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vilainde
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Niue
7441 Posts |
 Posted - 08/02/2007 : 02:02:12
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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." |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2007 : 04:14:42
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I like this line: "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." I'd never really seen "Your Mouth" as a resurrection after the suicide and the angels singing in "Angels," but that's exactly what it is.
Thanks for posting this, Denis.
 There's a perfect explanation for the shit that I've been in. As soon as I find out, I'll let you know. |
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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~
Belgium
15320 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2007 : 15:13:53
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Denis, it's a pleasure to return to the board and see this. Gracias.
I got some heaven in my head
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PistoLaura
- FB Fan -
United Kingdom
41 Posts |
Posted - 08/04/2007 : 07:11:58
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| a very insightful review! |
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the_great_stupido
- FB Fan -
16 Posts |
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Czar
= Cult of Ray =
Canada
321 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2007 : 11:03:59
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Hmmm... I better listen to Your Mouth again to find this meaning. I tend to think this one impersonates the drug that Brood is taking which takes control of him. Interesting.
Merci Denis.
___________________________
Do you think the Pixies were a brouillon of Black Francis? |
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the acorahs
- FB Fan -
United Kingdom
181 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2007 : 16:32:24
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There was a review on channel 4 teletext, they gave it 7/10 and basically said it was a good, often humorous and quirky album.
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it is a wretched life and vanity is repulsive
www.myspace.com/thesexymistakes |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2007 : 18:44:28
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Humorous?
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2007 : 15:31:56
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Just skirted over it in a shop, but a seemingly good review in the new issue of Artrocker. Can't find it on their site, though.
"I hate how the reptile dreams it's a mammal. Scaley monster: be what you are!!" - Erebus. |
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velvety
= Cult of Ray =
Portugal
536 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2007 : 02:12:44
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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 |
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the acorahs
- FB Fan -
United Kingdom
181 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2007 : 07:46:28
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quote:
Originally posted by coastline
Humorous?
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs.
Yeah I am pretty sure they put humorous, not sure why though.
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it is a wretched life and vanity is repulsive
www.myspace.com/thesexymistakes |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 09/03/2007 : 11:00:50
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InTheNews.
Black Francis: Bluefinger
Monday, 03 Sep 2007 15:21
Cooking Vinyl, out September 3rd 2007.
In a nutshell…
Herman Brood-inspired classic Francis.
What's it all about?
Bluefinger is a 40-minute blast of trad pop and rock'n'roll from the one-time
leader of influential proto-grunge stars the Pixies.
With the Pixies reformation perhaps unsurprisingly truncated, Francis Black
found himself in the studio recording a bonus track to entice buyers for his
solo best of, 93-03, released earlier this year. Reclaiming the Black Francis
name "almost as a joke" before the influence of Herman Brood took over, he
stumbled out of the studio days later with a full 11-track LP, with one Brood
cover and ten Black Francis originals.
Who's it by
Frank Black. Having recorded a number of albums under that name since the
band's demise in the mid-90s, either by himself or with backing band the
Catholics, Black reformed the Pixies for a number of critically and publicly
acclaimed live shows and Kim Deal-penned download-only single Bam
Thwok in 2005.
With attempts at properly reuniting the band in the studio failing, Black
reportedly returned to his earlier moniker believing that simply saying the
name would bring back some of the earlier magic. Having found that uttering
the three syllables did nothing at all he professes that the influence of
Herman Brood - an art, sex, drugs and rock and roll legend - took over, this
new supernatural resurrecting Black Francis.
As an example…
"He played piano really f*****g good/ West Berlin to West Hollywood/ Prettier
than Brando/ Punker than Punk / Slave to rock and roll/ And a slave to junk" -
Angels Come To Comfort You.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Not impossible. The Pixies return reminded the critics that Black has been
prolifically putting out records for quite a while and Bluefinger is certainly
strong enough to turn some heads and maintain some of that attention.
What the others say
"Too often Black Francis is beginning to resemble Lou Reed, another
persistent talent whose best work was his earliest." - Steve Jelbert, the Times
"This is a great record. OK, so it's no Pixies classic, but its not that far
removed. Certainly a contender for one of the records of the year." - Steven
Fanning, New-Noise.net
So is it any good?
