I think The Cult of Ray is everyone's least favorite Frank Black album. While the music is great, the lyrics are his weakest. Many ill-advised word choices, and I think it's because so many of the songs seem written out of anger and bitterness.
The song title itself turned me off towards "You Ain't Me" before I'd even heard it.
Another reason I dislike TCoR is because my hope were up so high after Teenager of the Year.
I can appreciate the direction FB was going in. I think the goal was to do a record that wasn't as produced as TotY. Something that was more like the Peel Session with Teenage Fanclub and I think the Headache EP B-sides were a blueprint too. "Oddball", "Men in Black", and "At The End of The World" had the perfect sound after all the keyboards on the first two solo records.
The Cult of Ray was more of a compromise between the two different approaches. FB finally prefected the sound on the first Catholics record.
Here are some Cult of Ray-era singles.
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