Jul 07 2021
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4
I was voted teenager of the year in 1997. Incredible that I won it really, having only been a teenager for 14 days, but there you go. I remember Scott Kelly being particularly upset by this as he'd been a teenager for longer. He now goes by the username of spackers, so that's the kind of guy he is and shows you that he never stood a chance. Spackers. I mean, come on. Anyway, this album was good.
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Nov 04 2021
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5
I LOVE this album cover and title. I also read that Frank Black was legitimately named Teenager of the Year. So I really wanted to love this. I didn’t think I had heard Frank Black before, but I did have in my library his cover of “Sugar Daddy” from the Wig In A Box album celebrating the music from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The Pixies are also a band I feel like I should know but don’t. So I’m jazzed to listen to this…
I started off wondering if this was a punk album, but while the influences are strong it’s not that...
“(I Want To Live On An) Abstract Plain” and “Calistan” are amazing! The guitar solo is awesome in “The Vanishing Spies”. “Speedy Marie” is fantastic and introduced me to the word ‘romaunt’. This is a smart album! Then comes “Headache” - another incredible song. Wow wow wow!
A song about the aqueducts built by Mulholland?! Holy shit! This album is officially off the hook incredible.
How many times can I keep saying how great a song is? How many songs are on this album…?
A song about ‘pong’?! ‘Pachinko’ and ‘Parcheesi’?! Rhyming ‘potlatch’ with ‘Sasquatch’?! ‘Chateaubriand’ in the lyrics?! Photon powered spacecraft?! The 60s sci fi show The Invaders?! Not to mention I now know the word ‘thalassocracy’! Throw in catchy as hell music and… LOVE LOVE LOVE!
You know an album is great when you keep saying ‘oh THIS is the best song on the album’ over and over as you listen. TEENAGER OF THE YEAR has that. It is a fantastic album that I can’t wait to listen to again. So much going on and so much still to discover!
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Feb 02 2021
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1
How this is in the list I'll never know
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Mar 05 2021
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3
I had a feeling as soon as I mentioned the hot streak we'd lose it. This isn't bad though. Apparently Frank Black is part of the Pixies, I do like what I've heard from them. Sometimes his singing reminds me of Lou Reed and Mark Kozelek. Many of the songs feel like fragments, but there's a good force of rock driving throughout. This seems like a really creative guy who felt repressed by being in a band, so he's letting it all out in a solo project. I respect that, even though I don't love the final product. There are a few good tracks sprinkled throughout, but as a whole it's nothing too impressive.
Favorite tracks: Calistan, Headache, Abstract Plain.
Album art: This made me laugh when I saw it last night. It's a cool cover, but what? Why was this big adult man coronated "teenager of the year"? Why is his free hand aimed to roast someone with a "what are thoooose"?
3/5
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May 11 2022
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3
Teenager of the Year is too much long for it's own good. There are songs strewn throughout the album where there are moments that stick long enough to be memorable and where songs can be utterly forgettable. If this were split into two albums, maybe it could be a better overall achievement by Frank Black but, as one whole, it's okay.
Favorites: Whatever Happened to Pong?, (I Want to Live on an) Abstract Plain, Calistan, Freedom Rock, Fiddle Riddle, Olé Mulholland, I Could Stay Here Forever, Pure Denizens of the Citizens Band.
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Sep 08 2022
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5
There is something really quite special when an album you love but never imagined would make it on the list comes up. And so, here we are, with Frank Black’s second solo album (his first is also pretty good). Unleashed from the now split Pixies (temporarily split, as it turns out) although still working with Joey Santiago who delivers some fine guitar solos, Black indulges his love of space, aliens, conspiracies, sci fi, deserts and his and the water supply to California. Most tracks are short, snappy and punchy, (The Hostess with the Mostest is a nifty slice of diner pie clocking in at 1m 56s) alongside some extended surf rock and ska tracks.
