Fast Man Raider Man

Frank Black

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 20, 2006)
• Original Release Date: June 20, 2006
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Back Porch
• ASIN: B000FMGWDM
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #130,263 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bring back the Catholics!, July 12, 2006

By	Outside Looking In (New England) - See all my reviews

While others pine away for the Pixies, I really miss the Catholics (the four-piece lineup of McCaffrey on bass, Boutier on drums, Workman (later Gilbert) on lead and Black. The first Catholics album is one of my favorite rock records ever and I was fortunate enough to have seen Frank Black and the Catholics a number of times from 1998 - 2001 (including the best show that I have ever seen - July, 1999 at the Lucky Dog in Worcester, Mass.). There is nothing on "Fast Man, Raider Man" that even begins to approach "Solid Gold" or "I Gotta Move" from the first Catholics disc. I really do not mind that Black has moved on to different styles of music. I just cannot rectify that this is the same songwriter that penned the earlier songs and performs in such a bland fashion. Even when Black was off (as on a few cuts of "Pistolero") he was still an innovative rocker. The leftover cuts that fill "Oddballs" are all more interesting than the `roots-Americana' sounds that Black seems to have adopted at present. There is an awful lot of music like this out there right now, and Black's take on it is not all that unique. Unfortunately, Black has been heading in this direction since the turn of the century. "Dog in the Sand" is certainly superior to "Fast Man, Raider Man," but this was the beginning of the current slide. "Devil's Workshop," "Black Letter Days," and "Show Me Your Tears" are all but forgotten already. I was thrilled to see the reunited Pixies twice on their recent tour and am very happy for them, but Black should be aiming higher than a tired version of Kris Kristofferson mixed with Bobby Bare.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I still believe, July 16, 2006

By	Smoke Up (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews

As someone else here said, the best dozen tracks on here would have made a brilliant album, but there's such a sameness about the rest that finding them is quite an effort, and if you're a long time fan it's hard not to feel just a bit disillusioned.

As on Honeycomb, a couple of these songs stand somewhere near his best stuff - Elijah is brilliant and passionate, In the Time of my Ruin is perky and pretty rocking - and if there were more like this I could probably learn to accept that the Frank Black who made Solid Gold, All My Ghosts, and Czar is gone, that he'll never make another record as exciting and consistent as Teenager of the Year. The more world-weary Frank of Selkie Bride, I Burn Today, This Old Heartache and Seven Days is still a brilliant and unique artist.

But too often on Fastman Raiderman I'm having to give Frank's songs and his vocals the benefit of the doubt. You have to listen so hard for that edge, the humour, the personality that's always made his records stand apart. For me, over two CDs, this is just too colourless, and though it KILLS me to say it, if I didn't love so much of his earlier output I'm not sure if I'd listen to much of this twice.

You still need to buy this record, but keep TOTY handy for some light relief when it all gets too much.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Under-rated Musician of our Times, July 19, 2006

By	D. Clarke "http://www.thespacials.com" (Scotland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Pixies were Frank Black's FIRST EVER BAND. So that's amazing. Started about 20 years ago. Then about 5 years after forming that band, it had reached it's peak, and so Mr Thompson and indeed the rest of the Pixies moved on - Joey onto the Martinis, Kim onto The Breeders and David into a series of interesting science projects, and Frank Black onto a truly excellent solo career, that has produced very very many of my favourate ever songs (Southbound Bevy).

This latest album Fast Man Raider Man is in my opinion an absolute masterpiece, can't remember enjoying a first listen of an album quite so much, or a second listen which was probably even better, and is especially enjoyed without the judgemental and comparatitive tendencies that many people have interferring with their enjoyment of art. Just stick it on, listen to it and accept it for what it is - it's not the Pixies, it's not Black Letter Days, it's Fast man Raider Man, and it's bloody brilliant!