| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| vilainde |
Posted - 08/02/2007 : 02:02:12
This is the first review I've read for Bluefinger (and a good one!), from Mojo magazine found via cookingvinyl.com:
http://www.cookingvinyl.com/press/Black+Francis/Mojo_Sept07.JPG.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1
4 stars (out of ?)
<<Ghoulish renaissance for the prolific former Pixie.
Emboldened by the 2004 Pixies reunion to "transform into my alter ego of yesteryear", Bluefinger marks an artistic rebirth for the king of quiet/loud. A clanking, caterwauling tribute to Herman Brood, the Dutch rock star, artist and career speed freak who - after being given months to live - committed suicide in 2001 by jumping off the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton, it morphs cryptically from panegyric into séance. The eerie Angels Come To Comfort You follows the troubled Brood as he prepares to take his final steps, before finding him resurrected within the new Black Francis on Your Mouth Into Mine. After a decade of inconsequential doodling as Frank Black, it is twisted and tormented in the best Pixies tradition. In every sense, the work of a man possessed.
Jim Wirth.>>
The "inconsequential doodling" has actually been rated quite high by Mojo according to metacritic.com (DiTS 80/100, SMYT 80/100, HC 80/100, FMRM 70/100), but anyway, the guy's enthusiastic at least.
Denis
"Can you hear me? I aint got shit to say." |
| 35 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| joe FITZ of molly BANG |
Posted - 04/05/2010 : 12:25:33
quote:
Originally posted by velvety
Positive review from New-Noise:
"Frank Black is a legend. Having cut his cloth in the annals of late 80s/ early 90s alternative music history with the Pixies and produced some of that era’s defining moments, his career since has involved a steady flow of solo records and latterly a reformation of the Pixies to massive international acclaim. Picking up the Black Francis moniker once again, he’s delivered a new album of original material (and one cover) which demonstrates a brilliant return to form. The renaissance of the Pixies has had a very positive effect on him.
‘Bluefinger’ grew from a visit to the studio to record a single track for his recent best of and from these sessions the new album grew. Never one to be hurried, Frank managed to put down the entire record in a matter of days. The songs aside, we’ll get to those in a moment; but one of the real triumphs of ‘Bluefinger’ is the wonderfully minimal emphasis on production and the focus lying truly upon the musical content. Everything is just really simple, kinda like the old Pixies blueprint of loud-quiet-loud-quiet there’s a certain (perhaps unacknowledged) formula to this of basic guitars, basic drums, functional basslines and good old hearty vocals. And what’s more it works. It’s not minimal for the sake of it, it’s minimal because it sounds good.
Opening with the lead single, ‘Captain Pasty’, the album begins with an instantly catchy tune, guitars grimy and energetic and the chorus very much in the Pixies mould – memorable and difficult not to hum along to. ‘Tight Black Rubber’ is punchy and has lots of impact, Francis’s voice peaking as he hollers the titles words over and over. The Herman Brood cover ‘You Can’t Break A Heart And Have It’ fits in seamlessly and from this it’s easy to see how the influences for the album grew.
The highlight however is the acoustic-tinged ‘She Took All The Money’, which despite its cheery feel is actually quite sad when you focus the lyrics of being left, unfortunately, skint and about to die. Grim stuff. Violet Clark’s backing vocals lift the song and add rare depth and texture.
This is a great record. Ok, so it’s no Pixies classic, but it’s not that far removed. Certainly a contender for one of the records of the year."
http://www.new-noise.net/album-reviews/black-francis/bluefinger/black-francis---bluefinger_2627.html
never knew this. threshold apprehension?
________________________________
my band: www.myspace.com/mollybang
|
| Srisaket |
Posted - 11/07/2007 : 07:02:17
Mark Prindle reviews Blufinger (8/10), quite a long review:
http://www.markprindle.com/black.htm#bluefinger
|
| Carl |
Posted - 10/19/2007 : 17:26:26
San Francisco Bay Times.
By Don Baird
Published: October 18, 2007
There have been a few new releases from some very well established artists lately,
one representing a comeback or reunion of all original members, one representing
the dissolution of a long-time partnership for a first solo effort, and another
returning to an earlier alter ego created in their first band to tell the story of a
unique and troubled Dutch painter/musician who many have forgotten or never
heard of. Each of these records are remarkably strong and complete, showing a
definite forward motion creatively while in a sense returning to the past for part of
the inspiration or basic genus.
Another great record that popped up out of nowhere, it seems, is a release by Black Francis, the alter ego of Frank Black, the prolific
singer/songwriter originally of the Pixies. After a myriad of solo releases, sometimes double albums, often of a quieter, more traditional
nature, almost too many to keep track of, he comes out with the loudest, most rocking disc he’s put out in years. Perhaps that’s why he’s
using the Black Francis moniker on this one, because some of these songs on Blue Finger unleash a definite and much needed blast of
Pixies-esque power and full-tilt raw emotion. It’s a most welcome return, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it.
Taking the pared-down approach of using three musicians, himself on guitar, vocals and harmonica, drummer Jason Carter, bassist Dan
Schmid and Frank’s wife Violet Clarke on back-up vocals for one song, the formula is a scorcher. From the rollicking first cut, “Captain
Pasty,” you know you are in for a fresh, hard ride with its manic guitar and urgent vocals. Then it just slams into probably my favorite cut on
the disc, “Threshold Apprehension,” with its solo guitar intro building into a frenzied assault, Black Francis hitting those higher registers
vocally as he repeatedly sings, “Threshold threshold threshold,” evoking the tension the title aims at.
It seems this record was completely inspired by the life of Dutch painter/musician Herman Brood. The cover art is a painting by Brood, and
there is a cover of a song he wrote for his band, Herman Brood and His Wild Romance, called “You Can’t Break A Heart And Have It,” and
Black Francis’s vocalization alone is worth the price of this album. He goes one more than ten, he goes further than the most intense
screaming moments of the Pixies, and it is unbelievable. I had heard very little about Brood prior to this record, except that he was heavily
and openly addicted to drugs, was involved with Nina Hagen, and he committed suicide by jumping from the roof Amsterdam Hilton Hotel in
2001. Much of his story is referenced in the songs on Blue Finger, and his inspiration has produced one of my favorite records of the year
from possibly my favorite artist in Rock and Roll. I highly recommend this disc for all fans of the Pixies, Frank Black, Black Francis, Dutch
Artists and junkies.