While it'd be sensible to approach the record with some trepidation - the
return-to-roots trick an oft-used ploy for artists stuck in a musical cul-de-sac
passing off tired facsimiles of their earlier work - Bluefinger shows such
suspicion to be entirely unwarranted in this case.
Bluefinger is a fine record. While it doesn't scale the dizzy heights of the finest
Pixies moments, it is a focused, coherent, tuneful and sometimes brilliant
album. While undoubtedly less avant garde and innovative than the likes of
Surfer Rosa or Doolittle, it has a gorgeous charm all of its own.
Traipsing through a raft of musical styles, from 60s/00s blues (Test Pilot Blues) and Iggy and Joy Division goth
punk smut (Tight Black Rubber) to Lou Reed and Lennon-esque melodies augmented with harmonica
reminiscent of Neil Young's folkier work (Lolita), Bluefinger consistently fails to disappoint.
For the most part forgoing the loud-quiet-loud Pixies dynamic in favour of more traditional song structures,
Black's voice sounds beautifully expressive and honest, almost fragile on occasions, with the primal scream
he pretty much patented with his former band deployed more sparingly, but to no less effect.
7.5 /10
Mayer Nissim
Black Francis' Bluefinger was an
almost inadvertent creation
musicOMH.com.
Black Francis - Bluefinger (Cooking Vinyl)
UK release date: 3 September 2007
This is a Frank Black solo album. Those who spurn
his later day folk offerings, however, are
encouraged to read on: he's readopted his
Pixies-era monicker and its associated screams,
yelps and growls are fully intact.
To add further spice, the indulgence that sugar-coated
last year's Fast Man Raider Man LP has been shown the
door: this is an album of bare rock based around the
life of late Dutch musician/artist Herman Brood that
grew from a studio session for a single track. Nice.
As such, Bluefinger – for the most part, at least – harks
back to an age when Charles was half the size and
twice as hairy. Opener Captain Hasty, for instance, is a
punishing, foot-to-the-floor bruiser, the vocals suitably
frantic and unsettling.
To prove that such teeth grinding is no one-off affair,
the brilliant Threshold Apprehension strides out with the
kind of infectious riff early Green Day made their own.
It is, presumably, a reference to Brood's discovering
that he was fatally ill.
Subsequent affairs are more immediately more morbid
than visceral: Test Pilot Blues is just that, all minor
chords and sad sentiment ("I've seen blues you've never
seen"), while Tight Black Rubber is dark, slightly
confusing but perfectly measured.
Angels Come To Comfort You, however, is more to the
point, referencing Brood – and his suicide by jumping
off the Amsterdam Hilton – with frankness, humour and
admiration. The track's beautiful outro is then followed
by Your Mouth Into Mine, in which Black invokes Brood's
spirit with jangly gusto.
The effort is wrapped up with Discotheque 36
(somewhat inoffensive), Brood's very own You Can't
Break A Heart And Have It (totally brutal), She Took All
The Money (absolutely splendid) and the title track itself
(particularly bluesy).
Bluefinger is, then, a simple, accessible and enjoyable
album of rock and blues by a formidable artist
rediscovering his scream while maintaining his cultured
songwriting abilities. As a resurrection for the Black
Francis alter ego and the dearly departed Brood, the
boy's done good.
- David Welsh
track listing
1. Captain Pasty
2. Threshold
Apprehension
3. Test Pilot Blues
4. Lolita
5. Tight Black Rubber
6. Angels Come To
Comfort You
7. Your Mouth Into
Mine
8. Discotheque 36
9. You Can't Break A
Heart And Have It
10. She Took All The
Money
11. Blue Finger
Posted this in the 'Bluefinger in the news' thread a little while ago, pretty much constitutes a review of sorts, so I'll stick it here:
FWWeekly.
Black Francis
Bluefinger (Cooking Vinyl)
By Tom Geddie
Black Francis is an old stage name for Frank Black, an old stage
name for Charles Thompson, lead singer of The Pixies. Bluefinger,
Black Francis’ debut, could be a kissin’ cousin to the defunct punk
legends’ classic Doolittle.
