by
Frank Black
- Record Label: Back Porch / Cooking Vinyl
- Release Date: Jun 20, 2006
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Alternative PressThat rare double album with enough life in it to deserve that much real estate. [Aug 2006, p.208]
-
FilterIt's impossible to decide whether Black is tourist or guide in the land of dusty genres he evokes. [#21, p.102]
-
It’s Frank Black on his first real roll as a solo artist.
-
[A] compendium of mostly refined Americana, albeit filtered through Black's uniquely cockeyed worldview.
-
MojoWhile it might've been more digestible as a single CD, Black strives for a wide scope that makes the album's elegant songcraft, musical telepathy and poetic unpredictability all the more satisfying. [Aug 2006, p.104]
-
If it weren't for the album's studio polish, it'd feel like an extremely well-recorded concert -- it has the ebb and flow of a good live set, and its expansive warmth ends up making its length work in its favor.
-
Black's voice is less interesting when he's not going postal with the Pixies; here he delivers dark visions wanly, with a nod to Nick Cave and a saving touch of camp.
-
There is a very good album here-- you just have to work for it.
-
Fast Man Raider Man is simply too long, and, as such, a dilution.
-
The work of a middle-aged man with little to prove: amiable, assured, seldom surprising.
-
SpinThe playing is impeccable, Black's subtly warped songs uneven. [Jul 2006, p.82]
-
Under The RadarOddly, the songs here are actually quite good and are played , well but Black’s nasal voice is at odds with some of the genres he’s exploring. [#14]
-
Fast Man Raider Man isn't your father's Frank Black; it's Frank Black for your father.
-
New Musical Express (NME)Where Black's muse was once shrieked and otherworldly, it's now distinctly earth-bound. [17 Jun 2006, p.37]
-
There is certainly enough solid material here for an album, but Black has committed one of the cardinal sins of modern music: this is too damn long.
-
Fast Man/Raider Man is sluggish country rock.
-
While there are some moments of greatness (the menacing, psychedelic 'Dog Sleep', the mournful, pretty 'Don't Cry That Way'), the majority of this double album is dull, turgid and instantly forgettable.
-
Q MagazineAt its worst, only the quality of the backing band distinguishes it from pub rock. [Jul 2006, p.112]
-
UncutMuch of it is endurance-defyingly dull. [Jul 2006, p.84]
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 19 out of 24
-
Mixed: 3 out of 24
-
Negative: 2 out of 24
-
Sep 12, 2019One of the best album of Frank Black. Nevertheless, many songs would have deserved to be better produced.
-
AlexFSep 20, 2006
-
RatCoreSep 19, 2006