4AD (2019, Reissue)
I like The Pixies. I think most people that get into punk and indie rock find their way to The Pixies eventually. My introduction was my friend Pat lending me his copy of Surfer Rosa when I was in high school. From there, I gradually added records to my collection. I got a greatest hits CD in college and eventually the individual full lengths. I even liked the first of the two reunion records. What I didn't pay much attention to was the Frank Black solo records.
Oddly enough, what got me to go check this album out was a comedian. In the early 2000s, I came across a website called Cook'd and Bomb'd. It was a news site and media repository dedicated to the works of Chris Morris, perhaps the comedian I have enjoyed more than any other. Here I gained access to an archive of all of the Radio 4 music shows he did in the mid 90s. And while the primary reason I wanted was to listen top his surreal radio bits, I also found out about a few 90s albums that I had otherwise missed.
"Headache" by Frank Black (or 'Blank Frank' as Morris quipped) was a song played during a few early episodes. It had such and infections singalong hook that I found it lodged in my head pretty constantly. I ended up getting the album and enjoying quite a bit of it. While I think that it's way too long (22 songs on a rock record is massive overkill), the highs are really high. I could listen to "Headache" every day and "(I Want to Live on an) Abstract Plain)" is just about as great as well.
I'm pretty sure this 2xLP was released for Record Store Day a couple of years ago. I wasn't willing to stand in line or pay the flipper prices, but I was happy to find a standard version a few months ago. Again, it's a lot to take in during one sitting, but most of what's on here is way too good to only exist in my CD rack.
Frank Black - Teenager of the Year:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kqKQSKRsxqSg5lazfD-AqT-mAEZwkRjO0
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