep for my taste is Velvety, it's all right but I prefer the Pixies's instrumental. |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 06/16/2026 : 15:24:37
quote:
Originally posted by Stevio10
Yeah Pistolero is a near perfect slice of Frank signing off the 90s rocking out. There's no 'bad' tracks on the album, just the best are up there with his very best. In addition to the ones already mentioned, I'd have to point to Western Star as being a stand out song.
Yes! What's interesting to me is some of his music sounds flat and uninteresting at first before blossoming in one's ears. Western Star just builds in power till by the end it's as anthemic as Pearl Jam's Alive. |
