Show Me Your Tears
by Frank Black & The Catholics
  • Record Label: Spin Art
  • Release Date: Sep 9, 2003
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
  1. AllMusic
    80
    Far from being an angry album, Show Me Your Tears is filled with the kind of conscious joy that comes from working through your problems.
  2. Alternative Press
    60
    It's virtually impossible to listen to Show Me Your Tears from start to finish; but individually, each song is a dark, delightful peek at Black in the throes of therapy. [Nov 2003, p.108]
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  3. Billboard
    80
    Populated with high, lonesome soundscapes that condense the Americana epics of last year's "Black Letter Days" into concentrated studies of tears-in-the-whiskey depression.
  5. Blender
    60
    Important? No. Remarkable? Not really. [Sep 2003, p.118]
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  6. Magnet
    70
    Riff-worthy, down and dirty and occasionally idling down Americana's lost highway. [#60, p.92]
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  7. Mojo
    80
    Enough memorable moments to make this the first Catholics album worthy of your love and attention. [Sep 2003, p.113]
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  8. Nude As The News
    80
    Not unlike Wilco’s Being There, Show Me Your Tears gives classic rock lovers a new album to celebrate -- an album to drink by while mourning the fact that most aging rock icons rarely supply anything this raucous anymore.
  9. Pitchfork
    54
    Paling in comparison to the Pixies is expected (and it would be unrealistic to expect otherwise), but Tears isn't even a good Catholics album.
  10. Playlouder
    70
    His best album in over ten years.
  11. PopMatters
    80
    While Show Me Your Tears certainly builds on the momentum of 2001's Dog in the Sand, it's also highly reminiscent of the more accessible moments from 1994's Teenager of the Year.
  12. Q Magazine
    30
    Suffers from the same faults as previous efforts: limp tunes, pompous guitar solos and an overhwlming sense of "Will this do?" [Sep 2003, p.98]
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  13. Rolling Stone
    70
    Full of rootsy indie fare and a slew of excellently bittersweet country rockers. [16 Oct 2003, p.87]
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  14. ShakingThrough.net
    50
    Even by the standards of Black's previous Catholics and solo offerings, Show Me Your Tears is a disappointment.
  15. Splendid
    90
    This is not a happy album, but it might be a great one, taking the Western swagger of Dog in the Sand into bleak and stunning territory.
  16. Stylus Magazine
    77
    This is North London collection-plate-pub music of a very high calibre.
  17. Uncut
    80
    Ol' Frank hasn't had this much twisted fun since 1994's Teenager Of The Year. [Oct 2003, p.111]
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  18. Under The Radar
    70
    Raw, melancholy, hard, and melodic. [#5, p.98]
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. AJ
    Jul 10, 2006
    9
    The perfect break-up record. The Stones and Leonard Cohen were clearly influences. Mastif Centrale sounds a bit like a Pixies track. For The perfect break-up record. The Stones and Leonard Cohen were clearly influences. Mastif Centrale sounds a bit like a Pixies track. For fans: Some great stuff but it feels a little more sterile than say "Dog in the Sand" and a bit more forced than "Black Letter Days."… Full Review »
  2. RyanBeeswax
    Nov 21, 2003
    8
    Frank Black?s wifey is gone and his songs are woeful, well, lyrically anyway, he still finds ways to pull out the great rousing pop.pop. Frank Black?s wifey is gone and his songs are woeful, well, lyrically anyway, he still finds ways to pull out the great rousing pop.pop. melodies that we come to expect from ?Frank Black? and his band ?the Catholics?. In fact, I think Frank Black might be one of the last of his kind: a rock?n?roller with substance. The album is very stylistically close to ?Dog in the Sand?, maybe a bit more ?Rolling Stones? at times though. It?s mostly rock music with some country twang and some good stripped down ballads.. Show Me Your Tears starts off with ?Nadine? and it has some ?Tom Waits? in it; not too much, but you can hear the influence. I?m not gonna go thru it track by track, but trust me it?s a really great album after say 3 listens. The first listen or two will probably leave you wondering where the wonderful melodies I?m blathering about are but they are there, just let recognition do its part. Anyway, the album highlights would be, ?Horrible Day?, ?Massif Centrale?(pure Frank Black genius, especially the bridge and simple piano), and ?Goodbye Lorraine?, while the lowlight is ?The Snake?(standard part of the scourge of being prolific) If you mildly like Frank Black you should really go out and get this record and give some money back to an artist who might just be the last of his kind; Rocking and worthy. I?m glad his wife is gone, this should be the last horribly laid out disc (she did all the graphic design for all ?FB&theC?s? albums). I think somewhere in his heart he knows it too?I mean, besides the poor graphic design (there is a powerful resilience in his voice) 8/10 … Full Review »
  3. JohnM
    Sep 25, 2003
    8
    Isn't he great? It's probably the Catholics weakest album I think, but still sounds fantastic...
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