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aristeas
- FB Fan -
Australia
4 Posts |
 Posted - 06/04/2003 : 04:35:56
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| Hi, I've only recently got into FB (mainly due to a random hearing of Can I Get A Witness and some pixies material)- what do people think are the best of, classic, most accessible, etc etc of the FB ouevre? |
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The Holiday Son
= Quote Accumulator =
France
2010 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 06:02:13
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| Teenager of the year. (if you don't like this album, you're not human.) |
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guy_nolan
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
417 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 06:26:50
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Teenager of the year is shockingly cool, ever tracks a winner! 
Your darling critic |
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Perhaps
- FB Fan -
133 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 06:30:17
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I agree. Teenager of the year (TOTY) is the album.
Also, I might suggest Oddballs. It is partial taste of where FB comes from (musically) and how clearly unique he is.
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Retch
- FB Fan -
Ireland
64 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 06:57:24
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I've gotta say, I think Black Letter Days, is turning into my favoroute, sometimes I find it hard to listen to TOTY, I love the songs, but the production gets to me...its too...synthetic, or something.
Retch.
This ain't no holiday. |
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Retch
- FB Fan -
Ireland
64 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 07:09:24
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I also think there is a huge difference between BLD and DW, BLD seems to be way more consistent, and sound like an actual "album", it's also quite long, wheras, DW seems to me like a collection of songs (recorded in different places+times) that while all good, were put together to make an album, well i'm beginning to ramble now....
Retch.
This ain't no holiday. |
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Retch
- FB Fan -
Ireland
64 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 07:09:59
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I've gotta say, I think Black Letter Days, is turning into my favoroute, sometimes I find it hard to listen to TOTY, I love the songs, but the production gets to me...its too...synthetic, or something.
Retch.
This ain't no holiday. |
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pong
= Cult of Ray =
France
315 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 08:35:54
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a good thing to do, it's to look all the songs who had won on the survivor game, and make first a compilation whith this song.
but, each album is different. if you love the "hard part", try : "the cult of Ray", "Frank black and the catholics - self titled" and "pistolero".
if you prefer the coolest frank, try "Dog in the sand", "Black letter days" and "Devil workshop".
and if you like those both part, try "teenager of the year".
- Pong
"i'll be on the first fligh" |
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frank_black_francis
= Cult of Ray =
Canada
895 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 10:58:43
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i think that the self-titled album is the best bridge between first few albums and now....but there really is no going wrong with TOTY....some of the best arrangements, lyrics, and rock that can ever be found are on that sucker...
...and evolving from the sea, would not be too much time for me, to walk beside you in the sun.... |
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gracie
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
573 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 11:28:44
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| if you liked the pixies the first fb album should be a starting point. i think that teenager has too many songs and could be a bit overwhelming if your not used to frank. frank black and the catholics is also a good start, as is dog in the sand. |
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PsychicTwin
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1772 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 14:28:21
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quote:
Originally posted by gracie
if you liked the pixies the first fb album should be a starting point. i think that teenager has too many songs and could be a bit overwhelming if your not used to frank. frank black and the catholics is also a good start, as is dog in the sand.
Excellent suggestion...I agree with you. That is the best way to get into Frank's non-Pixies music for the uninitiated.
I know that TOTY was a little overwhelming for me when I first heard it (before I was a hardcore fan)...and over time it just sunk in like a long, extended period of osmosis or something. And I'm now at the point where I can listen to the whole album in its entirety with undiminished vigor. |
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Jerk on Perks
- FB Fan -
Canada
28 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 16:29:00
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| Start at the beginning. Work your way up from there. After you buy Cult of Ray, get oddballs . Then jump directly to Devil's workshop and start to work backwards - it might be good to slip Dog in the sand in between DW and BLD though. Buy 'em all, buy 'em all!! |
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Stuart
- The Clopser -
China
2291 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2003 : 21:53:39
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The first album is a good start, probably not so great to start on Cult of Ray (even though it's a cracking album and thats where I started).
War....... Its not fantastic |
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Mr Grieves
- FB Fan -
88 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2003 : 04:15:14
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I'm getting them in order after having been a huge Pixies fan for about 18 months. I'm up to Cult Of Ray so far which, to be honest, I'm not overly impressed with. The first one's ok, TOTY is amazing. FB&C next. Hope it's good!
They got a ranch they call No. 51! |
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Thomas
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1615 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2003 : 05:52:22
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I've been driving around Greece for the last 4 months. Just after I got here I asked my wife send me a couple of cassettes for the drive since the rental cars here don't have CD players. I never told here what to send, she just knew. A week later I got my cassette copies of TOTY and Doolittle. Ever since March anyone who has driven with me must listen to Frank and the Pixies. TOTY is great driving music and every song is goodness from first to last.