On opener “Captain Patsy,” Francis sings of the fighter pilot who
likes to be in the here and now and who likes “the rattle of the
melting gun.” On the closer, the title track, Francis sings of
someone who takes responsibility for his or her own decisions. In
between, the album is filled with straightforward lyrics and music,
and a screw-’em-all attitude.
Black says he was inspired to make Bluefinger by the spirit of
Herman Brood, a famous Dutch musician and painter also known
for his lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll. He committed
suicide when he was 54 by jumping off the roof of the Hilton Hotel
in Amsterdam.
The philosophy of nihilism posits that the world has no objective
purpose, truth, or value, meaning that no action has any more or
less value than any other. It is often used as an excuse for reckless
self-indulgence, hip cynicism, and, for some odd reason, an explanation for depression. Bluefinger’s 11 songs — 10
by Black and one by Brood — roam through fear, youthful resistance, lust, and something like love. Is there any
real happiness in it? Do any of the songs have any future? Not that they necessarily need to. If you play it, play it
loud.
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Edited by - Carl on 09/03/2007 13:55:17 |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 09/03/2007 : 11:05:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Carl
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Not impossible. The Pixies return reminded the critics that Black has been prolifically putting out records for quite a while and Bluefinger is certainly strong enough to turn some heads and maintain some of that attention.
A Grammy nomination? I'd be shocked. Those are reserved for true artistes, like Justin Timberlake.
Question for those in the know: Have FB or the Pixies ever been nominated for a Grammy?
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
Edited by - coastline on 09/03/2007 11:05:40 |
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jackruby
- FB Fan -
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 09/03/2007 : 11:31:28
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Very true Coastline.
I think I would be offended if I won a Grammy. Isn't being a giant dildo a prerequisite for winning the Grammy??
Winning a grammy would be like winning a shit-eating contest.
This reminds me of the time I found a Justin Timberlake CD in my wife's glovebox. I was horrified! I would have rather walked in on her and a Llama doing the nasty! I would certainly have lost less respect for her.
She assured me that one of her coworkers bought it for her as a joke because they always made fun of a song from the record when it played on the radio station that they were required to listen to. Never-the-less, I punished her by reading the lyrics from the insert to every song on the album as if I were performing slam-poetry--it made the trip go by really fast. I think the word "girl" was in 8 out of the 12 song titles. I think Justin stole his lyrics from a 12-year-old girl's diary and just changed the gender.
So Justin, if you're reading this: Plagiarism is no joke!! Either is being an enormous duche-bag! So knock it off. You are embarrassing America. |
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vilainde
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Niue
7441 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2007 : 00:17:03
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Mmmhh... I like both Frank Black and Justin Timberlake. The former obviously more than the latter though.
Denis
"Can you hear me? I aint got shit to say." |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2007 : 03:01:42
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I always like Troy Carpenter's reviews; he has always been fair to Frank:
http://www.nudeasthenews.com/reviews/1271
Black Francis, Frank Black, Charles Thompson: whatever the name, the man is always good for some rock and roll. Here, he resurrects his Pixies-era alter ego for a raucous 11-track album that came together as a tribute to late Dutch rock icon and painter Herman Brood.
Now, I’m no expert on Brood, although repeated listens to Bluefinger and some delectable clips on YouTube are forcing me to further investigate the man’s work. But as far as I can tell, Black has done a smashing job in tribute. Probably the most obvious example is the Brood cover “You Can’t Break A Heart And Have It,” in which Black and his power trio (plus wife Violet Clarke on backing vox) rock the heck out of the pounding, bluesy number. Hearing the mounting catharsis, with Black screaming like he hasn’t on record in five years, is enjoyable to hear for that fact alone, but it also makes me want to learn more about the song’s author.
The “Dutch Elvis,” Brood (pronounced “Broat”) was an edgy rock superstar with a strong appetite for hard drugs and a larger-than-life media personality. In his later years he became a painter and was probably as well known for that as his music. In 2001, upon finding out his life was not long for this world, he got right to the quick of it in dramatic fashion by jumping from the seventh floor of the Amsterdam Hilton with a note advising fans to “make a party of it all.”
