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billgoodman
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Netherlands
6214 Posts |
 Posted - 09/09/2007 : 05:41:29
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quote:
Originally posted by coastline
quote:
Originally posted by velvety
Nirvana-esque U Mass
Jesus.
 Please pardon me, for these my wrongs.
this is exactly the shit that rubs Frank the wrong way.
and me too, to be honest
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
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OLDMANOTY
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
469 Posts |
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benji
> Teenager of the Year <
New Zealand
3426 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2007 : 02:54:57
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that rolling stone review is so predictable it's almost sickening.
i expected nothing more or less from those idiots.
all i can say, thank god for polio! brian |
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cptnpasty
- FB Fan -
Spain
161 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2007 : 03:04:16
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| frank black gets called kurt cobainesque because the world is upside down and back to front. i don't even hear it, to be honest. leaving aside who is the better writer (fb) or the more talented (fb), i don't think they're similar. |
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remig
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1734 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2007 : 04:59:23
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quote:
Originally posted by velvety
Nice review from noripcord.com:
Black Francis
"Bluefinger"
(Cooking Vinyl)
Rating: 8/10
[...]
Nirvana-esque U Mass,[...]
By Simon Briercliffe
04/09/2007
Ahaha.
One should understand that a review isn't intendend for uberfans. If I had to review a Beatles album, for a 14th kid that only heard once Oasis, I'ld talk about Oasis.
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Bartholomew
= Cult of Ray =
USA
344 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2007 : 06:27:52
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Here is a great review from Adrian's Album Reviews (the best source for album reviews i personally know of...check out the back catalog reviews of FB and the Pixies, too. All spot on. Here it is: http://www.adriandenning.co.uk/albums.html
Black Francis : Bluefinger 9 ( 2007 )
Captain Pasty / Threshold Apprehension / Test Pilot Blues / Lolita / Tight Black Rubber / Angels Come To Comfort You / Your Mouth Into Mine / Discotheque 36 / You Can't Break A Heart And Have It / She Took All The Money / Bluefinger
The name change, I guess, is significant. If the 93-03 compilation drew a line under Frank Black, the reunion of The Pixies, and now a solo album as Black Francis, is cause for celebration. The optimist is hoping for a fully blown new Pixies album ( at some stage ) but only if it's good enough. Judging by the fantastic 'Bluefinger', it would be good enough, but now we have a revitalized Black Francis/Frank Black solo, a new studio Pixies seems somewhat irrelevant. This is a return to top-notch form. No doubt touring with his fantastic fellow Pixies has seen Charles try and get back into that idiom, to some respect. True, 'Bluefinger' is a million miles removed from his more recent Nashville/Country influenced material. It's a tidy thirty-nine minutes long, which is also a departure from releasing hour long or two hour long solo records as Frank Black, lately.
So, what is 'Bluefinger' actually like? Well, he screams again on a few tunes! He mixes things up with proper, melodic songs. Every single song is a winner, for different reasons. It's funny what I wrote actually at the end of my 'Fast Man/Raider Man' review, wishing for him to work with some different musicians. He does so here, just a tight, garage rock kind of band, but there's some talent here, too. Don't know who the musicians are, but Charles Thompson/Black Francis himself is center to all of the songs. His guitar playing, which with added Joey would totally resemble latter day Pixies. The vocals, i've already touched upon, but let's take the first couple of songs here. 'Captain Pasty' immediately gets the juices flowing with a tasty, addictive and bendy guitar line, clattering drums and a rush of speedy vocals. We've a strong chorus and two and a half minutes of 'song'. Perfect. The five minute long 'Threshold Appreciation' is the most Pixies-like the man has been for some time, screaming and yelling, stop/starting and more besides.
'Lolita' and 'Tight Black Rubber' are both surpreme. 'Lolita' has been spinning around my head for days and days, just like the good old days going back to 'Bossanova', 'Trompe Le Monde' and the first couple of solo albums. It's hard to describe, let's just say the guitar is wonderful to listen to. This isn't by the way, a screamer. It's like those songs you'd find on 'side b' of Pixies albums that would take a few listens to get into, but eventually never leave you. Excellent harmonica solo, incidentally. 'Tight Black Rubber' is very nearly as good and features it's amazing, it works! it's amazing it works! HA!! as the tension builds into the chorus. The second half of the album is just as good, by the way but I don't want to go too overboard here, although I probably already have done. Let's just say 'Your Mouth Into Mine' is a tune better than the first two Frank Black and the Catholics albums put together, all by itself. Going overboard? Well, i'm a fan and i'm exicited again. That's enough of a defence for me, isn't it? |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2007 : 10:29:30
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OrlandoSentinel.com.
Black Francis returns with a Pixie-like
presence
Jim Abbott | Sentinel Pop Music Critic
September 7, 2007
What's in a name?
Well, the identity of Frank Black's music, at least on the rocking
Bluefinger, hinges on what he happens to be calling himself at the
moment. As Frank Black, the ex-Pixies frontman has lately been
leaning country, recording Honeycomb (2005) and Fast Man Raider
Man (2006) in Nashville, Tenn., with Music City studio aces.
While those albums were lovely diversions (especially
Honeycomb), the return of Black Francis also marks a welcome
return to the taut, noisy rock that he once crafted with the Pixies.
That stylistic turn was inspired by
another name: Herman Brood.
Bluefinger, in stores Tuesday, was
inspired by the spirit of that Dutch
painter and musician, who died in
2001. Brood is remembered as much
for his outspoken statements about
sex and drugs as his music and art,
but that doesn't dilute the sonic power
of this tribute.
Songs such as "Threshold
Apprehension," originally a bonus track
on Black's 93-03 best-of album, is the
signature representation of Bluefinger's
sound: clanging guitars, manic vocals,
minimalist chord progression -- an
economically constructed blast that
wouldn't have sounded out of place on
Doolittle.
Tossed in with the original songs is
Brood's "You Can't Break a Heart and
Have It," another raw-to-the-bone
combination of guitars and drums. It
clocks in at less than three minutes of
raucous mayhem.
It's followed by "She Took All the
Money," which mellows things a tad,
although the bluesy harmonica puts
another distinctive edge on the
acoustic strumming and catchy
chorus: "She took all the money and
left me here to die."
