Sounds Rad (2024, Reissue)
It's taken me way too long to write about the Sounds Rad reissue of this Dr. Frank record. It came out last year and is (sort of?) part of the Sounds Rad Mr. T Experience reissue campaign. I'm eagerly waiting for the next entry in that series. It's been a little quiet lately, but I keep hoping the next one announced will be Making Things With Light. Maybe my favorite Mr. T Experience record, but definitely the one I would really like to hear a remastered and spruced up version of.
But today, we have the Dr. Frank solo record from 1999. I remember after Love As Dead had come out there were already rumors and scuttlebutt about a Dr. Frank solo record. Based on the recent string of acoustic songs on Mr. T Experience records, I had assumed that a solo record would be more of that with just Frank and a guitar.
What we got instead was a record of predominantly full band rock songs that to be honest, mostly don't really sound all that different from the Mr. T Experience records of the era. I was really disappointed by this at the time and truthfully, I didn't really listen to the record all that often. As the years went by, I didn't remember much from it aside from the "Knock Knock" song, which was admittedly fun.
When the reissue was announced, I was again kind of disappointed that it was 'taking' a spot from a Mr. T Experience album that could have been released instead. But, I didn't have this on vinyl and figured it was time to give the album a shot again. Especially as all of the Sounds Rad reissues have been excellent, and the die cut vinyl sleeve on this one was particularly cool looking. And I'm glad I did, it's better than I remember it being and listening to it without a preconceived notion of what I thought it should be let me appreciate the record more for what it is.
In a lot of ways, I think it's an even stronger record than Revenge Is Sweet And So Are You, another one that I didn't appreciate as much at the time, but ended up enjoying more when I went back to it many years later. It's more varied in sound and kind of has a ramshackle mix tape sort of vibe to it as opposed to the glossiness of Revenge. And there are a handful of acoustic songs on here too, so it's not like that section was completely ignored or anything.
In hindsight, I should have given this album more of a chance 25 years ago, but I had less patience back then and was always looking for that next amazing thing. A lot of times, I never found it and ignored some pretty good stuff that was sitting right under my nose.
Dr. Frank - Show Business Is My Life:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mFjGDEION3dzNaLpeg99Nt7EV_suLDB9k
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