Anybody who thought the man formerly known as Black Francis was trading on past glories, think again. Show Me Your Tears is a shimmering and sometimes sneering statement of intent from the rejuvenated former Pixie, who sounds about 20 years younger than he has on any of his previous solo outings, even if he has been overdosing on Johnny Cash records.
Opener ‘Nadine’ is vintage Black: a pumping rhythm section propels the song inexorably forward, the guitars squall and Frank’s trademark howl is fuelled by raw sexuality: “Will she let me in underneath her clothes?/That girl got skin like a ghost”. This surly snarl is something of a red herring, though, for much of the rest of Show Me Your Tears nods to Nashville, albeit the darker side of that particular country street.
The excellent ‘New House Of The Pope’ sounds like Nick Cave fronting the Willard Grant Conspiracy, while it’s as if The Handsome Family drop by for a moonshine or two on the blacker than Black ‘Horrible Day’, as wry a look at life as you’re likely to get this side of Warren Zevon. ‘Goodbye Lorraine’ or the gorgeous ‘Coastline’ wouldn’t seem out of place on a Josh Ritter album, and ‘This Old Heartache’ could be subtitled The Ballad of Ernest Hemmingway. Meanwhile, ‘My Favourite Kiss’ proves that Frank’s vocal range stretches to more than primal screaming.
Elsewhere, ‘Everything Is New’ sounds disconcertingly like a Springsteen standard, and there is something equally laid-back about ‘Jaina Blues’, although the guitar solos do add welcome bluster. There’s disharmony aplenty on the scorching ‘Massif Centrale’, the album’s centrepiece, and on the infectious ‘The Snake’, on which Black sounds not unlike Iggy Pop.
Show Me Your Tears is the sound of an older, wiser Frank Black, although it would be wrong to say that the hoary old warhorse has mellowed: he’s just more wry than righteous, more acerbic than angst-ridden, but thankfully he’s still crazy after all these years.