The Bottom Line: I love this album. It provides a lot of poppy-hard-rocky fun. It's on par with the Pixies, related closely to Trompe Le Monde (though more accessable by far).
dopple's Full Review: Teenager of the Year by Frank Black
Ask me which Pixies album you're best off buying first and I'll be stumped..."Trompe Le Monde" and "Come On Pilgrim" are my favorites, but probably not as accessable as "Doolittle", but then "Surfer Rosa" might be the real masterpiece...it's a pointless game cause every album but Bossanova was fantastic and none of their output was at all bad.
Shift the focus to lead singer Black Francis aka Frank Black's post-Pixies solo-career and it's easier to make up my mind: "Teenager of the Year". It's honestly the only album he got right since breaking up his legendary surf-punk outfit.
And eerily enough, he got it PERFECT.
Eery because immediately after leaving the Pixies he released the annoyingly bland and contrived solo debut "Frank Black", rolling out a new name and all-too familiar sound. Aside from a mildly amusing cover of the Beach Boys "Hang On To Your Ego", the album bounced back and forth from embarassing attempts at immitating his best work with the Pixies, to material and production that could sound right at home on Billy Joel's worst records - I'm talking nausiatingly slick and soulless pop bordering on adult-contempo.
On it's follow-up, he doesn't strip down the slick production, but he does step-up two important elements: songwriting, and performance. Quite frankly, the man was on a creative roll he probably hadn't been on since seeing Kim Deal for the last time. TEENAGER OF THE YEAR features 22 songs, and all of them are really good. Some stronger than others, but it's hard to pick one that deserves to go. Much of it harkens back to his Pixies work: delicious pop-hooks pickled in soulful and quirky vocals. But it's also fiercly independent thanks to more far-reaching background noise and a spacier sense of atmosphere. The songs also never get boring - occassionally changing tune midway through, and the hooks are the kind that beg to be screamed along with.
It's also a nice blend of genres.
You have songs like "Whatever Happened to Pong", "Thalassocracy" and "Bad Wicked World" that flex Frank's punk muscles; He dabbles in ska, surprisingly well, on "Two Reelers"; Delivers the sure-fire hit single in the corny-but-cute "Headache"; turns out clever, triumphant anthems like "Freedom Rock"; masters the sing-along on "Absract Plain" and "Pure Denizen of the Citizens Band"; and softer ballads like "Speedy Marie" and "Sir Rockaby" manage to NOT get pretentious, but instead stay damn fun to listen to over and over again ..
Theres a lot of songs here, I don't really need to describe each one. But you get the picture - it's a diverse bunch, and it blends together well. Normally I hate praising an album like this, but considering it's Frank Black, I don't mind for a couple of reasons:
First, his Pixies albums remain absolute treasures of mine and have provided me hours of jumping around my room screaming along and smiling.
Second, most of his work since leaving that band has been pretty lousy.
Honestly, this is the only Frank Black album I can recommend, and there are quite a few. "Cult of Ray", this albums follow-up, is known as a jumbled attempt at cashing in on grunge. Just this year (2002) he released two new albums at once (Devils Workshop & Black Letter Days). Don't bother with them. Even the somewhat praised 2000 album "Dog in the Sand" is pretty damn bland. The only other record of his I can approve of even a little is "Frank Black & The Catholics", for it's strong first side. After side one though, it goes to hell...quite madly, in fact. Not worth the purchase price.
So take my advice: this is the only F.B. album you need, cause it's the only one with a good dose of heart and hooks. It's brilliant, and it stands alone.
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