Dobbins, Fields, Sparty, Mich @ Wisc - Baver Answers Colins Questions: Miami Week

Colin: What impressed you about the OSU performance last week in Bloomington? 

Baver: The Buckeye running backs. The real test for Dobbins will be when Sparty comes to the Shoe Oct 5th, but Dobbins is starting to look like the stud back he was when he arrived at OSU in 2017. His top-end speed looks much better than a year ago. At this point, one has to wonder if Dobbins dealt with injuries that were kept quiet last season, because he looks like a different back. And how about Master Teague? 10 carries for 106 yards last Saturday. Love the authority he runs with. Teague was injured much of August, and the RB position at OSU looked questionable heading into the opener. But that is now turning into a position of strength for Ohio St.

Justin Fields didn’t have his best stuff against IU, but I was impressed with his demeanor. There was some talk that Fields can get down when things aren’t clicking, but he’s looked pretty cool and collected so far. Yeah, the suspect competition he has faced is playing a role here, no doubt, but Fields has handled things better than I expected. And I’ll keep saying it again and again...Fields has Ryan Day coaching him, so expect Fields’ game to improve steadily during the two years he will play here.

Colin: Is there really anything to say about Bucks v Miami? 

Baver: Not much. The 39-pt spread tells you pretty much what you need to know. I guess the most interesting thing I can say about Miami is that their starting QB is true frosh Brett Gabbert, who is the younger brother of NFL QB and former Mizzou standout Blaine Gabbert. At 6-0, 207 lbs, Brett is quite a bit smaller than his big bro. Miami blew out Tennessee Tech (an FCS school) in Wk 2, but was no match for Iowa (38-14 loss) and no match for Cincinnati (35-13 loss). The Ohio State University will be paying Miami $1.3 million dollars to get the snot knocked out of them Saturday. I’ve got the Buckeyes winning 49-7, with reserves playing most of the 2ndhalf.

Colin: Sparty and Maryland humiliated the entire conference last week. Do loses like this contribute to OSU dropping in polls despite their dominating performances? 

Baver: I don’t really think so. LSU had to be moved up with a road win over a (then) top-ten Texas team. With that win, the Tigers own the best win in CFB this year. All this stuff usually works out in the end. If the Bucks lose once, but beat Michigan and win the Big Ten Title game again, right now I’d wager that they’ll get in the playoff. Last year was more of the exception than the rule. At worst, the Big Ten East is the second-best division in CFB. 

The Maryland loss didn’t surprise me, but it is unreal how bad Sparty’s offense is. Dantonio needed to do something with an offensive staff that greatly underachieved last year. He responded by switching the positional roles of each offensive assistant, and kept every one of them. If I’m a Sparty fan, I’m pretty ticked off right now. In comparison, Ryan Day needed to do something with a defensive staff that greatly underachieved last year. Day responded by retaining only one defensive coach, and look how the results he has seen with this Buckeye D.

Colin: Finally, two huge games this week. Thoughts on Michigan at Bucky Badger and Domers on the road at Georgia? 

Baver: As we talked about last week, that UM team has SO many problems. I think most thought the Badgers would be bigger than a 3.5-pt favorite at home. The logic against a bigger spread would be that there shouldn’t be many pts scored by either team in this game. And Michigan was a 6-pt favorite in this one at betonline.ag in August (in their Games of the Year lines). So, the spread has moved 9½ pts since then. I’m guessing a lot of bettors see the Wisconsin value now being deflated, if they were to bet Wisconsin at -3.5. Hence, not as much money being bet on the Badgers.

Still, I see a Michigan team with no heart. And though it may be a sucker bet, I’ve been called worse than a sucker before. So, sign me up. I like the Badgers -3.5. 

Brian Kelly has just not fared well against elite opponents, and Georgia is no doubt “elite”. Georgia eked out a win in South Bend two years ago, but has taken giant strides as a program since then. In terms of ND against elite opponents, the 2012 title game comes to mind where Bama beat them 42-14. The Irish lost 44-28 to OSU in the Fiesta Bowl to conclude the 2015 season. And ND of course got whitewashed 30-3 by Clemson in the CFB playoffs last year. I like the Dawgs giving the 14.5 here.