At the time, many called this ‘Pixies on the Beach’ and whilst there is light and sunshine here, Black’s oddities and obsession never quite put the listener at ease. But he’s clearly enjoying creating some pop rock tunes, singing not screaming and it makes for a fun, quirky, terrific record.
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Jul 05 2021
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2
It was a little bit awful
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Feb 05 2021
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4
If anyone is familiar with Jeff Tweedy's (Wilco frontman) first band Uncle Tupelo, this album has a few songs that sound just like it and I love them. Never explored the Pixies much further than the hits, and always thought they were just eh. But I was really digging this guys style. Alternative with a slight country influence at times. Made for some earnest songwriting.
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Sep 22 2021
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4
You'd be forgiven for not realizing this is the main dude from the Pixies, when he went by the stage name Black Francis. Apparently this thing came out in May, 1994, but this is my first time ever hearing of it. In fact, my only familiarity with Black Francis/Frank Black's solo work is a great cover he did of The Beach Boys' "Hang On To Your Ego". There's a very good chance that if I had more than 24-hours to sit with this album, it would warrant a beloved 5 rating.
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Dec 12 2022
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3
The older I get, the less tolerance I have for double albums. Give me a concise 40-45 minute record, with just your best shit. Leave me wanting more, don’t make me want to walk away because you keep rambling. Save the rest for a bonus ep or another standalone record.
There are very few double albums that justify being 65-80 minutes long and Teenager of the Year isn’t one of them. There’s probably a great, 5 star, record in here, but there’s too much similar sounding sprawl to make this a concise, enjoyable experience.
Let’s be honest, no one needed a Frank Black reggae/dub excursion, which underscores my point about double records: just because you can do something (fill a cd with 80 minutes of music, record a reggae track) doesn’t mean you should.
The best parts of this record are when the song structures get a little complex and the instrumentation gets varied (though a lot the synths and keys on this record definitely sound dated). I wouldn’t call them “prog” songs, but they are certainly “prog-like”. Even then, these songs become indistinguishable towards the end.
As whole, the album attempts eschew formula with varied stylistic choices, but the songs themselves all follow a very similar formula. 13 or 14 songs into Teenager of the Year, you’ll probably be thinking to yourself, “Ok, I get it already” or “didn’t I hear this song already?”. Then, you’ll realize you still have another 8 or 9 tracks to go.
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Oct 31 2021
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1
Fitting that the most popular song on the album is called Headache. Did not like it very much.
Not worth a listen to me.
1
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Jan 27 2021
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5
Everything is not good, but there are plenty of good songs, some even reminding me of Dire Straits.
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Jan 30 2021
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5
I really enjoyed this, it was a chaotic mess that reminded me of a more grungy They Might Be Giants at times? Need to look into more Frank Black and The Pixies. "Headache" was the best track, but there were a lot of tracks I was fond of. "Ole Mulholland", "Space is Gonna Do Me Good", "Thalassocracy".
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Jan 14 2021
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5
You’re like wtf is this? Then it grows on you. Is it good you ask? Idk I listen to the whole thing and I’m still puzzled.
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May 12 2022
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5
Never ad erd of deez but its qite nice and feels qite of the time.
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Aug 30 2021
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4
So, Frank Black , aka Black Frances, aka Charles Thompson IV is the lead singer of the Pixies! Didn't know that. I enjoyed this and really did get some Dire Straits vibes on a couple songs. References a Wrinkle in Time in Headache, so its got to be good. 4
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May 11 2021
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3
Decent album. Enjoyable. A few different styles. Seemed to be doing impressions of different artists. Spot the Neil Young and New Order.
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Nov 11 2023
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3
This album is like life - it peaks early
This album is like life - it has it's moments, which only exacerbate the disappointments
This album is like life - it's too long for it's own good
Three lifetimes out of five
👶👨👴
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Feb 24 2024
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3
The CD era really was a terrible time for concise, solid throughout albums, instead opting for throwing everything in the artist could that would fit on a disc, and it leads to albums like Teenager of the Year. Frank Black has some solid ideas here, with that signature feeling of Pixies throughout, but it feels like something is missing. What's missing, of course, is the rest of the band, but also those intricate decisions of what songs were deemed worthy of an album are gone, instead allowing for far too many tracks on an album that could be cut down to 1/3 of its size and be better for it. There's good playing, good song-writing, and strong enough melodies to be found on the whole project, but after an hour it all starts to feel the same, with little to help it stand out.
