Years before the simple declaration "Frank Black is back" would resonate with any shock, or at least surprise value, the former Pixies frontman is -- no drum roll needed -- back. Only six months after the release of Frank Black & the Catholics, the stocky singer/songwriter formerly known as Black Francis will come back with Pistolero this March, with yet another slated for release before the end of the millennium, which he's currently working on.

Black recently finished up Pistolero in expeditious fashion, recording the entire album -- fourteen tracks in all -- during a couple of two- and three-day sessions in Los Angeles, according to a source close to Black. As usual, Black worked with long-time collaborator and session musician Nick Vincent and, like the last record, this album was recorded live to two-track machines with no overdubs.

Before Pistolero hits stores, Black will hit the road in the Southeast for a three-week club tour beginning Jan. 14 in San Antonio and ending on Feb. 2 in Austin, Texas. As for the prospect of Black ever rejoining his former bandmates for another go 'round with the Pixies, you can just forget it, according to the source. "It's never gonna happen," the source says. "I can say that the day the Pixies do a reunion tour is the day after I'm dead."

BLAIR R. FISCHER
(December 4, 1998)