For such a lean-sounding album, Bluefinger offers impressive range as it flitters from the
breakneck noise of "Captain Pasty" to the pensive "Test Pilot Blues" to the glacial pace of the
title track. Under any name, Bluefinger rocks.
Jabbott@Orlandosentinel.Com
Reviewing key:
***** excellent, **** good, *** average, ** poor, * awful
LAist.
September 8, 2007
Black is Back!
Artist: Black Francis
Album: Bluefinger
Label: Cooking Vinyl
Release Date: September 11, 2007
Earlier this year Frank Black went into the studio to record one new song for a best of retrospective.
Possessed by the spirit of Dutch junkie/artist/pianist Herman Brood, he emerged with an entire album, and
a name change.
For those of you who have been keeping your fingers crossed waiting for a new Pixies album, this is the
record you’ve been waiting for.
Easily his best record in years, Bluefinger bursts through the speakers with all the blissful raw sweaty sex-
fuelled abandon that Frank’s been hinting at for much of his entire solo career, but rarely attained with such
mastery or consistency. Reclaiming his Pixies alias is totally appropriate. One listen and it’s obvious - this
isn’t a Frank Black record, it’s a Black Francis record.
More review, videos and art after the jump.
Throughout, the guitar is crunchy, the bass is fat and raw. Black’s wife, Violet, lends a welcome female
voice to the proceedings. Black, reconnected with his inner-teenager, barks, yelps, and howls his way
through the eleven caustic tracks. (Ten originals and a cover of Brood’s “You Can’t Break A Heart and Have
It”.)
First single, “Threshold Apprehension” is a purely joyous noise. Its’ infectious stuttering guitar, wailing dog
in a gutter chorus, and junk sick, lust-charged lyrics evoke the Pixies in all their latter day glory. You can’t
help but smile as Black screams “I stood on the dock and you got on your knees / Grand Marnier and a
pocket full of speed / We did it all day till we started to bleed”.
The first five songs bristle with punk pathos, and before you know it, they’re over. “Captain Pasty” with its
“rocket-fuel” imagery sets the tone quick. In “Lolita”, Black offers the wisdom - presumably to Brood’s
daughter Lola - “You get your bone / then you get thrown in the dog pound.”
“Angeles Come To Comfort You” is the one song that, at first, sounds more like mid-era solo Black, but
then it almost immediately shifts gears, and becomes a Martian-surf instrumental that wouldn’t have been
out of place on Bossonova. The narrator of “Angeles Come To Comfort You” directly addresses the Herman
Brood story with a clarity not apparent on the other Blue Finger tracks. Black sings about Brood’s suicide.
(He jumped off the roof of the same Amsterdam Hilton where John and Yoko honeymooned and held their
first bed-in.) But Black also reminds us that Brood “played piano really fuckin’ good”.
Despite the album’s dark themes, Black sounds like he’s having a genuinely great time. During an
instrumental break in “Test Pilot Blues” he spontaneously ad-libs “I love this part”. In “Tight Black Rubber”
he proves his humor is intact, by following the line “I’m all killer / no filler” by recanting the words to “Mary
Had a Little Lamb”.
The fact that this record was written and recorded so quickly is phenomenal. The band sounds like they’ve
been playing the songs for years; tactfully maneuvering the records’ dynamics, intros, odd time signatures,
break-downs, and tempo-changes with tasteful aplomb. Throughout “Lolita”, the band locks in on this
staccato groove that makes it sound almost as if the CD is skipping. Barring the Brood cover, none of the
songs here are straight verse chorus verse. Clocking in at thirty-something minutes, it’s a rare record that
grabs you on first listen and rewards you on repeated spins.
We will probably never get that Pixies reunion album, but if Black keeps putting out records like this, you
won’t hear me complaining.
Frank Black is dead. Long live Black Francis!
Tracklisting:
Captain Pasty
Threshold Apprehension
Test Pilot Blues
Lolita
Tight Black Rubber
Angels Come To Comfort You
Your Mouth Into Mine
Discotheque 36
You Can’t Break a Heart and Have It
She Took All the Money
Blue Finger
Here are some cool fan-made videos for Blue Finger songs:
Captain Pasty
Threshold Apprehension
Test Pilot Blues
Tight Black Rubber
and the Herman Brood version of You Can’t Break a Heart and Have It
Herman Brood's painting "Test Pilot Blues"
By Heath Biter in CD Review | Link | Comments (0) | Recommend this! | [+] |
Edited by - Carl on 09/10/2007 11:00:40 |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2007 : 11:04:38
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quote:
Originally posted by Carl
“Angeles Come To Comfort You” is the one song that
Freudian slip by the reviewer? Does he secretly still prefer early-solo Frank?
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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darwin
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
USA
5454 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2007 : 11:12:47
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| I saw that and they do again later in the paragraph. LA bias. |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2007 : 11:40:44
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Billboard.com
Bluefinger
BLACK FRANCIS
Producer(s): Mark Lemhouse
Genre: ROCK
Label: Cooking Vinyl
Cause for celebration: Erstwhile Pixies
frontman/rock'n'roll lifer Charles Thompson is back for
another round, this time reclaiming his "old" stage name
Black Francis and rocking out harder on record than he
has in years. For "Bluefinger," Francis drew inspiration
from iconic Dutch musician/ painter Herman Brood,
whose mercurial, drug-fueled life and dramatic suicide
color most of the album's lyrics. Not surprisingly, the
Brood cover "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It" is
one of the high points, a furious power-trio jam on the
barrelhouse blues number, complete with backing
vocals by Francis' wife, Violet Clarke. "Threshold
Apprehension" has angular guitars, lung-busting lead
vocals and "oo-wee-oos" by Clarke that should remind
listeners of Kim Deal. But no less enthralling is laid-back
fare like "Discotheque 36," its easy groove informed by Thompson's recent forays into
Americana. —Troy Carpenter
Concert Livewire.
