| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Ten Percenter |
Posted - 07/15/2005 : 06:51:40
A very positive review by Andy Gill, even if he only gives the album three stars out of five:
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article299151.ece
Since his last solo album, 1996's The Cult Of Ray, Frank Black's career has been in freefall through the unrewarding years spent fronting The Catholics. Things have recently improved thanks to the Pixies reunion, which should draw a little more attention to this latest solo outing, his best effort in ages. Honeycomb was recorded in Nashville with a select crew of Southern soul sessioneers incorporating the Muscle Shoals' rhythm section, legends Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, and an all-star guitar strike-force of Steve Cropper, Reggie Young and Buddy Miller. The tracks were nailed in just one or two takes, and their relaxed facility works to the songs' advantage, smoothing the way for such oddities as the astro-physical metaphor of "Atom In Your Heart" ("you burn inside me like a star") and the startling opening lines of "Another Velvet Nightmare" ("Today I felt my heart slide into my belly/So I puked it up with liquor"). Just Frank's usual gamut of sci-fi, shock-horror and sub-aquatic kitsch, in other words, set to a slew of country-soul grooves studded with pithy lead guitar. "Strange Goodbye", a break-up duet with Jean Black, could pass muster as a country standard; but the most charming thing here is a cover of Penn's soul standard "Dark End Of The Street", taken in Black's disarmingly sweet upper-register - the voice of a fallen angel, even.
"Fried food, cigarettes, no exercise, chest pain..." (Excerpt from the Angina Monologues) |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| VoVat |
Posted - 07/22/2005 : 17:27:20
I would say the "and slept right where I lay" part just isn't that significant. Song lyrics don't necessarily have to be quoted in proper verse form.
I was all out of luck, like a duck that died. I was all out of juice, like a moose denied. |
| Cheeseman1000 |
Posted - 07/19/2005 : 02:04:17
Unrewarding years spent fronting The Catholics?
How's that for a slice of fried gold? |
| bltpdx |
Posted - 07/18/2005 : 18:10:41
quote:
Originally posted by Ten Percenter
("Today I felt my heart slide into my belly/So I puked it up with liquor")
Maybe it's just me, and maybe I'm being overly nitpicky/defensive, but this is at least the second time I've seen that line quoted, truncated like that. The full quote, to wit:
Today I felt my heart/slide into my belly/so I puked it up with liquor/and slept right where I lay...
...is not exactly miles longer, and is a fantastically written piece of verse. The way it's stated in this review just makes it sound, I don't know, wacky. Or calculated to offend. Or just plain terrible meter.
Grr. |
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