Paley & Francis / Paley & Francis

Paley & Francis
Paley & Francis
(Cooking Vinyl)
* * *

We know all about Black Francis, but just who the dang is this Reid Paley fellow? Here's a quick bio: formerly the frontman of early 1980s 'blues band from hell' The Five, Reid has collaborated with the Pixies guru many times over the years, co-songwriting and touring on at least three Frank Black solo albums.

Their debut 'official' collaboration was taped in just 48 hours, resulting in a natural looseness to the performances, as well as sketched rather than sculpted songwriting.

For the most part the tempo is set to 'late night mellowness'; rocking out is not on the cards, although songs such as 'Deconstructed' and 'Praise 3' have a nice 'Hunky Dory' feel to them, with saxophones tastefully interrupting the bar-room singsongs. Elsewhere Twin Peaks-esque seediness is in the air for 'Curse', on which Francis kindly offers to "have a drink - from your jugular vein".

Throughout the record Paley sounds like a shaggy old sea-dog, and while the chemistry between him and Francis couldn't be called electrifying, the songs sound pleasingly like Randy Newman on Absinthe, with just a hint of toned-down Pixies.