FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
an artist needs to have released at least eight studio albums to make it onto this feature, I am making an exception with Pixies. The U.S. giants released their seventh album, Beneath the Eyrie, in 2019. They are headlining the BBC Radio 6 Music festival in April, and I have a feeling they may release an album sometime this year (and, as they released the single, Human Crime, recently, it looks likely more will follow). It may seem obvious which albums of theirs I select as the best…though that is not necessarily the case. Before getting to the essential Pixies albums, an underrated gem and their latest album (in addition to a good book relating to the band), here is some detailed biography from AllMusic:
“Combining jagged, roaring guitars and stop-start dynamics with melodic pop hooks, intertwining male-female harmonies, and evocative, cryptic lyrics, Pixies are one of alternative rock's most influential bands. On albums such as 1988's Surfer Rosa and 1989's Doolittle, they turned conventions inside-out, melding punk and indie guitar rock, classic pop, surf rock, and stadium-sized riffs with singer/guitarist Black Francis' bizarre, fragmented lyrics about space, religion, sex, mutilation, and pop culture. His lyrics may have been impenetrable, but the music was direct, forceful, and laid the groundwork for the alternative explosion of the early '90s. From grunge to Brit-pop, Pixies' shadow loomed large; it's hard to imagine Nirvana without Pixies' signature loud-quiet-loud dynamics and lurching, noisy guitar solos. However, the band's commercial success didn't match its impact -- MTV was reluctant to play their videos, while modern rock radio didn't put their singles into regular rotation. By the time Nirvana broke the doors down for alternative rock in 1992, Pixies were effectively broken up. During the rest of the '90s and into the 2000s, they continued to inspire acts ranging from Weezer, Radiohead, and PJ Harvey to the Strokes and Arcade Fire. Pixies' 2004 reunion was as surprising as it was welcome, and the band's frequent tours led them to record albums including 2019's Beneath the Eyrie, which continued the sound of their groundbreaking early work.
Pixies were formed in Boston, Massachusetts in January 1986 by Charles Thompson and Joey Santiago, Thompson's suitemate while studying at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Born in Massachusetts and constantly shuttling between there and California, Thompson began playing music as a teenager before he moved to the East Coast for good during high school. Following graduation, he became an anthropology major at the University of Massachusetts. Halfway through his studies there, he went to Puerto Rico to study Spanish, and after six months he decided to move back to the U.S. to form a band. Thompson dropped out of school and moved to Boston, managing to persuade Santiago to join him. Advertising in a music paper for a bassist who liked "Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary," the duo recruited Kim Deal (who was billed as Mrs. John Murphy on the group's first two records), who had previously played with her twin sister Kelly in their band the Breeders in her hometown of Dayton, Ohio. On the advice of Deal, the group recruited drummer David Lovering. Inspired by Iggy Pop, Thompson picked the stage name Black Francis and the group named itself Pixies after Santiago randomly flipped through the dictionary.
After a few months, Pixies had played enough gigs to land a supporting slot for fellow Boston band Throwing Muses. At the Muses concert, Gary Smith, an artist manager and producer at Boston's Fort Apache studios, heard the group and offered to record them. In March 1987, Pixies recorded 18 songs over the course of three days. The demo, dubbed The Purple Tape, was given to key players within the Boston musical community and the international alternative scene, including Ivo Watts, the head of England's 4AD Records. On the advice of his girlfriend, Watts signed the band. After selecting eight of the demo's songs and remixing them slightly, 4AD released them as Come on Pilgrim in September 1987. Named for a lyric from a song by Christian rocker Larry Norman -- whose music Francis listened to while growing up -- the mini-album peaked at number five on the U.K. indie album chart.
In December 1987, Pixies began recording their first full-length album, Surfer Rosa, with Steve Albini at Boston's Q Division studio. Albini, who had pioneered the thin, abrasive indie guitar grind with Big Black, gave the band a harder-edged sound over the ten-day session, yet the group retained its melodic hooks. Released in March 1988, Surfer Rosa became a college radio hit in America (and was ultimately certified gold by the RIAA in 2005); in the U.K., the album reached number two on the Indie Chart and earned enthusiastic reviews from the British weekly music press. By the end of the year, Pixies' buzz was substantial, and the group signed to Elektra.
