Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 06:45:18 +0200 From: Emiel Efdee Subject: Frank Black has 'graciously' left Sony NME wrote (on www.nme.com): FRANK BLACK has left Sony following a massive row over his new album, 'Frank Black And The Catholics'. The album was recorded live in three days onto two-track and is described by those who have heard it as closer to '60s garage rock than Black's last release, 'The Cult Of Ray'. However, Sony refused to release the new LP saying it was 'uncommercial'. "I made a record that was representative of the sound of my new band," Black said. "Live, no over-dubs, no trickery, no shiny gloss over everything. The label has told me it's not commercial, too raw sounding, too difficult to sell. I felt like they wanted another slick product that might have been easy for them to market, but I'm not in that frame of mind right now." Black said that far from being dropped by the label, he dropped himself. "Last time I changed labels, there were erroneous reports that I'd been dropped by 4AD, whereas in fact I asked to leave and they graciously let me go. I want to be working with people who are on the same page as I am and who are willing to accept the creative direction I choose to go in. If both sides can't enjoy putting out music together, I see no point in continuing the relationship." --- Someone named Christie wrote (to alt.music.4ad): "Frank Black And The Catholics currently have an acoustic demo tape out...i've heard a few songs and its not that good." --- I write (to 4AD-L@AMERICAN.EDU): And I thought 'The Cult Of Ray' was one of the worst products ever released by a former 4AD artist, I can hardly believe Sony sold many copies of it (with a sleeve design like that). And now he has made one even worse... Is there life after pixies? Emiel Efdee > e r r o r e e x e p t o |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| < Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 13:58:00 +0200 From: Emiel Efdee Subject: Frank Black and the Catholics (?) Today I saw a new Frank Black cd-single release. His band is called 'Frank Black and the Catholics' and the single is called 'All My Saints'. I didn't hear it (and I don't think I want to) so I can't say if its good or bad or real bad... But - and here's the interesting part - it is released by Play It Again Sam (PIAS). I could not discover any other record company names on the sleeve so this must be his new label after Sony dumped him... Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 07:20:06 +0100 From: Andrew Norman Subject: Re: Frank Black and the Catholics (?) Emiel: > Today I saw a new Frank Black cd-single release. His band is > called 'Frank > Black and the Catholics' and the single is called 'All My > Saints'. "All My Ghosts", actually - there's a 7" too with an exclusive B-side, I'd say it's at about the same level as the first album (which I liked less than "Teenager of the Year"), far superior to the terrible one with the crap sleeve art whose name I can't even remember but still not within spitting distance of the Pixies. CD has a cover of Bob Dylan's "Changing of the Guards" (from "Street Legal", his last really good album until last year's one) which is nothing like as good as the original - if he was going to choose a Dylan song to cover, why do one which is one of the peaks of Dylan's back catalogue and then do it in more or less the same style? In a similar vein, I picked up a cover of Captain Beefheart's "Ice Cream for Crow" (the song, not the whole album) by Terry Edwards, which sounds like the Magic Band during a poor rehearsal with Hugh Cornwell on vocals. Ugh. Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 21:36:13 +0100 From: Andrew Norman Subject: Re: the catholics James Taylor: > > Well I think its a few orders of magnitude better than Cult of Ray, which > sucked grapes. Saw them live about two months ago and I'm glad > he's returned to a real rock-n-roll sound. > > Does it compare to the pixies? Heck no! But its not supposed to. Does it > compare to his first two albumns? I'm not sure yet -- probably not -- but > its closer than 'Cult' was. Its strong and none of that whiny hard stuff. > I'm happy. > I have listened to it surprisingly frequently - wasn't over-impressed on first listen but it's a good uncomplicated rock-n-roll album. As James said, not the Pixies either in performance or songwriting but I think it's his best solo work apart from "Teenager of the Year". Qualified thumbs up. Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 23:23:10 -0500 From: Rick McGuckin Subject: Frank Black continues to ROCK Dear Sirs: I just saw Frank Black last night (10/12) at a sold-out show here in Austin, Texas, and as I've said before Frank Black ROCKS! As I write this I'm listening to Frank's new album. Despite what you might think, the album is pure, unqualified Frank Black and other opinions be damned! Frank Black has always been uncompromising about his music and continues to be so on his new album. The raw sound is a welcome change, not to detract from his previous musings-- I say 'musings' because each song on each of his albums has meaning in and of itself, take it or leave it! If he wants to to write about Aliens or Albequerque, I don't care, just KEEP IT COMING! I'm getting tired of hearing whiny wanna-be's say "it's not the Pixies", or "it's too techno", or "it's too raw"-- No Duh!! He will never be the Pixies again; he's finished that project. Frank Black is too talented to be strapped in by one style or form. Would that we could all live in the past, but life goes on.... Also: I read that Play It Again Sam is Frank's new european distributor, and he's retained another label for Australian releases, and apparently he's currently looking for a new 'American' label (pun intended). By the way-- isn't this statement an oxymoron (from your frank-black-and-the-catholics page, regarding Cult of Ray): ". . . that whiny hard stuff."? If one truly appreciated Frank Black, one would understand his fascination with the 'alien' occult. Or not. Anyhoo, Cult of Ray is a strong album and I personally like his many diverging interests and like to hear about them in each new album.