Brood’s mercurial life and high-flying suicide inspired most of the lyrics on Bluefinger, from the many heroin references to multiple narratives about his suicide. On “Angels Come To Comfort You,” Black makes a humorous attempt at a bio: “He played piano really fucking good / from West Berlin to West Hollywood / Prettier than Brando he was punker than punk / slave to rock and roll and a slave to junk.”
More wrenching is fare like “Threshold Apprehension,” which muses on Brood’s decision to take his own life in the midst of a powerful, angular punk groove that is as much like the Pixies as anything Black’s done in his solo career. Even the “ooo-wee-ooo” backing vocals by Clarke are Deal-esque in their soothing counterpoint to Black’s screaming fury. “Have drink, press button, 7th floor,” Black bellows, “Then wait a hundred years for the elevator door / comes a time if you wanna lose the tension / it’s your last time for the threshold apprehension.”
Here, the listener starts to realize why we haven’t seen a new Pixies album after four years of on/off reunion tours. It’s much easier for Frank to just make Pixies-ish music on his own, following his own muse, than to shepherd the old crew through making a record and face the wider media scrutiny attached to the Pixies name.
“Tight Black Rubber” is, one presumes, an ode to doing heroin the man’s way – wrapping tire innertube around your arm and bloodying up your veins. “Some things in life are so beautiful / make you go back again and again,” Black sings, adding in exclamation words Brood once spoke after snorting a fix on camera during a documentary interview: “It’s amazing, it works!” Later, on the album-closing title track, “The Pepperbox bell [was] blowing my brains / but I made it go quiet with Spanish cocaine.”
On the other side of the spectrum, “Discotheque 36” is a laid-back love song, drawing on Black’s recent forays into country and rootsy Americana to spin the first-person narrative of Brood meeting his wife Alexandra. A sisterly acoustic groove propels along “She Took All The Money,” with lyrics such as “Shama-lama-la-ding-dang / oh me oh my / she took all the money and now I can’t get high.”
So it’s an all-out paean to Brood, and through him to the classic triumvarate of “sex, drugs and rock and roll.” I’ll tell ya, I’ll follow Frank Black through just about anything, and he hasn’t released a record I haven’t liked. But hearing him rock out like this and get back into the darker side of his music, with lascivious lyrics and lecherous guitar licks, really makes me happy. This is the Black I grew up singing along with in my bedroom – visceral screaming, classic rock melodies, enticing song structures and lyrics with new perspectives on interesting topics.
And I hope there aren’t too many Pixies fans still out there who haven’t already realized that the spirit of the legendary band has expressed itself in many ways through Thompson’s now-storied solo career. But if such a creature does exist, he or she should be pointed directly toward Bluefinger, a document as close to capturing the sound of Black Francis, Pixies frontman, as anyone could hope. So, delve into the worlds of two rock icons in one tight album – what are you waiting for?
TROY CARPENTER
"I thought that I had reached bedrock, but I had yet to reach Birmingham..." |
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jackruby
- FB Fan -
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2007 : 07:51:31
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quote:
Originally posted by vilainde
Mmmhh... I like both Frank Black and Justin Timberlake. The former obviously more than the latter though.
Denis
"Can you hear me? I aint got shit to say."
why? how? Do you think he's dreamy? |
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Broken Face
-= Forum Pistolero =-
USA
5155 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2007 : 08:18:03
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quote:
Originally posted by vilainde
Mmmhh... I like both Frank Black and Justin Timberlake. The former obviously more than the latter though.
Denis
"Can you hear me? I aint got shit to say."
Ditto.
JT is no genius, but has a real ear for hooks and has made some of the better pure "pop" music of this decade so far. "Like I Love You" is, no joke, a great song.