While touring in support of Surfer Rosa, Francis began writing songs for the band's second album, some of which appeared on their 1988 sessions for John Peel's radio show. That October, the band entered Downtown Studios in Boston with English producer Gil Norton, with whom they had recorded the single version of "Gigantic" in May. With a budget of $40,000 -- four times the amount Surfer Rosa cost -- and a month of initial recording sessions, Doolittle was Pixies' cleanest-sounding album yet. It received excellent reviews, leading to greater exposure in America. "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and "Here Comes Your Man" became Top Ten modern rock hits, clearing the way for Doolittle to peak at number 98 on the U.S. charts; meanwhile, it hit number eight on the U.K. Album Chart. Throughout their career, Pixies were more popular in Britain and Europe than America, as evidenced by the success of the Sex and Death tour in support of Doolittle. The band became notorious for Black Francis' motionless performances, which were offset by Deal's charmingly earthy sense of humor. The tour itself became infamous for the band's in-jokes, such as playing their entire set list in alphabetical order. By the completion of their second American tour for Doolittle at the end of 1989, the bandmembers had begun to tire of each other and decided to take a hiatus.
During his time away from Pixies, Black Francis went on a brief solo tour. Meanwhile, Kim Deal re-formed the Breeders with Tanya Donelly from Throwing Muses and bassist Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster. In January 1990, Francis, Santiago, and Lovering moved to Los Angeles to prepare for recording Pixies' third album, Bossanova, while Deal worked on the Breeders' debut album Pod in the U.K. with Albini; she joined the rest of the group in time to start recording in February. Working once again with Norton at Burbank, California's Master Control studio, the band wrote many of the album's songs in the studio. More atmospheric than its predecessors, and relying heavily on Francis' surf rock obsession, Bossanova was released in August of 1990; unlike Surfer Rosa or Doolittle, it contained no songs by Deal. Bossanova was greeted with mixed reviews, but the record became a college hit, generating the modern rock hits "Velouria" and "Dig for Fire" in the U.S. In Europe, the record expanded the group's popularity, hitting number three on the U.K. album charts and paving the way for their headlining appearance at the Reading Festival. Though the supporting tours for Bossanova were successful, tension continued to grow between Kim Deal and Black Francis -- at the conclusion of their English tour, Deal announced from the stage of the Brixton Academy that the concert was "our last show."
While they canceled their planned American tour due to exhaustion, Pixies reconvened in early 1991 to make their fourth album with Gil Norton, recording in studios in Burbank, Paris, and London. Hiring former Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman as an auxiliary member, the band moved back toward loud rock, claiming to be inspired by the presence of Ozzy Osbourne in a neighboring studio. Upon its fall release, Trompe le Monde was hailed by some as a welcome return to the sound of Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, but closer inspection revealed that it relied heavily on sonic detail and featured very few vocals by Deal and, as on Bossanova, none of her songs. The band embarked on another international tour, playing stadiums in Europe but theaters in America. Early in 1992, Pixies opened for U2 on the opening leg of the Zoo TV tour; upon its conclusion, the band went on another hiatus, with Deal returning to the Breeders, who released the EP Safari that April. Francis began working on a solo album.
As he was preparing to release his solo debut in January 1993, Francis gave an interview on BBC's Radio 5, announcing that Pixies were disbanding. He hadn't yet informed the other members; later that day, he called Santiago and faxed Deal and Lovering the news. Inverting his stage name to Frank Black, Francis released his eponymous debut that March. The Breeders released their second album, Last Splash, in August 1993. The album became a hit, going gold in the U.S. and spawning the hit single "Cannonball." Soon after, Deal also formed the Amps, who released their one (and only) album, Pacer, in 1995. Santiago and Lovering formed the Martinis in 1995 and appeared on the soundtrack to Empire Records. During the late '90s and early 2000s, 4AD issued archival Pixies releases, including Death to the Pixies 1987-1991, Pixies at the BBC, and Complete B-Sides.