Thomas
"Our love is rice and beans and horses lard" |
Edited by - Thomas on 06/05/2003 05:55:06 |
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NimrodsSon
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1938 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2003 : 20:00:28
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| I say start at the beginning and got to the end. It is very interesting to say how his style is constantly evolving with each new album, and in my opinion, getting better. My first album after being a huge pixies fan, was black letter days, and I was very surprised, and thought that all of his solo stuff had that softer sound or however the hell you want to describe it. I soon found out that much of his stuff sounded completely different, but I would of still been satisfied if all of his stuff sounded like BLD. So, BLD might be an OK start too. Hell, all of his stuff sounds great, so it really doesn't matter |
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mun chien andalusia
= Quote Accumulator =
Italy
2139 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2003 : 20:38:36
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Being a pixies fan i was pretty dissapointed when i first heard the "cult of ray"(still my least favourite)and thank god i wanted to give a second chance to one of my favourite singers so i got (me a walkman)the self tittled which made me reconsider.My advice is to start from the beginning if you are a Pixies fan because from album to album he sounds always more different from that style.Doing like that you will appreciate songs that you wouldn't expect to like.I woudn't consider the best of compilation a good idea,first because the best song is a personal thing(for example i dont like Headache most others do),second because it's always better listen to a whole album in order to understand if you like an artist's work or not.Compilations are good to listen to your car or for one-hit wonder groups,not certainly for F.B
www.munchienandalusia.too.it |
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Pioneer
- FB Fan -
213 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2003 : 20:52:17
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| I agree with those who say start from the beginning. I think the self-titled album is accessible stuff, sorta poppy. Teenager is a sprawling album, and in my opinion, a little inconsistent. Cult of Ray, to me, is the low point of his whole career. The two-track stuff that followed is best heard in the context of rebirth from Cult of Ray. |
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ObfuscateByWill
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1887 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2003 : 01:16:09
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Just go through his catalog. Chronological order. (Just like most of us did)
*Me Fail English? That's Unpossible! |
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Omer
= Cult of Ray =
275 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2003 : 04:09:09
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| I'd say Dog in the Sand is the perfect intro. It is both varries and consistent. The self titles (orange) album is my favourite, but I'd start with DOG anyway :-) |
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Jerk on Perks
- FB Fan -
Canada
28 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2003 : 10:59:32
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| I don't know why so many people dislike Cult of Ray. It, in my opinion, is way better than anything that followed it (Dog in the Sand, and Devil's Workshop come close), though it wasn't as good as what came before it. It was a really rockin' album. I did tire of it quickly though. |
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Pioneer
- FB Fan -
213 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2003 : 20:35:37
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OK, I'll take a stab at this. I'm ambivalent about the two-tracking, but Cult of Ray is my least favorite Frank album. I like the first 4 songs. "Marsist" is cool. "Men in Black"? OK, whatever, I'd heard enough about the little gray guys from Frank at that point. "Punk Rock City" shows some of the damage on Frank's voice at this point, but I love the lyric "If you're never gonna die you're never gonna come back here again!" "You Ain't Me" is nice and frisky. I pretty much dislike the rest of the album. "I Don't Want To Hurt You..." has a clever title and a neat lyric ("muscle in a cavity" part), but it sounds banal, like all the banal love songs it's trying to put a twist on. "Jesus Was Right" is like some kiddie angst song that did nothing for me. "Kicked in the Taco" is a good title. The first few lines are nice and punchy, but the "all I saw were star-ar-ars" bit doesn't resolve the musical tension in an effective way, in my opinion. The "message of love" part is a disaster, in my opinion. I'll discuss the rest of the songs, if you want, but pardon my scotch, I don't have the strength right now.
Some general comments. I don't like the mix. Many songs have a reverb on the vocal and seemingly none on the drums. Yuck! The lead guitar is whiny, with a little grime, and the solos are at times painfully overwrought, like a writer's purple prose. Most damning of all, when they try to rock out, they almost sound like poseurs trying to be tough. The bass sounds timid and generic to me. Like I said, Frank's vocal chords seemed to be wearing some damage in this era, and the apparent attempt at "pretty" vocals for the message of love thing didn't appeal to me. Then when he lost the pretty voice and continued with the message of love business, it almost sounds like he has a hernia.
The Catholics self-titled album just seemed more interesting, both lyrically and musically. Most of the songs are solid, not great, but overall, I found it compelling. Now, I've checked Frank's pulse on every album from Teenager on, wondering if his heart was still in it, but for me, Cult of Ray was the low point, and I really felt like Frank needed a change after that. The two-track thing seems to keep him interested in the studio, and the blue-collar traveling band, keepin'-them-drinkin' thing seems to keep him interested in the clubs, and that's fine. Keeps me interested. |
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