Frank Black

Tue 11/25/03
Hedon
Zwolle, Holland

Wed 11/26/03
LVC
Leiden, Holland

Thu 11/27/03
Effenaar
Eindhoven, Holland

Fri 11/28/03
Melkweg
Amsterdam, Holland

Nieuwe cd vind ik niet echt geweldig, maar 't blijft een ouwe held van me!

Effe voor de duidelijkheid:

Frank Black:

Songwriter, lead vocals, guitar

Contrary to popular belief, Frank Black, or rather Black Francis, did not actually exist prior to the Pixies. However, a man often confused for him did: Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV. Charles was born alive in 1965 despite his desire to have been conceived a decade earlier in Long Beach, California. Several years later, his family moved to Boston and the world of music would never be the same.

While attending U-Mass, Charles stayed in a dorm where a computer randomly chose his roommates. 1984: Charles roommate, as determined by a bunch of sand and refined metals was none other than Joseph Alberto Santiago or Joey. Soon, the pair put an ad in the newspaper seeking someone with Husker Du/Peter, Paul, and Mary influences, and Black Francis appeared from the ether.

Four albums and an EP later, the year was 1993. The clear beverage craze gave us all a reason to live, and the domestication of the dog continued unabated. The Pixies went their separate ways and as quickly as Black Francis appeared, he faded back to black. Frank Black. But not before a move back to the west coast - he wanted to live in Los Angeles.

Franks solo career has been longer and provided far more diversity, musically speaking, than his career with the Pixies to the point that theyd not even be worth mentioning were they not so influential and inspirational to so many people. From Show Me Your Tears, his latest album, all the way back down to the original self-titled Orange album, hes gone from multi-tracked new-wave mayhem to classic rock to a distinctive country twang. Only one thing has remained consistent: the quality of the work is without a doubt top-notch.

What else has he been up to, you ask? Well, he played at Bowies 50th birthday by request, hes acting in an upcoming moving called Low Budget Time Machine, hes covering Sugar Daddy on the upcoming Hedwig & the Angry Inch soundtrack, and possibly reuniting the Pixies. For starters. As well as an appearance on the X-Files soundtrack (Man of Steel) and the Powerpuff Girls (Pray for the Girls). And apparently he provided background vocals on Alan Merrills Merrilly Christmas CD in 2001, though that remains unconfirmed.

http://www.frankblack.net/images/other-fb.jpg

Ok, ben woensdag geweest.. was cool... Frank speelde errug hard, had echt peipende oren na afloop... klein aantal Pixies nummers voorbij horen komen, en veel van z'n nieuwe cd.. opvallend detail; het eerste nummer dat in de zaal gedraaid werd na afloop van het concert was 'Canonball' van the breeders... misschien een voorzichtige hint?!

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Op maandag 1 december 2003 16:44 schreef JantjeB het volgende:
Maar weet iemand hoe die band in het voorprogramma heette? want dat vond ik eigenlijk ook wel keihard rocken.

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Serafin...
Voor meer info:
http://www.serafin.co.uk/

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Op donderdag 4 december 2003 14:45 schreef Stinkvis het volgende:
gelukkig zijn de Pixies weer bij mekaar
er wordt al druk geoefend, begreep ik
waarschijnlijk headliners op rock werchter!

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Bron?

Heb wel diverse bronnen die spreken over 'een gerucht'.. heb zelfs al gehoord dat ze een x bij elkaar zijn gekomen om wat te jammen enzo, maar er werd nadrukkelijk bij gezegd dat het niet voor publiek bedoeld was...

Maar Pixies op Werchter 2004..... Laten we het hopen...

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Op donderdag 4 december 2003 23:27 schreef Stinkvis het volgende:
bron?
't is toch gewoon algemeen bekend oud nieuws?
in september kon je d'r overal over lezen
in april 2004 staat een tournee gepland, daarna festivals

check bijvoorbeeld:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1478034/20030909/pixies.jhtml?headlines=true

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OK, we wachten af....

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Op zondag 14 december 2003 18:52 schreef Stinkvis het volgende:
maar mooi dat ik gelijk had hè: Pixies op rock werchter!

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Kan niet wachten!

*Kick*


Pixies Frontman Solo Album Delayed


Prior to The Comeback Of The Year, Frank Black had a solo album on the way including his own personal reworkings of some Pixies classics. However, since the Pixies are now booked to play every venue under the sun for the next decade, the release has been put on the back burner. Plus news of another Pixies biography.


Black had been working on a two-disc set entitled 'Frank Black Francis' scheduled for a spring release. However, SpinArt Records, the label set to release the double album have been reportedly unable to pin Black down for a completion date.

Disc 1 is said to feature Black's reworking of Pixies classics collaborating with experimental duo Two Pale Boys. The group features Andy Diagram, who plays a trumpet through radio receivers and Keith Moliné who manipulates sound with a MIDI-based guitar setup. Crikey.

Currently, little is known of the second disc, although sources confirm that it is likely to compile Black's early pre-Pixies solo demos.