After releasing The Cult of Ray for American in 1996, Black shuffled between different labels and ended up on spinART for 1999's Pistolero, and several subsequent solo albums. Deal and the rest of the Breeders, meanwhile, suffered from problems ranging from substance abuse to writer's block, and only surfaced intermittently, spending time in the studio but only having a cover of the Three Degrees' "Collage" on the soundtrack to 1999's The Mod Squad to show for their efforts until they released Title TK in 2002. David Lovering left the Martinis and became the touring drummer for Cracker, and also appeared on Donelly's Sliding and Diving, but found himself unemployed in the late '90s. Combining his studies in electronic engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology and his years of performing experience, Lovering dubbed himself a "scientific phenomenalist," a cross between a scientist, performance artist, and magician, and warmed up the crowds at Frank Black, Breeders, Camper Van Beethoven, and Grant Lee Buffalo concerts. Santiago and his wife Linda Mallari continued the Martinis through the '90s, recording several demos and self-released albums. Santiago also began a career composing soundtracks and incidental music, beginning with the score for 2000's Crime & Punishment in Suburbia, to which Black also contributed a track.
Hopes that Pixies would re-form remained unfounded until 2003, when Black revealed in an interview that he had considered reuniting the band and that he, Deal, Santiago, and Lovering occasionally got together to jam. In 2004, Pixies reunited for U.S. tours, an appearance at that year's Coachella festival and gigs in Europe and the U.K. that summer, including performances at the T in the Park, Roskilde, Pinkpop, and V festivals. All 15 of the band's North American warm-up dates were recorded and released in limited editions of 1,000 copies, then sold online and at the shows. The week after the Pixies' Coachella appearance, the DVD retrospective Pixies and revamped best-of Wave of Mutilation: The Best of Pixies were released by 4AD. The band also released two songs, "Bam Thwok" and a cover of Warren Zevon's "Ain't That Pretty at All" in 2004.
Despite consistent touring throughout the 2000s and 2010s, no more new music appeared until 2013, when the group went into the studio with longtime producer Gil Norton. During those sessions, Deal officially left the group. Former Fall bassist Simon Archer, aka Dingo, replaced Deal in the studio, and the band hired the Muffs' Kim Shattuck for touring duties. "Bagboy," the first Pixies song in nine years, arrived in July 2013 and featured Bunnies vocalist Jeremy Dubs. That November, Shattuck was let go from the band; a few weeks later, Paz Lenchantin -- who also played with Zwan and A Perfect Circle -- was drafted as the Pixies' bassist. EP2 arrived in January 2014, and EP3 was issued that March. The EPs were compiled as the album Indie Cindy for that April's Record Store Day. It reached number 23 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, making it the band's highest-charting album in the U.S. to date. Pixies began work on their sixth album late in 2015, working with producer Tom Dalgety at London's RAK Studios. Released in September 2016, Head Carrier was the first album to include Lenchantin as a full-fledged member. The album peaked at number 72 on the Billboard 200, while the single "Classic Masher" debuted on the Adult Alternative Songs chart at number 30, marking Pixies' first appearance on a Billboard airplay chart since 1992. Late in 2018, the band reunited with Dalgety to record their seventh album at Dreamland Recordings in Woodstock, New York. Pixies documented the making of the album in a 12-episode podcast hosted by author Tony Fletcher that premiered in June 2019. That September, Beneath the Eyrie -- named for an eagle's nest discovered near the studio -- arrived on Infectious. The following year, the band issued demos for the album as well as the single "Hear Me Out”.
Almost forty-four years since Pixies put out their debut album, they are still going strong. Let’s hope the band have no desire to call it time anytime soon! If you need a guide which Pixies albums you should own, then the selection of recommendations below should be of assistance. Here is my guide to…
A legendary band.