Morning Paper: Black Francis: Bluefinger - not the Pixies, but what is?
Both bars on - Lazy Journalism, part 1. |
| Daisy Girl |
Posted - 10/12/2007 : 17:22:39
cool! I want one!
We're all obscure fans.- trobrianders
|
| darwin |
Posted - 10/12/2007 : 12:09:12
quote:
Originally posted by Czar
"They"?
___________________________
Do you think the Pixies were a brouillon of Black Francis?
At the merchandise table (with the photo, but not the text on a black shirt) |
| ground control |
Posted - 10/12/2007 : 11:36:40
We have a review up on Ground Control for Bluefinger. You can read it here if you like: http://www.groundcontrolmag.com/detail/3/623/1
thanks a lot :)
-mark z.
|
| Czar |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 05:29:06
"They"?
___________________________
Do you think the Pixies were a brouillon of Black Francis? |
| darwin |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 00:56:34
quote:
Originally posted by Czar
___________________________
Do you think the Pixies were a brouillon of Black Francis?
They pretty much had that shirt at the show tonight. |
| benji |
Posted - 10/07/2007 : 23:13:46
it was reviewed in last weekends edition of the Otago Daily Times, my local newspaper.
gave it 4 out of 5 stars...
was a good review.
not on the net tho and didn't rip the review out.....
all i can say, thank god for polio! brian |
| The New Bolero |
Posted - 10/07/2007 : 22:47:12
FYI--I went to see They Might Be Giants last night and wound up asking Flansburg after the show if he'd heard Bluefinger yet. He said he had it downloaded and is eager to hear it but hasn't yet had a chance to hear it. He did remark that he really dug the cd's cover art. |
| Carl |
Posted - 09/30/2007 : 09:27:40
Ohio.com.
Pixies sound is revived
First solo album as Black Francis follows style of indie group
Published on Sunday, Sep 30, 2007
BLUEFINGER Black Francis Cooked Vinyl
The reunion of seminal indie rock group the Pixies was good for all involved.
Two of the band members were out of music and all needed the money, and
the musicians, whose influence is undeniable, finally got some financial reward
from being a seminal indie rock band.
For Charles Thompson, aka Frank Black, aka Black Francis aka the guy who
wrote most of the Pixies' songs, the reunion was revitalizing. Reportedly he
lobbied to get the band into the studio for a proper album, but was rebuffed,
settling for two tracks recorded for a soundtrack.
Inspired but left unfulfilled from the brief reunion and entranced by the late
gonzo Dutch artist/musician/junkie Herman Brood, Frank Black has revived his
old name and unleashed Bluefinger, his first solo record under the Black
Francis name.
Having revived the name, Francis has also revived the sound of the band and
his old style of shriek/singing. Pixies fans not enamored with the studied, rootsy
Americana direction on Francis' recent Honeycomb and its slightly more
rocking successor Fastman Raiderman will consider this quickly written and
recorded collection a welcome return to familiar territory.
Francis begins the album in full Pixies mode, with the odd chord progressions
of Captain Pasty moving on into the primal-scream fits of Threshold
Apprehension, which includes the Pixies-patented screaming boy/lackadaisical
girl vocal juxtapositions with Violet Clarke. The midtempo She Took All The
Money and the title track, a slow blues, features the pair harmonizing, and while
Clarke is probably a better singer than former Pixie Kim Deal, the
Francis/Clarke contrast just doesn't conjure the same sonic magic as the
Francis/Deal combo.
Nevertheless, Francis is in good songwriting form and the disc's 11 tracks
manage to incorporate the old Pixie sound as well as the roots-rock flavor of his
more recent work. Tunes such as Tight Black Rubber use the Pixies' much-
imitated quiet verse/loud chorus dynamic and gives Francis a chance for one of
those rambling surreal monologues like the Pixies' Planet of Sound.
Francis is a better singer than he was 20 years ago, when a song like the laid-
back rootsy Discotheque 36 and the bouncy Test Pilot Blues would have been
out of his grasp.
Just as he has paid tribute to his heroes in tunes such as Alison, written for
pianist Mose Alison, Brood is the subject of Angels Come to Comfort You (''He
was no saint, but he was Dutch, so he could paint, yeah he had the touch,''
Francis sings) and Francis offers a loose punky cover of Brood's You Can't
Break a Heart and Have It.
After the low-key grooves and melodies of his recent work, Bluefinger is a
welcome return to the louder, rocking side of Francis and more of a creative
sidestep than a retreat. It may not be the Pixies reunion album Francis and fans
hoped for, but the smell and sound of his old band permeates the recording
and is sure to make some old fans (does he have non-Pixies fans?) wish
Francis' former bandmates had been equally motivated.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached atmabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
NOW Magazine.
Discs
 BLACK FRANCIS Bluefinger (Cooking Vinyl) Rating: NNNN
Unsure of the future of the Pixies, Frank Black has filled his time by assuming his former moniker and
releasing another consistently great record, this one inspired by Dutch musician/painter Herman Brood,
who committed suicide in 2001.
Bluefinger boasts the off-centre pop sensibilities that have always been the songwriter's strong point,
with generous amounts of abusive guitar, playful up-tempo rhythms and half-sedated, half-maniacal
vocals, as on Angels Come To Comfort You. Add an ability to string lyrical and musical narratives together
to create a complete whole and Bluefinger should serve as yet another highlight in an already stellar
body of work.
Evan Davies
NOW | OCTOBER 4 - 10, 2007 | VOL. 27 NO. 5
skullring.org - Music Review: "Bluefinger" by Black Francis. |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 09/25/2007 : 15:14:44
not as screamy call and response as you can't break a heart and have it
---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Jason |
Posted - 09/25/2007 : 13:17:14
quote:
Originally posted by billgoodman
quote:
Originally posted by Jason
quote:
the scream-and-response melody of Discotheque 36
Uh...
yes, that got me wondering too
---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?
Okay, I listened to the album again today and, to be fair to the reviewer, "Discoteque" does get mildly screamy as well as call-and-response-y (if I may write like a character from Buffy the Vampire for a moment) toward the end. |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 09/25/2007 : 04:48:19
quote:
Originally posted by Jason
quote:
the scream-and-response melody of Discotheque 36
Uh...
yes, that got me wondering too
---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Jason |
Posted - 09/24/2007 : 21:19:22
quote:
the scream-and-response melody of Discotheque 36
Uh... |
| Carl |
Posted - 09/24/2007 : 08:55:39
I'd wear that!
