by Mike Orren

Even though I knew that Frank wouldn't be bringing his All-Starr Band to the Gypsy Tea Room tonight, I went in with high hopes for a show that would duplicate, and perhaps expand on his latest discs.

Photo by Mike Orren

A cruddy picture of Frank Black and band shot from my cell phone. If anyone got a better one, drop me a line.

DEEP ELLUM — Although I've had some Pixies in my record collection as long as I can remember, I didn't really get turned onto them until one night at the Gypsy Tea Room at an Old 97's show when Rhett Miller pulled out "Wave of Mutilation" for an encore. That sent me into the back catalog, and put them more solidly on my radar screen.

But I've never been a megafan of the Pixies -- I was glad to catch them on their reunion tour last year, but that was as far as it went. And I never gave Black's other band, The Catholics, more than a cursory listen. That said, I loved Frank Black's 2004 Honeycomb disc and his new double Fast Man / Raider Man is probably my second-favorite disc this year, save for Springsteen's Seeger Sessions. It's a near-perfect album, from my point of view: rootsy, real narrative songs with a fat wall of sound featuring heavy horns, hammond, steel guitar and honky-tonk piano. Featuring luminaries like Levon Helm (The Band) and Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MG's), it's modern while being thorougly steeped in rock, blues and country traditions. It's Seeger Sessions written for the aughties.

So, even though I knew that Frank wouldn't be bringing his All-Starr Band to the Gypsy Tea Room tonight, I went in with high hopes for a show that would duplicate, and perhaps expand on these excellent discs. My hopes were bolstered by pre-show music from 1970's (ie: pre-Centerfold) J. Geils Band, which is a nice match for Frank's latest material -- and I hoped, a tone-setter for the evening. From the request shouts coming out of the sparse Tea Room crowd, I'm pretty sure everyone else wanted something more akin to the Pixies. (It seemed like a contest to see who could shout the most obscure request.)

Me against the crowd? We'll call it a draw. Frank hit the stage leading a four-piece band: two guitars; bass; and drums. It was a strong, tight and mature band that initially seemed bent on delivering the new tunes more in the style of the Pixies than of the new discs.

That's not a bad thing, necessarily -- especially if you're a Pixies fan. The songs themselves are more conventional and tuneful than a lot of Pixies material, and there was more room for a little guitar jamming, so it wasn't too disappointing.

Fortunately (for me at least), it seemed that once the band had the crowd well in hand at the midway point, they went rootsier. And much like X's Americana alter-ego, The Knitters, it became very clear why the Old 97's cover Frank Black. On "I'm Not Dead (I'm in Pittsburgh)," the lead guitarist literally seemed to be channeling Ken Bethea. And from that point in the show onward, it was less a Pixies revival and more a classic rock retrospective, with the rest of the songs displaying Chuck Berry riffs, sweet steel guitar solos and songs that evoked The Doors or countrified Social Distortion as much as Frank's earlier work. As the show went mellower, the crowd got a bit fidgety, but I was happier and happier with the performances. Some of the less memorable tunes came across like John Hiatt's harder stuff (Yes, I really said that). But the stronger ones like "Johnny Barleycorn," "Horrible Day," and "Nadine," pulled rhythm section, harmonies and guitar-driven melody together so well that I stopped lamenting the missing horns and keys.

I realize that it's tough to take a seven-piece on the road, especially when you're only drawing a couple hundred folks. But the full sound of the discs would have taken this show from really good to transcendant. Hopefully Frank will be able to pull together a few nights of that for a live disc before this tour winds down.

I'll confess I slipped out before the encore -- an early morning lay ahead. But I could hear Frank gearing back into Pixies mode as I drove back down Elm Street. And the roar of the crowd bleeding into the street told me that they were glad.

What do you think?

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