The Cult of Ray
1996 studio album by Frank Black
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The Cult of Ray is the third solo studio album by American musician Frank Black. Black opted to produce The Cult of Ray himself, after Eric Drew Feldman produced his first two albums.
- Sound City (Van Nuys, California)
- Record One (Los Angeles, California)
- A&M (Hollywood, California)
| The Cult of Ray | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 22, 1996 | |||
| Studios |
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| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 41:40 | |||
| Label | American | |||
| Producer | Frank Black | |||
| Frank Black chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Cult of Ray | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[2] |
| The Guardian | [3] |
| Los Angeles Times | [4] |
| NME | 4/10[5] |
| The Philadelphia Inquirer | [6] |
| Pitchfork | 5.5/10[7] |
| Q | [8] |
| Select | 4/5[9] |
| Spin | 4/10[10] |
The album title is a reference to author Ray Bradbury.[11] The album's final song is a tribute to Shazeb Andleeb, who was beaten to death at Narbonne High School in Harbor City, California (a school Black attended), in May 1995.[12]
Chart performance
The Cult of Ray peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and number 127 on the Billboard 200 in 1996.[13][14]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Frank Black.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Marsist" | 4:11 |
| 2. | "Men in Black" | 3:03 |
| 3. | "Punk Rock City" | 3:41 |
| 4. | "You Ain't Me" | 2:43 |
| 5. | "Jesus Was Right" | 2:59 |
| 6. | "I Don't Want to Hurt You (Every Single Time)" | 3:06 |
| 7. | "Mosh, Don't Pass the Guy" | 3:01 |
| 8. | "Kicked in the Taco" | 2:27 |
| 9. | "The Creature Crawling" | 2:53 |
| 10. | "The Adventure and the Resolution" | 3:02 |
| 11. | "Dance War" | 2:08 |
| 12. | "The Cult of Ray" | 3:46 |
| 13. | "The Last Stand of Shazeb Andleeb" | 4:40 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Village of the Sun" | 3:32 |
| 2. | "Baby, That's Art" | 2:05 |
| 3. | "Everybody Got the Beat" | 1:51 |
| 4. | "Can I Get a Witness" | 3:59 |
Personnel
The core musicians employed on this album would eventually be dubbed the Catholics and would continue as Black's backing group for the following seven years (albeit with a changed line up).
- Musicians
- Frank Black – vocals, guitar (right channel)
- Scott Boutier – drums
- David McCaffery – bass
- Lyle Workman – lead guitar (left channel)
- Matt Yelton – backing vocals on "Men in Black", "You Ain't Me", "The Adventure and the Resolution" and "Dance War"
- Nick Vincent – drums and bass on "I Don't Want to Hurt You (Every Single Time)"
- Technical
- Frank Black – producer
- Matt Yelton – engineer
- Billy Bowers – assistant engineer
- Greg Fidelman – assistant engineer
- Jim Champagne – assistant engineer
- Eddie Miller – assistant engineer
- Mike Baumgartner – assistant engineer
- Ian MacPherson – assistant engineer
- Andy MacPherson – mixing
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
- Inertia – design
Charts
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15] | 48 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[16] | 23 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] | 95 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18] | 71 |
| Scottish Albums (Official Charts)[19] | 41 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[20] | 25 |
| UK Albums (Official Charts)[21] | 39 |
| US Billboard 200[13] | 127 |
| US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[14] | 1 |