—Brent Baver and Colin Gawel

The Cars and a Partial List of Career Defining Debut Records - by Colin Gawel and Ricki C.

(Colin & Ricki collaborated cybernetically on this post: Colin is in plain text, Ricki’s in italics.)

Sadly, we recently lost the talented musician and producer Ric Ocasek. The Cars debut record could perhaps be the most fully realized debut record of all time. Think about that. Off the top of my head here is an incomplete list of the greatest debut records ever recorded. The criteria for this list follows one simple rule:

If you only had the debut record, you would fully understand the artist. That knocks out 99.9% of records. For example, you can’t only own Meet the Beatles and claim to appreciate The Beatles. A great debut record, no doubt, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. But if you heard The Cars, you would never need another Cars record to fully appreciate the band. Let’s go to my list. Please let me know who I am missing as I am sure there are plenty. 

The Cars - I used to play this record over the phone to girls I was too scared to talk to in 7th grade. Later when Watershed was working on The More It Hurts with Tim Patalan, we took a break from recording feeling pretty good about ourselves and ended up at a house party in Detroit. Someone put on The Cars and we all just kinda slumped at the same time. That record was flawless. We still had a wide river to cross. (I totally agree with Colin on this one. As he said, flawless record. For an in-depth account of my Troubled History with The Cars founder, check out Growing Old With Rock & Roll / Fighting With Ric Ocasek sometime.)

Van Halen - Boom. Have you seen the cover? Have you heard “Eruption”? What is this? 

Tracy Chapman - “Fast Car” only gets better and the rest of the record is just as good.

Guns N’ Roses / Appetite for Destruction - Though the video for “November Rain” is the only GNR you need to watch.

Weezer / The Blue Record - Produced by Ric Ocasek. Pinkerton is my personal favorite but all other 15 Weezer records are just them trying to rip off their debut. You hear this, you get the gist.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - It’s got “American Girl.” Oh, and Jimmy Iovine can get bent  for bad-mouthing Stan Lynch on later records. Sounds like a fake-ass producer looking for a scapegoat. Jimmy couldn’t get the right drum sounds with Bruce Springsteen, either?  Stan seemed to play pretty well on this record. Once again see: “American Girl.” (Ricki: I’m gonna throw in my two cents on this one. Back in 1976 when I went HUGE for the Year Zero aspect of punk-rock and literally gave away all my old acoustic records from the 1960’s & 70’s, that first Heartbreakers record was mind-blowing. Yeah, The Clash were great and The Sex Pistols had a coupla cool singles, but Tom Petty and the guys were just so AMERICAN, ya know? I couldn’t really picture Sid Vicious sittin’ around a swimming pool quaffing beers & smoking joints, but I could CERTAINLY see Stan Lynch indulging in those activities whilst simultaneously trying to scam pert, pretty young American Girls. “The Wild One Forever,” “Anything That’s Rock & Roll,” “American Girl;” all classics. And “Mystery Man“ is definitely one of the Top Ten Rolling Stones Songs That The Rolling Stones Forgot To Write EVER.)

MeatLoaf / Bat Out of Hell - The first and only Meat record you need to own. Jim Steinman is from another planet. 

Ramones - Made some better records but if you hear this, you pretty much know Ramones.

Here Is Little Richard - Same as Ramones.

The Killers / Hot Fuss.

Anyway, I’m at work serving coffee so chime in with who is missing. 

R.I.P. Ric Ocasek and  Ben Orr. 

Ricki’s addendum to Great Debut Records List:

The New York Dolls. Possibly - In My Humble Opinion - THE GREATEST DEBUT ALBUM in the history of rock & roll, but I’m not going through my entire record collection to verify that. If I think of any better, I’ll get back to you.

The Whiles / Colors Of The Year. Joe Peppercorn has certainly had great moments on later records (who else in Columbus could have written “Interregnum Thrones/Sink Beneath Your Smile”?) but never as consistently genius a record as this debut.

The MC5 / Kick Out The Jams. What more needs to be said? “Kick out the jams, motherfucker!”

