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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
From the album's title, you'd be forgiven for thinking this is just more of the same from Frank Black. The Devil's Workshop, a book by Stephen J Cannell, involved scientific ethnic cleansing, white supremacists, massive corruption, traumatised soldiers, hobos and movie moguls--perfect source material for a man famously obsessed with conspiracy theories and alien abductions. Yet Devil's Workshop the album (recorded immediately after Frank's Black Letter Days and released at the same time) sees the former Black Francis dealing with more mundane and far more moving subjects. Of course, there are flashes of the old Pixies weirdness; the opening "Velvety" contains the classic Frank line "I like that lemur, I lick it". But mostly the songs deal with the loneliness, lost loves and happy encounters of the life-long itinerant. "Out of State", in particular, is an absolute heartbreaker, matching the very best of Bob Mould. Elsewhere, as with "Heloise" and "The Scene", Frank comes on like a malevolent Tom Petty, all dirty Southern rock and poisonous barbs. Featuring both Stan Ridgeway and ex-Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago, Devil's Workshop is skewed enough to appease long-time Pixies fans, yet stylish and melodically strong enough to appeal to the mainstream. It's an above-average addition to Black's extraordinary canon. --Dominic Wills
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Unlike it's companion album "Black Letter Days", Devils Workshop is a short sharp rock album which will please fans of FB and the pixies. Opening with a new version of an old pixies b-side "Velvety". this is a very consistant album with only "Out of state" not making much of an impression, the rest rocks in a bar room rock kind of way."Are you headed my way" and "whiskey in your shoes" are 2 of the most immediate songs Frank has written in years and "Fields of marigold" is an anthem. I rate this as the best release yet from Frank Black and the Catholics. buy it, turn it up loud and listen to the most underated band in the world at the peak of their powers.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Opening with a re-hash of Velvety (instrumental version) by the Pixies was a bit of an inspired move. Whilst the tracks on this album are fairly far removed from Pixies stylings, this nostalgic blast shows that Mr Thompson's spirit remains truly rocking. The addition of road music lyrics truly is a stamp of genius.
The rest of the album is an excellent mixture of rockers and slightly more inflective material, with 'Whisky in Your Shoes', 'Fields of Marigold' and 'Bartholomew' as highlights. The vocal delivery is assured, and the song-writing is hallmark Frank Black stuff, his rhythm playing driving the songs relentlessly. The Catholics are once again in fine form musically, and they ably support Frank Black with a heightened understanding which allows every nuance of the songs to be developed and fully realised.
This is an assuredly high quality piece of song-writing, and one which is definitely worth experiencing. It is a great deal more immediate than previous albums such as Cult of Ray or Teenager of the Year, and as a result this album may prove to be a useful in-road into the mind and body of work that makes up Frank Black. A thoroughly great album.
1 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The first two Frank Black & The Catholics releases were refreshing blasts of near-punk rock n roll. Devil's Workshop's companion release, 'Black Letter Days' adds something new to the Frank Black canon with refreshing acoustic textures, something Frank hasn't really done before in that way. Many of the songs on 'Devil's Workshop' sound too much like Frank Black songs of the past. The songs themselves are good, but I can't help but come away from this feeling slightly disappointed.
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