Times Online.
From The Times
August 31, 2007
Black Francis: Bluefinger
Steve Jelbert
The umpteenth solo record by the former Pixie, this time using his
more raucous alter ego, is inspired by the life of the now-forgotten
Dutch rock singer and junkie Herman Brood. The bracing Captain
Pasty and a version of Brood’s You Can’t Break a Heart and Have
It are undeniably powerful, but too often Black Francis is beginning
to resemble Lou Reed, another persistent talent whose best work
was his earliest.
(Cooking Vinyl)
Times Online.
From The Sunday Times
September 2, 2007
Black Francis: Bluefinger
Mark Edwards
As I write this, Amazon has Bluefinger listed as an album by
Frank Black. Right person, of course, but wrong persona. When
Charles Thompson wakes up in the morning and decides which
alter ego to assume for the day, it’s not a mere whim. It changes
everything. This isn’t a Frank Black album. And all those Pixies
fans who were confused and sometimes disappointed by the Frank
Black oeuvre will be delighted to learn that it really is a Black
Francis album. Weird, wired and warped, these songs sound like
Pixies songs. The quality of the songwriting is a little variable, but
in the energy of Threshold Apprehension, the scream-and-
response melody of Discotheque 36 and the off-kilter lurch of the
title track, that old Black Francis magic will have you in its spell.
Cooking Vinyl COOKCD408
NME.COM.
Black Francis
Bluefinger
The unlikely, ghoulish inspiration of a dead Dutch
pop star has forced Pixies' frontman Frank Black into
making his finest album since the demise of his
influential '90s alt.rockers. Because that's what
'Bluefinger' is. Pixies fanatics will probably attribute
this to the revival of the Black Francis name he used
as a nomme de guerre in the Pixies. Black himself is
fully aware of the significance. In an open letter
accompanying the new album, he writes "I couldn't
get the Pixies back into a studio, but I would
transform into my alter ego of yesteryear." In fact,
the true reason for this artistic Indian summer is that
the Pixies' dark lyrical conceits have been awakened
by the subject of much of the album's content, Herman Brood (pronounced 'Broat'). In 2001, Dutch rocker,
artist and renowned hedonist Brood threw himself from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton. After a stint in
rehab, Brood had just been told he had only months to live. As Black points out on 'Angels Come
To Comfort You', the hotel was "...good enough for John and Yoko, man" (it was the scene of The Beatle's
famous 'bed-in'). Black sees Brood, like Lennon, as something of a musical auteur, a man of style. The
album kicks off in rollicking fashion. 'Captain Pasty' finds Black in yelping, screeching mode, atop two
minutes of punk guitars and machine-gun drums. 'Your Mouth In Mine', with its jangly, chiming guitars
doing battle with passages of rumbling bass, transports the listener back to the day when Pixies, Buffalo
Tom, Dinosaur Jr and co ruled the alt.rock earth. Elsewhere, 'Tight Black Rubber', with its languid, nagging
bassline and 'Threshold Apprehension''s screaming garage rock, shine. Only the lumpen pace of 'Test Pilot
Blues' fails to fully fire. But that's a minor, unwarranted moan. After years in the dark, this is a slice of
Black gold. |
| Czar |
Posted - 09/23/2007 : 14:25:29
___________________________
Do you think the Pixies were a brouillon of Black Francis? |
| fumanbru |
Posted - 09/23/2007 : 11:11:00
here's a good short one from the winnipeg free press..
http://www.whatsonwinnipeg.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29932
September 22nd, 2007
FOR the first time since the Pixies split, Charles Thompson has reverted to his old stage name, but Bluefinger doesn't sound like the Pixies album that never was; rather, it's a great Frank Black record -- perhaps the best since his earliest solo efforts.
The opening one-two punch of Captain Pasty and Threshold Apprentice are aggressive blasts of skewed punk that would have fit nicely on Teenager of the Year. Francis cites the late drug-addled Dutch art-rocker Herman Brood as the inspiration for the album, which accounts for the debauched tales of sex and drugs and a musical bent harking back to his storied alt-rock past. His time with the Catholics and recent trips to Nashville occasionally shine through, but merely add colour to his canvas. The cover of Brood's You Can't Break a Heart and Have It is another album highlight.
Bluefinger is a return to form that uses all the ammo from throughout his varied career. Welcome back, Mr. Francis.
(4/5 stars)
-- Rob Williams
 "I joined the Cult of Frank/ cause I'm a real go-getter!" |
| Blank_Frackis |
Posted - 09/23/2007 : 04:46:01
That Maneater review isn't the most negative of reviews in this thread, but it's certainly the worst in my opinion. That's just gibbering incoherently for 15 paragraphs. There's no opinion there, it consists solely of profound sounding nonsense like "“Captain Pasty,”... is a song in which riffs and vocals race but neither wins." tied together with the standard references to Kurt Cobain, the name change and the usual rubbish. Honestly, the reviewer could have written that without listening to a single song on the album for all it matters.
If time's a drug then Big Ben's a giant needle injecting it into the sky. |
| Apesy |
Posted - 09/21/2007 : 21:25:07
I'm especially disappointed in Rob Sheffield's RS review since in his book, Love Is a Mix Tape, I remember quite a few Frank Black solo songs popping up on various mixes. Yet he sounds like he hasn't given a crap about anything the man's done since "U-Mass".
-=Apesy |
| Carl |
Posted - 09/21/2007 : 16:59:40
MemeStreams.
Black Francis - Bluefinger
Topic: Music
1:51 pm EDT, Sep 20, 2007
On September 11th 2007, something happened that will
change Rock n' Roll forever. A watershed moment of sorts
occurred. Charles Thompson (aka Frank Black) resumed using
his original pseudonym, Black Francis, and released what is
likely the most important album of the past several years.
Bluefinger is just amazing. It's a return to the style Thompson
made famous with The Pixies. It sounds like the album you'd
expect Thompson to have made after The Pixies, more so than
the work he did as Frank Black with The Catholics.
