Frank Black Francis FBF is an odd beast. It’s a double CD which consists of the earliest recordings of Pixies classics, and the most recent. The difference between them is quite startling.
The first disc has 15 demo versions of Pixies songs on it, which were recorded the day before the Pixies went into the studio to record the songs for their demo tape, the Purple Tape (8 tracks of which were later taken directly from this tape to form Come on Pilgrim). So what we have here is demos of demos… All we have here, is Charles and a guitar, no band. These demos of demos were taped as a reference point for the producer of the Purple Tape so he’d know what to expect. The tracks here are very rough and raw, with the occasional note or piece of instruction as to what’s going on at a particular point. It has such sheer power and vibrancy to it that you forget that it is merely demos you’re listening to, even when he exclaims things like “I’m gonna sing the bass player’s part” on I’m Amazed”. It’s also a good thing that at long last there is an official version of Boom Chickaboom out on CD…
The second disc contains new versions of old Pixies songs that Charles recorded with Two Pale Boys. Upon hearing the first track, Caribou, I was thinking “yeah, this works”, as that’s a fairly good reworking. Not as great as the original, but still good. But then as the CD continued, it became apparent that this was the high point. Nimrod’s Son has all the vemon sucked out of it, Monkey is just flaccid and uninspiring with no life to it at all, and by the time you get to the UTTER WANK that is the 15 minute version of Planet of Sound you’ve just about lost the will to live.
My advice: buy Frank Black Francis. Cherish the Demo CD as it will bring you nothing but joy, and use the Rework CD as a coaster.
(Now, when will we get Keeping in Time, Silhouette and the other two tracks I can’t remember the names of on CD…?)