Ian Hunter / self-titled 1976 release. I’m not really sure this one should count, since Hunter already had 6 or 7 Mott The Hoople records behind him when he released this solo debut, but GODDAMN, what a great Declaration of Independence.

The Modern Lovers / self-titled (I HATE the term “eponymous,” and it’s hard to spell.) Recorded as demos in 1972 or so, not released until 1976. Classic. (For more check out Growing Old With Rock & Roll / The Modern Lovers.)

Ignore the Politics and Uncle Ted Is One Helluva Musician - by Mark Stewart

IGNORE THE POLITICS AND UNCLE TED IS ONE HELLUVA MUSICIAN

The backdrop to the stage was a portrait of Uncle Ted riding a middle finger while flipping the bird himself. There’s nothing that Ted doesn’t enjoy more than…well, Ted. All right, Mr. Nugent has made a name for himself in recent times in the far-right political spectrum. He has never been bashful about anything, stressing strong support for the second amendment, the military, his very conservative views and above all…Ted. 

But this is not political. While many of us may be on the opposite side of the political rainbow, there is no denying that the Motor City Madman continues to be one bad-ass musician. At the age of 71 (but looking 20 years younger) Uncle Ted continues to tour the nation and gets fans of all stripes to come to his concerts. My son’s friend is in the military so he received complimentary tickets (as part of Ted’s support for the military) for him and three friends to attend Ted’s most recent gig at PromoWest Express Live! in Columbus on August 30. My friends and I were happy to pay market price to see him live, having been entertained by his music and his antics in the past. So this combination Boomer/Millennial group was out there on the lawn with fans mostly of the higher-aged vintage, but all who were there for the music. 

Ted started out with Stranglehold (how rare to start with such a big hit?) and ignoring the misogynistic lyrical overtones (which we shouldn’t, and that’s another whole blog post), it is one amazing rock anthem. One cannot help but enjoy the lead guitar that Ted has honed over many years along with the perfect bass and drum accompaniment (Ted’s band today is a trio, no frills kinda band). While Ted sang lead on most of the tunes, his outstanding bass player Greg Smith sang lead on a number of songs, giving Ted the chance to demonstrate his out of this world guitar playing skills. (Extra credit: Who was formerly lead singer for Ted’s tunes and has been the lead singer for Foghat, the band of Slow Ride fame, the last 20 years since Lonesome Dave’s death? See answer below. Oh, and my son pointed out that Ted’s drummer Jason Hartless, another fellow Motown native, was born in 1994, so this was truly a cross-generational event.

Ted says he never drank alcohol or did drugs so it keeps him clear for all things and I have to believe him (at least on the musical side). Taking us through his hits as well as some tasty deep tracks, he kept the crowd moving and engaged. His guitar on the immensely rocking Fred Bear almost brought a tear to this reviewer’s eyes, and certainly brought the crowd to its feet (which is quite a “feat” itself with so many of us Boomers wanting to sit for a spell).

With the reminder that freedom isn’t free and recognition of each arm of the military, Ted marched into another rocker - Free For All - which for some reason I don’t believe was written originally with that in mind, but it works. He said he loves the songs that he has written, says his favorite concert is today’s, and that tomorrow his favorite concert will be tomorrow’s. As he wound up Cat Scratch Fever just before he left the stage prior to his encore, we decided to beat the crowd departing along with many other 60-somethings. But we left believing this was his best concert in the three times we have seen him the last few years in Columbus. No doubt about it, Good Friends and a Bottle of Wine brought back the nostalgia for a Ted that wasn’t known for his politics, but for swinging on a rope onstage and his hard-rocking licks. 

Ted’s lead singer in the late 70’s was Charlie Huhn, who also performed with Humble Pie before becoming lead singer of legendary British band Foghat from 2000 to present.

Ted doing Gonzo at Express Live:

Mark Stewart is in his second career a Film/TV Producer and founder of Stewbean Productions (https://www.stewbeanproductions.com) with his award-winning Rockumentary/Mockumentary “Mock and Roll” (https://www.mockandrollthefilm.com) being released by MVD Entertainment and Soundview Media Partners on September 17.