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The Four Essential Albums
Surfer Rosa
Release Date: 21st March, 1988
Label: 4AD
Producer: Steve Albini
Standout Tracks: Bone Machine/Where Is My Mind?/Brick Is Red
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/pixies/surfer-rosa
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/50j4Wm1b9hLpSpPIA39Vp9?si=S_eAn9coS2KVeE1n8R1CVg
Review:
“One of the most compulsively listenable college rock albums of the '80s, the Pixies' 1988 full-length debut Surfer Rosa fulfilled the promise of Come on Pilgrim and, thanks to Steve Albini's production, added a muscular edge that made their harshest moments seem even more menacing and perverse. On songs like "Something Against You," Black Francis' cryptic shrieks and non sequiturs are backed by David Lovering and Kim Deal's punchy rhythms, which are so visceral that they'd overwhelm any guitarist except Joey Santiago, who takes the spotlight on the epic "Vamos." Albini's high-contrast dynamics suit Surfer Rosa well, especially on the explosive opener "Bone Machine" and the kinky, T. Rex-inspired "Cactus." But, like the black-and-white photo of a flamenco dancer on its cover, Surfer Rosa is the Pixies' most polarized work. For each blazing piece of punk, there are softer, poppier moments such as "Where Is My Mind?," Francis' strangely poignant song inspired by scuba diving in the Caribbean, and the Kim Deal-penned "Gigantic," which almost outshines the rest of the album. But even Surfer Rosa's less iconic songs reflect how important the album was in the group's development. The "song about a superhero named Tony" ("Tony's Theme") was the most lighthearted song the Pixies had recorded, pointing the way to their more overtly playful, whimsical work on Doolittle. Francis' warped sense of humor is evident in lyrics like "Bone Machine"'s "He bought me a soda and tried to molest me in the parking lot/Yep yep yep!" In a year that included landmark albums from contemporaries like Throwing Muses, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine, the Pixies managed to turn in one of 1988's most striking, distinctive records. Surfer Rosa may not be the group's most accessible work, but it is one of their most compelling” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Gigantic
Doolittle
Release Date: 17th April, 1989 (U.K.)/18th April, 1989 (U.S.)
Labels: 4AD/Elektra (initial U.S. distribution)
Producer: Gil Norton
Standout Tracks: Debaser/Here Comes Your Man/Mr. Grieves
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/pixies/doolittle/lp
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0DQyTVcDhK9wm0f6RaErWO?si=QULMd9o3TjKlTStD-_eOpQ
Review:
“As Kurt Cobain readily told anyone who cared to hear, Nirvana's Nevermind wouldn't have happened without the Pixies' Doolittle. When it came out in 1989, the Pixies' abrasive guitars and twisted, nightmarish vision were eclipsed by the bad-boy cool of Guns n' Roses and the frothy pop of Fine Young Cannibals. For angry, punk self-reflection, you had to comb the indie underground.
The Pixies changed all that, and with Doolittle laid the groundwork for Nineties rock. The album's breathtaking mix of noisy, almost surflike guitars, sweet pop melodies and primal-scream-therapy vocals inspired a generation of would-be rock stars: Nirvana adopted the Pixies use of quiet, mumbled verses and loud, crashing choruses, Courtney Love aped their banshee wails, and Beck drew inspiration from their catalog of surrealistic lyrics.
Doolittle chugs into action on a New Wave bass line and frontman Black Francis' adrenalized barking about a weird scene from a Luis Bu–uel movie. "Debaser," with its cool, crisp guitar line and lyrics about "slicing up eyeballs," sets the tone of the album. From there, the band careens back and forth from menacing to melodic, as Francis and bassist Kim Deal screech, snort and coo their way through tunes such as "Wave of Mutilation," "I Bleed," "Dead" and "Gouge Away.