Pixies frontman
returns to roots
Black Francis - Bluefinger
(Cooking Vinyl)
3 stars (out of 5 stars)
Reviewed: Sept. 9, 2007
Review by Tony Bonyata
I have to admit that other then being absolutely floored the first time I heard Pixies' Surfer Rosa and
Doolittle back in '89 (still two of my favorite rock albums of the last two decades), the majority of
work that Pixies' frontman Frank Black has released since - either as a Pixie of solo artist - usually
leaves me either perplexed or cold for a listen or two before the whole thing starts to take shape into
something much more interesting, eclectic and alluring. Not so surprisingly, his latest full-length is no
exception, as it holds a lot of surprises that don't always spring right out of the box, but once they do
they're a joy.
On his fourteenth solo effort, Bluefinger, Black is once again donning his Black Francis name, which
he used throughout his career as a Pixie before changing it to Frank Black for his remarkable 1993
self-titled solo effort. But while the eleven tracks never fully mirror Francis' former band - save for
perhaps the spastic jerk of "Threshold Apprehension" which would have fit nicely within the confines
of Pixies' last two efforts, Bossanova or Trompe Le Monde - they do rock harder than the majority
of his more recent work (especially considering that his last two efforts, Honeycomb and Fastman
Raiderman, leaned more towards classic Nashville country than the left-of-center alt-rock he helped
create in the late '80s).
Bluefinger is an ode to Dutch musician, artist and self-destructive eccentric Herman Brood, which
either directly or indirectly makes references to him throughout. Francis covers one of Brood's own
tunes, "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It," which despite its punky attitude actually isn't one of
the record's stronger tracks (no surprise since Francis is a master at crafting oddly unique modern
rock compositions). The numbers that do initially prick-the-ears are the grungy "Tight Black
Rubber," the subversive swing of "Test Pilot Blues" and the revved-up mayhem of opening track
"Captain Pasty."
"Slave to rock & roll and a slave to junk, angels come to comfort you," Francis sings on the most
biographical number to Brood on "Angels Come To Comfort You," but it's how the song transforms
two-thirds of the way in from snappy pop to a haunting jam, complete with his wife Violet Clarke's
heavenly harmonizing which adds a warm ghostly effect that's both disorienting and pleasing, that
really makes this number soar.
Despite the return to his former moniker, however, Bluefinger never fully reaches the heights of his
former band, nor does it match the work of first two solo efforts, but, as always, Frank Black, or
Black Francis as the case may now be, has always managed to deliver the goods. And this ode to one
of his musical and artistic heroes is no exception.
Watch Black Francis' - "Your Mouth Into Mine" video
Black Francis - Your Mouth Into Mine
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Edited by - Carl on 09/10/2007 16:07:14 |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2007 : 16:11:29
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quote:
Originally posted by Carl
On his fourteenth solo effort,
They're really starting to add up, aren't they? Off the top of my head, I would have guessed nine, maybe ten.
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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billgoodman
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Netherlands
6214 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2007 : 02:12:37
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I thought this was BF first?
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
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Cheeseman1000
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Iceland
8201 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2007 : 02:44:39
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quote:
Ahaha.
One should understand that a review isn't intendend for uberfans. If I had to review a Beatles album, for a 14th kid that only heard once Oasis, I'ld talk about Oasis.
Merci monsieur. If you're writing a review, you have to compare music to other music that people will know, whether it sickens you or not. Just as when you read a review, the best way for you to understand a band's sound is when compared to other, similar bands.
The reviewer probably faced at least some sort of dilemma: while to the uber-fan (and probably FB's) mind, that's probably lazy, uninformed journalism but to everybody else, U-Mass does sound like a lot of Nirvana songs - Trompe Le Monde being released so close to Nevermind (the album where that sort of sound first made itself really felt in Cobain's music), however, rules out the accusations of plagiarism, etc.
Technically speaking, our reviewer friend acknowledges this with the use of 'esque', as opposed to 'ripped off Nirvana', or your standard insert-Nirvana-comparison here. Hmm? |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2007 : 03:45:32
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It seemed to be a tad more accurate than the average review from Briercliffe. Who wrote 'Dark End of the Street' again?
"I thought that I had reached bedrock, but I had yet to reach Birmingham..." |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2007 : 03:58:01
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A three star review by the Briercliffe-esque Alan Sargeant; from Crud magazine - not much of a review actually:
http://www.2-4-7-music.com/reviews/reviewsearch/long.asp?ArtistName=BLACK%20FRANCIS&MusicTitle=BLUEFINGER&FeatureType=REVIEW
There’s one thing that really pisses me off about Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV and that’s just how many ‘guises’ he’s engaged in over the years: Francis Black, Frank Black, Black Francis. I mean, why doesn’t he just have a t-shirt printed saying ‘I have a deep and complex personality and requires the scope of character that a series of aliases affords me’. Granted, that’s too many words to have printed on a t-shirt, but you get my point; why the chuffing-hell bother. Multiple-personality disorder? The product of an undisciplined soul? A self-conscious desire to draw attention to his multi-fibrous creative vision? David Bowie never had this problem: Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, blue eyed-soul boy, gnome-chum – it always said David Bowie on the cover. However daft his costume, however conceited his aim Bowie always seemed able to reconcile all these disparate threads and truss them up in one private hegemony. But not Francis – Francis is obsessed with personification and on feisty new album ‘Bluefinger’ – it comes to something of a head.
Directly or indirectly, all 11 songs reference Herman Brood, a man invariably described as the ‘Dutch personification of ‘sex, drugs and rock n roll’. A rock musician with a history going back to the 1960s, he and his band, Herman Brood and His Wild Romance experienced a degree of success in Europe before scoring a hit in the US with ‘Saturday Night’ in 1979. Outspoken, excessive and prone to leaping off roofs it was a life marred by drink and hardened by drugs. But it’s not his music that interests Francis, nor his recreational proclivities; it’s Brood’s art and his lust for life. Outspoken, unconventional and in the public eye for decades Brood embarked on a relationship with punky, bondage loving German artist, Nina Hagen whom he joined in the film Cha Cha along with Lena Lovich. He died at the age of 54. Told he had only a few months to live, Brood ran into the arms of the reaper by leaping off the roof of The Amsterdam Hilton in 2001.
And here is something of a homage. Ten new Frank Black originals and a cover of Brood’s ‘You Can’t Break A Heart And Have It’. Originally conceived as work he might start with The Pixies, Francis became gripped by the spirit of Brood and what began as a bonus track for his 93-03 Best Of .. transformed into a dozen or so razor sharp, hastily cut tracks bristling with the kind of belligerent beauty that Brood himself would be proud of.