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Apr 13 2021
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5
What lovely off the beaten path subversive alt pop
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Mar 24 2021
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5
awesome!! Pixies
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Mar 31 2021
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5
I like Pixies. I like Frank Black. I See FB and I upvote
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Mar 03 2021
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5
Love this album overall. Freedom Rock lives in my head rent free.
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Jan 22 2021
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5
One of my top 20 albums of all time.
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Jun 04 2021
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5
Loved it. Loved the Pixies.
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Dec 06 2021
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5
4.5/5. Very consistent for so many songs. Can definitely see it influencing Toadies, POTUS, etc.
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Dec 31 2021
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5
Un clasico
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Jan 18 2022
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5
Love Frank, Love This
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Feb 10 2022
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5
I love that Charles Thompson IV took his initial stage name of Black Francis and flipped it to Frank Black as he set off on his solo career.
But as a big Pixies fan who never listened to Black's solo work, I started "Teenager of the Year" with unreasonable expectations. I liked a few songs on the first half of this double album, but somehow I got to track 10, "Two Reelers," before I got the Pixies feel I was hoping for. Then I really liked most of the rest of the album. And I kept thinking, what was going on with the first half - were there just too many songs that should have been cut from an overstuffed album?
So I had to give it another listen. And not only is the first half better than I initially gave it credit for, but the whole album is fantastic. You're gonna have some misses among 22 tracks, but the overall quality and variety while still maintaining much more Black Francis-ness than I first gave it credit for is a joy.
The Pixies were never a big commercial hit, and Black's solo stuff even less so. But this album definitely deserved to be held among the best of its time. Though I'm sure part of the problem was that this came out in 1994, a year with an absolute glut of completely amazing rock music. It's probably generational, but for me it might be rock's greatest year.
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Dec 23 2022
View Author
5
Неожиданно круто
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Dec 28 2022
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5
Because of Pixies
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Feb 01 2023
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5
Very impressed! What a great surprise!
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Feb 01 2023
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5
Wow this was fantastic. I’d heard Calistan before but there were so many bops. He managed to keep his craziness while also churning out some really catchy stuff. Lot of heft here. Secures the 5.
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Jun 16 2023
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5
I love Frank Black/Black Francis/Pixies/etc. While his solo stuff is a little more hit and miss compared to some of the Pixies pre-breakup albums, this is probably my favorite of his solo albums and I really love it.
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Jun 16 2023
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5
Absolutely love this album. I have no idea how many times I've listen to this. So happy to see it on the list!
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Jul 02 2023
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5
Looks like we have Pixies here before Pixies. And as with that band, I really liked Black Francis' album. Very diverse, you can never know what is going to happen next in the song. Just a very solid record, I'm actually surprised I haven't heard about it more. Over 20 songs with many diamonds in there, I'm looking forward to listen to them more often.
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Jul 17 2023
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5
((Totally new for me. Excellent and different. a relief it isn't crap. This is a wretched list))
Adventurous? ...you like it non-standard sometimes? Or maybe you are bored and need something edgier to meet your mood ?
Take one of these then. It might work....
Excellently chaotic music, suited well to almost any mood, but perhaps best suited driving top down along Mulholland at some crepuscular dawn after an all night pool party, half open Hawaiian shirt, RayBans and a 52mm girth Cuban between the lips.
Haven't you heard of this band? Me either. He played with the Pixies. This description from Wikipedia makes help to make sense of what is going on, and why the guitar sounds are pressing familiar buttons you can't put you're finger on:
"His vocal style has varied from a screaming, yowling delivery as lead vocalist of Pixies to a more measured and melodic style in his solo career.[4] His cryptic lyrics mostly explore unconventional subjects, such as surrealism, UFOs, and biblical violence, along with science fiction and surf culture.[5] His use of atypical meter signatures, loud–quiet dynamics, and distinct preference for live-to-two-track recording during his time with the Catholics, give him a distinct style within alternative rock.[6]
Source: Wikipedia, obviously.