NCP Browns v Jets Preview - by Big $ and The Ice Cube

What the hell happened against the Titans and who/what is to blame?

Big $ - A catastrophe such as the week 1 debacle usually has several components that contribute to the disaster. This particular S- Show can be boiled to two specific issues: Building outside in, and inexperience at the HC spot. The NCP warned you that focusing on the glitz and glam outside of the hash marks and dismissing the importance of the OL could be the downfall of this team. Then Sunday comes and we see Teller and Corbett inactive. It’s hard to disagree that trotting out practice squad players on the offensive edges ended up killing the offensive scheme (and almost led to a Baker injury). I do not foresee Greg Robinson acting a total fool again, but I still think the lack of depth/quality on the Offensive Line will be an on-going theme in 2019.

To blame in this case: Dorsey

The second issue was one the NCP did not see coming. All summer, I was more than happy to drink the Freddie Kool Aid. “If you don’t wear Brown and Orange, yada yada yada” was all it took for us starved fans to be ready to run through a wall for him. His southern shucks attitude had us forget that the guy was only a RB coach a short time ago. Then Sunday comes and CBS starts reminding us of his used car salesman background and things start coming into focus Keyser Soze style. A team that was disorganized, unprepared and lacked focus came out of the tunnel. The play calling was erratic at best and downright fire-able at its worst. The biggest indictment was that when the chips were down the team lacked heart and appeared to quit. This is a lot of BS to overcome in a week, but I am truly hoping that we witnessed an aberration. If not, there is a better chance Freddie hits the unemployment line than a playoff berth in 2019. 

To blame in this case: Freddie Kitchens

What should we expect Monday night vs the Jets? 

The Ice Cube – Honestly, who the hell knows after the performance in the opener.  Last week, the total yards and time of possession were nearly identical, and although the Browns were a poor 1 for 10 on third-down conversions, Tennessee only converted on 2 out of 10.  And … Cleveland lost by 30. Sure, Baker’s 3 interceptions didn’t help, but the biggest issue was the penalty yardage. The Browns were flagged 18 times for 182 yards, a large chunk of which was of the personal foul variety.  That is insane! The lack of discipline was truly stunning, and the penalties continually kept drives alive for the Titans and really prevented Cleveland from getting any rally going. The margin of error in the NFL is small, and the Browns simply can’t afford to lose their collective shit.  

The good news is that this week’s game presents the best possible opportunity to get back on track.  Although the Monday Night Game is on the road, the Jets are at a low point and primed for a kick in the ribs.  ICYMI, QB Sam Darnold is out with mono. Former Northwestern Wildcat Trevor Siemian will be under center. He hasn’t played in a regular season game since 2017, and his career TD to INT ratio is about even.  Siemian will also be standing behind an offensive line that has only ever played one game together—giving up 4 sacks in a loss to Buffalo. The Browns had 5 sacks last week and frequently pressured Marcus Mariotta, which should to continue against this Jets line.  Because of the opportunity to pressure a rusty backup, I also expect the Browns to get a turnover or 2, after getting zero last week. The defense will be without safety Damarius Randall, though, who is out with a concussion.  

Even better news is that New York’s star linebacker C.J. Mosley, who often tormented Cleveland as a member of the Ravens, is also out because of injury.  In addition to being a tackling machine, he is strong against the pass. His absence could allow the Browns to control the clock with the running game, and it could open up passing lanes in the middle of the field.  Look for tight end David Njoku to get some more targets this week.

Also, New York’s kicking game is just as bad as Cleveland’s.  They cut their kicker last week after he missed an extra point and a field goal in their one-point loss.  If Monday’s game turns into a battle of field goals, the Browns will not be at a disadvantage.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed in this game, but other than a home game against the Dolphins, right now I cannot think of a better chance for Cleveland to rebound than Monday’s game versus New York.  If Cleveland puts on a showing like it did last week, this season will get really ugly, really quickly.  

follow on twitter @northcoastposse

UM follies, Justin Fields, Chase Young, and the Indiana matchup - Baver answers Colin's questions: Hoosier Week

Colin: How surprised were you the way OSU dominated that Cincinnati game?