" Despite the bizarrely violent song titles, the Pixies were schoolyard nerds at heart -- the only person Francis was scaring with his lyrics was himself. They turned out to be prescient: Within five years, awkward pop stars from Pavement to Weezer represented the new cool, and "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and "Here Comes Your Man" were classics” – Rolling Stone
Choice Cut: Monkey Gone to Heaven
Trompe le Monde
Release Date: 23rd September, 1991
Label: 4AD
Producer: Gil Norton
Standout Tracks: Alec Eiffel/Head On/Letter to Memphis
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/pixies/trompe-le-monde-30th-anniversary
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1xtaONLuwdb5STNnLGNVGi?si=3bS9ywc3RXiYuwHPT4sYdw
Review:
“The title might be French for "fool the world," but with Trompe le Monde, the Pixies weren't fooling anyone: this was essentially Black Francis' solo debut. It focuses on Francis' sci-fi fascination and lacks any Kim Deal songs; even her backing vocals are far and few between. Yet the band sounds revitalized on Trompe le Monde, as if it were planned as their last hurrah. The raucous "Distance Equals Rate Times Time" and the explosive cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Head On" are fairly straightforward, but the lyrics remain quirky on "Planet of Sound," a song about a Martian who lands on Earth, and "Palace of the Brine," a tribute to sea monkeys and Utah's Salt Lake. He even disses hipsters and pretentious students -- basically, the Pixies' fan base -- with nasty little digs like "Subbacultcha"'s "I was wearing eyeliner/She was wearing eyeliner" and "U-Mass"' "It's eduuucaaationaal!" Musically, "Trompe le Monde"'s psychedelic sheen and "Alec Eiffel"'s atmospheric keyboards prove that the Pixies' sound wasn't defined by Steve Albini-style rawness. There's also more emotional depth: "The Sad Punk" features the strangely poignant bridge "And evolving from the sea/Would not be too much time for me/To walk beside you in the sun," and "Letter to Memphis" is a heartfelt, if cryptic, love song. Though Trompe le Monde doesn't sound quite like the Pixies' other work, Come on Pilgrim's spooky beginnings, Surfer Rosa's abrasive assault, Doolittle's deceptively accessible punk-pop, and Bossanova's spacy sonics helped make Trompe le Monde a rousing swan song and a precursor to alternative rock's imminent success. Whether that means their music remained pure or they missed their chance to cash in is debatable; either way, the Pixies are one of America's greatest, most influential bands” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Planet of Sound
Indie Cindy
Release Date: 19th April, 2014
Labels: Pixiesmusic/PIAS
Producer: Gil Norton
Standout Tracks: Greens and Blues/Bagboy/Blue Eyed Hexe
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=677440&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6pRgKtzZuyJRYZ0ie3wRQa?si=L4dGqRrsQLS_3fzDTuyAVQ
Review:
“After 10 years as their own covers band, Pixies have finally decided to release new material to spare them the embarrassment of trotting out the same old classics on tour. Unleashing a new album 23 years after your last is risky – you’re never going to come near the legendary levels of Doolittle and Bossanova, and your mutant-surf-gaucho-punk sound has been diluted by dozens of lesser indie bands over the years. Bassist Kim Deal’s departure last year doesn’t help. Still, Pixies fans will find plenty here to like. Most of the tracks have already come out on the band’s three recent EPs, and yes, they sound fragmented as a single album, but Pixies are past masters at pulling all the pieces together. The skewed pop melodies and twisted riffs are there on Greens and Blues, Magdalena 318, Snakes and Blue Eyed Hexe, while Bagboy, Andro Queen and Another Toe in the Ocean duck and dive with grace and grit” – The Irish Times
Choice Cut: Indie Cindy
The Underrated Gem
Head Carrier
Release Date: 30th September, 2016
Labels: Pixiesmusic/PIAS
Producer: Tom Dalgety
Standout Tracks: Head Carrier/Classic Masher/Tenement Song
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/pixies/head-carrier/lp
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0CwsCKBeUxkgRi9LbdWl2x?si=ZwjYk94uT0SV8lTOOziQVA
Review:
“And deeper we dig into the dirt. Don’t believe the anti-hype; despite the lack of Kim Deal, Pixies’ 2014 comeback ‘Indie Cindy’ was a worthy successor to their superlative first era, with its tales of witches, sea monsters, android queens and alien lovers.
If that record seemed plucked, musically, from intergalactic radio signals beamed between 1990’s ‘Bossanova’ and 1991’s ‘Trompe Le Monde’, their second reunion album ‘Head Carrier’ treads further back, into the consecrated murk that was ‘Doolittle’ and ‘Surfer Rosa’.
Abandon hope all ye who enter here hoping that Black Francis, at 51, might recapture the sexual frenzy and devil-pact menace of those cult-inducing records, or that new producer Tom Dalgety (Royal Blood, Band Of Skulls) will emulate Gil Norton’s rusted torture chamber aesthetic.But in a cleaner, more mature, concerned-about-its-blood-pressure manner, ‘Head Carrier’ revisits Pixies’ prime, primal age, melodically pumped and squaring up confidently to its admittedly formidable forebears.
