The Pixies didn’t get the success they deserved the first time around. They had to sit back and be happy as bands they influenced like Nirvana rode the thunderous mash of sound they created all the way to the top of the charts. The same could be said about Pixies front man Black Francis, who became Frank Black when the group broke up. Between 1993 and 2003, he released nine solo albums. The discs had varying degrees of success which is to say, that for the most part, they were ignored. The Pixies reunited and got a lot of love during their second fight for the spotlight so Black is now hoping that some of that old band magic rubs off on this new re-packaging of his solo work as well.
The 23 songs, plus a bonus disc of live tracks, on 93-03 run in chronological order and feature Black’s usual spit fire wailing and chugging guitars along with a few quieter moments as well. The searing guitar solos and pop-rock opera sound of the tracks, even though they were recorded in the 1990s, paint the singer as more of an 80s child than he might like to admit but overall, there’s still a lot here to fall in serious like, if not love, with. For one, there are the usual Black obsessions. Some of his more popular infatuations have been with topics like sex and religion but here, his mind is turned onto all things left coast. His obsessive/compulsive nature shows up early on the go-big on sound song “Los Angeles” and appears again towards the end of the collection with the swaying rocker “California Bound”.
Freed from the collective angst of The Pixies, Black seems more carefree and pop savvy when he’s working on his own. Songs like “(I Want to Live On An) Abstract Plain” and “Little Red Corvette” cousin “Speedy Marie” should have earned heavy rotation from mainstream radio and probably would have if Black hadn’t been saddled, somewhat unfairly, with his former band’s “outsider” label. With the Pixies, he was a man ahead of his times and as a solo artist, a little behind the times but once you but the best of the best of Frank Black together, with a little distance from the time it was created in, you can give it a spin and enjoy it for what it is – solid rock n’ roll.
If this album gets you hooked on the work of Black Francis/Frank Black, there’s more good news right around the corner. The last song “Threshold Apprehension” is a track off of his tenth album Bluefinger which is scheduled for a September 11th release. |