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Jim Snook
60+0. Canadian. Lives in Germany. RYM profile: https://rateyourmusic.com/~guidedbyvices Last-fm profile: http://www.last.fm/user/guidedbyvices
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Jim Snook's Album Reviews
I'm just going to keep this short and sweet.
I am absolutely convinced that the shit that this album receives is fully due to a general hate-on of Frank Black Francis and his handling of the end of The Pixies and not what's actually here. Because this album has pretty well everything you'd want in a Pixies album except for Kim Deal. I didn't understand why people hated it when it was released and I still don't understand it now 20+ years later. Mr. Thompson may be a dick personally, and he may have broken your heart by dismantling your favorite band, but anyone who's a fan of the Pixies not liking this is not liking it out of spite, not because the album is bad. (no, those are all the albums after this one)
This album is Frank Black's fuck you to anyone who thinks that he wasn't the driving brilliance behind The Pixies. This album is for all those people who think that Kim Deal was what made that band (spoiler: she wasn't). All of these songs are as good as anything on "Trompe Le Monde" or "Bossanova" (see how I didn't mention "Surfer Rosa" or "Doolittle"...this album is good, but not that good.) and way more consistent than either of those two albums even with a full hour running time. There's 22 tracks on here. They're all good. Some are great. Two or three are in my top 10 Black/Pixies tracks. The end of "Speedy Marie" still gives me goosebumps.
This is one of those 90s albums that hopefully in time will get the credit it deserves as one of the better indie rock albums of that decade.
And how can you not love that cover?
I am absolutely convinced that the shit that this album receives is fully due to a general hate-on of Frank Black Francis and his handling of the end of The Pixies and not what's actually here. Because this album has pretty well everything you'd want in a Pixies album except for Kim Deal. I didn't understand why people hated it when it was released and I still don't understand it now 20+ years later. Mr. Thompson may be a dick personally, and he may have broken your heart by dismantling your favorite band, but anyone who's a fan of the Pixies not liking this is not liking it out of spite, not because the album is bad. (no, those are all the albums after this one)
This album is Frank Black's fuck you to anyone who thinks that he wasn't the driving brilliance behind The Pixies. This album is for all those people who think that Kim Deal was what made that band (spoiler: she wasn't). All of these songs are as good as anything on "Trompe Le Monde" or "Bossanova" (see how I didn't mention "Surfer Rosa" or "Doolittle"...this album is good, but not that good.) and way more consistent than either of those two albums even with a full hour running time. There's 22 tracks on here. They're all good. Some are great. Two or three are in my top 10 Black/Pixies tracks. The end of "Speedy Marie" still gives me goosebumps.
This is one of those 90s albums that hopefully in time will get the credit it deserves as one of the better indie rock albums of that decade.
And how can you not love that cover?
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