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Aug 02 2023
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5
this rips, can always use more heyday pixies
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Aug 18 2023
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5
Ondanks dat ik het idee heb dat ome Frank graag de mensen ook een beetje wil irriteren kan ik z'n muziek altijd heel goed hebben. Album is een tikkeltje aan de lange kant (ruim een uur), maar blijft best interessant.
Ik geef een hele lichte 5 sterren. Ik vind het te goed voor 4, maar de andere 5 sterren albums zijn vrijwel allemaal nog net iets beter.
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Aug 18 2023
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5
had pretty low expectations for this because 1, I forgot who Frank Black was (frontman of Pixies), and 2, the album cover, title, and seeing that it was a 90s alternative album, I was expecting some mediocre grunge-metal
so glad that this is actually fucking fantastic
although now that I know who Frank Black is, it makes sense that the guy who wrote the songs for Surfer Rosa and Doolittle would write an album like this - 10/10
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Sep 08 2023
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5
Superchulo
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Oct 04 2023
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5
There are so many odd things here that I've loved for almost 30 years. TIL that Two Reelers is about The Three Stooges. What an odd dude.
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Oct 17 2023
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5
6 stars.
This was my bible, my shield, my parents, and my best friend. A lot of Pixies fans couldn't bridge the gap between that band and this (and his first solo one, for that matter), but it all made sense to me. Where I think a lot of his musical ideas fell into ruts as time went on, this is one where every song and every diversion in every song was still paying off big time.
10 stars.
This was way cooler than anything on the radio - we were swimming in a real sea of shit with the copy-of-a-copy grunge and mass-produced R&B. This was the only album with songs about video games, going to malls, visits from aliens, and The Three Stooges - sung with all the passion of Celine Dion singing about the power of love or whatever.
A million stars.
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Oct 22 2023
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5
I loved this, which was unexpected.
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Oct 24 2023
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5
Superchulo.
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Dec 22 2023
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5
Superchulo.
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Jan 11 2024
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5
When this was good it was brilliant, particularly when it was more punky which was the case for the first few songs. Reminded me of Weezer and I thought this album would be exactly what I always wanted from the Pixies.
For the album as a whole there was a lot of pixies-sounding tracks, which while still great didn't stand up to the heavier stuff for me. Album was a little bloated too, could have trimmed about 25% of just okay tracks to end up with a better album.
Saying all this, some class songs on this, 4.5.
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Jan 11 2024
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5
This is class! Like the Pixies meets Rocket from the Crypt, with great melodies and catchy little hooks.
I didnt connect the name to Pixies to begin with, and I’m not sure why Ive never listened to Frank Black’s solo stuff given Ive been a longtime fan of Pixies.
It is long, but bar a couple of tracks they are all excellent. And it doesnt really outstay its welcome especially given there’s over 20 tracks on this. Will be back.
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Jan 13 2024
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5
One of the very best albums of all time. Amazing songs. Wonderful delivery. Great artist. As near perfection as you can get. Immediate, punchy, weird, a high octane window into the quirky world of Frank Black/Black Francis.
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Jan 16 2024
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5
This album is good but long. Frank’s voice sounds as good as a Pixies album here, and it feels like he made a Pixies album under his own name. What a genius.
5/5
Fav: “Calistan”, “Headache”, “Whatever Happened to Pong?”
Least Fav: None
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Jan 21 2024
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5
Another album that I already know well and love . It’s been a minute tho and I’m overdo for a visit. Some great recommendations here Thankyu
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Jan 28 2024
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5
Song: Headache
This is the second coincidence of the project—the Pixies today and their lead singer today. This isn't the type of music I usually listen to, but something about it just really hit me. I really enjoyed this song, the lyrics, the instrumentals (that keyboard, for some reason). I would absolutely listen to that again.
