The companion album to the reflective, ambitious
Black Letter Days
,
Devil's Workshop
is short, simple, and lively, a collection of rollicking, quirky road songs that recall some of the more oblique moments on
Teenager of the Year
and the more
rock
-oriented tracks on
Pistolero
and
Dog in the Sand
. And, as on
Frank Black
uses travel and the West as muses, particularly on the bright, bittersweet
jangle pop
of
"Out of State"
; the bouncy yet edgy
"San Antonio, TX"
; and
"Are You Headed My Way?,"
a singalong set to a
boogie-woogie
beat. While
's playful, off-kilter
is arguably more musically straightforward than most of
Black and the Catholics
still craft a surprisingly full sound from their back-to-basics, two-track approach. In particular, the album features some of the most sizzling guitar work to appear on one of
Black
's albums since his days in
the Pixies
; even some of the lesser songs here, such as
"The Scene"
"Whiskey in Your Shoes,"
boast impressively slashing rhythm guitars and incendiary leads. Fortunately, though, many of the songs here are among the best he's written in his later solo career, whether it's the vaguely spooky,
Teenager
-esque
pop
"His Kingly Cave"
; the cryptic but oddly brooding
"Bartholomew"
"Heloise"
; or the playful, romantic
"Modern Age"
(no, not the
Strokes
song, although it would be interesting to hear
cover it). The fun, easygoing vibe of
is exemplified by
"Velvety,"
a version of
' B-side
"Velvety Instrumental Version"
(and one of the first songs that
ever wrote) that finally has downright silly but entertaining lyrics. The song's rip-snorting guitars, stop-start rhythms, and
's wound-up delivery don't recall
so much as expand on that sound without seeming self-consciously mature. Like
, this album starts out strong and sort of peters out toward the end, but it's less noticeable here since the album is just shy of a half-hour long. While it's possible that combining the best songs from both releases would've resulted in another great album like
or
, both
are different and enjoyable enough to make them both worthwhile for die-hard
fans. Ultimately,
may be the more "important" work, but
's fun, energetic rush shouldn't be missed (or dismissed) either. ~ Heather Phares