Frank Black / Black Francis
Official deluxe vinyl album re-issues
‘Frank Black Francis’ , ‘Honeycomb’ and ‘Fast Man Raider Man’
each released on vinyl for the first time
on 14th May 2021
On 14th May Demon Records is proud to release three Frank Black albums which have never been available
on vinyl before.
Each is lovingly issued on 140g coloured vinyl: ‘Frank Black Francis’ will be available as 2LPs on white vinyl,
‘Honeycomb’ on translucent-honey vinyl and ‘Fast Man Raider Man’ as 2LPs on translucent vinyl.
These three releases are part of an ongoing series of twelve vinyl Frank Black / Black Francis reissues in
2021.
‘Frank Black Francis’ includes solo acoustic demos from 1987 ahead of the first Pixies Studio session. Plus,
a second LP of revisited classic Pixies songs. And as Frank Black elucidates: “It had come to my attention
that a forgotten old demo, recorded by my own hand on my own boom box in my old apartment, had
resurfaced and would I be willing to release it? As a time capsule it seemed fairly interesting, but as a full
release it seemed lacking for the customers; and so while I was in London, waiting for something to happen
in my lovesick life, Keith Moliné and Andy Diagram, David Thomas’ Two Pale Boys, took me into their atelier
and let me cry into my lager while they helped me augment the demo from the crypt. At some point, I think I
took off into the night and encouraged them to do whatever the hell they wanted; I think I may have been a
bit of a drag on the session. Being the consummate professionals they are (they had played on the
Catholic’s SHOW ME YOUR TEARS record recently, so I know they were…very good eggs) Keith and Andy
really did not have a problem with this lost man paradigm, and I think their deconstructive and self-referential
art methods are absolutely lovely. Their treatment of PLANET OF SOUND remains one of my favorite
versions.”
2005’s ‘Honeycomb’ is an album of Nashville collaborations with legendary musicians including Steve
Cropper, ex-Presley guitarist Reggie Young, Anton Fig and Spooner Oldham. Featuring ‘I Burn Today’, ‘Lone
Child” and ‘Honeycomb’ plus unusually for a Frank Black album, it has 3 cover songs, including “Sunday
Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day” by Doug Sahm.
While ‘Fast Man Raider Man’, released in 2006, is a double album backed by a team of all star musicians: Al
Kooper, Bob Babbitt, Levon Helm, Lyle Workman, Steve Cropper, Jim Keltner, Rick Gilbert, Simon Kirke, Ian
McLagan, Chester Thompson, Dave Philips and Spooner Oldham. The album includes, ‘Johnny Barleycorn’,
‘In The Time Of My Ruin’ and ‘If Your Poison Gets You’.
In regard to ‘Honeycomb’ and ‘Fast Man Raider Man’ Frank Black explains:
“In my last year of high school there was a show some of the students put on at the close of the year; one of
the faculty played a bit of organ and wanted to do an old number, and he brought me and a few other fellers
together to do IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, a classic penned by Wilson Pickett and Steve Cropper. We did an
encore of the tune at the big dance a few weeks later. I didn’t really know who Steve Cropper was at the
time, but of course, I would eventually. Years later my ambition to touristically pay homage to BLONDE ON
BLONDE picked up pace when my friend Jon Tiven and producer for these sessions moved to Nashville and
reminded me (as he did every 6 months for 10 years) about my little tourist trip idea. From the embers of
burned up marriage is always a fine place to workshop some tunes, and so to Nashville I did go, and
wouldn’t you know that Steve Cropper himself was there with guitar in hand? He arrived along with other
legendary types, too numerous to list here now, many of whom were veterans of Dylan sessions themselves;
typical band conversation in Dan Penn’s laundry room, where we put the amps: “Didja y’all play on that
LAND OF 1000 DANCES?” “Yeah, I think I was on that one…”. I kept my head down and did my best to be a
band leader, wondering if I was in way over my lowered head. It turns out I was in way over my head, but the
pickers and tinklers from the American rock and roll canon were real swell about the whole affair and walked
me through it. For the next sessions on FMRM we moved over to Cowboy Jack Clement’s house and I
continued my dubious role as ringleader; an image of a fully suited Levon Helm, the late shift drummer for
the session one night, arriving in a protective cloud of cannabinoid myst at 3am, exuding gentlemanly
camaraderie and veteran charm: this remains my greatest memory. I can’t say I rang every bell I tried to ring,
but these records were such a burst of energy that allowing the burst to be the burst was the view of choice. I
am most proud of those songs I penned with my good friend Reid Paley, who has been an influence since
the early Pixies’ days.”
Recent Comments