Frank Black - Frank Black

The most favorable thing about Frank Black’s debut solo album is that it doesn’t stray too far from where the Pixies last offering, Trompe le Monde. Maybe that’s why people such as myself got more hot and bothered with The Breeders’ early efforts because they actually presented something different when compared to Kim Deal’s former band, and that difference was surprisingly well exececuted.

Not that Black is any slouch, but we came to expect great things from the guy that composed the vast majority of all those Pixies songs that we just beginning to lament.

I suppose you could complain at the lack of diversity with Frank Black, but why bother. There was a real possibility that Black was going to break out into the mainstream, and that possibility seemed to allude him with The Pixies. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and just let the muse sneak out a hit or two, but I’d be hard pressed to find it here.

“Los Angeles,” the great opener here, came the closest, with its full scale video and extra promotional push that’s usually provided to a critical darling that’s just about to test the waters alone. With the drums way up in the mix and guitars punching out of every speaker, there was a chance that this song could have taken off, but like many good songs in the age of grunge, it was not meant to be.

“Hang On To Your Ego” is a telling cover as newly recruited keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman came from Pere Ubu, a band who’s frontman (David Thomas) was a huge Beach Boys fan and would often incorporate an occasional nod or line into one of that band’s originals. Feldman gives Black a wide birth, but all Frank can do is play it legitimately and with respect.

But rock radio and its fans weren’t interested in old Beach Boy tunes at the time, which makes cuts like “Fu Manchu” and the awesome “Parry The Wind High, Low” such great possibilities. Even the Ramones worshipping “I Heard Ramona Sing” cut got buried after Elektra cut the gravy train to any more singles, leaving Frank Black to wallow in obscurity, becoming nothing more than an interesting curio for those seeking out the output of the post-Pixies creative forces.

The OCD Chronicles: The Breeders - Saints

It’s not technically All Saints Day today, but we acknowledged it in church. Our family lit one of the candles you see their from our Sunday morning congregation, in memory of those loved ones who’ve passed.

We also view Saints someone differently. They can be alive, some have yet to be born. But we give special pause to reflect on those who have left us, which left me in a contemplative mood, bringing me back to the musicians that we’ve lost over the years.

And then there is the song that’s been going through my head. The Most Awesome Breeders in one of my favorite songs of theirs: “Saints.”

This is the J. Mascis mix that was used for the single. The album version is different, not as rockin’. Hard to believe that this is almost two decades ago, but it’s awesome enough to qualify Kim Deal as a saint.

To all you young’uns: The Breeders were a pretty big band, back in the day. I wished there were more like them now, and I’m speaking to bands that don’t have the Deal sisters in them.

This is right at their apex, so rise, Lazarus, and rock your balls off for two minutes.

Time Capsule Clutter

What you see in the photo to the side is a leap year miracle.

Actually, it is the contents of a sealed box that I found in my garage tonight. A reminder of my past that I had sealed in a box, forgotten, and then reminded of when my parents shipped it to me because they didn’t want it cluttering up their joint any longer.

I would have easily forgotten about the box, even after they sent it, but tonight curiosity got the best of me just like it did Brad Pitt in Seven.

There was no human head in my box, just some old music related garbage that I thought I would share it on this day that gives you the opportunity to live 24 hours longer.

As you can see, there are a few band stickers ready for sticking. At one time, I used to cover my stereo speakers with band stickers and the like. You’d get a ton of them if you worked in radio, and my punchy Acculab 4-way speakers that I purchased at K’s Merchandise back in 1983 were covered with ‘em. It was pretty punk rock back in the day, but when I turned into a Yuppie in the mid-90’s, I felt that I needed to do away with such nonsense so I scrapped them for a pair of Bose 301s.

Not that you give a shit about my speakers, I’m just sayin' that these were the stickers left over from when I began to think that my speakers looked tacky with them on it. Now, of course, I wish I still had those Acculabs. I’d blow out a tweeter or midrange speaker, schlep down to Radio Shack (a Tandy company), and buy a replacement.

You can see an awesome Barkmarket sticker (I also have a spare), a Mathew Sweet dinosaur from Altered Beast (got about four of those, all different colors), a Sonic Youth washing machine from, you guessed it, Washing Machine, and the obligatory Jesus Lizard sticker. I loved that band so much that I was too gun shy to put it anywhere. Hell, you could say the same thing about all of those stickers I guess.

Next up is a Beatles pin that I stole from the Wal Mart electronics department on the day The Beatles Anthology I was released. I remembered all of those promotional items that Capitol Records had back in the 60’s and I thought, “I’ll have a bit of that!” Of course, I’ll have to wait a few more years before this button will be worth anything, but I now regret not nicking another one just for good measure.

