Album Notes

"No one listens to an Ad Frank CD to hear about him getting lucky," one of his fans was overheard saying. From his past releases people expect Ad Frank to wallow in self-pity and self-loathing, albeit with a sense of black humor. So what's a fan to expect when hearing the lighthearted "Dumb Trilemma" or the upbeat "Girls as Sharp as You are Something Rare" from his third solo album, In Girl Trouble?
Don't worry, there's still plenty of melancholy to go around (the CD is entitled In Girl Trouble after all), but this time Ad's managed to have a little fun too.
"When I set out to write the songs for In Girl Trouble, I decided that I wasn't going to make another album that was brooding or self-pitying," says Ad, "I thought I succeeded, but after I first played the songs with my new band, The Fast Easy Women, I stopped for a minute and said, 'These songs aren't dark enough,' the band just burst into laughter."
The band can be forgiven for laughing at the fact that songs like "Jet Aircraft" with its lamenting chorus of "I lost my love and no one's going to love me again" or the dour, "I hope for more than I can give back/Something fine in me has died," from the otherwise upbeat "You Have Murdered Something Fine in Me" weren't dark enough. And then there's the opening line from "Goodbye Cruel Girl": "One subway ride and a clearing out of my bank account/I leave all of this and forget what all of the fuss was about."
Fans needn't worry that Ad's completely changed his attitude, it's just that now he's a little more well-adjusted. If he weren't, how could he write a perfect pop song like "Casual Day"? From the opening stutter-step to its repetitive chorus, Ad's satire of uninformed office life is a jingly, yet biting statement condensed into less than three minutes. An easygoing guitar and hand-claps give the song a happy-go-lucky feel as Ad asks, "If this is casual day/How come I never got the memo?"
Ad Frank's foray into the world of rock began in Boston in 1990 with the often-misspelled Miles Dethmuffen and its LP Nine-Volt Grape. A string of well-received albums and singles followed before the band changed its moniker to Permafrost for 1997's In Harm's Way. Buoyed by the pop of songs "Johnny Marr" and "Sequin In Your Dress" the CD seemed poised for greatness until eventually being sunk by an uninterested record label. In 1999 Ad Frank released his first solo album. The self-titled album was anchored by catchy fan favorites "Only One Lonely" and "You May Already Be A Winner." 2001 saw the release of Mr. Fancypants Ad's heartbreak-inspired album typified by the melancholy "Barking Up the Wrong Girl" and the angry, pulsing "Davy I Didn't Mean To Push You Off."