Thompson's solo work as Frank Black is straight up rock n' roll,
with ventures into country and alternative. His new solo work
as Black Francis is a return to a style more similar to that of
The Pixies or Nirvana. It's raw, loose, driving, punk influenced
alternative rock. It's not over-produced. It sports a sound that
you can only get when you put away the polish and focus on
the intensity. It's like a breath of fresh air.
Almost everyone I know has been listening to this album the past week. If you are not listening to it, you
should be. Get on the band wagon. You can listen to the entire album from the website. Go go go..
Black Francis - Bluefinger
The Maneater.
Black Francis: Here comes your man
By Kelsey Whipple, Staff Writer. Posted September 21, 2007.
If there was a rock hierarchy, it’s pretty
safe to say Elvis would be the king of
rock, Thom Yorke would be the king of
weird and Kanye West could be king of
cool. And if he were ever to belong
anywhere, Black Francis would have to
be king of crazy.
After all, everyone — at least everyone in
the alt-rock minority who still can’t
believe Billy Corgan pulled the Pumpkins
back together, for worse or for worse —
knows that Black Francis is a little left of
center. Heck, he even knows it.
It’s easy to imagine Francis waking up
every evening, taking a look in the
mirror, and, after slicing up eyeballs,
cranking out another album as he
changes his shirt.
His latest of 15 releases without his late ‘80s companions, the Pixies, is a
return to what he does best, as well as a return to his stage name —
Charles Thompson IV doesn’t cut it.
On Bluefinger, Francis’ wails and shrieks go beyond banshee, and,
combined with jagged, riotous riffs, the album’s 11 songs are a welcome
return to Francis rocking out just because he can. And boy, can he.
The focus of Bluefinger, for reasons unknown, lies on artist/musician
Herman Brood in some way or another.
It’s easier to understand Francis’ abstract lyrics than his decision to use
the deceased Dutchman as a muse, but Francis has been known to pull
off the peculiar. “You Can’t Break a Heart and Have It,” a Brood cover, is
the freak-out Francis stifled during his Nashville sessions in recent years,
and its 2 1/2 minutes are a painless one-two punch to the eardrum.
It soon becomes apparent that although this is Francis’ most deliberate
solo album to date, the hype created by the return to his Pixies alter ego
is baseless.
His standard live-to-two-track style has one texture: rough.
With the exception of “Lolita,” a song drowning in harmonica, most of
the songs follow Francis’ typical loud-quiet-louder formula, a too-direct
approach critics have never endorsed.
“Threshold Apprehension,” originally a bonus track on Francis’ 93-03
album, is a literal shout in death’s face. Complete with ‘80s synth, the
lyrics include Lou Reed-esque couplets such as “Grand Marnier and a
pocket full of speed/We did it all day ‘til we started to bleed.”
Francis’ wife, Violet Clark, takes over the song’s spoken-word backing
vocals and sounds uncannily like Kim Deal while Francis squawks a
frenzied “Threshold, threshold, threshold...” throughout the refrain.
When the squawks turn into “Are you feeling ... apprehensive?” the only
answer is “yes.” “Threshold Apprehension” is easily the greatest Pixies
song that never was.
“Captain Pasty,” on the other hand, is a song in which riffs and vocals
race but neither wins. Francis sounds like Kurt Cobain, but that’s been
done before and better.
“Angels Come to Comfort You” is an eerily commendatory song about
Brood’s suicide with lyrics nothing short of quirky and an outro just
short of heart-wrenching.
In the end, Francis might have grown up to be a debaser, but his most
recent effort is a Frank Black/Charles Thompson/Black Francis affair, not
a Pixies album.
It’s the freak-out we’ve been waiting for, but aftezr rumors that the
Pixies were heading back into the studio, it’s not the way we were hoping
it would happen.
And with all of the Brood brooding, it has to be asked: Where is his
mind?
Courtesy of Cooking Vinyl Reco
Pixies main man Black Francis is
back with the freaked-out
Bluefinger. It’s no substitute for
the real thing, but you know
what they always say: Some
Black Francis is better than no
Black Francis. |
| floop |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 20:41:20
quote:
Originally posted by benji
that rolling stone review is so predictable it's almost sickening.
i expected nothing more or less from those idiots.
all i can say, thank god for polio! brian
it would be one thing if his vocals were actually "Cobain-esque" but jesus, he doesn't sound anything like Kurt Cobain
it's a curse |
| Jefrey |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 20:18:08
"that sounds like it was cranked out in the world's crappiest home
studio between tour dates."
Wow, they must have freaking AWESOME home studios in Milwaukee! That's got to be one of the most retarded things I've ever read in a music review. His right to even listen to music should be revoked. That is just flabbergastingly stupid.
== jeffamerica == |
| quadrophenic |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 10:48:55
quote:
Originally posted by OLDMANOTY
One of those reviews that leaves you scratching your head; 'Bluefinger is catchy in spots but ultimately forgettable...What's missing here mostly is riffs' are two choice quotes. Also, what is it with these reviewers who keep banging on about how nothing on Bluefinger quite matches anything by Pixies? It's as if there's some journalistic law that this opinion must be stated.
www.prefixmag.com/reviews/cds/B/black-francis/bluefinger/3287
I think when most people heard he was going back to "Black Francis" they thought "Oh...it's a return to his Pixies name...must mean this album will be a surrogate Pixies record." I know that's what I thought at first. It's an easy leap to make. I'm glad this wasn't and all-out Pixies vibe, though. I love the Pixies, but if I'm buying a Frank Black/Black Francis solo record, I don't necessarily WANT a Pixies record. A couple of Pixies-ish moments? Sure...but a solo record should be unique to that artist, and not just sound like their other band. "BlueFinger" pulls that off nicely. |
| whitenoisemaker |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 09:28:52
Thanks for the feedback Carl...I know! I'm addicted to cheesy captions...
quote:
Originally posted by Carl
Hi whitenoise, and thanks-although you really must 'root' out those bad jokes! ;)
Oh, and hi quad.