Baver:  I thought it would be a fairly tight game, and maybe I have been too cautious with this OSU team that had to replace Urban Meyer and Dwayne Haskins. Like most Buckeye fans, I think Ryan Day thought the Bucks would get a challenge from UC, which led Day to unveil more of his playbook. You and I had talked about Dobbins, KJ Hill, and the O-line having to pick things up after the opener. Well, OSU got the big games out of KJ and Dobbins, and the offensive line was much more consistent. After rolling Cincinnati 42-0, the rest of the CFB world might want to take notice of this Buckeye team, if they haven’t already.

Colin: Who looked more impressive: Justin Fields or Chase Young? 

Baver:  Considering Chase Young is the best defensive end in college football, that’s maybe not the fairest question. I just did a quick Google searching 2020 NFL mock drafts, bringing up the 3 most recent mock drafts I could find. Each had Young as either the 3rdor the 4thoverall pick in the draft. But Justin Fields stole the show Saturday, and he really made it look easy. As mentioned, Day opened the playbook more, and Fields took the bull by the horns. He got a lot of help from the rest of his offense, but Justin Fields is really shining. 

Colin: Who looked more impressive: defensive backs or wide receivers?

Baver:  I am going to say the WRs were. The 3 guys that are considered the starters, Hill, Mack and Victor combined for only 7 catches against FAU. Those three combined for 16 catches against Cincinnati. And Garrett Wilson’s first catch as a Buckeye? A touchdown...probably the first of many to come in his Buckeye career. But no doubt the OSU secondary is worlds better than they were a year ago. Shaun Wade is really starting to finding his stride.

Colin: Ok, now that I have hyped the squad, could over confidence be a problem against Indiana? Could the Buckeyes lose this game and how would it happen?

Baver:  Ohio St is only 1-7 against the spread against IU over the past 8 seasons, and in the one game they covered, OSU trailed in the 3rdquarter as a 20-point favorite. I think certain Buckeye players come into this game over-confident every year, and tomorrow will be no different. This is probably why Ohio St opened as only a 14-point favorite this week before bettors pushed it to 18. 

If the Buckeyes continue to play like they have been playing as of late against IU, sooner or later the Hoosiers will come away with the win. If Indiana does win, it’s likely because the their QB (Penix and/or Ramsey) finds time to throw, while Justin Fields gets into a funk in his first road start. Whether it’s Penix or Ramsey for IU, both have athleticism that can cause OSU problems. But, I’ve got Ohio St winning 38-21...in line with the current Vegas numbers.

Colin: Speaking of losers, you tweeted that Michigan is the worst coached team you have ever seen. What is the trouble with our friends up North? 

Baver:  They are a mess. They brought over Josh Gattis from Bama as the new OC, and Gattis was the guy that was supposed to run tempo, and bring Jim Harbaugh into the 21stcentury. But that offense has been so bad they haven’t sped things up much at all, likely fearing that they’d turn the ball over even more. They have already fumbled 8 times in 2019! Four fumbles in each game....so at least they’ve been consistent. Shea Patterson is responsible for four of them himself, two of them coming inside Army’s 30-yard line last Saturday. Shea is also over-throwing receivers and making bad zone-reads, so I guess you can see he’s been well-rounded. And if Gattis is truly calling plays, his play calling has been abysmal. And here is a stat for you....in Michigan’s last 5 gms dating back to last season, UM hasn’t come within 2 touchdowns of covering the Vegas spread in any of the 5 games. And were it not for the success UM had on a fake punt Saturday, they would have scored 7 pts against a service academy. PUH-thetic.

Colin: What other games and lines will you be keeping an eye on this week? 

Baver:  After an improvement in the slate of games a week ago, the Wk 3 games have reverted back to crap. I have to think that UF head coach Dan Mullen has figured out a few things in the two weeks since Florida had their problems against the Canes. With the way they looked in the opener, and with Kentucky looking good in both games, there’s value in Fla only laying 8 at UK. Kentucky just lost starting QB Terry Wilson for the season, and I think they get smacked by the Gators tomorrow. 

