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| ARTIST: |
Frank Black & The Catholics
(Google this artist) |
| ALBUM: |
Dog In The Sand |
| LABEL: |
What Are Records? |
| RELEASED: |
2001 |
At press time, eccentric Microsoft billionaire/rock
& roll fan Paul Allen has no plans to erect a Mount Rushmore
of alternative rock's founding fathers. Should he change
his mind, however, between Paul Westerberg and Peter Buck,
a couple down from Joey Ramone, would reside the proudly
rotund cranium of Frank Black.
As Black Francis, he and the Pixies created a musical template
that would have made them millionaires if only you could
patent such a thing. After all, Kurt Cobain acknowledged
that the soft/loud majesty of "Smells like Teen Spirit"
was his attempt to write a Pixies song. Radiohead have also
acknowledged them as a primary influence. (By association,
that would also make them responsible for Candlebox and
Silverchair, but nobody's perfect.)
As a result, the media tends to portray Frank Black as a
pioneer from a distant era, rather than an artist still
working at full strength. Yet Dog
in the Sand, the latest CD by Frank Black & the Catholics,
indicates otherwise.
Recorded live to 2-track without edits, Dog
in the Sand has the immediacy and warmth of a live
performance. The first song "Blast Off," is one of those
seven-minute tunes that seems to go by in three minutes.
In fact, it could go on another 10 minutes and still sound
fresh. Neil Young isn't the only one who can pull this trick
off.
Elsewhere, strains of country (the Hank Williams kind, not
the Faith Hill kind) can be heard. "St. Francis Dam Disaster"
features elegant banjo and dobro. "Bullet" and "Llano del
Rio" are underpinned by some nimble pedal steel. It's a
nice sonic complement to his hearty vocal timbre. As Elvis
Costello or Bob Dylan will tell you, country is an ideal
musical idiom for a rocker looking to approach middle age
with dignity.
But the signature Frank Black elements are still lodged
firmly in place: passion, underrated melodies, crunchy guitars
and plenty of references to outer space. In conclusion,
Dog in the Sand is a dog-gone
fine record.
review by Steve Walsh
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©
Figgle 2001-2007