Here's the new Francis doing the old Francis as perceived through the eyes of someone else. How's that for a mind-fuck?
"I thought that I had reached bedrock, but I had yet to reach Birmingham..." |
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velvety
= Cult of Ray =
Portugal
536 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2007 : 11:20:46
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| Most of the less positive reviews seem to have a problem with Frank using his old name for Bluefinger. I guess they had to pick on something, seeing as the album is fantastic all the way through. I wonder if the reviews would have been better had bluefinger been associated with the solo artist Frank Black. |
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HeathBiter
- FB Fan -
USA
2 Posts |
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HeathBiter
- FB Fan -
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2007 : 11:44:17
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oops - ignore that last post. I didn't realize the laist article had already been posted. Cheers!
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darwin
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
USA
5454 Posts |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2007 : 12:09:45
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Ye olde straw man argument. Make up something and then point out how weak it is. I saw that too.
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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MrBlonde7
- FB Fan -
1 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2007 : 15:23:47
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http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/article/4961/review/music/bluefinger
3.5 stars
Black Francis
Bluefinger
[Cooking Vinyl]
Writer: Mike Isaac
Reviews, Published online on 11 Sep 2007
If you were to scrutinize the last 20 years of music looking for a unique face, one an artistic cut above the rest of the crowd, Charles Michael Kittredge Thompson IV would not stand out. Stark white, squat-framed and stout in stature, Thompson is superficially unremarkable. Standing in a line-up, you might be inclined to scan over him and continue looking for someone with a glitter-glazed blazer. A fantastic pompadour, perhaps.
But you would be completely wrong.
For having such an unassuming exterior, Thompson – better known as Frank Black, Pixies frontman, and in this case, his earlier moniker, Black Francis – is more diverse than many musicians, peeling back layers of persona like crisped skin from fried chicken. Out of the depths of his abrasive, esoteric lyricism in early work with the Pixies and his chameleonesque solo material comes the impressive reemergence of Black Francis with Bluefinger.
“Captain Pasty,” an anthemic ode to a gas-drinking, small town-escaping superhero, opens the album with a succession of rapid-fire twangy guitar punches and a gravel-gulping wail from Francis, setting the pace for what's to come. “Threshold Apprehension,” a pummeling array of bass-drum kicks and Francis’ signature staccato bar chords, is an album highlight, waxing fearfully on coming to the brink of recklessness and thinking twice about taking the fall. Similar themes arrive later in “Angels Come to Comfort You,” a dirge that poses an aftermath existing if the protagonist did indeed leap into the great beyond.
But “Lolita” slows the album down a bit, telling a story of the beaten spirit of youth surrounded by antagonism, set to forlorn harmonies and harmonica solos. The song serves as apt transition into the latter half of the album, composed of realized love connections and relationship fallout.
After a scant 40 minutes or so, it's hard to remember why one would glance over this iconic talent in the aforementioned lineup. Black Francis’ ability to explore familiar themes in a spastic, unfettered manner continues to remind us that uniqueness is not simply skin deep.
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Czar
= Cult of Ray =
Canada
321 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2007 : 16:52:40
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Interesting. No mention of Brood's story in this one. Probably didn't read the communiqué.
___________________________
Do you think the Pixies were a brouillon of Black Francis? |
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starmekitten
-= Forum Pistolera =-
United Kingdom
6370 Posts |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 02:16:35
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quote:
Originally posted by remig
quote:
Originally posted by velvety
Nice review from noripcord.com:
Black Francis
"Bluefinger"
Nirvana-esque U Mass
By Simon Briercliffe
04/09/2007
Ahaha.
One should understand that a review isn't intendend for uberfans. If I had to review a Beatles album, for a 14th kid that only heard once Oasis, I'ld talk about Oasis.
I think the reviewer can be forgiven, he sounds like such a handsome young man.
Idiot. |
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coastline
> Teenager of the Year <
USA
3111 Posts |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 05:06:02
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Well, that certainly explains one post in this thread.
Please pardon me, for these my wrongs. |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 14:40:50
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Star-Telegram.com (scroll down).
Black Francis
Bluefinger
**** 4 of 5 stars
While you twiddle your thumbs waiting for that new Pixies record to materialize (don't
worry, it's probably right on the heels of Chinese Democracy), listen to Frank Black
(performing as Black Francis) shake off the country-folk stupor of his last few solo
efforts and rip into 11 punk-streaked tracks supposedly inspired by the late Dutch
musician and artist Herman Brood. Savagely melodic and imbued with an energy
noticeably absent from Black's recent catalog, Bluefinger pops out of the speakers like
music on a mission. That recent Pixies reunion must have reinvigorated Black more
than he let on -- this is one dirty, frayed, fantastic record.
Download this: Lolita
-- Preston Jones
Blogcritics.org.
Music Review: Black Francis - Bluefinger
Written by Timothy Jarrett
Published September 11, 2007
The new Black Francis (aka Frank Black)
album, Bluefinger, is a strong album,
maybe the strongest Black Francis album
in thirteen years. It's also the first Black
Francis album in thirteen years, kind of.
Black Francis claims the album is inspired
by the work and life of Herman Brood.
These three sentences beg three
questions. The first is: who is Herman
Brood?
Readers in the Netherlands will be more
familiar with Brood and his work than
Americans will. A keyboard player who
made his start with mid-'60s Dutch group
Cuby and the Blizzards, Brood later
became notorious for his drug use, and
his chart performance suffered, to the degree that he briefly gave up music in the
early 1990s. He spent the balance of the '90s issuing a few records and creating art,
before ultimately leaping to his death in 2001. Brood's artwork lends names to several
tracks on Bluefinger, including "Test Pilot Blues" and "Threshold Apprehension," and
"You Can't Break a Heart and Have It" is a Brood cover.
This leaves the remaining two questions: Who is Black Francis? And where has he been
all these years?
The first of these questions seems fatuous, the second coy. Even the 21-year-old
hipster who was still eating strained peas and filling diapers in 1987 when the Pixies
released Come On Pilgrim knows that Black Francis was the frontman, resident
UFOlogist, and tortured lead screamer for this most pivotal underground band that
almost made it mainstream — opened for U2 during the Achtung Baby tour, for
Chrissakes — before he broke the band up by fax.
