Ad Frank & The Fast Easy Women - Your Secrets Are Mine Now Review
Posted by Jesse Coy on 10.18.2009
Straight Outta Beantown [irrelevant N.W.A. reference], Ad Frank and The Fast Easy Women provide a glimpse of 70’s glam and 80’s quirk colliding with the modern day world on this fifth release.
Ad Frank & The Fast Easy Women Your Secrets Are Mine Now
Archenemy Records
November 2009
1 Open Up The Patio (Pretty Girls Are Back in Style)
2 The Vampire Who Opted For Death
3 Winterthru
4 Bones And Ashes
5 A Note On The Type
6 As My Limo Spins Out Of Control
7 You Are I Am
8 Man On Fire
9 The Cuddle
10 If I Were A Band
11 Post Punk At The Cambridgeside Mall
12 Timing Is Everything
I have a little friend named Paco. I’m not sure where he’s from, but it’s got to be someplace in Central America, because on one occasion he did confirm that he does not hail from Mexico. I’m guessing it’s either Honduras or Panama. Don’t ask me why. I’ve been to both countries, as well as all the other Central American countries, and gut instinct is pointing to Panama or Honduras.
The point to this is that at times, Paco comes along with new music for me to sample. He tries to give the best description he possibly can. Sometimes, I think he tries to trick me a little, though. With this release, Your Secrets Are Mine Now, he told me, “it sounds like David Bowie.” Paco knows me well enough to know that David Bowie is likely my favorite band/musician. So of course I was curious. Gimme, gimme…
So I started listening to the first track, “Open Up the Patio (Pretty Girls Are Back in Style),” and instantly thought… Paco, what the hell are you talking about! This don’t sound at all like David Bowie. It sounds like an alternative rock track. It sounds fine and all, but David Bowie? It’s not Ad Frank’s fault. I don’t think he ever claimed to sound like David Bowie. So within a minute or two, this release lost me.
Bye-bye me.
Then all of the sudden there was the second track, “The Vampire Who Opted for Death.” Attention snapped back in place. As a matter of fact, I peg this one as not only the best off the album, but one of the best vampire tunes out there, this coming from a range of vampire songs by the likes of the Bauhaus, Faith No More, King Diamond, the Misfits, and the Sisters of Mercy. Wow, that’s impressive. From there, the album takes an abrupt turn with “Winterthru,” which sounds to be a lost gem from the 80’s, complete with dance synth accompaniment. It sounds like a song you vaguely know, should know, or want to know.
Where exactly was this album going? My attention returned in general upon first listening, and then on subsequent listens, it was clear that Your Secrets Are Mine Now was on a steady path to becoming a favorite album of mine. And I think I understand poor Paco’s confusion.
No, Ad Frank and The Fast Easy Women do not necessarily sound like David Bowie in any way. But they certainly fit under the glam umbrella. Ad Frank’s vocals sound vaguely reminiscent of a low key Hedwig. Apparently, via this band and other bands, Ad Frank has been in the music business for quite some time. This is the band’s fifth release. And are there any women amongst Ad Frank and The Fast Easy Women? Yep… this six-piece is a three for three (three male and three female musicians).
It looks like Sarah is the other vocalist who is heard in tandem with Ad on several tracks. On “A Note on the Type,” she has her haunting refrain...
maybe this is it from here on in.
It’s not all sentimental. Actually, this exchange of letters or notes has a slightly humorous ring to the end of a relationship. What would you expect with an opener...
are you really going to Spain with that humorless Amazon?
She’s also on the tail end of “Bones and Ashes,” the most Bowie-est tracks by my reckoning (and an excellent track to boot). Or maybe I’ve just got “Ashes to Ashes” on my mind. Maybe I left Boston too soon. I probably could’ve caught this band live. Some day, maybe. And my general point of this review is that, as misguided as Paco was… thank you, my Central American friend, for recommending this band.
Other standouts? “If I Were a Band” is my other favorite on this release. It’s the happiest, depressing song I’ve ever heard. It reminds me of me, having no one but myself. And that’s okay. It’s the dancing anthem of a party song for we lone sloggers through life, with a keyboard refrain reminding me of ? & the Mysterians (awesome horns and keyboard work, my friends). There are two tracks that log in at over six minutes, and of the two, I'll mention “The Cuddle,” which features considerable back and forth between Ad and Sarah, a song presumably about the aftermath of some infidelity, with the great repeating line...
if we take our lives, then we can fuck in hell.
And shouldn’t I end on that note?
The 411: Quite simply, it’s one of the best glam pop and rock blends I’ve heard in recent years. Hedwig, Bowie, or T. Rex, just a dash of 80’s pop, some sweet female vocals thrown into the meld, and with the wit of Tom Waits… this one is a winner.
