Ten years since breaking up the band, the prolific Black is slap in the middle of a post-Pixies purple patch. Coinciding with the return of ex-Pere Ubu man Eric Drew Feldman and Joey Santiago, 2001’s Dog In The Sand was the kick-start, compounded by the double shot of last year’s Devil’s Workshop and Black Letter Days. With Feldman and Santiago still around?this time bolstered by Van Dyke Parks, co-producer Stan Ridgway and The Pale Boys?he’s just as impressive. Be it country-rockin’ with Death (“Horrible Day”), doling out desert blues (“New House Of The Pope”) or frantically resurrecting Mott The Hoople (“Jaina Blues”), ol’ Frank hasn’t had this much twisted fun since 1994’s Teenager Of The Year.
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