And Black Francis hasn't gone anywhere, despite the fact that there have been no
releases on which that nom de plume played from 1991's Trompe Le Monde to 2004's
"Bam Thwok." That selfsame callow hipster knows that Black Francis became Frank
Black when he went solo in 1993, and released a series of solid, if workmanlike,
releases between the debut s/t and 2006's Fast Man/Raider Man.
So much for the history. The questions remain: where has Black Francis been in Frank
Black's solo work for thirteen to fifteen long years? And who is Black Francis, as
opposed to Frank Black, anyway? And, most pertinent to Tuesday's full-length release
Bluefinger, why is this the first release of Frank Black's career to be credited to Black
Francis? These are all related questions with one at their core: what is the Black
Francis sound?
As I ask the question, I hear Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV, aka Frank Black,
aka Black Francis, cough, then laugh dryly, then advise me to go f*cking die.
But there is something to the change of name, for sure. Or else this would have been
the fifteenth release credited to Frank Black. So is this a change of soul? Or just of,
you'll pardon this squarest of thoughts, brand?
MBA voice over: The Black Francis brand stands for slicing up eyeballs, screaming,
quiet loud quiet, being the band that inspired Nirvana, and being the most awesome
band ever. The Frank Black brand stands for a workmanlike approach to rock and roll.
Direct to two track. Country rock. Low sales. As he sang in "Chip Away Boy," "I used
to have some fun/Me and everyone/Now I'm just employed."
And that may be all there is to it. Except:
Exhibit A: "Captain Pasty." Mars attacking. Irregular meters. And that awesome growl-
laugh that opens up the track. It will make your car go like nitrous, if you happen to
be behind the wheel when you are listening.
Exhibit B: "Tight Black Rubber," with its Fugazi meets Nirvana bass + guitar duet
settling into a Meat Puppets meets Velvets chugging rocker full of tension and
bondage tropes.
Exhibit C: "Your Mouth Into Mine." Could be a Frank Black song, except the spaces
between the verses run over with Black Francis's love-as-body-invasion imagery at a
speed that feels at once relaxed and chemically enhanced. Love never sounded so
much like theft.
Exhibit D: "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It." The one song on the album that
provides a tight connection to the album's supposed inspiration, Dutch
artist/musician/drug user Herman Brood, whose song this was before Black Francis
made it his own.
Exhibit E: "Threshold Apprehension." A romp through Pixies touchstones, from high
pitched, screaming vocals to four-chord hooks to girlish spoken background vocals
(courtesy Charles’s wife Violet Clark) to two of the finest couplets in post-Pixies rock:
"Every little sh*t gotta find his salt lick/If I don't find my babe I'm gonna be junk sick"
and "Grand Marnier and a pocketful of speed/We did it all night til we started to bleed."
The hit single the Pixies should have had in the summer of 2007, showing up first as a
bonus track on the best of compilation Frank Black 93-03. Your reviewer was stuck in
traffic on the Mass Pike the first time he heard the song and nearly rear-ended the car
in front of him, so immediately propulsive was the impact of the song, and so hard was
he laughing with the force of the bliss coming at him from six speakers.
Even in slacker moments an animus of tension and anger moves the record forward.
"She Took All the Money"'s "shama lama ding dang" chorus is pushed forward by an
irritable rhythm guitar, surprisingly sweet backing vocals from Violet Clark, and some
impatient drumming that takes the song out on just the right dry note.
So: what makes it a Black Francis work? There are some descriptive touchstones —
screaming, odd meters, UFOs, Lou Reed as Surrealist lyrics — that are ultimately
insufficient to describe what's going on here. What this is is nothing more than the
rebirth of Charles Thompson, his musical juices revitalized by the 2004 tour with the
Pixies. As he says in the publicity notes for the album, reunions "are bittersweet, and
all of the rekindled foreplay of performing the old Black Francis songs never warmed to
the full coitus of a reunion LP ... I privately went back to the old stage name ...
almost as a joke. I couldn't get the Pixies back into the studio, but I would transform
into my alter ego of yesteryear." And even if there is no Herman Brood revival as a
result of this LP — Wikipedia provides only a Google image search link to his artwork,
and only one compilation of his music is available in the usual download sources — the
transgressive junkie artist/musician/suicide deserves some posthumous credit for
waking up Black Francis and sending him out screaming into the light of 2007.
Blogcritics.org (scroll down).
The Breakdown: Animal Collective, Black
Francis, Elvis Costello, Cloud Cult,
Pinback, Pink Floyd, Qui
Written by Tom Johnson
Published September 12, 2007
Part of The Breakdown
Black Francis - Bluefinger: Frank Black is dead, long live Black Francis. Or maybe
he's just resting. I don't know, honestly, why the change back to his Pixies-era
moniker, but it doesn't really matter. Black has turned out the best solo album since
his first couple of solo albums, and it's equally as strong and catchy a piece of work as
either his self-titled Frank Black, or Teenager of the Year. There might be a little more
Pixies-derived attitude here than either of those, but, really, does it matter? It's a hell
of a fun album that should make both Pixies and Black fans very happy. |
Edited by - Carl on 09/12/2007 15:22:39 |
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Dallas
= Cult of Ray =
USA
725 Posts |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 15:24:33
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WTF?????
"Francis' vocals on “Captain Pasty” are blatantly Cobain-esque"
just a really, REALLY stupid statement |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 16:39:55
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Music Box Magazine.
Black Francis
Bluefinger
(Cooking Vinyl)
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2007, Volume 14, #9
Written by John Metzger
Make no mistake about it: Although he has resurrected his other pseudonym Black Francis, the material on Frank Black’s
latest effort Bluefinger doesn’t play out in quite the same fashion as a Pixies album would have. For certain, a lot of time
has passed since Black broke up the band, and despite its recent, triumphant reunion tour, Black has shown few signs that
he is interested in returning to the past simply for the sake of nostalgia. From his early solo endeavors to the reconfigured
Pixies classics that filled the latter half of Frank Black Francis, he instead has proven that what he wants to do is toy with
his history, shaping and re-shaping it however he sees fit. Still, as the guttural growl he unleashes during the intro to
Captain Pasty and the manic snarl of the subsequent Threshold Apprehension attest, Bluefinger is the closest in the
studio that Black has come in a long, long time to recreating the Pixies’ now legendary sound.
