In celebration of the release of his second solo record, Teenager of the Year, Frank Black and band graced the stage of the Fillmore in San Francisco on January 15th, to play live, the entire album, originally released in 1994. The show was a kickoff for a tour of the US and Canada before heading to Europe for select dates. For this short trek, the band includes Eric Drew Feldman (bass and keys), Lyle Workman (guitar), and Nick Vincent (drums), who all played on the original recording, which Feldman also co-produced. Rob Laufer is rounding out the live group on keys, bass and guitar.
Tonight the band opens with three songs from Black’s first solo record. The audience gobbles up “Los Angeles”, “Every Time I Go Around Here” and “I Heard Ramona Sing”, (described by Black as a love song to The Ramones) and it is the perfect appetizer before the main course of Teenager. Black briefly tells the story of the bar where he and his brother hung out as teenagers, playing the newly installed Pong video game and, like that, the band is off, with one of the mightiest one-two punches to start an album. “Whatever Happened to Pong” and “Thalassocracy” leap from the speakers tonight, and Black stands sure-footed behind the mic, ably keeping up with the pace of the rapid word flow, while Workman is already bouncing up and down and throwing shapes. It all bodes well for the evening.
“Abstract Plain” is introduced as a parenthetical number while “Calistan” is the first song of the night to show off Lyle Workman’s tight yet fluid playing. “Speedy Marie” is a victim of barely perceptible keyboards which is a shame, as the giddy, swooning, warm synthesizer tones are missed. “Headache” gets the audience’s fists pumping, singing at the top of their lungs about a science fiction story. “Sir Rockaby” is gently and lovingly handled, with Black even recreating the falsetto from the record. During this song, one gets the idea that the numbers tonight are being handled caringly and enthusiastically by the band, just not reverentially, as if your talented neighbors are plugging in the amps for a jam in the basement.
The belligerent, raw opening of “Freedom Rock” signals that the autumnal feelings are over, and, following that, The Three Stooges get a rowdy salute on “Two Reelers”. By the time “Ole Mulholland” starts, the band has shifted into fourth gear and are locked in with each other. The languid “Fazer Eyes” finishes strong with another standout solo from Workman and then Black introduces “I Could Stay Here Forever” by saying “we still have a shitload to go”. “Suprabound” again falls victim to the low volume of the keyboards, but otherwise it’s a winner with its propulsive twang intact. “Big Red” is next, and when Black sings “the weather is really getting warm/I don’t know how this all got started” it’s entirely too prophetic. In another eerily prescient coincidence, Black talks about how the album was recorded during the middle of the Southern California fires of 1994 (along with an earthquake). It brings a temporary chill to the proceedings until “White Noisemaker” blasts off and, along with Calistan, it’s another standout tonight. “Pure Denizen of the Citizen’s Band” is a gleeful treat (recorded originally with the help of a citizen’s band radio) and as the last few songs of the album go by, it’s easy to see that Lyle Workman has been the unsung hero of the night, playing everything from understated lyrical lines to punchy distorted chords.
For encores, the band rips into “Czar” and “Ten Percenter” from the debut solo record, with Black cutting loose on the vocals, rejoicing in the completion of playing an entire album all the way through. Tonight, there were some blown notes, missed cues, and, in the case of “Fiddle Riddle”, a false start, all of which is a world away from the efficiently produced and immaculately played record, but therein lies the charm of this opening night of the tour. Overall, the band seemed a little tenuous, but that’s understandable considering it’s their first night, and this lineup has not played live together for some years. Let’s hope a decade does not pass before they do it again.
