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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Dog In The Sand
by Frank Black & The Catholics


8.5

based on 17 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 9 votes
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Rate this album

MUSIC:

LABEL:	W.A.R.?
RELEASE DATE:	30 January 2001
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Indie, Rock

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

PopMatters

This is an arresting album that doesn't let go of your attention.

Ink Blot Magazine

It's the sound of a man finding a new place for himself, liking it, and reveling in it.

Dot Music

Dog In The Sand' is unquestionably Frank Black's finest solo album.

HOB.com

Frank Black has dug in deep for this one, and come up with an album that captures the essence of his roots while expanding the realm he's been entrenched in over the last few years.

All Music Guide

His most interesting work since Teenager of the Year, Dog in the Sand sounds like a slightly slower, rootsier version of that album.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

He sounds fierce on his new album, and that's a welcome change.

Q Magazine

This is Black's strongest set of songs since 1994's second solo selection, Teenager Of The Year, largely because the trademark wit and weirdness is back.

Mojo

There is an inflammatory urgency here that reminds you of why Kurt Cobain considered Black an almost saintly figure. [Feb. 2001, p.88]

Wall of Sound

Strangely enough, it seems the further Black distances himself from his heroic work in The Pixies, the better he gets.

Pitchfork

By this time, though, even Frank may be chafing at the limitations of their bar-band sound, staunch as he is in refusing to do overdubs or even edits in the recording process. Fortunately, there are just enough tweaks to that process this time out to enliven the resulting album, making it his most diverse and listenable since Teenager of the Year.

Billboard

His third record with the Catholics, "Dog In The Sand," furthers the ex-Pixies frontman's recent explorations into bare-bones rock'n'roll.

Nude As The News

Dog has a strong, old-school rock and roll feel to it.

Spin Cycle

Having traded in affected spooky vocals and idiosyncratic song structures for straight-ahead rock, however, Black seems to suffer a crisis of confidence on "Dog in the Sand."

Alternative Press

Pleasant, if not very gripping... [March 2001, p.70]

New Musical Express

It's unfortunate that Frank Black And The Catholics' fourth release falls so close to that of his former band the Pixies' B-sides compilation. Next to the twisted urgency of Black's heyday, his current shortcomings are even more stark.

Magnet

Dog is Black's safest record in years.... As such, however, the album is a bore. Rollicking American rock and pedal-stell ballads don't suit Black, and the resulting arrangements are both unsurprising and uninspired. [#48, p.78]

Launch.com

By and large, the disc is made up of ambitious but misguided attempts to elevate mundane rock 'n' roll to some kind of higher art form.

The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

O K gave it a 10:
Its odd how the people who like this album "Get it" and can't understand why other people just, well, don't. Well, I "get it" and can honestly say that few people, if any, have ever put out as stunning a catalog as songs as one Black Francis. He's still got it...and then some.

Andre V. gave it a 10:
The best album I ever heard. But there are just few people who understand this. The majority prefers to hear the common shit...

Echo Denver gave it a 10:
This will probably be re-released as Frank Black and the Catholics Greatest Hits. Every song an infectious treat ringing in your ears!

Joseph S. gave it a 9:
Forget your ying and go f#ck your yang, buy this album. If this is simply straight ahead rock then I defy you to find anything like it on the radio, classic or otherwise. In actuality it is songcraft that you hear and mistake for convention because so much other music is nothing but vouge attitudes. Listen to the poetry and be amazed that you actually understand the words! And have some empathy instead of antipathy.

Carmen gave it a 6:
I would eat Frank Black up!

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Dog In The Sand by Frank Black & The Catholics

Dog In The Sand
by Frank Black & The Catholics