The country textures that increasingly have dominated Black’s work aren’t gone completely from Bluefinger — in fact, one
can hear them lurking in the background of the sludgy, Neil Young-ian droning of the title track, for example — but they have
been pushed far off into the distance. Using a formula that he perfected with the Pixies, Black leverages his menacing
posture against his melodic inclinations. For as crazed as he sounds on Threshold Apprehension, he effortlessly settles
into She Took All My Money’s head-bopping groove. Even within the former cut, there are moments that are ridiculously
infectious. Likewise, 18 years after the Pixies delivered Doolittle, and 16 years after Nirvana unleashed Nevermind, it’s
impossible not to hear the give-and-take between the two bands floating through Bluefinger’s contents, particularly during
the gritty refrains of Captain Pasty and the throbbing, rhythmic chug of Tight Black Rubber.
The seeds for Bluefinger were planted during the recording session that was held to lay down a bonus track for Black’s
career retrospective 93–03. Inspired by the work of Dutch painter/musician Herman Brood, Black expanded upon his initial
ideas and wound up with a full-blown concept album. In a typical fashion, the storyline is convoluted. Angels Come to
Comfort You, the tale of Brood’s leap to his death from an Amsterdam hotel, for example, is tucked neatly into the center
of the set. Nevertheless, over the course of the endeavor, Black brings into focus the reckless abandon of Brood’s lifestyle
of sex, drugs, and rock ’n‘ roll, and on the title track, his central character makes no apologies for the paths that he has
followed. "I’m a Jumping Jack to this thing on my back/And all of my choices were pure," Black sings as he grinds the song
toward its conclusion. In its wake, he leaves listeners with a statement that says as much about his own life as it does
about Brood’s.  ½
Bluefinger is available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please Click Here!
For UK orders, please Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
The Badger Herald.
Black Francis goes Dutch
by Will Buckingham
Thursday, September 13, 2007
For the first time in Frank Black’s
solo career, he records under the
name Black Francis, a name he
has not donned since the breakup
of the Pixies in 1993. Such a
move suggests a return to the
glory and style of the
quintessential alternative rock
band. But before the legions of
Pixies fans rejoice, Black claims
the name-change has nothing to
do with the Pixies, but rather with
the spirit of Herman Brood, the
late Dutch musician who inspired
Black’s album. While the reason
behind the change might
disappoint fans, it is still clear in
Bluefinger that Black Francis
retains some of his Pixies genius.
It’s understandable why Black
would be motivated by Brood’s
spirit. Both men share a similar
artistic style, and both are known
for their wide range of musical
abilities. Also, Brood’s tragic life,
plagued with drugs and ailing
health, provides some emotionally
charged fodder for Black’s latest
album.
Unfortunately, Black’s album
sometimes cuts into his ability to
turn a phrase. In “Angels Come to
Comfort You,” the most overt
tribute to Brood, Black keeps his signature twisted and choppy lyrics at
bay and replaces them with awkward, simple lines like “He played piano
really fucking good,” and “He was no saint/ But he was Dutch/ So he
could paint.” On top of that, the entire song plays out almost like
Brood’s suicide note. Luckily, Violet Clark provides an angelic vocal line
in the background, preventing the song from becoming too dark.
Aside from a few imperfections with his tribute, Black proves his genius
has not quite diminished. Bluefinger opens with “Captain Pasty,”
showcasing Black’s rapid fire, nonsensical lyrics right off the bat. And
with “Threshold Apprehension” following, Black provides some of his
strongest rock he has blasted since 1991’s “U-Mass.” Even at his age,
Black is able to show off his signature high-pitched scream, a throwback
to his Pixies days, during his cover of Brood’s “You Can’t Break a Heart
and Have It.” During “Tight Black Rubber,” Francis is featured at his
most Pixies-esque, with his lyrics illustrating perverse sex (“She bit me
so hard/ When I just filled her”), and one can almost feel Kim Deal’s
signature bass lines.
Even with all the makings of a Pixies album — including the screaming
and poetic nonsense — this is more of Frank Black’s album than Black
Francis’. Bluefinger is ultimately a straightforward rock album. Gone is
the depth many Pixies devotees know Francis has, and even the reverbs
that served Francis well before are almost nonexistent. Although with
Francis’ intense lyrics missing and little going on in postproduction,
Bluefinger becomes easily accessible, but nonetheless enjoyable.
While it is unfair to compare Francis’ solo music career with alterna-rock
gods the Pixies, fans still know the greatness Francis is capable of, and
this album is somewhat of a disappointment. While this is the closest
Francis has come to recapturing his glory days, followers hoping for a
throwback to Doolittle or Surfer Rosa will just have to wait for the
rumored upcoming Pixies album. Until that day comes, Bluefinger nearly
fills the void.
LiveDaily.
Album Review: Black Francis,
"Bluefinger" (Cooking Vinyl)
September 13, 2007 01:09 PM
By Tjames Madison
LiveDaily Contributor
Black Francis [ tickets ] is back. But maybe not
the one you were expecting.
When Frank Black [ tickets ] announced his
intention to resurrect his original stage
name for his latest studio album,
"Bluefinger," many of his old fans took that
tidbit to mean that the old indie rocker would
be making a return to the menacing, howling, boy genius who paced
stages back in the '80s while fronting the legendary Pixies [ tickets ].
The record Black/Francis (whose real real name is Charles Michael
Kitteridge Thompson IV, just to make things more confusing) actually
ended up making, though, owes more to the singer/guitarist's first pair of
solo albums following the Pixies' premature death: his self-titled 1993
solo debut and 1994's brilliant, 22-songs-in-just-over-an-hour "Teenager
of the Year."
Ideas appear out of thin air all over "Bluefinger," then vanish just as quickly as
they came. In the same way that Black once convincingly
excavated several layers of the history of Los Angeles in the under-five-
minute "Ole Mulholland," a pocket-sized masterwork off "Teenager," here
he does the same with the late Dutch artist/musician Herman Brood,
except on a slightly larger scale, with every song at least making a
passing reference to Brood (a tragic figure who committed suicide in
2001 by jumping off the roof of a Dutch hotel).
