This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
When Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV led The Pixies, he called himself Black Francis. When he acrimoniously quit in 1993, he flopped and chopped his handle to Frank Black. But now that he has reunited with the group, he seems a man finally at peace with his past.
For further proof, consult the two-disc Frank Black Francis, his fan-friendly set of archival Pixies fare and recently revamped classics. Disc 1 contains a veritable Pixies Rosetta Stone: 15 solo acoustic demos Thompson played and sang into a Walkman in 1987, the day before the band cut their debut album Come On Pilgrim. Some of these bare-bones cuts resemble their later incarnations; others are vastly different. Despite the raw renditions and bootleg-quality sound, every cut crackles with Thompson’s stunning originality and surreal wit, resulting in demos that are fuller and more magnetic than most bands’ finished albums.
Songs that strong have no trouble standing the test of time, as Disc 2 of this set confirms. Recorded last year with Pere Ubu associates The Two Pale Boys, it captures Thompson coming full circle, revisiting and revamping most of the same tracks into “treated” versions swirling with atmospheric textures, electronic grooves and dreamy synths. “Sure, we’ve messed with the gospel, but I am satisfied with it,” says Thompson in the liner notes. He — and his alter egos — probably won’t be alone.