- Brian |
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jackruby
- FB Fan -
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2007 : 14:42:13
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| Seriously-- Do you guys have fantasies about Justin Timberlake, Lief Garret, and Scott Baio all showing up at your next birthday party with flowers, singing songs about how pretty and cute you are? I think you do, and that is fine. I am not trying to be a jerk, I am just kidding around. And very surprised. Frank has a very diverse fan-base, doesn't he. |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2007 : 14:45:38
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It's funny. I slagged Garth Brooks here a couple months ago, and it turned out we had a Garth fan on the forum. Now I use Justin Timerlake as an example, and we've got fans of his, too. Make what you will of that.
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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Grotesque
= Cult of Ray =
France
777 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2007 : 16:19:42
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quote:
Originally posted by coastline
It's funny. I slagged Garth Brooks here a couple months ago, and it turned out we had a Garth fan on the forum. Now I use Justin Timerlake as an example, and we've got fans of his, too. Make what you will of that.
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs.
"Pere Ubu is mainstream rock. Justin Timberlake is weird experimental music. Robbie Williams is avant-garde. Britney Spears is constantly coming up with something new and innovative. Pere Ubu does the same old thing. "New" is a trap and a scam to dupe student-types and other naive people." - David Thomas. |
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jackruby
- FB Fan -
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2007 : 17:15:42
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quote:
Originally posted by Broken Face
quote:
Originally posted by vilainde
Mmmhh... I like both Frank Black and Justin Timberlake. The former obviously more than the latter though.
Denis
"Can you hear me? I aint got shit to say."
Ditto.
JT is no genius, but has a real ear for hooks and has made some of the better pure "pop" music of this decade so far. "Like I Love You" is, no joke, a great song.
- Brian
Just out of curiosity--How many Justine Timberlake CD's will fit into your My Little Pony backpack (assuming you first remove your Nsync Trapper-Keeper and your tangerine-sparkle lip gloss)?
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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 04:58:34
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My attempt at an English version (English translation of the French version of an interview that was originally done in English... it's bound to be slightly inaccurate at best.)
quote:
The resurrection of Black Francis
by Julien Broquet
Le Soir (Bruxelles)
09/05/2007
As likeable and theatrical as he is cranky, Charles Thompson, aka Frank Black, is back as a solo under the name Black Francis, which he'd left behind after the Pixies breakup.
Q: Your new album was inspired by Herman Brood. What is it about?
A: He was born in 1946, died in 2001 (he jumped off a window at the Hilton in Amsterdam). He's mostly known in Dutch-speaking countries and in Germany. He just got one hit in the USA. He's a rock singer, a pianist. Later in his life, he became a painter. He's also known for his reckless consumption of drugs. He talked about it openly, he wasn't embarrassed by it, nor was he proud. He was what he was.
Q: How did you decide to make an album about him?
A: I saw one of his performances on my computer. I found him very charismatic. I got interested and finally became obsessed. It was in January. I'd been offered to make a compilation at the time: The Best Of Frank Black. I wasn't very keen. They asked me if I could record a bonus song, I said "Of course". I booked a studio. I didn't have a band. I gathered a few musicians and wondered what I was going to write about. Soon I had three, four songs. Then five. Then six. At some point, I said: there, I've recorded eleven bonus tracks. Better than an album. A Rock Opera. You can't separate these tracks. You have to release them together. They're all about Herman Brood. They said "OK".
Q: Sounds easy for you to impose your views.
A: I'm "cult". I don't really have any problem with record companies. I'm on a small label. Its managers are not going to say no. Even if they think "Damn, he's going to drop another album on us", they know it's going to make a little money. But some people don't give a fuck about Herman Brood, they only think about the Pixies. "Hey, we're going to give you lots of money. Go on, play these songs again." Isn't it great, Kim? Isn't it great, Joey? Isn't it great, Dave? Oh yeah, it's great. Let's just keep playing our old stuff. On and on. As we've been doing for three years. The Pixies needed a new record, to add to their repertoire. (In a big voice:) "I don't know if that's such a good idea Charles. You'll probably make country music again. You don't sing as well as you used to. You can't write rock 'n' roll songs like 20 years ago." This record proves otherwise. It's my answer to the critics.
Q: Who were they from?