Stylistically, though, the sound is expansive here, with Black moving away
from the bar-band sound that characterized much of his recent work with
The Catholics and experimenting once again with a layered studio;
songs like "Captain Pasty" and "Threshold Apprehension" snap, crackle
and pop like Black's best work, and "Rest Pilot Blues" even recalls the
self-assured Louis Prima-esque groove of the Pixies' "Crackity Jones."
After a torrid start the set falls off a bit, with Black proving unable to
sustain the voracious energy of the album's first few songs over the entire
record, but there are enough clear moments of breakthrough here for
"Bluefinger" to justify the performer's return trip down Black Francis lane.
shepard-express.com.
CD Reviews: Black Francis (Frank Black), The Mendoza Line
September 11, 2007 | 11:52 AM
Black Francis – Bluefinger
Frank Black's solo work would get more attention if there weren't so damn much of it (he's
released nearly 15 albums). This one, though, arrives amid actual buzz, since it marks Black's
return to his Pixies persona, Black Francis, even though for all the hype, it's still pretty much
just another Frank Black album: a collection of rough, rootsy rock, sometimes inspired,
sometimes disposable, that sounds like it was cranked out in the world's crappiest home
studio between tour dates.
Sure, there are some aesthetic nods to the Pixies: Black raises his voice a little more than
usual (although he doesn't really scream, he just kind of yowls), and a Kim Deal surrogate
adds some backing "ahhs" here and there, but no one would mistake this for the lost sixth
Pixies album. Like most of Black's solo work, the singer seems to be having a great time, and
that counts for something, but Black should have left Black Francis in retirement. Back in the
day, Black Francis was a mysterious livewire, and a little scary. Now he just sounds like an
aging goofball.
The Daily Aztec.
ALBUM REVIEW: Black Francis
Bradley Haering, Assistant Tempo Editor
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Tempo
Bradley Haering, Asst. Tempo Editor
The entire indie-rock scene can be traced
back to one entity: Pixies. In the late '80s,
Black Francis, Kim Deal, Dave Lovering and
Joey Santiago created music that has
influenced bands from Nirvana to Modest
Mouse. After their initial breakup in 1993,
Black Francis began a solo career, releasing
albums as Frank Black (his real name) and
the Catholics, as well as under his Pixies
stage name.
His lyrical style is still the same as it's
always been. In typical Black Francis fashion,
the lyrics are fodder for pretentious kids who think that they can find a deep meaning in
nonsense. Although they don't always make sense, the lyrics add well to the
entertainment value of the album.
Black Francis still makes music true to what he was doing more than 20 years ago. In
his case, it's a good thing. "Bluefinger" reminds us of where much of today's music
comes from. Although this album is still heavily influenced by where indie-rock is today,
Francis did a fine job keeping his place among his children.
GRADE: B
The A.V. Club.
Black Francis
Bluefinger
(Cooking Vinyl)
Reviewed by Scott Tobias
September 11th, 2007
OnBluefinger, the newly resurrected persona of Pixies
frontman Black Francis doesn't smother his alter ego, Frank
Black. If anything, Francis lifts up some of Frank's
understated charms in the album's frenzy. "Tight Black
Rubber" and "Threshold Apprehension" recall the Pixies'
ferocity within wise limits—no session players attempt Joey
Santiago-type guitar leads here. After "Rubber," Francis
shuffles into the bittersweet "Angels Come To Comfort You,"
which could work on a number of Frank Black solo albums, in
spite of a dreamy coda that sounds almost like a Doolittle
outtake. Thanks to pairings like that, Bluefinger achieves
something more admirable than a return to form—it reconciles
two decades' worth of forms and revisits an older self without
undoing the growth that followed.
A.V. Club Rating: B
KINGBLIND.
thursday, september 13, 2007
Black Francis:: Bluefinger (Album Review)
The unlikely, ghoulish inspiration of a dead Dutch pop star has forced
Pixies' frontman Frank Black into making his finest album since the demise
of his influential '90s alt.rockers. Because that's what 'Bluefinger' is. Pixies
fanatics will probably attribute this to the revival of the Black Francis name
he used as a nomme de guerre in the Pixies. Black himself is fully aware
of the significance. In an open letter accompanying the new album, he
writes "I couldn't get the Pixies back into a studio, but I would transform
into my alter ego of yesteryear." In fact, the true reason for this artistic
Indian summer is that the Pixies' dark lyrical conceits have been
awakened by the subject of much of the album's content, Herman Brood
(pronounced 'Broat'). In 2001, Dutch rocker, artist and renowned hedonist
Brood threw himself from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton. After a stint in
rehab, Brood had just been told he had only months to live. As Black
points out on 'Angels Come To Comfort You', the hotel was "...good
enough for John and Yoko, man" (it was the scene of The Beatle's famous
'bed-in'). Black sees Brood, like Lennon, as something of a musical auteur,
a man of style. The album kicks off in rollicking fashion. 'Captain Pasty'
finds Black in yelping, screeching mode, atop two minutes of punk guitars
and machine-gun drums. 'Your Mouth In Mine', with its jangly, chiming
guitars doing battle with passages of rumbling bass, transports the listener
back to the day when Pixies, Buffalo Tom, Dinosaur Jr and co ruled the
alt.rock earth. Elsewhere, 'Tight Black Rubber', with its languid, nagging
bassline and 'Threshold Apprehension''s screaming garage rock, shine.
Only the lumpen pace of 'Test Pilot Blues' fails to fully fire. But that's a
minor, unwarranted moan. After years in the dark, this is a slice of Black
gold.
posted by mblind @ 9/13/2007 12:03:00 AM |
Edited by - Carl on 09/13/2007 19:18:45 |
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whitenoisemaker
- FB Fan -
17 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2007 : 08:31:58
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Hi folks, I'm a long time reader (and sometime poster) here.here is my review of Bluefinger, enjoy!http://planetofsoundandsight.blogspot.com/2007/09/music-review-black-francis-oh-inverted.html
Music Review: Black Francis -- Oh Inverted Name!
