― Sean Carruthers, Thursday, 29 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Andy, Thursday, 29 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
When I was a kid, yeah they were fantastic. I'm starting to realize that kids really like music that makes them feel at odds with everything in an abstractly alienating way that is somehow a comforting cacoon. It's kind of a depressing feeling that's hard to identify as "depressing". It sounds passionate and interesting, with dissonance and screaming and yelling, lyrics that identify no real problem but are delivered with a sombre tone and offset with just the right amount of cutesy tongue-in-cheekiness. That stuff bores the piss out of me now.
― Nude Spock, Thursday, 29 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
well, duh.
― jess, Thursday, 29 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
(pinefox and alex in NYC in agreement shocker)
(me too shocker, come to that, tho i often agree with em separately) (also secretly)
― mark s, Thursday, 29 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Luptune Pitman, Thursday, 29 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Oliver, Thursday, 29 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Lindsey B, Thursday, 29 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mrs. Daria Murphy, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Alacran, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nick, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Andrew L, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I'll be quoting that for as long as I'm writing about pop I think. But you can't have any performance royalties.
― Tom, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
He seemed far more charitable towards them in the C4 documentary that sparked this thread - but then I missed the first 20 minutes... perhaps he was slating them then. Strange docu - the only footage they had was from the Town & Country Club show (supporting Throwing Muses) in '88, so by the time they moved on to "Bossanova" and "Trompe", there was no illustration of the music at all. Maybe it's difficult to get the rights to the (never very interesting) videos.
"Monkey Gone To Heaven" changed my entire perception of loud-guitars- and-shouty-voices and I really did Buy The Record The Next Day. "Doolittle" remains my favourite. They may have quickly lost the intensity, but there are still traces of the ol' magic as late as '93 (4AD's last good year) with "The Last Splash", and FB's solo thing. However, the high regard in which "Teenager of the Year" is held by a certain forum contributor baffles me like few other of his opinions.
― Michael Jones, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Dr. C, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― jess, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― mark s, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― fields of salmon, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nude Spock, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ian, Friday, 30 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― scott p., Saturday, 1 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― JM, Saturday, 1 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Sean Carruthers, Saturday, 1 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― daria gray, Sunday, 2 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 3 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I love the Pixies dearly (and the doc made me want to dig out Come on Pilgrim again). But here's the thing: when I first heard Surfer Rosa, in a small, cold student flat in Norwich 1989, I thought it was abysmal, shouty, formless and stupid. One year later, driving around downtown Portland, Oregon it all made fantastic sense. Which makes me wonder: how does location and geographic cultural space affect the way you hear music? As an English box bedroom boy I grew up favouring the intimate confessional indie (Smiths) and domestic disco (Pet Shop Boys) one would expect, and I'm not sure the Pixies could ever make sense to me in that context. However, blasting out of a car stereo on an open Oregon highway there was suddenly *room* for the music. Maybe only a certain type of uptight, claustrophobic Englishman needs to actually go to the US to understand rock, but it puts me in mind of something Gertrude Stein said - what makes America what it is "is that there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is". And I think I heard something like that in the sound of Surfer Rosa.
― Edna Welthorpe, Mrs, Monday, 3 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
The only Pixies album I ever had was Doolittle. Now I want it back again!
― youn, Monday, 3 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
What is "guitar tone", and should I know about it?
― the pinefox, Monday, 3 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
And Frank Black's 1st album has just as much to offer as _Teenager of the Year_. I have no idea how his other stuff is (though the word is to beware of later albums, regardless of his semi-newfound fondness for the 2-track demo get-it-on-the-first-take ethos).
― David Raposa, Monday, 3 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Robert KJ Porter, Sunday, 5 January 2003 22:55 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 5 January 2003 23:17 (twenty-one years ago) link
Plus, great lyrics.