On the upper right hand corner is a promotional item for the Pixies. It’s a simple black and white postcard of the band, standing in front of a bar that shares their name. This would have been from their Trompe Le Monde record, and it’s the perfect example of a ridiculous expense that serves no purpose. Why Elektra records felt the need to print up hundreds of postcards and ship them to radio stations across the country is beyond me. It in no way provokes radio programmers to think “I should add that new Pixies single this week!” and it’s not eye-catching enough for anyone to save. Instead, I’m sure Elektra added the cost of such dim-witted ideas to the Pixies accounting so that they’re still paying them off today. Even though it wasn’t very eye-catching, I saved it because I love the Pixies.

In the center is the add that Spinal Tap took out in radio trade magazines to hype up Break Like The Wind, the band’s early 90’s reunion album. I thought the ad was hilarious, and they really did hold auditions as part of the promotion. If I recall, Mick Fleetwood won the competition. Incidentally, this piece of paper survived over 20 years, most of which was featured prominently on one of the tom toms on my drum kit.

There were other items found: local band fliers, a Grateful Dead bota bag flask, an official Beatles Yellow Submarine Zippo lighter, etc. But the strangest thing is probably that Squeaky Fromme collage sent to me by a friend. It has nothing to do with music (that is Charlie in the upper right hand corner of the small piece) and I have no idea why I saved it other than my irrational curiosity towards the Manson Family.

Even more inexplicable is why Paul Shaffer plays a keyboard solo during The Pixies’ network television debut on Late Night with David Letterman.

The Breeders - Mountain Battles

Shame on me for not keeping up to speed on Kim Deal. Like many people, I just plain stopped paying attention. It’s not that I dislike her; in fact, I regard the first two Breeders records very highly and think that they hold up well today.
But there are dozens of albums, artists, memories, whatever, from the 90’s that I’ve left behind to collect dust. The Breeders just happened to fall into that category, right next to Belly, Veruca Salt, Boss Hogg, et all.
Thanks to a Pixies reunion, the new Breeders album is receiving a lot more press than the bands true reunion album, Title TK, which I completely overlooked when it was released.
So here I am, proving that the additional hype courtesy of that aforementioned reunion must have worked, because I’m suddenly catching up with Kim, reading all about her and her sister’s addictions, and noticing in the process that The Breeders circa ’08 are missing half of the members that helped Last Splash sell over a million copies.
Nitpicking aside, this new version the band itself all about Kim who returns with a wonderfully brief and curiously subdued effort that seems to totally ignore any attempt at commercial appeal. It opts to bypass those infectious songs and focus instead on delivering a low-key effort intent on creative progression.
It works; Mountain Battles trades in prior traditions of spontaneity and sisterhood for a dark and at times unsettling tone.
“Overglazed,” the album’s opener and most aggressive track, features one lyric: “I can feel it,” perhaps a testament to Kim or Kelley’s sobriety or perhaps the result sheer lyrical laziness. Whatever: her reverb-soaked vocals underneath a wall of distorted guitar and manic drumming belie the rest of the album’s decidedly underhanded strategy.
Mountain Battles is not an album that will be awarded any watershed moments of new musical direction. It does seem The Breeders, and I’m talking about Kim and Kelley here, have reached a point where their own technical inabilities are placing the band in the dubious distinction of musical redundancy. And when they award Steve Albini the role of album “recorder,” you’re pretty much guaranteed that every inch of their musical limitations are going to be prevalent.
Which is why the tone of Mountain Battles is somewhat unsettling. As hard as it may seem, they’ve actually managed an album that serves as a departure from the rest of their catalog without having to learn any new chords.
It’s strange going, this sparse and fragmented affair, with Kim sounding curiously subdued and introspective at times. There’s not a lead-off single to be found throughout Mountain Battles that will compare to those nostalgic moments of Pod or Last Splash, where at least a few cuts could be heard in your city’s obligatory alternative radio station, cleverly labeled as “The Edge” or “The End” or some other such classic rock destruction tag line.
Mountain Battles is itself a bell toll to that era while managing to be firmly indebted to it. It could have very easily been recorded and released after Last Splash, becoming that decidedly non-commercial effort that caused them to be dropped and their casual fans to lose interest.
It would also become the album that long-term fans would refer to as the overlooked gem that was unjustly ignored by the majority of those millions who purchased Last Splash. But let’s be honest here, there’s a good chance that it’s going to be overlooked now, as the climate, industry, and performers themselves are vastly different than they were back in ‘93. Added to this, Mountain Battles is an intentionally difficult album, going from surf, folk, traditional alternative, and country numbers at the drop of the hat, sung in either English, German, and Spanish, and coming in at a few minutes over a half-hour.
That’s too long of a ride for some, but for those who stick with it, they’ll find some rewarding moments. Mountain Battles does was no other Breeders record has managed to do before: establish Kim Deal as a vital artist whose own musical contribution to the independent landscape is just as important as the ones where she’s been assigned a supportive role.
In other words, it pays to keep up to speed on Kim Deal.

This review originally appeared in Glorious Noise.