"I hate how the reptile dreams it's a mammal. Scaley monster: be what you are!!" - Erebus.
|
| OLDMANOTY |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 00:32:31
One of those reviews that leaves you scratching your head; 'Bluefinger is catchy in spots but ultimately forgettable...What's missing here mostly is riffs' are two choice quotes. Also, what is it with these reviewers who keep banging on about how nothing on Bluefinger quite matches anything by Pixies? It's as if there's some journalistic law that this opinion must be stated.
www.prefixmag.com/reviews/cds/B/black-francis/bluefinger/3287 |
| Jason |
Posted - 09/18/2007 : 16:27:19
I don't know if this counts, but I just posted a review on rateyourmusic.com (I'm JasonHernandez)
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/frank_black/bluefinger/
-----------
For a record with such grim subject matter, Frank and the band sure sound like they're having a good time. That's one thing--out of many things--I like about Bluefinger. If someone made an album inspired by me after I died, I'd want it to be a lot like this: Loose and brief, sounding like it was dashed off in a week, no big deal, by people having fun, laughing and joking between takes. The presence of Frank's wife, Violet Clark, on backing vocals and the front cover and liner notes paintings being by her son, Julian Clark, only make this an even warmer affair.
When I found out the next Frank Black album was going to be a "Black Francis" record, I got worried. I'm a longtime fan of the solo and Catholics records and was afraid the new album was going to be an attempt at pandering to the Pixies audience that's made him a wealthy man these past few years and a move away from the elegant songwriting of the last several albums. Thankfully, Frank Black is much too smart for that and Bluefinger turns out to be both a justified return to the Black Francis name and a logical follow-up to Fast Man Raider Man. The record does not pander. He still sounds like he's doing exactly what he wants. It's a great album. |
| Carl |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 09:14:25
Hi whitenoise, and thanks-although you really must 'root' out those bad jokes! ;)
Oh, and hi quad.
"I hate how the reptile dreams it's a mammal. Scaley monster: be what you are!!" - Erebus. |
| quadrophenic |
Posted - 09/14/2007 : 10:48:04
I like it. Can't get enough of "Capt. Pasty." :)
Kinda sounds like Pixies meets Bowie meets Frank Black. So it's great. |
| whitenoisemaker |
Posted - 09/14/2007 : 08:31:58
Hi folks, I'm a long time reader (and sometime poster) here.here is my review of Bluefinger, enjoy!http://planetofsoundandsight.blogspot.com/2007/09/music-review-black-francis-oh-inverted.html
Music Review: Black Francis -- Oh Inverted Name!
After breaking up the Pixies via fax machine in the early 90's Black Francis commenced his solo career as Frank Black. As Frank Black, Charles Thompson (as his parents named him) would refine and simplify many of the Pixies wilder explorations so that by the time of 2006's Fast Man, Raider Man he resembled no-one so much as latter-day Nick Lowe. This is hardly a bad thing, as both men have a gift for melody and turning a wry phrase but compared to Thompson's wild years and the recent spate of Pixies reunion shows his latter albums can seem pallid. So when it was revealed that the man's new album Bluefinger would be released under the Black Francis moniker fans were excited for a return to Pixies era howling and tension and release style songwriting. They may be disappointed to learn that this is more of a hybrid, with songs that could come from any phase of his career. They should still give this a shot however as it's one of his best albums, his most vital work since his excellent first two solo albums Frank Black and Teenager of The Year.
Bluefinger does feature more vocal growling and howling than Black has employed in years and the first two songs serve to grab the listener by the collar and shake them around a bit. The Pxies-ish "Threshold Apprehension" ranks among his very best tunes, with driving guitars, killer drums, and great backup vocals by his wife Violet, who serves as a Kim Deal-like foil for many of the albums highlights. Then comes "Captain Pasty" which harks back to the triptych of loud fast songs that closed out Teenager of The Year. Other songs like the sweetly melodic "She Took All The Money" and the gorgeous title track hark back to overlooked later albums in Black's solo catalog like 2001's Dog in The Sand.
Bluefinger is a concept album of sorts inspired by Dutch painter and musician Herman Brood -- a man well known for his whole-hearted embrace of the sex drugs and rock n roll ethos. Brood committed suicide by jumping from the roof of a hotel. There are echos and direct references to his personality throughout, songs like the killer "Tight Black Leather" and "Your Mouth Into Mine" in which Black seems to coax Brood's spirit into communicating from Black's own lips.
Overall this is a distillation as opposed to a sprawling demonstration (ala Teenager of The Year) of all Black can do and that means that no matter what phase of his sound he calls upon, the songs are top-notch as is the playing. Those who have had only a passing interest in Blacks' solo career will probably call this a return to form and it is a refreshing change from the mellow mid-tempo adult alternative sounds he has been proffering with his brand name Nashville studio hotshots lately. But this is still a unique record, and all the better for not attempting to simply rehash Pixies-style songwriting.
Bluefinger gets four out of five blue fingers:
|
| Carl |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 16:39:55
Music Box Magazine.
Black Francis
Bluefinger
(Cooking Vinyl)
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2007, Volume 14, #9
Written by John Metzger
Make no mistake about it: Although he has resurrected his other pseudonym Black Francis, the material on Frank Black’s
latest effort Bluefinger doesn’t play out in quite the same fashion as a Pixies album would have. For certain, a lot of time
has passed since Black broke up the band, and despite its recent, triumphant reunion tour, Black has shown few signs that
he is interested in returning to the past simply for the sake of nostalgia. From his early solo endeavors to the reconfigured
Pixies classics that filled the latter half of Frank Black Francis, he instead has proven that what he wants to do is toy with
his history, shaping and re-shaping it however he sees fit. Still, as the guttural growl he unleashes during the intro to
Captain Pasty and the manic snarl of the subsequent Threshold Apprehension attest, Bluefinger is the closest in the
studio that Black has come in a long, long time to recreating the Pixies’ now legendary sound.
The country textures that increasingly have dominated Black’s work aren’t gone completely from Bluefinger — in fact, one
can hear them lurking in the background of the sludgy, Neil Young-ian droning of the title track, for example — but they have
been pushed far off into the distance. Using a formula that he perfected with the Pixies, Black leverages his menacing
posture against his melodic inclinations. For as crazed as he sounds on Threshold Apprehension, he effortlessly settles
into She Took All My Money’s head-bopping groove. Even within the former cut, there are moments that are ridiculously
infectious. Likewise, 18 years after the Pixies delivered Doolittle, and 16 years after Nirvana unleashed Nevermind, it’s
impossible not to hear the give-and-take between the two bands floating through Bluefinger’s contents, particularly during
the gritty refrains of Captain Pasty and the throbbing, rhythmic chug of Tight Black Rubber.
