|
Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
 Posted - 10/17/2003 : 05:37:25
|
Jop, what is Dutch for "has this review been posted yet?"
It is by Nik Moore, dated 14th October, and he gives the album 3.5 stars out of 5:
Like Velvet Undergound, The Stooges and New York Dolls before them, The Pixies must be the most-used "influence" in new bands' press releases. Which is odd, really, because - like Velvet Underground, The Stooges and New York Dolls - they didn't exactly sell albums by the bucket-load, and old Frank Black is probably flicking through The Bumper Annual of Debut Press Releases: Vol. 46 at this very moment, thinking to himself: "Where were all you feckers when we were releasing records...?".
But despite the misty-eyed attributes accorded The Pixies, Frank Black's post-Pixies career hasn't exactly been booming. Sure, the die-hards pack out every live show, and desperately pick at the sparse bones of his solo albums seeking that lost spark, but he's just not done anything remotely as interesting as the majority of his work with The Pixies.
Which is what makes 'Show Me Your Tears' such a damned exciting release...
Frank Black moved to Los Angeles to make this album, and - like so many of that weird race of people that inhabit that town - he sought the American Dream and got it: he entered into therapy with his very own shrink. But rather than make him go all insular and even more humdrum, it seems to have cleared a few cobwebs out of his system, and he's recorded his best album in over ten years.
There's not QUITE a 'Debaser', or a 'Velouria', or a 'Monkey Gone To Heaven', but this album is actually very listenable: there's a looseness, a devil-may-care attitude, to the recording, and it's all the better for it. Perhaps echoing the musical forefathers (1960s, anyway) of his adopted city, an alt.country feel abounds - 'Goodbye Lorraine', 'Horrible Day', 'My Favourite Kiss', 'New House Of The Pope' certainly fall into this group - though of more interest are the Iggy-like 'The Snake', the rumbling blues of 'Nadine', and especially 'Massif Centrale', which will have Pixies fans drooling.
Welcome back, Frank.
No man is an island, unless he is in the bath |
Edited by - Ten Percenter on 10/17/2003 05:45:27 |
|
Topic Locked