I don’t have any other hard takes, but a slight lean toward Oklahoma covering the slew of pts (23½) they are laying at UCLA, and would probably lean Syracuse to cover the 4 TDs they are getting at home against Clemson.

—Brent Baver and Colin Gawel

frankblackfrancis :: aboxset :: byrobbraithwaite

Pixies formed in 1986. David Lovering, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and Charles Thompson IV, under the alias Black Francis, created music that influenced bands for years to come. Tensions within the group, largely between Thompson and Deal, strained and broke up the band in 1993.

Pixies reformed in 2004. A reunion tour was launched and new music was everyone’s hope. Pixies recorded “Bam Thwok!” for submission to the Shrek 2 soundtrack. It was rejected, and they continued to tour. Pixies wouldn’t go into the studio unless all members agreed. Kim Deal left the band in early 2013. A new EP was released later that year.

Pixies released three EPs over 2013 and 2014. They would later be collected as Indie Cindy. Simon Archer (The Fall) played bass in the studio. Kim Shattuck (The Muffs) managed bass duties live for a couple months before Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle) got the job permanently. Beneath the Eyrie, the new Pixies album, is out September 13th.

The making of Beneath the Eyrie was made into the award-worthy documentary podcast, It’s a Pixies Podcast.

Pixies were slowly making their way into my music world just as they were breaking up. From the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack to a 120 Minutes VJ crying, “That was the world premiere video of ‘Velouria’ and the last time we will ever show it,” I was aware of Pixies but I didn’t pay much attention to the albums until I got hooked on Frank Black’s solo albums, specifically Teenager of the Year.

Here Comes Your Man — 01
Bam Thwok! — 02
On Graveyard Hill — 03
Letter to Memphis — 04
No. 13 Baby — 05
Gigantic — 06
The Happening — 07
Planet of Sound — 08
Bel Esprit — 09
Something Against You — 10
Debaser — 11
Allison — 12
The Holiday Song — 13
Greens and Blues — 14

PIXIES :: 1986-1993, 2004-2019

13 — Come On Pilgrim (1987)
06, 10 — Surfer Rosa (1988)
01, 05, 11 — Doolittle (1989)
07, 12 — Bossanova (1990)
04, 08 — Trompe le Monde (1991)
02 — single (2004)
14 — Indie Cindy (2014)
09 — Head Carrier (2016)
03 — Beneath the Eyrie (2019)

Post-Pixies, Black Francis became Frank Black. He produced The Cult of Ray himself. The third solo album was recorded live with very few overdubs, a departure from his usual studio recording process. He liked the result so much that it became a blueprint for the next eight or nine years.

I saw Frank Black during the Teenager of the Year tour. The still underknown Jonny Polonsky opened. Throughout the entire show people screamed for Pixies songs. They never got them.

Headache — 01
Adda Lee — 02
Men in Black — 03
Superabound — 04
Old Black Dawning — 05
Pure Citizen of the Citizens Band — 06
You Ain’t Me — 07
Speedy Marie — 08
The Creature Crawling — 09
Czar — 10
The Man Who Was Too Loud — 11
The Cult of Ray — 12
Space Is Gonna Do Me Good — 13
Don’t Ya Rile ‘em — 14

FRANK BLACK :: 1993-1996

02, 05, 10, 14 — Frank Black (1993)
01, 04, 06, 08, 13 — Teenager of the Year (1994)
11 — The John Peel Session :: w/Teenage Fanclub (1995)
03, 07, 09, 12 — The Cult of Ray (1996)

Frank Black and the Catholics was made up of the backing band on The Cult of Ray. The process of recording “live-to-tape” was passed into law. There were no overdubs and virtually all of the songs during this time had no edits.

In 2004, Frank Black left the Catholics behind. He recorded two albums in Nashville with heavy-hitting session musicians that included Steve Cropper and Spooner Oldham, among many others.

I saw Frank Black and the Catholics during The Dog in the Sand tour. It was this tour that, for the first time, Pixies songs appeared on a Frank Black set list. Pixies reunited three years later.

