MOG

I’m not a fan of the Pixies. Maybe it’s because I was introduced to them nearly a decade after their last album was released or maybe, aside from “Where Is My Mind?” and “Gigantic” they just weren’t poppy enough for me. I don’t know, but I do know that I’ve loved the majority of Frank Black’s post-Pixies material. Fast Man Raider Man, Black’s latest album, is a continuation of his 2005 album Honeycomb. For both albums, Black traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to record with some of Nashville’s most legendary session musicians. The lineup includes such luminaries as Levon Helm of The Band, Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, and Bobby Bare Jr. The result is a sprawling double-album: 27 tracks that clock in at just over 90 minutes. In those 90 minutes, Frank Black evokes the spirit of fellow man in black, Johnny Cash, as well as a world-weary Van Morrison. The album is self-indulgent, and the tracklist could have been pared down to a single solid album, but instead we get a whole world of dust, grit, heartbreak, and soul.