Black Francis: Bluefinger

Black Francis: Bluefinger

2007

Cooking Vinyl Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Captain Pasty  2. Threshold Apprehension  3. Test Pilot Blues  4. Lolita  5. Tight Black Rubber  6. Angels Come to Comfort You  7. Your Mouth Into Mine  8. Discotheque 36  9. You Can't Break a Heart and Have It  10. She Took All the Money  11. Bluefinger  12. Polly's Into Me  13. Virginia Reel


It's weird...I've owned so many Frank Black albums over the years but this is the only one I have left...I really only periodically pick up his stuff, and then when I do I usually either lose the disc, it gets destroyed or I give them to my friends... But I do love his solo stuff.."Teenager of the Year" being a particular favorite...



(Man, I love :Headache" and "Thalassocracy" so much!)

But yea, for some reason I've been able to hold onto this one, and that's a good thing! I like this album...It had a pretty big buzz at the time; as it was  released in the midst of the Pixies reunion ... There were rumors this was supposed to be their reunion album, but they weren't quite able to make it happen (after seeing the Pixies film "loudQUIETloud" this wasn't too surprising...)

...So the rumor goes that Frank Black took the material and just recorded it as a solo album, although releasing it under the name Black Francis, which was the name he used in the Pixies...

I don't know if the story is true or not, and believe it or not, I'm soooo lazy that even Googling the answer seems like too much work...and to be honest, I kind of like the mystery...

And really, this is the most Pixies-like album he's released since the breakup...There's the Kim Deal-like backing vocals (done by his wife, I believe...Again, too lazy to Google...) and Black Francis' trademark hellish shriek is on proud display....You remember it, right? He had the most ball-shriveling scream known to man back in the day, and it's a huge thrill to hear it on full display on "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It." 

And check out "Threshold Apprehension." How long has it been since you heard something so Black Francis-y...It's got a panicked strut that'll give you "Trompe Le Monde" flashbacks...

"Grand Marnier and a pocket full of speed!"  So great...

But at the same time, much of it still of a piece with his post-Pixies discography...You cannot picture "Platform Blues" on "Doolittle" for example, and songs like  "She Took All the Money" continue his recent forays in rootsy Americana...

 Oh yea, apparently the album is a concept record about Dutch musician/artist Herman Brood (who apparently sang about drugs all the time...I listened to about 5 or 6 of his songs and I think each one had at least a passing mention of drugs....), who took his own like in 2001...Although, I had no idea it was a concept album until I read about it later....Mr. Brood's life apparently seems to fit in quite well with Frank's normal subject matter...So if you have an aversion to Rock Operas, you're totally safe here..The only overt tribute is the cover of  an apparently unreleased Herman Brood song "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It." I listened to the original version, and it was a sort of high-octane piano-based boogie-woogie number, but Frank turns it into exhilarating noise-rock...You've got to check it out...I have posted a video below for your convenience..