Fast Man Raider Man Music Cd

Frank Black - Fast Man Raider Man

See Larger Image

Fast Man Raider Man      Artist : Frank Black      List Price : $19.98 USD        Your Price : $13.97 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 2006-06-20      Studio : Back Porch      Label : Back Porch      Avg. Customer Rating : (22 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for Fast Man Raider Man      when did our corpulent hero forget how to write a decent hook?      Rating:      It's no wonder he looks like he's hiding on the cover. I've stuck w/ Frank throughout his entire post-Pixies career, suffering the occasional growing pains and relishing in his melodic flashes of brilliance. But I'm afraid I'm finally walking the plank off the good ship Francis. It's not even the genre that's turning me off--I have no problem w/ Americana. What's bugging me is the utter lack of anything original here, and if it's one thing we could always rely on Frank for, it was originality. This is just two discs of complete tedium, where our cherubic butterball does nothing but go through the motions, supported by an absurd number of studio session legends. I should have noticed the storm clouds on the horizon w/ the release of Honeycomb, but what redeemed that record is that if I were to concentrate right now I could probably hum 3 or 4 of the songs; w/ Fast Man, no matter how hard I try, recalling any melodies is a near fruitless endeavor. C'mon lunchbox, reunite the Catholics and get back to rocking--puhleeze.     Customer Reviews for Fast Man Raider Man Cd      Indie listening      Rating:      Carries on in a vein similar to Honeycomb, but expanded into a 2-CD set. If you haven't heard Honeycomb, it's hard to know exactly how to describe this. It's sort of an indie-rock easy-listening album. It makes me think of 70s guitar-strumming pop music from maybe a darker and more quirky alternate reality. When I listen to this, I often find myself thinking of old Randy Newman albums from the 70s, with the keyboards and brass and quirky storytelling. What's striking is that for a double album the quality of the songs is very even. There is no filler. On the other hand, sometimes "even" isn't the greatest thing to be. There are no tracks that really stand out in my mind after the CD is over, no songs that have engraved themselves in my brain and that bring me back to listen to it over and over again. [Honeycomb had several real gems -- most of the CD in fact]. Musically, the performances are great and the sound is very clean; the wordplay does not seem up to the usual FB level, it's still better than a lot of what's out there. Overall, worth listening to, and although similar in a lot of ways, does not quite live up to Honeycomb [which you should buy right now]. Editorial Reviews for Fast Man Raider Man Audio Cd      Amazon.com      Recorded in the same casual manner as 2005's Honeycomb, in various hit-and-run sessions with superstar session musicians during gaps in the Pixies' unending reunion tour, Fast Man Raider Man abides by the this-will-do aesthetic that has been a hallmark of Frank Black's solo career. With songs seemingly made up on the spot, the singer delivers a thoroughly mellow 27-track double album that is largely free of the inscrutability and insanity of his most famous work. Instead, it is homey pedal steel guitars, sleepy saxophone solos, rootsy barroom rockers like "Down To You," a heart-on-sleeve R&B ballad or two such as "Sad Old World," and a wobbly cover of Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town." His strangest offering yet? --Aidin Vaziri