There are obvious lifts: ‘All I Think About Now’ is essentially new bassist Paz Lenchantin’s chance at her very own ‘Where Is My Mind?’ right down to the manic pixie “ooh-oooh”s, while ‘Um Chagga Lagga’ is a classic desert punk rant so indebted to ‘Isla De Encanta’ and ‘Oh My Golly!’ that the EU may well sue it for not including the required number of verses in Spanish. Otherwise, ‘Head Carrier’ applies the surf-pop sunscreen of Frank Black’s early solo albums to the simian back hair of early Pixies. So if the album’s two ‘Here Comes Your Man’s – ‘Classic Masher’ and ‘Might As Well Be Gone’ – verge on Weezer, or the Beelzebub tribute ‘Baal’s Back’ sees Francis sounding more like AC/DC’s Bon Scott than The Dark Eater Of Souls Himself, it’s merely an age-appropriate re-imagining of their early fire and brimstone brilliance. Add in sublime off-kilter grunge pop like ‘Oona’ and the title track and, casting aside the boulder of history, you’ll struggle to find a better collection of indie rock songs this year. The reunion of the century keeps on kicking” – NME
Choice Cut: Um Chagga Lagga
The Latest Album
Beneath the Eyrie
Release Date: 13th September, 2019
Labels: BMG/Infectious
Producer: Tom Dalgety
Standout Tracks: On Graveyard Hill/Ready for Love/Bird of Prey
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1604496&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1ZqL2lIhcGoYkPnehz6KnF?si=PSzU-quCQPuW_9q6ttN6dA
Review:
“It’s difficult to pin down the inherent appeal of PIXIES. They’re abrasive and idiosyncratic, off kilter and uncompromising, with Black Francis’ lyricism a veritable rabbit warren of psychedelic imagery that takes years of listening to unravel, their catalogue doesn’t even have an easy place for the uninitiated to start.
Still though, the fact remains that PIXIES are one of the most influential bands of all time, with everyone from Nirvana to Radiohead citing them as influences. While this is arguably due to the uncompromising nature of PIXIES, the fact also remains that very few bands have a back catalogue that’s as consistently good as theirs.
Fortunately, 'Beneath The Eyrie' is the perfect addition to that canon. Doing little to tarnish said consistency, it’s a record that calls to mind some of the band’s best moments, while still managing to feel fresh and exciting.
Of course, like all PIXIES albums, it takes a few listens before really taking hold (the latter half of the record feeling somewhat lacking on the first few plays). From the ominous opener ‘The Arms Of Mrs. Mark Of Cain’ it’s clear that it’s business as usual for the Boston four-Piece. The duality of wailing abrasive guitar courtesy of Joey Santiago and Black Francis’ trademark vocal setting the record’s tone perfectly.
While 'Beneath The Eyrie' might well start with a couple of heavier tracks, it’s a much poppier, or at least softer album than one might expect; the likes of ‘Catfish Kate’, ‘Bird Of Prey’ or ‘Daniel Boone’ retaining typical Pixies idiosyncrasies yet coming off as mellower in their delivery.
Arguably the strongest track on the album falls to ‘Long Rider’. Three minutes of quintessential PIXIES, it builds towards a suitably cathartic conclusion; Francis’ vocal paired with that of bassist Paz Lenchantin to create something that feels both warm yet unnerving.
Very few bands can mount a comeback in such a way that PIXIES have. Though very few bands share the same drive, tenacity, attitude and even arrogance that PIXIES harbour. While that may well deter some people that aren’t already converted, it’s this that makes the band as seminal as they are.
And though they might be mellowing in their age, that doesn’t mean to say they’ve compromised an inch, and 'Beneath The Eyrie' proves just that” – CLASH
Choice Cut: Catfish Kate
The Pixies Book
The Pixies' Doolittle - 33 1/3
Author: Ben Sisario
Publication Date: 20th April, 2006
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Synopsis:
“The Pixies have had a career unlike any other in alternative rock, disappearing as not-quite-the-next-big-things only to become gods in absentia. "Doolittle" is their knotty masterpiece, the embodiment of the Pixies' abrasive, exuberant, enigmatic pop. Informed by exclusive interviews with the band, Sisario looks at the making of the album and its place in rock history, and studies its continued influence in light of the Pixies triumphant reunion” – Waterstones