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Jan 31 2024
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5
Eu tinha tentado ouvir com a Flora, sem prestar muita atenção, mas não deu, foi incômodo. Tentando novamente, agora com atenção e acompanhando as letras.... Uau. Tem melodias deliciosas e tem bastante mudanças. Foi muito bom ficar esperando para ver como ele iria trabalhar com a voz, cada verso era uma surpresa!! O toque punk de algumas é lovely.
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Jan 31 2024
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5
inesperadamente incrível! cheio de camadas, super fun!
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Feb 01 2024
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5
I felt like I was in the 90’s
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Feb 22 2024
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5
Weird stuff. Loved it.
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Feb 23 2024
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5
great
thalassocracy
(i wanna live on an) abstract plain
calistan
the vanishing spies
speedy marie
headache
freedom rock
fiddle riddle
ole mulholland
the hostess with the mostest
superabound
big red
space is gonna do me good
white noise maker
pure denizen of the citizens band
bad, wicked world
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Mar 16 2024
View Author
5
loved!
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Mar 21 2024
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5
One of my favorite new-to-me albums I've gotten on this list. Sometimes double albums can feel like a drag, but this one could've kept going and I wouldn't have been upset. I enjoyed every last song, zero skips on this album for me. There are times where a song sounds like it's going to be a generic pop/indie song, but then he puts his own little twists in there that make it utterly unique and just plain cool. It's a super fun album, but it always maintains a little edge to it which I just love.
I've been a Pixies fan for a very long time and am ashamed that I haven't listened to Frank Black's records sooner. I'm going on a short road trip next weekend and already can't wait to play this during my drive. Perfect spring time drive music. Finding albums like this makes this whole experience so worthwhile.
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Mar 25 2024
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5
Top, didn't know Frank Black is Pixies front man!
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Apr 11 2024
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5
This is really great. Reminds me a lot of the Pixies (because he was the singer), but a bit different. On consecutive songs ‘Superabound’ and ‘Big Red’, his vocals remind me of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, respectively, but with far different music and more of a Pixies sound. Something about this album that I like in music is it switching between songs quickly. There are still some that get to shine, but it has a nice energy to it. The end
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May 08 2024
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5
Hadn’t listened to this in ages and I sang along to it.
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May 19 2024
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5
This album is so consistantly strong. Every single song is great, even if the album seems to go on longer than it should, I can't think of any song I'd be okay with cutting. Love this album.
Also, I didn't expect Frank Black to look like that, his voice made me think of some super skinny guy with bronze skin lol
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May 28 2024
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5
Pixies minus a few, still good
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Jun 14 2024
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5
Lead singer of Pixies!!! I could hear it now that I realize that. Sir Rockaby and Fiddle Riddle are great songs.
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Jun 27 2024
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5
Great solo album
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Aug 06 2024
View Author
5
Awesome album
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Aug 07 2024
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5
This is one of my partner's favourite albums of all time, so I know it well. As she puts it: "It's a collection of nuggets. And their weird charm works on you whether you're in a foul or a happy mood. So you can stop using this app now. Look no further, this is *it*". Her words, not mine. 🙂
Truth be told, being a huge Pixies fan myself, I did buy *Teenager Of The Year* at the time of its release, and I have also enjoyed it for a long time. So I have my own personal compliments to give to this weird and wonderful gallery of post-1950s snapshots put into nineties indie-rock regalia, going from space conquest fantasies to UFO obsessions, or from Atlantis fairy tales to Hollywood conspiracy theories. The American spirit, as seen through a genius distorted lens of folk myths and urban legends... With the inclusion of the previous eponymous solo debut (also exploring those themes through so many memorable tunes), this sophomore LP is thus certainly the other Frank Black offering to select for such a list. And thanks to its whooping 22 tracks, it's also a *gargantuan* offering for sure--in keeping with Mr. Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV's rotound figure.
