Personnel: Frank Black (vocals, guitar); Stan Ridgway (vocals, banjo, harmonica, melodica, keyboards); Moris Tepper (guitar, banjo, background vocals); Rich Gilbert (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Dave Philips (guitar, background vocals); Joey Santiago , Lyle Workman, Keith Moline (guitar); Jack Kidney (harmonica, saxophone); Van Dyke Parks (accordion, piano); Andy J. Perkins (trumpet); Eric Drew Feldman (piano, electric piano, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, background vocals); Rob Laufer (piano, keyboards); Scott Boutier (drums); Eric Potter, Cynthia Haagens, David McCaffery, Pietra Wexstun, Jean Black (background vocals).
Audio Remasterer: Eddy Shreyer.
Liner Note Author: Mike Watt .
Recording information: NRG Studios; Sound City Studios; The Studio That Time Forgot.
A remastered collection of Frank Black and the Catholics' entire discography, The Complete Recordings boasts more than a little of the Pixies frontman's fondness for quirk. The songs from the Catholics' six albums are arranged in alphabetical order here, recalling his other band's penchant for playing their songs from A to Z in concert. Nevertheless, this reshuffled order just might remind fans how consistent Black's output was during this time, and how well the band's stripped-down approach suited his songwriting, especially after the more elaborate sound he pursued immediately after Pixies disbanded. Indeed, the best songs here -- "Billy Radcliffe," "I Switched You," "St. Francis Dam Disaster," "Robert Onion," "Hermaphroditos," "His Kingly Cave," "The Black Rider," "California Bound," "Massif Central," and "Jane, the Queen of Love" chief among them -- serve as a reminder that Black developed into a more mature, but still playful, writer during the Catholics years. Along with the generous amount of previously unreleased songs, including the entirety of the band's scrapped 2000 album Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day, of special note for fans is the set's seventh disc, True Blue. A set of "technical demos" for one of the band's finest albums, 2002's Black Letter Days, its intimate versions of songs like "Chip Away Boy" and "Valentine and Garuda" are highlights. Exhaustive but not exhausting, The Complete Recordings is a veritable jukebox full of fun for Frank Black obsessives. ~ Heather Phares
1.
[CD]
DISC 1: AL-CO:
1.
All My Ghosts
2.
Angst
3.
Are You Headed My Way?
4.
Back to Rome
5.
Bad Harmony
6.
Bartholomew
7.
Belle Isle
8.
Big Hurt, The
9.
Billy Radcliffe
10.
Black Letter Day
11.
Black Rider [Rock Version], The
12.
Black Rider [Surf Version], The
13.
Blast Off
14.
Blizzard 1989 - (previously unreleased)
15.
Bullet
16.
California Bound
17.
Changing of the Guards - (previously unreleased)
18.
Changing of the Guards
19.
Chip Away Boy
20.
Coastline
2.
[CD]
DISC 2: CO-HO:
1.
Cold Heart of Stone
2.
Constant Sorrow Man
3.
Dab'll Do Ya, A
4.
Do Nothing
5.
Do You Feel Bad About It?
6.
Dog Gone
7.
Dog in the Sand
8.
Don't Clip Your Wings
9.
Down in the Hole
10.
End of Miles
11.
End of Miles - (previously unreleased)
12.
Everything is New
13.
Farewell Bend, The
14.
Fields of Marigold
15.
Goodbye Lorraine
16.
Heloise
17.
Hermaphroditos (Is My Name)
18.
His Kingly Cave
19.
Horrible Day
20.
How You Went So Far
3.
[CD]
DISC 3: HU-KI:
1.
Humboldt County Massacre [Version 1] - (previously unreleased)
2.
Humboldt County Massacre [Version 2]
3.
Humboldt County Massacre [Version 3]
4.
I Gotta Move
5.
I Love Your Brain
6.
I Need Peace
7.
I Switched You
8.
I Think I'm Starting to Lose It
9.
I Want Rock & Roll
10.
I Will Run After You
11.
I Will Run After You - (previously unreleased)
12.
I'll Be Blue
13.
I'm Going Down
14.
I've Seen Your Picture
15.
If It Takes All Night
16.
Jaina Blues
17.
Jane the Queen of Love
18.
Jet Black River
19.
John the Revelator - (previously unreleased)
20.
King & Queen of Siam
4.
[CD]
DISC 4: LE-SC:
1.
Cigar Volante, Le
2.
Living on Soul [Version 1]
3.
Living on Soul [Version 2] - (previously unreleased)
4.
Llano del Rio
5.
Ludwigshaffen
6.
Man Who Was Too Loud, The
7.
Manitoba
8.
Massif Centrale
9.
Modern Age
10.
My Favorite Kiss
11.
Nadine
12.
Nadine [Version 2] - (previously unreleased)
13.
New House of the Pope
14.
Out of State
15.
Pan American Highway
16.
Pray for the Girls
17.
Preacher's Daughter
18.
Robert Onion
19.
San Antonio, TX
20.
Scene, The
5.
[CD]
DISC 5: SE-SU:
1.
Selkie Bride - (previously unreleased)
2.
Selkie Bride - (previously unreleased)
3.
Show Me Your Tears
4.
Song of the Shrimp - (previously unreleased)
5.
Sister Isabelle - (previously unreleased)
6.
Six-Sixty-Six
7.
Skeleton Man
8.
Sleep
9.
Smoke Up
10.
Snake, The
11.
Snake Oil
12.
So Hard to Make Things Out
13.
So. Bay
14.
Solid Gold
15.
Some Things (I Can't Get Used To)
16.
Southbound Bevy
17.
St. Francis Dam Disaster
18.
Steak 'n' Sabre
19.
Stupid Me
20.
Suffering
6.
[CD]
DISC 6: SU-18:
1.
Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day - (previously unreleased)