A: The Pixies, but also journalists and the audience. "He's slacking in Nashville. He's lost. He doesn't know how to scream anymore." You want screaming? I'll give you screaming. It's just me and my guitar. (Imitates the tone of Jake La Motta's "Did you fuck my wife?" in Raging Bull:) You want the Pixies? I can give it to you. But the Pixies have lost their grip. All they want is to sing "Gigantic" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven". Make money and sleep in four-star hotels. They're scared. (In a scared little girl's voice:) "We might taint and ruin the band's legacy." I don't give a damn about the legacy. I just want to try and make a good record. But they're scared. Fuck them. "Frank, when will the Pixies release a new record? Frank, Kurt Cobain claims that 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was inspired by the Pixies. How do you feel about that?" None of this makes any sense. All people want to hear me talk about is two bands that are no more. One whose singer is dead, and one that hasn't done anything new since 1991.
 Awesome! I fuckin' shot this!
"Les Blackolero, y sont forts en sacramant" - Czar | 06/26/2007 | 20:10:34
free music | Blackolero | Frank Black & Pixies Tributes |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 05:30:01
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Wow. There's a hint that the Pixies are finished: "I just want to try and make a good record. But they're scared. Fuck them." Was that part originally in English, jedi? Did he really say fuck the Pixies?
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 06:04:54
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I'm assuming it was all originally in English, Cohen. I don't think Frank is fluent enough to do a whole interview in French. I don't have the original transcript, but I'm trying to contact the author. If I get lucky, we might have a proper quote.
Awesome! I fuckin' shot this!
"Les Blackolero, y sont forts en sacramant" - Czar | 06/26/2007 | 20:10:34
free music | Blackolero | Frank Black & Pixies Tributes |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 06:37:02
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The Pitchfork review, rated 6.6 out of 10:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/45333-bluefinger
For a few years, Charles K. Thompson, better known as Frank Black or Black Francis, has been inching toward Bluefinger. Though he's been Frank Black on his records ever since the Pixies split in the early 1990s, signs that he was itching for a return to his rowdier, weirder, louder Black Francis persona have recently abounded. Most obviously, he's participated in a successful Pixies reunion, performing all the old favorites for new audiences, but more telling was his solo re-examination of Pixies material on his 2004 release Frank Black Francis.
He spent 2005 and 2006 in Nashville, making some of his quietest records, but in a lot of ways, those albums provided the perfect set-up for the return of Black Francis. Strangely, Black himself claims that the inspiration for resurrecting his old moniker had nothing to do with the Pixies or even himself, and everything to do with a deceased Dutch punk. According to Black, he was "gripped by the spirit of Herman Brood" while recording the bonus track for his 93-03 best of collection, released this summer.
Brood (it's pronounced "Broat") was a long-time fixture on the Netherlands music scene-- he played piano in the Nederbeat group Cuby & the Blizzards in the 60s and later founded his own band. Brood was romantically linked to Nina Hagen in the 80s and achieved a great deal of prominence in his home country. He also had terrible problems with hard drugs for much of his life, and ultimately his health was so degraded that he committed suicide by leaping from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton rather than wait for his ailments to take him.
It's easy to get what Black sees in Brood-- they have a lot in common aesthetically. Brood's music ranges from loud, hard punk to cabaret and even a bit of bizarre swing pastiche-- another thing they have in common is that neither man has always stuck to his strengths. A great deal of Bluefinger was written with Brood in mind-- he's even directly named on one song, and there's a cover of his "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It". As the album gets going, it's clear we're in much different territory than any of the Nashville sessions ventured into. The lineup here is a simple trio of Black on guitar and vocals, Jason Carter on drums and Dan Schmid on bass, with backing vocals by Violet Clarke.
The album opens with the nastiest rock blast we've had from Black in ages, with the charging one-two of "Captain Pasty" and "Threshold Apprehension", which was the bonus track on 93-03. The bass and guitar sound on "Captain Pasty" harks back to "Los Angeles", but it's "Threshold" where the full, manic intensity implied by the switch back to the old name first comes out. The song is a ragged, pounding stomper, and Black's yelping, tweaked-out vocal performance is very nearly Pixies vintage.