The seeds for Bluefinger were planted during the recording session that was held to lay down a bonus track for Black’s
career retrospective 93–03. Inspired by the work of Dutch painter/musician Herman Brood, Black expanded upon his initial
ideas and wound up with a full-blown concept album. In a typical fashion, the storyline is convoluted. Angels Come to
Comfort You, the tale of Brood’s leap to his death from an Amsterdam hotel, for example, is tucked neatly into the center
of the set. Nevertheless, over the course of the endeavor, Black brings into focus the reckless abandon of Brood’s lifestyle
of sex, drugs, and rock ’n‘ roll, and on the title track, his central character makes no apologies for the paths that he has
followed. "I’m a Jumping Jack to this thing on my back/And all of my choices were pure," Black sings as he grinds the song
toward its conclusion. In its wake, he leaves listeners with a statement that says as much about his own life as it does
about Brood’s.  ½
Bluefinger is available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please Click Here!
For UK orders, please Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
The Badger Herald.
Black Francis goes Dutch
by Will Buckingham
Thursday, September 13, 2007
For the first time in Frank Black’s
solo career, he records under the
name Black Francis, a name he
has not donned since the breakup
of the Pixies in 1993. Such a
move suggests a return to the
glory and style of the
quintessential alternative rock
band. But before the legions of
Pixies fans rejoice, Black claims
the name-change has nothing to
do with the Pixies, but rather with
the spirit of Herman Brood, the
late Dutch musician who inspired
Black’s album. While the reason
behind the change might
disappoint fans, it is still clear in
Bluefinger that Black Francis
retains some of his Pixies genius.
It’s understandable why Black
would be motivated by Brood’s
spirit. Both men share a similar
artistic style, and both are known
for their wide range of musical
abilities. Also, Brood’s tragic life,
plagued with drugs and ailing
health, provides some emotionally
charged fodder for Black’s latest
album.
Unfortunately, Black’s album
sometimes cuts into his ability to
turn a phrase. In “Angels Come to
Comfort You,” the most overt
tribute to Brood, Black keeps his signature twisted and choppy lyrics at
bay and replaces them with awkward, simple lines like “He played piano
really fucking good,” and “He was no saint/ But he was Dutch/ So he
could paint.” On top of that, the entire song plays out almost like
Brood’s suicide note. Luckily, Violet Clark provides an angelic vocal line
in the background, preventing the song from becoming too dark.
Aside from a few imperfections with his tribute, Black proves his genius
has not quite diminished. Bluefinger opens with “Captain Pasty,”
showcasing Black’s rapid fire, nonsensical lyrics right off the bat. And
with “Threshold Apprehension” following, Black provides some of his
strongest rock he has blasted since 1991’s “U-Mass.” Even at his age,
Black is able to show off his signature high-pitched scream, a throwback
to his Pixies days, during his cover of Brood’s “You Can’t Break a Heart
and Have It.” During “Tight Black Rubber,” Francis is featured at his
most Pixies-esque, with his lyrics illustrating perverse sex (“She bit me
so hard/ When I just filled her”), and one can almost feel Kim Deal’s
signature bass lines.
Even with all the makings of a Pixies album — including the screaming
and poetic nonsense — this is more of Frank Black’s album than Black
Francis’. Bluefinger is ultimately a straightforward rock album. Gone is
the depth many Pixies devotees know Francis has, and even the reverbs
that served Francis well before are almost nonexistent. Although with
Francis’ intense lyrics missing and little going on in postproduction,
Bluefinger becomes easily accessible, but nonetheless enjoyable.
While it is unfair to compare Francis’ solo music career with alterna-rock
gods the Pixies, fans still know the greatness Francis is capable of, and
this album is somewhat of a disappointment. While this is the closest
Francis has come to recapturing his glory days, followers hoping for a
throwback to Doolittle or Surfer Rosa will just have to wait for the
rumored upcoming Pixies album. Until that day comes, Bluefinger nearly
fills the void.
LiveDaily.
Album Review: Black Francis,
"Bluefinger" (Cooking Vinyl)
September 13, 2007 01:09 PM
By Tjames Madison
LiveDaily Contributor
Black Francis [ tickets ] is back. But maybe not
the one you were expecting.
When Frank Black [ tickets ] announced his
intention to resurrect his original stage
name for his latest studio album,
"Bluefinger," many of his old fans took that
tidbit to mean that the old indie rocker would
be making a return to the menacing, howling, boy genius who paced
stages back in the '80s while fronting the legendary Pixies [ tickets ].
The record Black/Francis (whose real real name is Charles Michael
Kitteridge Thompson IV, just to make things more confusing) actually
ended up making, though, owes more to the singer/guitarist's first pair of
solo albums following the Pixies' premature death: his self-titled 1993
solo debut and 1994's brilliant, 22-songs-in-just-over-an-hour "Teenager
of the Year."
Ideas appear out of thin air all over "Bluefinger," then vanish just as quickly as
they came. In the same way that Black once convincingly
excavated several layers of the history of Los Angeles in the under-five-
minute "Ole Mulholland," a pocket-sized masterwork off "Teenager," here
he does the same with the late Dutch artist/musician Herman Brood,
except on a slightly larger scale, with every song at least making a
passing reference to Brood (a tragic figure who committed suicide in
2001 by jumping off the roof of a Dutch hotel).
Stylistically, though, the sound is expansive here, with Black moving away
from the bar-band sound that characterized much of his recent work with
The Catholics and experimenting once again with a layered studio;
songs like "Captain Pasty" and "Threshold Apprehension" snap, crackle
and pop like Black's best work, and "Rest Pilot Blues" even recalls the
self-assured Louis Prima-esque groove of the Pixies' "Crackity Jones."
After a torrid start the set falls off a bit, with Black proving unable to
sustain the voracious energy of the album's first few songs over the entire
record, but there are enough clear moments of breakthrough here for
"Bluefinger" to justify the performer's return trip down Black Francis lane.
shepard-express.com.
CD Reviews: Black Francis (Frank Black), The Mendoza Line
September 11, 2007 | 11:52 AM
Black Francis – Bluefinger
Frank Black's solo work would get more attention if there weren't so damn much of it (he's
released nearly 15 albums). This one, though, arrives amid actual buzz, since it marks Black's
return to his Pixies persona, Black Francis, even though for all the hype, it's still pretty much
just another Frank Black album: a collection of rough, rootsy rock, sometimes inspired,
sometimes disposable, that sounds like it was cranked out in the world's crappiest home
studio between tour dates.
