Recorded contemporaneously with the studio albums released in last year’s exhaustive collection (which received a 10/10 review here), Snake Oil compiles the various covers Frank Black and the Catholics jammed on during the period. Although previously released digitally, this is the first physical release to bring all of these eccentric gems together, with Frank and his band bringing their unique sensibilities to a range of covers, including Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Although it’s a shame this couldn’t have found its way into the box set, it’s a cracking standalone release, freshly remastered (by Phil Kinrade) and packaged in a tasteful single sleeve (with spot UV varnish and printed inner), newly designed by Steve Gullick.
The album gets off to a woozy, bluesy start with Take What You Want, written by Reid Paley and released as a b side to Everything Is New. It sees Frank and his band cleaving fairly close to the original, although that voice is a dead giveaway, and it’s amazing how well suited these old clothes are to Frank’s unique vision. In contrast, Dylan’s Belle Isle is so thoroughly shaken up, it sounds very much like a Frank Black original. Next up is a relatively faithful cover of Angst’s Some Things (I Can’t Get Used To), with Frank generously repaying the band for the massive influence they had on his nascent career. Giving the track a marginally grittier edge pushes it into Undertones territory, and it’s a gem that will surely encourage the unfamiliar to seek out more of Angst’s back catalogue. Written by Wayne Shanklin and recorded in the late 50’s by Toni Fisher, The Big Hurt was notable at the time for featuring rarely used phase effects. Recorded as a b side to Dog Gone, in the hands of Frank Black and The Catholics it now sounds like some long-lost Sub Pop single, and it sits perfectly alongside a raucous cover of The Specials’ Do Nothing. The third and final cover from the Dog Gone single is a solid take on Springsteen’s I’m Going Down. Built around a Pixies-esque creeping bass line, I’m Going Down is surprisingly catchy, and you’ll find yourself humming it long after the needle has scratched its way across the runout groove.
Originally a b side to Everything Is New and opening side two, the Glimmer Twins make an appearance as Frank and his band launch into an anarchic cover of Down In The Hole. A deep cut from Emotional Rescue, you’d imagine the band would stick to the scuzzy blues the Stones deployed, only for Frank to bend it to his will, adding acoustic guitar and deploying a bizarre falsetto, resulting in a track that would not have sounded out of place on Beck’s ultra lofi Stereopathetic Soulmanure. Ironically, Snake Oil, the track from which the album takes its name and a b side to Nadine, sounds closer to the Stones than the actual Stones’ cover, although some blistering lead work soon yanks the track in a punkier direction. Another Dylan cover, the lengthy Changing Of The Guards sits somewhere between Pixies, Neil Young and Urge Overkill, with its country twang and grungy guitar. A b side to All My Ghosts, it’s a fantastic rendition of a song from a relatively unloved album, played with an energy that recalls the raw, dark sessions for Young’s Tonight’s The Night and it perfectly fits The Catholic’s ethos. The final track, a take on Donovan’s Sleep, originally backed the St Francis Dam Disaster single. Here, it concludes the record on a fully country note, all liquid slide guitar and lullaby vocals. It is a surprisingly tranquil conclusion to an otherwise punky record, and it is all the more effective for it.
Picking, for the most part, deep cuts rather than the overly familiar means that Frank Black and The Catholics had free reign to rework material in their own image. As a result, Snake Oil feels surprisingly coherent, despite the fact that it covers a range of artists and features recordings made at different points in the band’s career. Moreover, it doesn’t feel so much like a covers album as a peek inside the studio, where you can see the band jamming together and having fun. With Phil Kinrade’s mastering capturing the warmth that such an image evokes, Snake Oil is an essential addition to any Frank Black collection and a genuine treasure. 9/10
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