Of course, Pixies weren't a one-note band, and a bunch of flailing punk songs with no variation wouldn't exactly reflect the Black Francis spirit Black is revisiting here. The album is varied, with a few songs that are closer in sound to his Catholics output and a couple that even reflect his time in Nashville, such as the harmonica-drenched "Lolita". The production is unfortunately dry and straightforward, with little in the way of post-production add-ons or reverb-- this has never served Black particularly well, and there are stretches where the music sounds bland because of the depthless recording approach.
Black's partial tribute to Brood is good and bad-- Brood's personal travails provide good fodder for songs, but the homage gets downright awkward in places, none moreso than on "Angels Come to Comfort You", which almost reads as a congratulation to Brood for his suicide. Over a rockabilly-ish backing, Black retreats from the surreal imagery and abrupt juxtapositions that serve him well on the rest of the record in favor of lines like, "He played piano really fucking good," and "He was no saint/ But he was Dutch/ So he could paint." The song is somewhat salvaged by a great coda featuring Clarke's wordless vocals layered into a choir of angels.
There are only a few small points that actually sound like his work with the Pixies, so don't come in expecting a throwback to Doolittle-- besides, who's truly holding him to the standard of his old band these days? Frank Black solo will always be different no matter what he calls himself. Bluefinger is the best overall solo record Black has released in a long time, but it's still only good, not great. It will likely please a few fans who were getting sick of his "Frank Black + Studio Giants" phase, but we're also speaking relatively. Overall, this basically splits the difference between Frank Black and Black Francis, producing a few good songs but only rarely justifying the name switch.
-Joe Tangari, September 05, 2007
"I thought that I had reached bedrock, but I had yet to reach Birmingham..." |
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billgoodman
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Netherlands
6118 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 07:18:07
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justifying the name switch? shees...
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
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fbc
-= Modulator =-
United Kingdom
4903 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 10:13:08
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quote:
Originally posted by coastline
Wow. There's a hint that the Pixies are finished: "I just want to try and make a good record. But they're scared. Fuck them." Was that part originally in English, jedi? Did he really say fuck the Pixies?
I'd love it if he did. |
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Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 12:35:24
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quote:
Originally posted by fbc
quote:
Originally posted by coastline
Wow. There's a hint that the Pixies are finished: "I just want to try and make a good record. But they're scared. Fuck them." Was that part originally in English, jedi? Did he really say fuck the Pixies?
I'd love it if he did.
I'd love it too. It's generally not good form to smack talk your team mates outside the locker room, but it's clear that he's fed up with their lack of spine. They got rich off the tour and were it not for Frank Black, they'd still be languishing in obscurity, or in Kim Deal's case, taking 7 damn years to record a record.
He challenges them to try to make good music together and they just want to take the money and quit? they have nothing without him agreeing to do the reunion tours. I'd say "fuck them" too, and it makes me lose a lot of respect for the rest of the band. As much as I enjoyed the reunion, I totally agree - it was going to turn into the county fair circuit tour if they didn't change up the set list or record something new.
== jeffamerica == |
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Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 12:37:08
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On topic, I'm surprised a the somewhat low reviews for this album. The reviewers generally seem to really like it, but are giving it low scores. What they say in the articles and the scores don't seem to match up...
== jeffamerica == |
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Czar
= Cult of Ray =
Canada
321 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 14:23:49
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Wow Jedi, that's dynamite. "Qu'ils aillent se faire foutre". That's strong, but you know what? I'm totally behind Black Francis. Nostalgia is a thing of the past.
___________________________
Do you think the Pixies were a brouillon of Black Francis? |
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fbc
-= Modulator =-
United Kingdom
4903 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 14:31:47
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| Czar, is that French bit you posted the "fuck them" part? Heh. |
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Czar
= Cult of Ray =
Canada
321 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2007 : 15:22:29
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Exactly. More words leads to more subtlety and elegance. But the result is the same.
