by Frank Black and the Catholics
2002, SpinART Records

the sound: The album starts and ends with performances of “The Black Rider,” a cover of the title track from a Tom Waits musical. The first version is closer to Waits’, with its jaunty music and menacing take on the “Flintstones” theme: “Come on along with the Black Rider / We’ll have a gay old time /Lay down in the web of the Black Spider / I’ll drink your blood like wine.” The second version is a surf tune, with a Ventures-like guitar riff and Black crooning the lyrics in a velvety voice as accompanying vocals scream in the background. These two songs signify the transformation of Black Francis, shrieking college-radio god of the Pixies, to Frank Black, alt-country rock extraordinaire. The album’s title track picks up speed with a call-and-response chorus and Black singing in a nerdy timbre. “Southbound Bevy” pits Black’s falsetto against a slide guitar, reminding us, “Don’t get your spirits high / they’ll all come crashing down.” In arguably the best song on the album, “If You Leave,” Black sings/talks about what would happen if he lost his love. The slow country sound builds until he bursts into “I will run after you,” and the instruments reach a thick crescendo. “In a Little While” is a fun little number with cutesy lyrics, like “In a little while / like a crocodile,” that sounds like it was performed in a hallway. And “Jane, The Queen of Love” rocks the hardest, as Black cries out with heart and soul, “Jane / she was my only love / Jane / and though our love is done / you are the only one.”

the background: Fat man is in the house! Frank Black, a.k.a. Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV, is best known as Black Francis, screechy singer of the legendary Pixies. Long after their (original) demise, Black went on to join with other multitalented musicians, such as keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman, possibly best known for his work with PJ Harvey and Polyphonic Spree. “Black Letter Days” is the fourth or fifth album on which Black collaborated with the Catholics, depending on how you look at it, as “Devil’s Workshop,” another full-length album, was released simultaneously. But “BLD” is the more polished of the two, a full-on rock album with pedal steel guitar country touches and occasional oddities to remind us where Black is from. Though he’s from Boston, Black’s albums always include songs about California, where he moved when he was little, and “California Bound” is a strong start after the “Black Rider” intro, with a rockin’ guitar line as Black boasts, “Don’t worry / don’t bring yourself down / we’re coming today / to save your town.”  “End of Miles” has a melancholy tone to match the theme of waning youth as Black laments, “I’m lately out of reach / in towns along the California shore / I’m leathery and bleached / I’m lost and I am lonesome to the core.”

the significance: When the Pixies broke up in 1992, Black hit the ground running, quickly releasing a succession of solo albums, followed Frank Black and the Catholics first self-titled album in 1998. Neither this nor any of the band’s other albums have achieved great commercial success, but they are perfect showcases for Black’s ever-maturing talent as a guitarist and singer. “Show Me Your Tears” (featuring “Nadine,” possibly one of the greatest rock songs ever) came out in 2003 and is the last Frank Black and the Catholics album to date. Charles Frank Black Francis Thompson has released several solo albums since, as well as reuniting and touring with the Pixies the past couple of years.