The ex-Pixies frontman has returned with his second album featuring his new band, The Catholics. Although his stuff with this new band hasn't been as good as his solo efforts (or the Pixies stuff, obviously), it's still the same old Black Francis we all love.

Pistolero starts off like the rest of Black's previous albums: a barrage of great toe-tapping, hard rocking melodies complemented by some wonderfully strange lyrics (I think that sometimes Frank actually invents words to make his songs work; however, with him that's never a bad thing). Rich Gilbert's guitar wizardry is the force behind Black's songs and proves he can write just as many great riffs as Joey Santiago from the Pixies.

Although this album isn't as good as FB & The Catholics' first one, it's still better than Black's last solo album (The Cult of Ray). If you're still not sold on Pistolero, just pop in Bossanova, Doolittle, or Trompe Le Monde--they always work for me.