___________________________
Do you think the Pixies were a brouillon of Black Francis? |
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velvety
= Cult of Ray =
Portugal
536 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2007 : 15:36:52
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Nice review from noripcord.com:
Black Francis
"Bluefinger"
(Cooking Vinyl)
Rating: 8/10
Bluefinger is the first recording credited to Black Francis in about 15 years – the name has been virtually redundant since the Pixies 1992 swansong Trompe Le Monde, and fittingly so given Charles Thompson IV’s wild directional and musical swings. This latest release, however, fits comfortably alongside that album’s Nirvana-esque U Mass, or Debaser’s frenetic chord progressions as some of the man’s most aggressive and upfront music.
Black Francis, aka Charles Thompson, aka Frank Black has put his hand to pretty much everything in the last twenty years: he’s created some of the most cerebral alt.rock ever recorded to tape with the Pixies, reinvented space-age alt.pop as a solo artist and spent a significant chunk exploring minimal recording techniques to recapture a more halcyon age of rock’n’roll. Most recently he’s worked with Steve Cropper, Penn & Oldman et al on Honeycomb and Fast Man/Raiderman – these latter received more warmly by the ageing broadsheet critics than the hip young things. Yet despite serious misgivings, you go out of your way to forgive Black his occasional indiscretions. Quite simply, for me – and many others – Frank Black came to represent something higher than ordinary music – he was to grunge what Tom Waits was to today’s singer songwriters, or what Led Zeppelin was to Jack White: A little bit frightening, and nothing remotely attainable, but something to inspire and push one on.
Which is why the 'Nashville' albums, although they had their moments, were generally disappointing – they could quite easily have been done by, well, anyone. Bluefinger on the other hand... Where could Frank Black go from lovelorn country? Why, by recording a sonically brutal concept album about – quite literally – sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, as epitomised by the life of Dutch artist/musician Herman Brood. As role models go, Brood is up there with Sid Vicious and GG Allin, but he’s inspired a record that recaptures Black’s former glory and arguably exceeds good chunks of it. The menacing bass pulls you straight in to opener Captain Pasty, before the carefully-voiced chords entice you into lead single Threshold Apprehension, which continues in a way in which the likes of Bloc Party would be quite jealous. All angular and muscular it’s a great single, despite its lengthy intro. More importantly it reintroduces, after a gap of too many years, Black’s legendary howl – that scream so monstrous on Caribou – it’s back, and it’s thrilling.
It’s kind of tricky trying to highlight standout tracks, as each appeals in its own right, and for different reasons. However, Angels Come To Comfort You deserves a mention for it’s awesome, ghostly codetta, and although the idea of a man of Frank Black’s, um, stature singing about Tight Black Rubber may not appeal at first, the half-spoken lyrics over the churning bass will certainly draw you in.
Black is as lyrically dextrous on Bluefinger as he’s ever been, particularly on the aforementioned Angels..., probably the most explicit track on the subject that the album contains. Starting as a country boogie that would have been at home on his 2001 album Dog In The Sand, it describes Brood’s trajectory from "West Berlin to West Hollywood," and how he was "prettier than Brando, he was punker than punk / slave to rock’n’roll and a slave to junk." The track ends after a protracted outro in a sombre siren tone, halfway between an ambulance and a heart monitor, not before referencing John and Yoko's stay at the Amsterdam Hilton in room 902, the same from which Brood himself fell/jumped to his death – the angels coming "to break your fall" playing against Captain Pasty's "please report to the tarmac for a very important assignment." It’s all very dense, and as fascinating to unpick as Dylan's quasi-religious mumbles or Waits' lysergic apocalypses.
Veering in snarling seconds past Brood’s own smack anthem, You Can’t Break A Heart And Have It and the almost lurid Your Mouth Into Mine, one is initially left with the distinctly unsettling impression that is the Black household bedroom album, featuring as it does his new wife Violet on backing vocals. Fortunately, keeping the themes and lyrics in mind dispels this and one is able to concentrate again on what is a really outstanding body of work. It’s deep and complex, yet musically immediate – the production causes the instruments to jump right out of the speakers. It’s far and away the finest record Frank Black has produced in a long time, and shows that it’s time for the old pretenders to show the new pretenders a thing or two about writing a rock song.
By Simon Briercliffe
04/09/2007 |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2007 : 18:17:30
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quote:
Originally posted by velvety
Nirvana-esque U Mass
Jesus.
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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Bluefinger reviews
