Frank Black and the Catholics

After Teenager of the Year, it felt as though Frank Black had left the face of the earth. Although he has gone on to record three solo albums and three albums with the Catholics, he just never seemed to do anything as significant. Dog in the Sand is another Frank Black album, but what would you expect? The songs are well crafted, good rock 'n' roll songs that just never seem to break out of mediocrity. Black's strangeness does break out every now and then, like the first single "Robert Onion" or "Hermaphroditos," but there is nothing as crazy or even as interesting as his work with the Pixies, or even his first solo album. The one humorous quality about the album is the odd likeness of Frank's new vocal delivery to Mick Jagger. It seems as though Frank is trying to cop a slight attitude in his songs to sound like the great lipped one, which is quite entertaining and distracting, as it takes your attention away from the music. For someone who has proven himself to be one of the most creative and weirdest songwriters in rock, Mr. Black is really not living up to his reputation.