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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
 Posted - 09/18/2003 : 01:25:49
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I don't think that this one has been posted yet - no rating:
Frank Black and the Catholics, Show Me Your Tears
Ironically, since the inception of the Catholics, Frank Black has effectively narrowed his musical scope. He’s been maturing (even as his cover art grows increasingly infantine), which thankfully in this case generally means he’s becoming more confident, not less interesting. It may just be because he’s exercising more selectivity about what he releases, but the new album is a few shades more solid than the generous duology that came out around this time last year. “Tears”, which offers the same bar-band rock Black has been churning out for years, is perhaps more akin to the poppy bluster of “Devil’s Workshop” than the twangier “Black Letter Days” (though both tacks are evident), but the most successful cuts here are those which take their strongest stylistic cues from the blues, such as the opening 12-bar strut of "Nadine," which is pure barroom bravado and Jagger swagger. Elsewhere, as the title suggests, things get more melancholy, even downright poignant (the simple "Coastline"), but overall it’s a sense of Black’s gritty, sometimes menacing, and slightly surreal machismo (often more evident in his guitar solos than his lyrics) that infuses this album and makes it so subtly intoxicating.
by Ross Hoffman
No man is an island, unless he is in the bath |
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