Sure, there are some aesthetic nods to the Pixies: Black raises his voice a little more than
usual (although he doesn't really scream, he just kind of yowls), and a Kim Deal surrogate
adds some backing "ahhs" here and there, but no one would mistake this for the lost sixth
Pixies album. Like most of Black's solo work, the singer seems to be having a great time, and
that counts for something, but Black should have left Black Francis in retirement. Back in the
day, Black Francis was a mysterious livewire, and a little scary. Now he just sounds like an
aging goofball.
The Daily Aztec.
ALBUM REVIEW: Black Francis
Bradley Haering, Assistant Tempo Editor
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Tempo
Bradley Haering, Asst. Tempo Editor
The entire indie-rock scene can be traced
back to one entity: Pixies. In the late '80s,
Black Francis, Kim Deal, Dave Lovering and
Joey Santiago created music that has
influenced bands from Nirvana to Modest
Mouse. After their initial breakup in 1993,
Black Francis began a solo career, releasing
albums as Frank Black (his real name) and
the Catholics, as well as under his Pixies
stage name.
His lyrical style is still the same as it's
always been. In typical Black Francis fashion,
the lyrics are fodder for pretentious kids who think that they can find a deep meaning in
nonsense. Although they don't always make sense, the lyrics add well to the
entertainment value of the album.
Black Francis still makes music true to what he was doing more than 20 years ago. In
his case, it's a good thing. "Bluefinger" reminds us of where much of today's music
comes from. Although this album is still heavily influenced by where indie-rock is today,
Francis did a fine job keeping his place among his children.
GRADE: B
The A.V. Club.
Black Francis
Bluefinger
(Cooking Vinyl)
Reviewed by Scott Tobias
September 11th, 2007
OnBluefinger, the newly resurrected persona of Pixies
frontman Black Francis doesn't smother his alter ego, Frank
Black. If anything, Francis lifts up some of Frank's
understated charms in the album's frenzy. "Tight Black
Rubber" and "Threshold Apprehension" recall the Pixies'
ferocity within wise limits—no session players attempt Joey
Santiago-type guitar leads here. After "Rubber," Francis
shuffles into the bittersweet "Angels Come To Comfort You,"
which could work on a number of Frank Black solo albums, in
spite of a dreamy coda that sounds almost like a Doolittle
outtake. Thanks to pairings like that, Bluefinger achieves
something more admirable than a return to form—it reconciles
two decades' worth of forms and revisits an older self without
undoing the growth that followed.
A.V. Club Rating: B
KINGBLIND.
thursday, september 13, 2007
Black Francis:: Bluefinger (Album Review)
The unlikely, ghoulish inspiration of a dead Dutch pop star has forced
Pixies' frontman Frank Black into making his finest album since the demise
of his influential '90s alt.rockers. Because that's what 'Bluefinger' is. Pixies
fanatics will probably attribute this to the revival of the Black Francis name
he used as a nomme de guerre in the Pixies. Black himself is fully aware
of the significance. In an open letter accompanying the new album, he
writes "I couldn't get the Pixies back into a studio, but I would transform
into my alter ego of yesteryear." In fact, the true reason for this artistic
Indian summer is that the Pixies' dark lyrical conceits have been
awakened by the subject of much of the album's content, Herman Brood
(pronounced 'Broat'). In 2001, Dutch rocker, artist and renowned hedonist
Brood threw himself from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton. After a stint in
rehab, Brood had just been told he had only months to live. As Black
points out on 'Angels Come To Comfort You', the hotel was "...good
enough for John and Yoko, man" (it was the scene of The Beatle's famous
'bed-in'). Black sees Brood, like Lennon, as something of a musical auteur,
a man of style. The album kicks off in rollicking fashion. 'Captain Pasty'
finds Black in yelping, screeching mode, atop two minutes of punk guitars
and machine-gun drums. 'Your Mouth In Mine', with its jangly, chiming
guitars doing battle with passages of rumbling bass, transports the listener
back to the day when Pixies, Buffalo Tom, Dinosaur Jr and co ruled the
alt.rock earth. Elsewhere, 'Tight Black Rubber', with its languid, nagging
bassline and 'Threshold Apprehension''s screaming garage rock, shine.
Only the lumpen pace of 'Test Pilot Blues' fails to fully fire. But that's a
minor, unwarranted moan. After years in the dark, this is a slice of Black
gold.
posted by mblind @ 9/13/2007 12:03:00 AM |
| Dallas |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 15:24:33
WTF?????
"Francis' vocals on “Captain Pasty” are blatantly Cobain-esque"
just a really, REALLY stupid statement |
| Carl |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 14:40:50
Star-Telegram.com (scroll down).
Black Francis
Bluefinger
**** 4 of 5 stars
While you twiddle your thumbs waiting for that new Pixies record to materialize (don't
worry, it's probably right on the heels of Chinese Democracy), listen to Frank Black
(performing as Black Francis) shake off the country-folk stupor of his last few solo
efforts and rip into 11 punk-streaked tracks supposedly inspired by the late Dutch
musician and artist Herman Brood. Savagely melodic and imbued with an energy
noticeably absent from Black's recent catalog, Bluefinger pops out of the speakers like
music on a mission. That recent Pixies reunion must have reinvigorated Black more
than he let on -- this is one dirty, frayed, fantastic record.
Download this: Lolita
-- Preston Jones
Blogcritics.org.
Music Review: Black Francis - Bluefinger
Written by Timothy Jarrett
Published September 11, 2007
The new Black Francis (aka Frank Black)
album, Bluefinger, is a strong album,
maybe the strongest Black Francis album
in thirteen years. It's also the first Black
Francis album in thirteen years, kind of.
Black Francis claims the album is inspired
by the work and life of Herman Brood.
These three sentences beg three
questions. The first is: who is Herman
Brood?
Readers in the Netherlands will be more
familiar with Brood and his work than
Americans will. A keyboard player who
made his start with mid-'60s Dutch group
Cuby and the Blizzards, Brood later
became notorious for his drug use, and
his chart performance suffered, to the degree that he briefly gave up music in the
early 1990s. He spent the balance of the '90s issuing a few records and creating art,
before ultimately leaping to his death in 2001. Brood's artwork lends names to several
tracks on Bluefinger, including "Test Pilot Blues" and "Threshold Apprehension," and
"You Can't Break a Heart and Have It" is a Brood cover.
