Teenager of the Year

Of course it doesn't really come close to the big Pixies Records, but still very enjoyable. If it wasn't for the loong tracklist I think it would get a 4 star rating, but as it is I think a 3 is more like it.

Iggy Pop made headlines 25 years before with better songs so trying to be his clone is no success plan.

Really solid album...but not quite as good as Pixies. Headache is an alltime classic though. 4/5

really enjoyed

rock alternativo noventista é bão demais, num tem jeito.
é um album longo, mas num me perdeu em momento nenhum. gostei bastante do pixie sem os pixies.

I am strangely at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

I can’t explain it; I had some serious doubts, because I’ve been pretty mixed on the Pixies in the past, and a solo album from their lead singer led me to one of two conclusions: either a more cleaned up, commercialized sound that would be palatable and distinctly different from the Pixies, or leaning even harder into the more avantgarde and loose parts of their hard rock sound, so much so that it somehow would loop around into art. By some miracle, this album manages to hit on both of those, and it weaves in and out of those paths so often that they end up blending together.

I can give an immense amount of praise to most of the instrumentals here; they’re never really stale until maybe 3/4ths of the way through the album, and even then, there’s a very intentional choice to explore different genres in an effort to try and stay fresh. The effort sort of fails, but also sort of works at the same time; I can’t really describe it, if only because there was some general fatigue due to this album’s length that had me start to falter out by the end. I can give some good praise to his vocals too – he really does come across as a strong vocalist on a lot of these tracks, and it’s distinctly different from his Pixies style, which leaned a lot more into a slower, surfer-y vibe. These feel good to listen to throughout.

The only thing I can kinda knock are the lyrics, but even with those, I sort of admire how off-the-wall some of the tracks are in their subject matter; spacecraft being sent to Mars, people who made water more available in California, a hard rock ballad about the 3 Stooges… there’s a lot here. It’s sort of Sufjan Stevens-esque in how varied it all is, and I like how big of a swing it takes.

The biggest issue is the runtime and the amount of tracks; for as entertaining and as fast of an hour as this is, it could’ve been cut down by a bit – a few too many tracks start to tread on the same tone and subject matter, even with the experimental genre shifts towards the end. Get this down to like, 18 or even 15 of the best tracks, and you’ve got a pure winner here. As it stands, it’s still good, but it overstays its welcome just a little too long. That’s why I’m at a 4.5, but I enjoyed this too much to knock it down; it deserves a 5, and I’m kinda stunned that it does. It’s a fun album.

This album is a small masterpiece that easily stands out against the works of the Pixies and is vastly superior to his debut album. While Black Francis released several subpar projects after the Pixies—his solo work will always be compared to that iconic band—this album is filled with clever and outstanding songs. It's difficult to highlight specific tracks because there are hardly any misses among the many songs. Unfortunately, he has not been able to match or surpass this album with his later releases.

In essence, "Teenager Of The Year" is the best album that the Pixies never made.

The Good: ‘90s indie rock!
The Bad: that I did not, for whatever reason, listen to this during the ‘90s
The Ugly: the album cover as Frank Black looks a lot like Frans Bauer…

This album substantiates my rule that all albums need to be listened to at least twice before I can rate them, as I did not like it at all during first spin.
However, by the end of the second spin I was already Bogart in Casablanca… Play it again Sam.

I am no big fan of the Pixies, something that many friends of mine don’t understand due to my massive appreciation of ‘90s college radio music, so maybe I need to listen to several Pixies albums after I am done listening to Teenager Of The Year for the 5th time in 24 hours…

4* well deserved!

1. What in the blue fuck is this? No. Like, really, just...no

2. OK, this is actually music. Not good music, but recognizable as music

3. Not offensive. Not really enjoyable either though

4. Not offensive. Slightly more enjoyable than the previous track. This artist is showing me in this song he has the potential to be one I like

5. Pretty bland

6. Eh...

7. This was the single?

8. Inoffensive, I guess

9. I feel like I have the gist of the album at this point. I'm not listening to 22 tracks of this.

2.0

The beginning is the strongest portion of this album, and aside from slightly tapering off in the midsection, this is a great LP. Never heard of this guy before he came up on the generator, now I kinda wanna dig into his discography.

Although I'm very familiar with the Pixies, I wasn't aware that Frank Black had a solo project. After listening to the first few tracks on the album, I wanted to abandon the whole thing in frustration. I couldn't cope with the music. But the album kept playing at first. The music reminded me a little of Nirwana, mixed with something else interesting. So I let the album play and my interest in Frank Black grew. I'm not a fan, but that could still happen.
4/5

Just the right amount of chaos. I've been sleeping on Frank Black, he did not decline from the Pixies.

Teenager Of the Year is a bit like watching Pixies live - the songs just keeps coming and coming and coming.

Is 22 songs too many? Probably. It seems excessive.

Should the record be any shorter? I mean, it’s Black Francis doing his thing. So probably not.

I liked a lot of this. Might have to check out some more of his stuff. 4/5

This doesn't quite have the punchiness of Pixies, but it becomes more sustained and interesting experimental in its own right. Reminds me of Nick Cave a little in places.

Better than what I figured this vanity project would be, but seems all over the place. Indifferent at best.

You chose Pong, I chose Kong

A great Rock and Roll, underappreciated. Could have been the Pixies though.

Very strong first half, pretty mid second half. Enjoyable listen overall.

I started and stopped this album many times. Once I finally got to ripping the band aid off, it felt like the album would never end.

Most of these songs do not feel written so much as “worked out.” Like Frank Black found a chord progression and then kind of devised lyrics on top of it. Nothing offends my earbuds, per se, but very little actually appealed to me.

The album’s saving grace is its production, which makes it pretty listenable. In fact, I liked it best when I stopped listening to the album and just heard it in the background of whatever else I was doing.