Yet another superfluous posthumous Pixies release. Even a fan as ardent and dedicated as myself, having purchased every FB, Pixies and Kim Deal CD, will find this cache of rarities hardly worth the trouble or money. Why not release all these pre-Pixies rarities in one fell swoop, rather than parsing them out incrementally to release as many CDs as possible? This, coming from someone whose favorite band---period---is the Pixies.

Though a dedicated FB and the Catholics fan, I'm all for the reunion thing. In fact, I consider it a blessing in disguise, given FB's last few releases, and the easy-listening acoustic CD on the near horizon. It's always a bad sign when an artist apologizes about the quality of the work in a CD's liner notes. FB writes something to this effect: "Well, I kind of felt like this didn't warrant a release, or that its sound quality was poor, so I thought I'd add this extra disc of Pixies reworkings. Take it or leave it, basically."

I'll leave it, and not because my ear responds unkindly to "experimental" or "electronic" music; I listen to Aphex, Radiohead, Boards of Canada, Autechre, others on the Warp roster, so I'm not unused to this genre. Only, this isn't electronica. Rather, most of it just sounds awkward, tired, half-baked and disingenuously off-kilter. Experimental is not a synonym for bad.

If it sounds like I'm being harsh, perhaps it's because I'm disappointed. Frank Black is, in my opinion, the most talented song-writer of his generation. I love his bravado, his versatility, his voice, his songcraft intuition. His talent dwarfs that of other artists and bands, and it should be dedicated to something a little more worth his---and our---while.

Kurt Cobain said Nirvana stole all their best ideas from them, key Radiohead members Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke have similarly emphasised their debt to them, U2 were so enraptured with them that they took them on the Zoo TV tour as special guests and even David Bowie claims they breathed new life into music in the 1980s. If you're new to this act The Pixies that everyone is raving about since their reformation, don't start your collection by snapping up this solo CD set from head Pixie Charles Thompson IV (hunt down Death To The Pixies as a greatest hits taste-test to begin with, then grab a copy of Doolittle and Surfer Rosa). However, if you're a fully fledged fan of The Pixies, Frank Black Francis acts as an even greater revelation than the less expansive but similar period's Pixies (also known as The Purple Tape), with the first of the two CDs (Demo) showcasing Black Francis's 1987 acoustic outlines of all the tracks (bar Levitate Me) that would make it to debut album Come On Pilgrim, as well as Surfer Rosa's Broken Face, Break My Body and Oh My Golly. I've Been Tired reveals a measure of Jack White in Frank's erratic yelps, while the sketchy demos also interestingly include Frank's comments to producer Gary Smith such as "There's supposed to be screaming here" mid-song. Such a rough compilation was never meant to be released, yet Black's fully-formulated idea of how he wished Come On Pilgrim to sound makes the first disc compelling for completists. Of lesser note is the woozy bass-heavy revisionism of The Pixies' legacy on disc two (Treated), although Frank concedes in the liner notes this re-recorded and re-interpreted collection was only put together to bolster the musical content of the Frank Black Francis package. While Where Is My Mind? and Nimrod's Son are interesting due to their `Frank On Tranqs' malaise, similarly classic tracks such as Cactus and Levitate Me don't work quite so well in this sluggish sonic territory. Nonetheless, replacing savage guitars and shrieking howls for tubas and keyboards on awesome tunes such as Monkey Gone To Heaven and The Holiday Song shows Frank is commendably unafraid to experiment with his classic tracks. While such reinvention has divided many fans, the creativity on display on both discs creates an exceptional stop-gap between his 2003 solo album Show Me Your Tears and (fingers crossed) the next Pixies album.

I just thought i drop my two cents. I love the first disc. you can feel the urgency in the songs, and how powerful and simple they were even without a band. The first track, Holiday Song, soars and pulls at your ears, super sing a long. Other tracks that stand out include Ed is Dead, Caribou, and Oh My Golly. All of them show the conviction frank had in his songs, and prove his strength as a songwriter and performer. They sound just as hard without the band, as much as i love them. The second disc, however, came across as lackluster. It is what the Pixies would sound like if they were a free jazz band. This sounds enticing, even to me as i write it, but it didnt really work for me. It takes all the force out of the classic tracks, making them limp and deflated. Ive listened to it once, and the first disc probably a dozen times. Additionally, it seems like a bit of an ego massage for frank, like he is saying that although they may be Pixies classics, he owns them and can manipulate them as he pleases. This may be true, but for me, it doesn't work. No substance. dip skip a roo.

The first disc is great, its what you'd expect. It's the second disc thats really worth hearing. Frank revisited these songs with a different perspective. Thank god they were recorded on more than two tracks, Its nice to hear the textures created in the studio. I loved his first two solo albums... I've had a big smile on my face listening to this. They'll never be better than the original recorings but its fun hearing these versions.

As anyone who caught the Pixies on the recent tour can attest, this man is brilliant and an absolute joy to listen to. His songwriting and flair for catchy and lasting tunes are well-known. This collection of songs is interesting and probably most important to the die-hard collectors and "Pixie purists" who simply must have it all. The upside is that there are lots of great songs here for not too much money. The potential downside is that many of the songs are so raw and unpolished, that they have trouble standing up to so much of the other great music that's been released this year (Nick Cave and Indigo Girls to name a couple). Then again, this man on a bad day is better than most on a good one.

If you don't have much stuff by this guy, I recommend Black Letter Days and one of the other comprehensive Pixie collections. If you must have everything, then this one's a rare gem worth collecting.