22 songs sound like a lot, but the album just flies by, really. First because a large quarter of the tracklist is made out of quite short and endearing jittery hectic punk-rock-inspired cuts only a mind like the one of Frank Black could pull off: they're tongue-in-cheek, surreal, very much in the abrasive loony spirit of Pere Ubu (who had Eric Drew Feldman in their ranks at the time, and helped produce this thing), and yet there's always something accessible to them. Half of the other songs in the album encompasses a larger indie-rock / hard-rock / pop-rock spectrum, sometimes acoustic-guitar-based, sometimes electric, with so many great melodies and catchy choruses it becomes a festival of standout tracks: "Abstract Plains", "Calistan", "Freedom Rock", "Two Reelers", "Olé Mulholland', "Pure Denizen of the Citizens Band", "I Could Stay Here Forever", "Headache"... The latter song was a hit in France, by the way, and this unexpected success in my neck of the woods probably explains why Frank Black will play the album in its entirety in Paris next February for the anniversary of its release. But even if I go to that gig and find a way to sneak in backstage, I don't expect Mr. Kittridge to remember me from the time I interviewed him for a local radio station at the end of the nineties--that interview was a bit boring, honestly, and to this day, I still don't really know if the fault was his or mine--just a way to say that if I have those personal recollections of the artist, I don't think they're influencing my positive take on *Teenager Of The Year* almost three decades after...
To return to the album, each song from the last 25% of its tracklist seems to explore a different musical genre not directly adjacent to the main bulk of the record. The organ-laden surf-rock overtones of a couple of cuts were not so surprising from the former Pixies, but the mock-reggae song, along with the folk, country-rock and even doo-wop whiffs on a fistful of other cuts were quite unexpected. This is where complainers will bitch and moan about the album's length the most, I guess.
I would retort to them in two ways: Frank Black's singular songwriting chops are still very much intact and *very much his* on those deeper cuts, which brings the necessary cohesion to the whole shebang ; and rather than being unnecessary detours, those fun exercises in style sprinkled throughout the record's tracklist give a sense of space and scope that's also necessary for such a project. Because long albums need to *breathe* once in a while, and this is how they can justify their lengths, at least if their twists and turns manage to keep you on your toes...
Per Wikipedia, *Teenager Of The Year* was "not originally well-received", but it seems that this lukewarm assessment ended a few years down the line. I do remember a couple of mixed reviews at the time of the album's release, but frankly, I didn't give a rat's ass about them. I knew it was a great and very fun record from one of the most important musicians in its genre / category. Glad other folks seem to concur today. Frank Black might not have been the *real* "teenager of the year 1994" (and he was probably aware of the upcoming backlash / turn of the tides trendwise, hence the ironic title and the goofy artwork). But in retrospect, he does deserve his place on the indie-rock podium of all time. If there's one thing that this app can teach you, it's that yesterday's pageants don't matter that much.
4.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5.
9.5/10 for more general purposes.
Number of albums left to review: 116
Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 386 (including this one)
Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 226
Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 284
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Aug 08 2024
View Author
5
Top shelf
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Aug 12 2024
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5
Just the right amount of chaos. I've been sleeping on Frank Black, he did not decline from the Pixies.
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Aug 25 2024
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5
Like the pixies! Not as good but still it has so many hits!
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Aug 28 2024
View Author
5
very very cool
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Sep 12 2024
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5
LOVE IT! Had never heard of this album and had a great time listening. I wish I had been the right age when this came out because it would have been the perfect life soundtrack. Some super hip little musical and metric turns. A few killing solos. Kept catching myself bobbing my head. Good fun!
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Sep 15 2024
View Author
5
Lost in brit pop craziness
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Oct 03 2024
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5
I like it, stays true and consistent with Frank Black’s vibe.
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Jun 25 2021
View Author
4
Pixies frontman.
Pretty decent.
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Sep 29 2020
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4
Sounds very 90s. lots of songs.
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Nov 08 2020
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4
Quintessential Frank Black. A very solid effort in which the listener can cleay hear both its infuences and what it went on to inspire.