Bullet — 01
Modern Age — 02
Do You Feel Bad About It? — 03
Smoke Up — 04
Go Find Your Saint — 05
21 Reasons — 06
If It Takes All Night — 07
I Switched You — 08
Solid Gold — 09
Nadine — 10
If Your Poison Gets You — 11
I Burn Today (live) — 12
Wave of Mutilation (live) — 13

FRANK BLACK AND THE CATHOLICS :: 1997-2006

03, 09 — Frank Black and the Catholics (1998)
04, 08 — Pistolero (1999)
01, 07 — Dog in the Sand (2001)
06 — Black Letter Days (2002)
02 — Devil’s Workshop (2002)
10 — Show Me Your Tears (2003)
05 — Honeycomb (2005) as Frank Black
11 — Fast Man Raider Man (2006) as Frank Black
12, 13 — Christmass (2006) as Frank Black

By 2007 the Pixies reunion tour looked like it was here to stay. There were rumors of new songs being worked on, though no new Pixies album appeared. Charles Thompson reverted to his Pixies alias, Black Francis, when he released Bluefinger. Both it and the EP svn fngrs made me wonder if some these songs had seeds of the rumored session. The rest of this section of frankblackfrancis is filled with a grab bag of projects: he wrote songs and a score for the silent movie The Golem (1920), he partnered with Reid Paley, a contributor on Fast Man Raider Man, for a one-off album, and he recorded a couple albums with Violet Clark, his wife, under the name Grand Duchy.

Threshold Apprehension — 01
Six Legged Man — 02
Half Man — 03
Bad News — 04
Curse — 05
Dead Man’s Curve — 06
The Flower Song — 07
Ugly Life — 08
Tight Black Rubber — 09
When They Come to Murder Me — 10
Lolita — 11
Stars — 12

BLACK FRANCIS :: 2007-2011

01, 09, 11 — Bluefinger (2007)
03, 10 — svn fngrs (2008)
02, 06 — NonStopErotik (2010)
04, 07, 12 — The Golem (2010)
05, 08 — Paley & Francis (2011) :: as Paley & Francis

If you haven’t noticed yet, Frank Black records a lot. Since Pixies formed in 1986 his yearly album average is nearly one and a quarter. And that’s not counting the songs he didn’t put on his records.

There was so much b-side material that collections were released. Oddballs compiled some of the excess from 1994-1997. Like material from the Catholics years were spread over two titles: Snake Oil (covers) and Another Road for the Hit (originals). Abbabubba and Christmass were mixes of original songs, live recordings and alternate versions of album tracks. Pixies even released a collection of b-sides. And with the arrival of Beneath the Eyrie, there are six more songs for the pile.

History Song (live) — 01
Somethings — 02
Don’t Clip Your Wings — 03
Re-Make/Re-Model — 04
Oddball — 05
Amnesia — 06
Old John Amos — 07
Sugar Daddy — 08
This Is Where I Belong — 09
Preacher’s Daughter — 10
That Burnt Out Rock ‘n’ Roll (live) — 11
Do Nothing — 12
You Never Heard About Me — 13
Rabbit Hole — 14
Tossed (vocal version) (live) — 15

SCRAPS

01 — FB&theC covering The Good, The Bad and The Queen
02, 12 — FB&theC - Snake Oil. 02 covering Angst. 12 covering The Specials
03, 10 — FB&theC: One More Road for the Hit
04, 05, 13 — FB: Oddballs
06, 09 — FB: “Headache” CD single. 09 covering The Kinks
07 — covering Arthur Alexander
08 — FB: Wig in a Box: Songs from and Inspired by Hedwig and the Angry Inch
11 — FB: 93-03. covering Gary Green
14 — BF demo
15 — FB bootleg

Below are Spotify versions of the playlists above. A few songs aren’t available, so some of the playlists vary slightly. There are a very small number copies of the above set, plus two episodes of It’s a Pixies Podcast, burned to CD at Colin’s Coffee, if you are so inclined…

“On Graveyard Hill” video co-directed by Kii Arens (Flipp, PPL MVR and LA-LA Land Gallery)

*phew*