This leaves the remaining two questions: Who is Black Francis? And where has he been
all these years?
The first of these questions seems fatuous, the second coy. Even the 21-year-old
hipster who was still eating strained peas and filling diapers in 1987 when the Pixies
released Come On Pilgrim knows that Black Francis was the frontman, resident
UFOlogist, and tortured lead screamer for this most pivotal underground band that
almost made it mainstream — opened for U2 during the Achtung Baby tour, for
Chrissakes — before he broke the band up by fax.
And Black Francis hasn't gone anywhere, despite the fact that there have been no
releases on which that nom de plume played from 1991's Trompe Le Monde to 2004's
"Bam Thwok." That selfsame callow hipster knows that Black Francis became Frank
Black when he went solo in 1993, and released a series of solid, if workmanlike,
releases between the debut s/t and 2006's Fast Man/Raider Man.
So much for the history. The questions remain: where has Black Francis been in Frank
Black's solo work for thirteen to fifteen long years? And who is Black Francis, as
opposed to Frank Black, anyway? And, most pertinent to Tuesday's full-length release
Bluefinger, why is this the first release of Frank Black's career to be credited to Black
Francis? These are all related questions with one at their core: what is the Black
Francis sound?
As I ask the question, I hear Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV, aka Frank Black,
aka Black Francis, cough, then laugh dryly, then advise me to go f*cking die.
But there is something to the change of name, for sure. Or else this would have been
the fifteenth release credited to Frank Black. So is this a change of soul? Or just of,
you'll pardon this squarest of thoughts, brand?
MBA voice over: The Black Francis brand stands for slicing up eyeballs, screaming,
quiet loud quiet, being the band that inspired Nirvana, and being the most awesome
band ever. The Frank Black brand stands for a workmanlike approach to rock and roll.
Direct to two track. Country rock. Low sales. As he sang in "Chip Away Boy," "I used
to have some fun/Me and everyone/Now I'm just employed."
And that may be all there is to it. Except:
Exhibit A: "Captain Pasty." Mars attacking. Irregular meters. And that awesome growl-
laugh that opens up the track. It will make your car go like nitrous, if you happen to
be behind the wheel when you are listening.
Exhibit B: "Tight Black Rubber," with its Fugazi meets Nirvana bass + guitar duet
settling into a Meat Puppets meets Velvets chugging rocker full of tension and
bondage tropes.
Exhibit C: "Your Mouth Into Mine." Could be a Frank Black song, except the spaces
between the verses run over with Black Francis's love-as-body-invasion imagery at a
speed that feels at once relaxed and chemically enhanced. Love never sounded so
much like theft.
Exhibit D: "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It." The one song on the album that
provides a tight connection to the album's supposed inspiration, Dutch
artist/musician/drug user Herman Brood, whose song this was before Black Francis
made it his own.
Exhibit E: "Threshold Apprehension." A romp through Pixies touchstones, from high
pitched, screaming vocals to four-chord hooks to girlish spoken background vocals
(courtesy Charles’s wife Violet Clark) to two of the finest couplets in post-Pixies rock:
"Every little sh*t gotta find his salt lick/If I don't find my babe I'm gonna be junk sick"
and "Grand Marnier and a pocketful of speed/We did it all night til we started to bleed."
The hit single the Pixies should have had in the summer of 2007, showing up first as a
bonus track on the best of compilation Frank Black 93-03. Your reviewer was stuck in
traffic on the Mass Pike the first time he heard the song and nearly rear-ended the car
in front of him, so immediately propulsive was the impact of the song, and so hard was
he laughing with the force of the bliss coming at him from six speakers.
Even in slacker moments an animus of tension and anger moves the record forward.
"She Took All the Money"'s "shama lama ding dang" chorus is pushed forward by an
irritable rhythm guitar, surprisingly sweet backing vocals from Violet Clark, and some
impatient drumming that takes the song out on just the right dry note.
So: what makes it a Black Francis work? There are some descriptive touchstones —
screaming, odd meters, UFOs, Lou Reed as Surrealist lyrics — that are ultimately
insufficient to describe what's going on here. What this is is nothing more than the
rebirth of Charles Thompson, his musical juices revitalized by the 2004 tour with the
Pixies. As he says in the publicity notes for the album, reunions "are bittersweet, and
all of the rekindled foreplay of performing the old Black Francis songs never warmed to
the full coitus of a reunion LP ... I privately went back to the old stage name ...
almost as a joke. I couldn't get the Pixies back into the studio, but I would transform
into my alter ego of yesteryear." And even if there is no Herman Brood revival as a
result of this LP — Wikipedia provides only a Google image search link to his artwork,
and only one compilation of his music is available in the usual download sources — the
transgressive junkie artist/musician/suicide deserves some posthumous credit for
waking up Black Francis and sending him out screaming into the light of 2007.
Blogcritics.org (scroll down).
The Breakdown: Animal Collective, Black
Francis, Elvis Costello, Cloud Cult,
Pinback, Pink Floyd, Qui
Written by Tom Johnson
Published September 12, 2007
Part of The Breakdown
Black Francis - Bluefinger: Frank Black is dead, long live Black Francis. Or maybe
he's just resting. I don't know, honestly, why the change back to his Pixies-era
moniker, but it doesn't really matter. Black has turned out the best solo album since
his first couple of solo albums, and it's equally as strong and catchy a piece of work as
either his self-titled Frank Black, or Teenager of the Year. There might be a little more
Pixies-derived attitude here than either of those, but, really, does it matter? It's a hell
of a fun album that should make both Pixies and Black fans very happy. |
| coastline |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 05:06:02
Well, that certainly explains one post in this thread.
 Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
| starmekitten |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 02:16:35
quote:
Originally posted by remig
quote:
Originally posted by velvety
Nice review from noripcord.com:
Black Francis
"Bluefinger"
Nirvana-esque U Mass
By Simon Briercliffe
04/09/2007
Ahaha.
One should understand that a review isn't intendend for uberfans. If I had to review a Beatles album, for a 14th kid that only heard once Oasis, I'ld talk about Oasis.
I think the reviewer can be forgiven, he sounds like such a handsome young man.
Idiot. |
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