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seanunyon
- FB Fan -
Canada
64 Posts |
 Posted - 09/25/2003 : 08:15:52
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(Bolded byline)· Finally, Frank Black’s solo project makes sense.
I may be alone in this assessment, but somewhere between the hepped up sonic skronk of the Pixies and the aging rock and roll of Frank Black’s solo work, something got lost. At times he seemed to simply be reworking the Pixies’ past glory without having the rest of the band to mess up his vision. As Frank Black became Frank Black and The Pistoleros and subsequently Frank Black and The Catholics, his music aged with him.
Assembling this core of musicians around him, The Catholics hit the studio as a well-oiled musical machine and, in an act of instrumental bravado and ego reminiscent of studio genius Brian Wilson, recorded live off the floor to single-tracked two-inch tape. This left no room for overdubs or mistakes, and while the recordings were adequate, they never seemed to be fully rendered.
When Black came to town, earlier this year he opened the set with the Pixies classic "Where Is My Mind." Throughout the course of the set, all eras of Black’s music were updated, Catholics-style. The Catholics plowed through song after song with lush keys, lap steel and a stage cohesion representative of a band that has to be able to do everything in the studio right the first time. In that context, everything began to make sense.
Show Me Your Tears is indicative of a man of Black’s tenure, and with this record he proves that he is ready to grow old gracefully. Considerably more comfortable with his voice and knowledgeable of his range, his delivery is much more restrained. This move towards smoothness makes all the difference. As Black evolves towards roots rock, with the bad-news country stylings of "Horrible Day," this direction doesn’t seem out of place, and The Catholics know just what to do to make the songs work.
Any joker can add lap steel to a basic song structure, but Rich Gilbert delivers the twang so effectively that it is hard to hear it as anything but authentic. With fuzzed-out, south-of-the-border swing and backwoods picking, Show Me Your Tears runs the gamut of folk festival genres and almost never comes up short. For those who are afraid Black has abandoned his roots in favour of roots in general there are tracks like "Everything Is New," which sounds like a slowed-down remembrance of The Pixies with driving bass and Black crooning "uh-huh" in the refrain.
Admittedly, in my mind, Black will probably never achieve the soul-stirring brilliance of "Debaser" or the audacious frenzy of "Vamos" ever again, but this certainly comes close. even if it is in a completely different way.
4/5
JASON LEWIS |
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