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Ad Frank | Mr. Fancypants

Mr. Sloppypants, more like...
CD, Stop, Pop, And Roll

Tekst: Maurice Dielemans

Publicatiedatum: 07 januari 2002

Looking somewhat like Pulp's lead vocalist Jarvis Cocker and sounding almost like a fucked-up Gary Numan, Ad Frank, founder member of the Boston-based powerpop group Miles Dethmuffen, concocts his own reinvented blend of electronic beeps and dirty guitars on his second solo effort. Still, while 'Mr. Fancypants' is an improvement over Frank's self-titled debut, most of his songs nevertheless criminally incorporate annoying fade-outs, unexpected changes in rhythm, horrible arrangements, and wannabe background vocalists. Well, there are some stirring moments too, as he leads off quite well, moaning the dramatic line "nobody suffers like I do" on the ironically-titled opener 'Last Night Mark Eitzel Saved My Life'. Unfortunately, this half-finished song tragically fades out too soon and leaves the listener with an unsatisfied feeling. There is also a catchy song entitled 'The Ticket Was Non-Refundable'. Here, Ad Frank is at his most melodic, until a female singer roughly interrupts him. The one and only question that remains is, er, "why?" If it weren't for Ad Frank's creativity and crooning way of singing, this album would have been of no interest, but, despite the low-key production and often self-contained experiments, the clumsy 'Mr. Fancypants' tries to breathe life into Britpop, focusing around some kind of charming Eighties revivalism. However, the Eighties will be more remembered for Pac-Man and all of our funny haircuts. For what it's worth, Ad Frank is a melodramatic singer-songwriter, but it's ridiculous that his talents are mostly sabotaged in arrangements overdosed on synthesizers and sloppy guitars.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/ad-frank/mr-fancypants/911/
Meer Ad Frank op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/ad-frank