― David Allen, Monday, 6 January 2003 00:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
Vamos (Come on Pilgrim vers.)Isla de EncantaBone MachineBreak My BodySomething Against YouGigantic (album vers.)River Euphrates (album vers.)Where is My Mind?DebaserWave of Mutilation (album vers.)Here Comes Your ManMonkey Gone to HeavenLa La Love YouHeyWinterlongCecilia AnnVelouriaAllisonAnaDig for FireThe HappeningHavalinaEvil Hearted YouTrompe Le MondeAlec EiffelPalace of the BrineLetter to MemphisMotorway to RoswellThe Navajo Know
(80:36)
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 21:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 6 November 2003 21:31 (twenty years ago) link
CaribouThe Holiday SongNimrod's SonBone MachineSomething Against YouBroken FaceGiganticRiver EuphratesWhere is My Mind?DebaserHere Comes Your ManMonkey Gone To HeavenMr. GrievesNo. 13 BabyGouge AwayVelouriaDig for FireTrompe Le MondePlanet of SoundAlec EiffelThe Sad PunkU-MassLetter to Memphis
(It's been a while since I've heard Bossanova, so I may be forgetting some other tracks I like from that.)
― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 6 November 2003 21:42 (twenty years ago) link
― paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 6 November 2003 21:51 (twenty years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 21:56 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 6 November 2003 21:57 (twenty years ago) link
maybe they'll hire a third Kim
― alpine static, Friday, 8 March 2024 19:45 (two months ago) link
Jong Un
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 8 March 2024 19:49 (two months ago) link
nah the band already has a dictator
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 8 March 2024 19:50 (two months ago) link
They shouldn't hire but they should back Kim Carnes for an album, how random and awesome would that be?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 8 March 2024 20:17 (two months ago) link
ha ha ha
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 8 March 2024 20:33 (two months ago) link
Kim Gordon joins and they reinvent themselves as mumbletrap.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, 8 March 2024 20:36 (two months ago) link
As long as it isn't Kim Mitchell.
― MarkoP, Friday, 8 March 2024 20:40 (two months ago) link
Thought the thread revive was for the BBC Sessions album which came out today and rocks super hard. Version of “In Heaven” is brutal and beautiful.
― Dan Worsley, Friday, 8 March 2024 20:58 (two months ago) link
It's just the vinyl reissue of the same one from 1998, right?
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 8 March 2024 21:00 (two months ago) link
As long as it isn't Kim Mitchell.― MarkoP, Friday, March 8, 2024 3:40 PM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
― MarkoP, Friday, March 8, 2024 3:40 PM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
might as well go for a broken face
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Friday, 8 March 2024 21:01 (two months ago) link
Oh, wow, never mind. I see that it is, but with more material. Going to have to check it out then, I was under the impression it was just a straight vinyl reissue.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 8 March 2024 21:01 (two months ago) link
sounds like it's time for a zwan reunion. paz & billy can patch over their personal issues with whatever weird conspiracy stuff they may be into
― ufo, Saturday, 9 March 2024 01:03 (two months ago) link
I was thinking that, lol
― Hippie Ernie (morrisp), Saturday, 9 March 2024 01:16 (two months ago) link
wait can someone gimme the cliffs on the timeline of the kims, and departures of each?
― Swen, Saturday, 9 March 2024 02:28 (two months ago) link
Zwan gets back together, then Frank Black hires D'arcy and Billy's head explodes
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 9 March 2024 03:24 (two months ago) link
xposts: no, it's all tracks they recorded for 6 complete sessions at the BBC 1988-1991.. 3LP/2CD/digital. The previous release was just a selection.
― StanM, Saturday, 9 March 2024 03:31 (two months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rdLiTQRP0o
I think about this interview a lot, about him painting to clear his mind after a concert, the bit where the interviewer brings up Lynda Barry (which led me down a rabbit hole) and also about him saying he doesn't care if he seems a shadow of his former self, that keeping away from a day job is his top priority. I guess like a lot of older rock musicians he doesn't have the luxury of spending several years writing and recording.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 10 March 2024 00:39 (two months ago) link
Always considered the idea that he shouldn't keep Pixies going without Kim Deal laughable
― PaulTMA, Sunday, 10 March 2024 00:55 (two months ago) link
Trompe Le Monde is the best album album Charles / Black etc ever made, Kim wasn't really involved. She did other great stuff.
