One thing this certainly has in common with previous Frank Black releases is the underwhelming artwork, a trend begun in 1996 on the 'so bad it isn't quite good, but is certainly quirky and interesting' The Cult of Ray; continuing on 1998's 'computer graphics from the Crystal Maze's Aztec zone' Frank Black and the Catholics cover; crystallising on Pistolero's subtle blend of shit photography and amateurish design; and reaching a nadir with Fast Man Raider Man: a bland and over-saturated shot of Frank Black that is truly grim to behold.
God, I'm really giving Frank Black a hard time here. I shouldn't be. I really like him. I feel like I'm one of the few who can claim to be a true fan, and not just a Pixies fan that has a few FB albums. But sometimes he just makes it so hard! Crappy artwork; albums coming at you left, right, and centre; download exclusives etc. It's too much! We were considering starting a campaign in 2003 to preserve Frank Black's legacy by introducing some degree of quality control after he released three full-length studio albums in the space of twelve months and quickly followed that up the next year with Show Me Your Tears. Not that every albums isn't brimming with great songs, it's just that to the uninitiated a lot of them can seem samey and lacklustre and if you collected the best twelve tracks from three years' output and just released that, well Frank Black would have some classic albums on his hands by now. Instead we get Honeycomb, followed quickly by a DOUBLE ALBUM in the same vein and then a live/odd and sods album the next year. It's just too much of a good thing.
Thankfully, the rate seems to have slowed as Black Francis hasn't released anything since the Sevenfingers EP in early 2008, which means I just might have time to go back and fully digest everything. This makes me kind of twitchy, though. I feel like Frank Black is merely biding his time and working away furiously on something huge that will be unleashed when I least suspect it, probably when I have a mountain of other things to do and cannot placate its demands for my time and attention, like in 2002 when we suddenly got two albums on the same day. *
The B-side of this single is 'Get Away Oil' which is exclusive to this disc. Unless you go to Black Francis' official website and download the mp3. But that would ruin the fun, right? This is a cool bluesy rocker with plenty of screaming and Black-Francisy bits. Just as any lazy music journalist would do in this situation where they don't really feel like describing or critiquing a track I'll pull a couple of established bands out of the bag and let you imagine the sounds. So, it's a bit like The Doors meet GG Allin. But only a bit. And not quite that good.
* Okay, I've just found out the Golem film project Black Francis has been working on scoring is going to be released 'soon' and will comprise FOUR discs of music. Egad! It does sound like a beauty: a signed and numbered book with DVD, two CDs comprising the studio score, two more CDs comprising a live performance and other nice deluxe thingies. Sounds like a must-have. Why do you do this to me, Frank Black!?
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