All Forums  Frank Black Chat  Frank Black Making Noise  Salem Monthly Show Review

Note: You must be registered in order to post a reply.
To register, click here. Registration is FREE!

Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by madtempest[/i] [br][url]http://salemmonthly.com/story/Frank_Black_wThe_Fjord_Company130.html[/url] Frank Black wows small but appreciative audience By Brian Blair, Section Music Posted on Wed Jun 06, 2007 at 06:43:01 PM PDT It wasn’t a secret show, but Frank Black’s Salem appearance certainly lacked the promotion that one might expect for an alternative rock icon, especially when you take into consideration it’s his only scheduled U.S. date in 2007. By design, publicity was kept to a minimum and, as a result, fans showing up at Lefty’s were still able to pick up tickets at the door. The event was kept intentionally low-key because this was simply a stage for the former Pixies front man to test some material for his upcoming European tour. Those who were in attendance witnessed a unique show that may be ushering in a new era for the singer. Leading up to the show, there was talk that Guards Of Metropolis would open as it did when Black played Portland this past winter. That rumor, however, turned out to be only partially true. The Fjord Motor Company, which features the female half of Guards, handled the duties with a set of Norwegian folk songs. Between stories of life in Norway, the duo worked through beautiful pieces from their homeland. A highlight of the pair’s set came when a friend accompanied them on a saw. While the addition was interesting initially, it was a bit that grew distracting and unnecessary as the set continued. When Black and his band took the stage a little later, there were questions as to what musical direction he might take. His past two albums, “Honeycomb” and “Fastman Raiderman,” have seen the musician move towards Americana but early talk about the upcoming “Bluefinger” is that it returns to his edgier material. It’s been rumored that this is the album he intended to record with the reformed Pixies. From the start of his set, the 42-year-old singer established the evening’s tone. He joked that cell phones were fine and that there was a chance his would be the one ringing during the show. Then he jumped into an aggressive cover of Tom Waits’ “The Black Rider.” For the track and the rest of the set, Black eschewed his usual guitar duties and focused on being a front man. Taking advantage of his new freedom, Black sang the majority of “Rider” standing in the audience. Moving back to his own material, Black and company hit some of his better-known songs — “Old Black Dawning,” “Los Angeles” and “Freedom Rock” — but a third of the set list was dedicated to “Bluefinger.” If fans were unfamiliar with material from the upcoming album, which was produced by Salem’s Mark Lemhouse, it wasn’t readily obvious because the new tracks slipped in with the older material seamlessly. Backing him in the show and on the upcoming tour was a simplified line-up. Two of the musicians — guitarist Charles Normal and drummer Jason Carter — were drafted from Guards Of Metropolis and bassist Ding rounded out the line-up. Two-thirds of the way into the set, Black brought out his wife, Violet Clark, to sing backup on a few songs. First was “Threshold Apprehension,” which makes a solid case on the potential of “Bluefinger.” It was followed by “Lolita,” which was performed twice because Black claimed that he had messed up the last half verse and didn’t want to leave the song that way. Throughout the show, Black was playful with the audience and he ended the night by talking about his kids and their love of hip-hop music. With a nod to them, the band went into an amazingly primal and imaginative cover of Fatboy Slim’s “Rockerfellar Skank.” While it may not exactly be “hip-hop,” the execution of the song was so impressive that there’s no need to debate its origin. Despite prolonged applause from the audience, the group ignored returning for an encore. But for the lucky few that were there, not too much more even needed to be said. [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.