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Apr 29 2021
View Author
4
Pixie Dust!
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Feb 03 2021
View Author
4
Good rock album
Didn't know he was the vocalist of pixies
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Jul 05 2021
View Author
4
A very pleasant surprise.
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Jan 30 2021
View Author
4
A lot of the stronger songs are in the middle and are sandwiched between some underdeveloped sketches (brilliant ones by a Michelangelo-level artist but still, sketches). Great album regardless and this Aussie gives Teenager of the Year four meat pies while watching some footy with your mates out of five.
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Jan 30 2021
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4
I enjoyed it a lot, it's a lot better in the middle, I really liked the speedy something song? I should listen to this one again.
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May 10 2021
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4
On the fence about this one, good or great. Overlong, and could certainly have been tightened up, but a lot of it rocks pretty hard
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Jul 05 2021
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4
Wasn't sure about this at first but then really got into it. Now I know he is the lead singer of Pixies, it makes a lot more sense. Listened twice - was good
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May 05 2021
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4
This album totally escaped my radar, but it's quintessentially 90's alt-rock. Fun to listen, ejoyable melodies, round compositions, memorable. Like it!
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Feb 12 2021
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4
1994, Alternative Rock, Frontmann von Pixies, sind banger dabei, stabiles Album, hard, seichte 4
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Jan 27 2021
View Author
4
Dette vokste på meg!
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Mar 22 2021
View Author
4
Kinda enjoyed
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Feb 11 2021
View Author
4
One of my favorite singers, and one of my favorite albums
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Feb 14 2021
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4
Going by the album cover and the fact I’d never heard of the band before let alone their music I was not entirely sure what I was in for, but I didn’t have great vibes.
The saying goes ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover...’ and its entirely applicable in this example. I was pleased to hear the sweet sound of distorted guitar instead of the doof of bass when the first track started and I found it enjoyable from then on. The songs are all unique enough from each other but still hold a comparative southern rock grit that holds them all together. Vocals are a mix of Curt Cobain crossed with Chris Ballew (Pres USA), which sometimes sound as though they are going to stretch the bounds of listenability, but are actually well controlled and at times even tender. They are dirty and strained yet also compassionate and haunting at all the right times.
While the music does have a 90’s feel to it, you wouldn’t immediately guess the album was from that decade. This album is guaranteed to win you over the more and more you listen. It’s a creeper in that sense. So put your prejudices aside and settle in...you’re in for a good time ride. Four stars!
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Jun 23 2021
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4
A very fun and well written punky/alt rock record, but it really didn’t need to be a whole hour long. Takes away from the energy and sustainability of the record.
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May 28 2021
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4
Can't believe I'd never heard of this album. Some great tunes.
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May 12 2021
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4
Now this is a lit album. Glad was able to listen to it
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May 11 2021
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4
This was a good one! Ratteling punkish, in the pixies-zone
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Jul 26 2021
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4
A fabulous stand-in for a true Pixies album, though the double-album length certainly seems to wear a little thin towards the end (the last 2 songs seems throwaway). Still, enough angst and energy to thoroughly enjoy.
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Jul 26 2021
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4
Love the Pixies, and this is more of the same. I guess I just like the dominating base lines and escalating guitars.
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Sep 27 2021
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4
No sabía quién era Frank Black y luego de escuchar un par de canciones y decirme "esto me suena a Pixies", vi por qué. Y es un álbum que siento que sonó fresco en su momento, menos "ruidoso" que lo que hacía con la banda, pero igual de enérgico, mis favoritas fueron "Thalassocracy", "Big Red", "Headache" y "I Could Stay Here Forever" 8/10.
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Sep 29 2021
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4
-I like the heavy start in "Whatever Happened To Pong?"
-The intro to "Freedom Rock" definitely sounds like a riff I've heard before. Also the drums are great
-I like the scream/jam in "Pie In The Sky"
-Generally solid
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Oct 08 2021
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4
What can I say, never heard of Frank...but loved this. Will look for more!!!
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