In other Pixies news, writer Josh Frank has been piecing together his musical 'Teenager of the Year: The Frank Black Musical' which is set to premiere this September in New York.

Frank has also been working on an official biography entitled 'Fool The World: An Oral History Of The Pixies' features excerpts from interviews with the band themselves and their associates and celebrity fans including Thom Yorke, David Bowie, Bono, PJ Harvey and Dave Grohl.

The book is expected to see a release before the end of the year.

Pitchfork over "Frank Black Francis":

You can say this for Frank Black: The man cares about his fans. The liner notes for his archival record Frank Black Francis-- the latest in his long string of solo albums, but the first to sport both of his stage names simultaneously and focus on Pixies material-- fret almost comically that the album will either not provide listeners value for their money, or will anger them because he's chosen to tamper with his classic material.

Well, there's certainly no question that his concerns are well-founded. The first disc-- a set of solo acoustic demos Black recorded at producer Gary Smith's Allston, Mass., apartment before the Pixies hit the studio for their legendary first sessions at Fort Apache-- isn't going to speak to anyone who doesn't already know the material inside and out. Those who do, however, will no doubt lose their shit for a chance to hear these naked versions of some of the best-loved Pixies songs. Black's stated concern that the quality of the recordings is too bootleg is actually misplaced. Although it was recorded into Smith's cassette Walkman with nothing more than a little reverb added, the tape sounds startlingly fresh and clear. Plus, Black's disarming asides and spirited performance give the recordings a verve that helps them stand up well in the face of the canonical final versions that we've all played half to death (they're too good to ever really be killed).

On the other hand, the second disc-- newly recorded version of 13 Pixies tracks-- is a total oddity. Many listeners who will salivate while the first disc spins might find themselves choking back the bile while listening to the second. Our relationship with the artists who change us the most are funny things, and hearing the songs of one of those bands as radically re-interpreted as they are here can be jarring, even upsetting, if you don't keep an open mind about it. Black, mostly independent of the rest of the Pixies (Joey Santiago does pop in for "additional editing"), re-recorded these stone-cold Pixies classics with Two Pale Boys, veterans of collaboration with Pere Ubu's David Thomas, and as re-workings go, these amount to total detonations of their forebears.

Once you get past the fact that you're hearing "Subbacultcha" re-imagined as a Tom Waits-ian electro-acoustic coffee shop rant or "Caribou" as if it dropped out of Wayne Coyne's back pocket, Black and the Boys-- known to their mothers as Andy Diagram and Keith Moline-- actually have done a pretty interesting job of "messing with the gospel," as Black puts it in his liners. It's not all successful, however: "Velouria" is tragically slaughtered by a lugubrious pace and intestinal bass, while "Monkey Gone to Heaven" needs the Pixies' mayhem more than the bendy elasto-synths it gets here. And the limping ambient version of "Where Is My Mind?" is what I imagine being killed with plastic cocktail swords would be like.

But three strikeouts in 13 at-bats won't necessarily lose you a game, and the mind-bending readings of "Caribou" and "Nimrod's Son" are home runs that help to validate the endeavor. "Caribou" finds Black's falsetto in unusually supple, tender form as a whirling electronic background swells and pulses with his every vocal tic, while "Nimrod's Son" becomes seasick burlesque wrapped in a dubby echo. "Wave of Mutilation" playfully nods to the Doolittle arrangement as "waves" of manipulated static wash over the chorus. Is there anything here that bests or equals an original? Absolutely not, but at least the trio land some punches and go down swinging.

Back on Disc 1, "Caribou" positively burns with razor-throated intensity, even as Black quickly explains to Smith, "I'm supposed to be screaming here," and then veers off into wild shrieks and alley cat noises. He does his best to convey the basic outline of the weird "Broken Face" intro, but otherwise gives the song a good, rapid-fire run-through, and his Spanish accent is remarkably authentic on both "Vamos" and "Isla de Encanta". In all my years of listening to Black surrounded by other guitarists, I don't think it ever occurred to me how much facility the man himself has with the six-string. Here, his percussive strumming, odd picking patterns, and animated runs are impressive, often providing clues to these song's eventual arrangements.

If you've read this far and you're not familiar with the Pixies' studio albums, please understand that under no circumstances should you begin your acquaintance with the band's material here. There are whole Pixies albums for that, and they're all worth owning. Those of you who have been with the band since the days of torn flannel and 120 Minutes are obviously the target audience of this release, which is a thoughtful presentation of what essentially was the final unreleased material in the Pixies vault. The second disc is ultimately little more than a curiosity for most-- and will no doubt be complete anathema for some-- but given that the entire package retails for a single-disc price, that's hardly a reason for a die-hard to opt out. The fact is, as a fan, I enjoyed the hell out of hearing Black's demos, and my guess is you will too.

-Joe Tangari, October 11th, 2004

Wat vinden we van "FrankBlackFrancis"?

Ja, prima roots plaat hoor. Maar persoonlijk hoor ik Black liever een smerige rocker maken. Maar desondanks een van de betere alt.country releases van het vorige jaar.