Fast Man Raider Man [Digipak]

Performer: Frank Black (Rock)
Engineer: Marc Chevalier; Dan Penn; Jake Burns & The Big Wheel; Jon Tiven; Miles Wilson; Dan Steinman; Einar Pedersen; Kevin Rains; Adam Prybylski; Scott Carter; Brian Borelli; Adam Deane; Alex McCollough; Earl Drake; David Z; Marc Chevalier; Jake Burns
Producer: Jon Tiven
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Frank Black (vocals, guitar, ukulele); Frank Black ; Jon Tiven (guitar, alto saxophone, piano, percussion, background vocals); Steve Cropper (guitar); Jack Kidney (harmonica, tenor saxophone); Al Kooper (organ); Mark Wilson Jordan (keyboards); Steve Ferrone (drums); Rick DuVall (background vocals); Buddy Miller (guitar, background vocals); Duane Jarvis, Lyle Workman, Reggie Young , Carol Kaye (guitar); Jack Clement (dobro, background vocals); Wayne Jackson (trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone); P.F. Sloan (piano, background vocals); Spooner Oldham (keyboards, background vocals); Ian McLagan (keyboards); Jim Keltner, Levon Helm, Simon Kirke (drums, percussion); Billy Block (drums, background vocals); Chester Thompson , Akil Thompson (drums); Ellis Hooks, Marty Brown, Sierra Swan, Billy Swan, Brooks Watson, Bobby Bare, Jr. (background vocals); David Hook, Violet Clark-Thompson, Rick Duvall, James Griffin, Jack Kidney, Bob Babbitt, Dave Philips , Mark Jordan, Planet Swan, Rich Gilbert, Steve Cooper, Tom Petersson. Audio Mixers: David Z. ; Earl Drake; Jake Burns & The Big Wheel. Recording information: Better Sonds & Gardens, Nashville, TN; Hormone Studios; Mower Studio, Pasadena, CA; The Cowboy Arms Hotel And Recording Spa. Illustrator: Andrew Swainson. Arrangers: Frank Black ; Lyle Workman. Whereas a lot of rock musicians lose luster as they age, others develop like fine wine: Frank Black is one of the latter. The intensity and surreal, fractured sensibility that characterized his best work with the Pixies has eased with time, but Black hasn't lost his knack for inventive, memorable songwriting, as 2006's FAST MAN RAIDER MAN, a sprawling double-album of genre-blending music, attests. Like 2005's HONEYCOMB, FAST MAN RAIDER MAN traffics deeply in rootsy Americana, but mixes in healthy doses of rock, jazz, and R&B. There is a subtle, sophisticated warmth here, to which an all-star roster-- including Spooner Oldham, Chester Thompson, Buddy Miller, Al Kooper, and Levon Helm, among others--lends an unassailable authenticity. There are 27 songs, and the set is stylistically all over the map, but the whole coheres remarkably well, making for one of the artist's most adventurous and ultimately satisfying solo releases. Playing like the widescreen director's cut version of Honeycomb, Frank Black's sprawling double album Fast Man Raider Man reunites him with the Memphis session legends who played with him last time, and adds even more stars to the cast of characters. Along with veteran Catholics member Lyle Workman and Honeycomb players Reggie Young, Buddy Miller, Spooner Oldham, and Chester Thompson, the roster also includes Al Kooper, Jon Tiven, Bobby Bare, Jr., the Band's Levon Helm, Cheap Trick's Tom Peterson, and Bad Company's Simon Kirke, giving Fast Man Raider Man the feel of an all-star jamboree. As on Honeycomb, the playing throughout the album is subtly excellent (and how could it not be with supporting musicians like these?). Jazzy guitars and saxophone give "If Your Poison Gets You" a sophisticated take on roots rock, while the lush horns on "My Terrible Ways" and the keyboards on "Highway to Lowdown" and "You Can't Crucify Yourself" are authentic, soulful touches. Though Fast Man Raider Man shares the warmth of Honeycomb, unlike that album -- which was recorded in just a few days in Memphis when all the players had the time to come together -- this set of songs is less urgent, and less overtly confessional. Black seems more and more comfortable in the Americana/alt-country direction of his later work, but fortunately it's the kind of comfort that allows him to keep elaborating on this sound. Indeed, the overall vibe of the album is just as important, if not more so, than the individual songs. However, highlights are scattered throughout both of Fast Man Raider Man's discs and include "Dirty Old Town," an Irish drinking song that Black transforms into an alternately heartfelt and rollicking duet with Marty Brown; the dramatic, Lou Reed-esque "End of the Summer"; "Where the Wind Is Going," a fun homage to Texas garage rock; and the breezy yet heartfelt ballad "Don't Cry That Way." This is easily one of Black's most eclectic albums, moving from gutsy rock like "Johnny Barleycorn," "Kiss My Ring," and "In the Time of My Own Ruin" to oddities such as "Dog Sleep," which switches between a rousing brass band and slow-motion passages that drift on woozy organs, to the genuinely soulful "Sad Old World" and "Golden Shore." Like the simultaneously released Devil's Workshop and Black Letter Days, Fast Man Raider Man could've been edited down to one disc's worth of songs; however, the flowing, laid-back feel of the whole set is a big part of its appeal. Indeed, if it weren't for the album's studio polish, it'd feel like an extremely well-recorded concert -- it has the ebb and flow of a good live set, and its expansive warmth ends up making its length work in its favor. ~ Heather Phares

Entertainment Weekly (p.69) - "This double album heats up the twangy, Southern-gothic soul of last year's HONEYCOMB. It's expertly played." -- Grade: B- Alternative Press (p.208) - "'Fast Man' is a beautiful Muscle Shoals-style ballad -- all wistful organ and heartfelt, overshot high notes -- while 'Kiss My Ring' adds Black's familiarly alluring lyrical mutations to some clean-cut rockabilly." Magnet (p.87) - "It continues in the same easygoing Americana vein of last year's HONEYCOMB....The result is like an accomplished bar band being fronted by an eccentric wordsmith." Mojo (Publisher) (p.104) - "3 stars out of 5 -- "Black strives for a wide scope that makes the album's elegant songcraft, musical telepathy and poetic unpredictability all the more satisfying."

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25