Live in Nijmegen＜Clear Vinyl＞

Another in a series of Frank Black/Black Francis live albums, Live in Nijmegen captures Francis on the 2008 Bluefinger/SVN FNGRS tour. Those albums saw him resurrect his Pixies moniker after more than a decade of writing and performing as Frank Black, and the punky spirit that moved him to change his name (again) is loud and clear on this live date. It's also especially fitting that this particular tour stop in the Netherlands was committed to tape, since Bluefinger was inspired by Dutch punk rocker/poet/painter Herman Brood. That album and SVN FNGRS boasted some of Francis' most ferocious and transgressive rock in some time, and he and his backing band -- bassist Dan Schmid and drummer Jason Carter -- live up to the rawness of those releases and then some. While the SVN FNGRS highlight "The Seus" is notably absent here, the trio tears into these songs, particularly the rarity "Get Away Oil," as well as "Gyaneshwar," "Tight Black Rubber," "Threshold Apprehension," and "Captain Pasty," but quieter moments like "Halfman" and "Discotheque 36" work just as well, and arguably even better than they did on the album. Anyone who has seen Francis live in any of his guises knows what an impassioned performer he is, and Live in Nijmegen reaffirms that, while giving fans who haven't seen him in concert ample reason to do so. ~ Heather Phares