After breaking up the Pixies via fax machine in the early 90's Black Francis commenced his solo career as Frank Black. As Frank Black, Charles Thompson (as his parents named him) would refine and simplify many of the Pixies wilder explorations so that by the time of 2006's Fast Man, Raider Man he resembled no-one so much as latter-day Nick Lowe. This is hardly a bad thing, as both men have a gift for melody and turning a wry phrase but compared to Thompson's wild years and the recent spate of Pixies reunion shows his latter albums can seem pallid. So when it was revealed that the man's new album Bluefinger would be released under the Black Francis moniker fans were excited for a return to Pixies era howling and tension and release style songwriting. They may be disappointed to learn that this is more of a hybrid, with songs that could come from any phase of his career. They should still give this a shot however as it's one of his best albums, his most vital work since his excellent first two solo albums Frank Black and Teenager of The Year.
Bluefinger does feature more vocal growling and howling than Black has employed in years and the first two songs serve to grab the listener by the collar and shake them around a bit. The Pxies-ish "Threshold Apprehension" ranks among his very best tunes, with driving guitars, killer drums, and great backup vocals by his wife Violet, who serves as a Kim Deal-like foil for many of the albums highlights. Then comes "Captain Pasty" which harks back to the triptych of loud fast songs that closed out Teenager of The Year. Other songs like the sweetly melodic "She Took All The Money" and the gorgeous title track hark back to overlooked later albums in Black's solo catalog like 2001's Dog in The Sand.
Bluefinger is a concept album of sorts inspired by Dutch painter and musician Herman Brood -- a man well known for his whole-hearted embrace of the sex drugs and rock n roll ethos. Brood committed suicide by jumping from the roof of a hotel. There are echos and direct references to his personality throughout, songs like the killer "Tight Black Leather" and "Your Mouth Into Mine" in which Black seems to coax Brood's spirit into communicating from Black's own lips.
Overall this is a distillation as opposed to a sprawling demonstration (ala Teenager of The Year) of all Black can do and that means that no matter what phase of his sound he calls upon, the songs are top-notch as is the playing. Those who have had only a passing interest in Blacks' solo career will probably call this a return to form and it is a refreshing change from the mellow mid-tempo adult alternative sounds he has been proffering with his brand name Nashville studio hotshots lately. But this is still a unique record, and all the better for not attempting to simply rehash Pixies-style songwriting.
Bluefinger gets four out of five blue fingers:
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Edited by - whitenoisemaker on 09/14/2007 11:40:04 |
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quadrophenic
- FB Fan -
16 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2007 : 10:48:04
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I like it. Can't get enough of "Capt. Pasty." :)
Kinda sounds like Pixies meets Bowie meets Frank Black. So it's great. |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 09:14:25
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Hi whitenoise, and thanks-although you really must 'root' out those bad jokes! ;)
Oh, and hi quad.
"I hate how the reptile dreams it's a mammal. Scaley monster: be what you are!!" - Erebus. |
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Jason
* Dog in the Sand *
1446 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2007 : 16:27:19
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I don't know if this counts, but I just posted a review on rateyourmusic.com (I'm JasonHernandez)
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/frank_black/bluefinger/
-----------
For a record with such grim subject matter, Frank and the band sure sound like they're having a good time. That's one thing--out of many things--I like about Bluefinger. If someone made an album inspired by me after I died, I'd want it to be a lot like this: Loose and brief, sounding like it was dashed off in a week, no big deal, by people having fun, laughing and joking between takes. The presence of Frank's wife, Violet Clark, on backing vocals and the front cover and liner notes paintings being by her son, Julian Clark, only make this an even warmer affair.
When I found out the next Frank Black album was going to be a "Black Francis" record, I got worried. I'm a longtime fan of the solo and Catholics records and was afraid the new album was going to be an attempt at pandering to the Pixies audience that's made him a wealthy man these past few years and a move away from the elegant songwriting of the last several albums. Thankfully, Frank Black is much too smart for that and Bluefinger turns out to be both a justified return to the Black Francis name and a logical follow-up to Fast Man Raider Man. The record does not pander. He still sounds like he's doing exactly what he wants. It's a great album. |
Edited by - Jason on 09/18/2007 16:30:16 |
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OLDMANOTY
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
469 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 00:32:31
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One of those reviews that leaves you scratching your head; 'Bluefinger is catchy in spots but ultimately forgettable...What's missing here mostly is riffs' are two choice quotes. Also, what is it with these reviewers who keep banging on about how nothing on Bluefinger quite matches anything by Pixies? It's as if there's some journalistic law that this opinion must be stated.
www.prefixmag.com/reviews/cds/B/black-francis/bluefinger/3287 |
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whitenoisemaker
- FB Fan -
17 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 09:28:52
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Thanks for the feedback Carl...I know! I'm addicted to cheesy captions...
quote:
Originally posted by Carl
Hi whitenoise, and thanks-although you really must 'root' out those bad jokes! ;)
Oh, and hi quad.
"I hate how the reptile dreams it's a mammal. Scaley monster: be what you are!!" - Erebus.
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quadrophenic
- FB Fan -
16 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 10:48:55
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quote:
Originally posted by OLDMANOTY
One of those reviews that leaves you scratching your head; 'Bluefinger is catchy in spots but ultimately forgettable...What's missing here mostly is riffs' are two choice quotes. Also, what is it with these reviewers who keep banging on about how nothing on Bluefinger quite matches anything by Pixies? It's as if there's some journalistic law that this opinion must be stated.
www.prefixmag.com/reviews/cds/B/black-francis/bluefinger/3287
I think when most people heard he was going back to "Black Francis" they thought "Oh...it's a return to his Pixies name...must mean this album will be a surrogate Pixies record." I know that's what I thought at first. It's an easy leap to make. I'm glad this wasn't and all-out Pixies vibe, though. I love the Pixies, but if I'm buying a Frank Black/Black Francis solo record, I don't necessarily WANT a Pixies record. A couple of Pixies-ish moments? Sure...but a solo record should be unique to that artist, and not just sound like their other band. "BlueFinger" pulls that off nicely. |
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Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2007 : 20:18:08
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"that sounds like it was cranked out in the world's crappiest home
studio between tour dates."
Wow, they must have freaking AWESOME home studios in Milwaukee! That's got to be one of the most retarded things I've ever read in a music review. His right to even listen to music should be revoked. That is just flabbergastingly stupid.
== jeffamerica == |
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Bluefinger reviews
