[Review] Frank Black and The Catholics (1998)

The cult of Ray is now The Catholics, but Saint Francis is still at the center of it all.

Kronomyth 4: Black mass.

I don’t think Frank Black has ever met a chord progression he didn’t like—or at least one that he couldn’t spin a decent song from. This is both good and bad. It leads to some very good music, which you’ll hear on the first half of Frank Black and The Catholics. It also leads to a bunch of songs that sound more or less the same, which you’ll encounter on the second side of Frank Black and The Catholics. I haven’t heard a Frank Black album yet that doesn’t make me feel eighteen again and bored at the same time. He usually has about a half-dozen really good ideas that carry me away; here, it’s Back to Rome, Dog Gone (which is kind of a rewrite of “Where Is My Mind?”), All My Ghosts, King & Queen of Siam, Do You Feel Bad About It and then you could pick between the garage-rock of I Gotta Move or the humorous Suffering for your last selection. As a former Roman Catholic, I couldn’t tell you what’s up with the new name, although the songs do touch upon religious themes: a reference to prophets here (“Dog Gone”), a reference to Cain and Abel there (Steak ‘n’ Sabre) and a harsh word for the devil on Six-Sixty-Six. Frank Black seems to have cosmic issues on his mind this time, interspersed with the usual challenges of living in a fallen world (broken hearts, bad neighbors, etc.). For the aforementioned six or seven songs, you’ll probably need to pick up Frank Black and The Catholics at some point. Presumably, it would be after you’ve collected the Pixies proper, the first two Frank Black albums and Last Splash by The Breeders, but the opening four or five tracks on this album are just the sort of high you’ve been jonesing for ever since Surfer Rosa.

Original elpee version

A1. All My Ghosts (3:31)
A2. Back to Rome (3:25)
A3. Do You Feel Bad About It (2:07)
A4. Dog Gone (3:00)
A5. I Gotta Move (3:36)
A6. I Need Peace (5:13)
B1. King & Queen of Siam (2:50)
B2. Six-Sixty-Six (Larry Norman) (3:03)
B3. Solid Gold (4:18)
B4. Steak ‘n’ Sabre (3:47)
B5. Suffering (2:58)
B6. The Man Who Was Too Loud (3:31)

All songs written by Frank Black unless noted.

The Players

Frank Black (vocals, guitar left), Scott Boutier (drums), David McCaffrey (bass, backing vocals), Lyle Workman (guitar right). Produced by Frank Black and The Catholics; engineered by Billy Joe Bowers.

The Pictures

Design by Inertia.

The Plastic

Released on elpee and compact disc on September 8, 1998 in the US (spinART, spart67) and Austria (Play It Again Sam, BIAS 370 LP/CD) with innersleeve. Also released as expanded 2CD in 1998 in Austria (Play It Again Sam, BIAS 370 CDX) with bonus CDEP.

1. Re-issued on half-speed mastered 180g vinyl elpee on January 19, 2024 in the UK (Demon, DEMREC1153) with innersleeve.