― kraudive, Sunday, 10 March 2024 01:18 (two months ago) link
I read that oral history about the Pixies, which was illuminating. Yeah, Charles was pretty high strung, but Kim seemed like a tremendous pain in the ass. Iirc she was barely involved in either of the last two records. There's something to be said for bands that burn bright but fast. CCR, Smiths, Pixies, VU, even the Beatles, just this compressed productivity with a huge impact.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 March 2024 01:35 (two months ago) link
I kinda always thought the reason she did not have any tunes on the later records was more they were not really welcome.
Never really got it myself as I thought the real pixie dust was when both of them sang on a tune. Oh well…
― The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Sunday, 10 March 2024 01:45 (two months ago) link
I was quite shocked when I found out how she doesn't actually have have any of her own songs on Doolittle, not even as much singing as I recalled, but what is there is memorable
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 10 March 2024 01:56 (two months ago) link
i would like to register my discontent with this line of Kim dismissal itt i have nothing to add except that it’s gross and i hate it that is all
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 10 March 2024 02:05 (two months ago) link
Kim of course has nothing to prove to anyone, but even "Gigantic," that was a co-write based on I think Charles's repetitive bass riff and maybe he had the chorus too, at least the repeating title. She really didn't have much creative input in the Pixies, which no doubt led to some friction, but if the book is much indication I think it was more her unpredictable behavior and unreliability that ticked him off. Like, skipping sound checks, being late to places, vanishing on tour, that sort of thing.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 March 2024 02:08 (two months ago) link
That said, I can't imagine the band without her, she rules and is of course a key component of what makes that band so great.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 March 2024 02:10 (two months ago) link
Who is dismissing her? Most people thinks she has the most vital longevity of all the band members but she was kind of sidelined from Doolittle onwards.
I finally listened to Frank Black's Oddballs, it's fun and worthwhile but not really up there with the best of his early albums.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 10 March 2024 02:12 (two months ago) link
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 10 March 2024 02:36 (two months ago) link
Some listings say that's a co-written song. Is there any handy listing of all the Pixies songwriting credits? Did Joey write "Levitate Me"?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 10 March 2024 03:27 (two months ago) link
"silver" and "gigantic" are credited to deal/black (though deal is responsible for most of "silver" at the very least), "levitate me" is black/lovering/jean walsh (black's then-girlfriend i think), lenchantin co-wrote a few tracks on head carrier and beneath the eyrie and santiago co-wrote a few on doggerel
― ufo, Sunday, 10 March 2024 03:43 (two months ago) link
"Into The White" is all hers?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 10 March 2024 03:56 (two months ago) link
black is the sole writer on that despite deal singing lead
"bam thwok" is the only pixies track that's credited only to deal afaik
― ufo, Sunday, 10 March 2024 04:51 (two months ago) link
I love "Bam Thwok", strange that she'd get a sole credit so late on. Seems like only months later that she left
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 10 March 2024 05:02 (two months ago) link
Worth mentioning the recent unearthing of "Go Man Go" that was stapled onto the Last Splash reissue which gives a co-credit to Black Francis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcYCyzvNY1M
(sounds like a stepsibling of "Where Is My Mind?"/"Caribou"/"Velouria")
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Sunday, 10 March 2024 05:16 (two months ago) link
and here is the "Silver" demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH_g46UfHVQ
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Sunday, 10 March 2024 05:26 (two months ago) link
"bam thwok" was the first and only reunion song the original lineup made back in 2004, and i guess deal/black relations were pretty decent at the time since he let her write it
― ufo, Sunday, 10 March 2024 06:44 (two months ago) link
they also did Ain’t That Pretty At All for a Zevon tribKim had Bam Thwok sitting around intended as a Breeders song and Charles suggested recording one of hers as an olive branch for excluding her writing the previous time around
― bae (sic), Sunday, 10 March 2024 09:25 (two months ago) link
Thwok shows that a whole album of Deal songs backed by the Pixies blokes could have been great, but Bam / Ain’t is a great imaginary A-side / B-side commemoration of their whole reunion. She was right to quit rather than risk blowing their legacy; whatever the name has done since, it’s fine to think of as a different band.
― bae (sic), Sunday, 10 March 2024 09:29 (two months ago) link