After the Pixies formally broke up at the beginning of 1993, frontman Charles Thompson (aka Black Francis) switched identities, becoming Frank Black and swiftly recording a solo album which would bear his new name.
After the record was completed, he wrote about it and how it came to be made :
"In 1991, I was working on an album that would eventually be called Trompe Le Monde and released on 4AD by the Pixies. The sessions were being produced by Liverpudlian Gil Norton, and during them we had some discussions about what would eventually become my first solo record, Frank Black (at that time I was still performing under the Nom de Rock, Black Francis). Trompe Le Monde was then still far from finished, but I told Gil that I was already keen on getting back into a recording session, even though I had no material. So, the concept at that time became an album made up mostly of covers; songs that I had come to know and love over the years, of course. And although this was an unoriginal concept, and one poorly executed by numerous artists, I still felt compelled by this flimsy excuse to get into a studio (here I'll say in passing that I thoroughly enjoyed "Pin Ups" by David Bowie).
So, over a year later, I finally took Gil's advice, and got together with the very talented Eric Drew Feldman, who had previously worked with Captain Beefheart, Snakefinger and Pere Ubu, and who had been helping us on Trompe Le Monde. By that time, I had plenty of tunes and musical scraps, and we would eventually trim down the beloved covers to just one: "Hang On To Your Ego", written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher. (The track had originally appeared on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds in a different guise, as "I Know There's An Answer"; "Hang On To Your Ego" was finally being released as a bonus on the CD re–issue of that album, and I had already recorded a somewhat inferior version of my own for the John Peel radio show).
Eric and I produced the new record, and the only concept we had was saying "you know, GRAND!" to each other a whole lot. And I think, in the end, it actually did sound pretty grand. Eric played bass and keyboards and I did vocals and guitar, we got wonderful assistance from engineer Al Clay; guitarists Joey Santiago (Pixies), Moris Tepper (Captain Beefheart) and David Sardy (Barkmarket); drummers Nick Vincent (Donny & Marie) and Bob Giusti (Rash Of Stabbings); and saxophonists John Linnell and Kurt Hoffman (They Might Be Giants).
I'll leave you with a word or two about each of the tracks :
"Los Angeles" : not about riots, or L.A. really.