PIXIES Poll: The best track on Doolittle

Scott Ian like Norton's production on the Pixies albums so much, he hired him to produce an Anthrax album.

No need for any Pixies album to be 40 mins; their tradition of 2 min songs/repetition/fast/loud - 30-35 minutes is enough and would improve basically any album they did

That... says it all, really? (Sorry.)

xp

88-93 was a weird time, dude.

Never mind. Apparently my brain completely fabricated that factoid. I thought he produced Sound of White Noise, but that was Dave Jerden. Not Gil Norton.

<offtopic> Look at those votes! ILX was a busy place eleven years ago.

Jerden kind of sounds like Gil Norton.

There was a concert video posted on another Pixies thread recently which must have been recorded around the time of Doolittle and I was surprised how close it sounded to the album, so I don’t think it was Norton changing their sound so much as they were changing it themselves.

Gil Norton elevated the Pixies from pretty great to really great (exhibit A: the Purple Tape) but the bassline on Gouge Away alone, or the screaming of F. Black on Debaser, or the second verse-to-chorus movement of 'Wave of Mutilation' show the band's uniqueness. No producer could have elevated that, nor destroyed it.

xp That's interesting, I'd like to see that.

You guys have seen the 30th anniversary SR/Pilgrim reissue splurge I take it?

http://pixies.4ad.com/

Concert video is here:

Pixies: Classic or Dud

No producer could have elevated that, nor destroyed it.

"Which producers could have destroyed 1987-1989 Pixies and how?" is kind of an interesting question actually.

I heard Doolittle first fwiw (in the late 90s). When I later discovered Surfer Rosa, the extra noisiness and amateurishness struck me as a more optimal take on their overall aesthetic. And despite its overexposure, I still stand by 'Where Is My Mind?'.

― pomenitul, Monday, October 15, 2018 10:18 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not having a go, but 'Where is my mind?' to me always sounded like it should/could have been a Doolittle song. Should rather than could.

ty O. Nate!

"Which producers could have destroyed 1987-1989 Pixies and how?"

Shep Pettibone

Yeah, I'm trying to imagine a Stock, Aitken & Waterman take on "Wave of Mutilation" now and it isn't pretty.

I could also imagine Phil Spector forcing them at gunpoint to go loud-loud rather than quiet-loud.

Trying to imagine a Trevor Horn led Pixies in the vein of Welcome to the Pleasuredome FGTH.

Oh God! Jeff Lynne.

There's that aborted early REM session with Stephen Hague that shows what happens when you pair an indie rock band with the wrong producer.

Yeah, I'm trying to imagine a Stock, Aitken & Waterman take on "Wave of Mutilation" now and it isn't pretty.

― dorsalstop,

uh it would be awesome and sound like Stephen Hague's work on Pere Ubu's contemporaneous Cloudland.

xp I'd never listened to that Stephen Hague version of "Catapult" before, but... I kinda think it's ok?

just ok.

Bit lifeless.

Good album, but it's no Trompe le Monde

Hague/REM sounds just like The Cars.

Good album, but it's no Trompe le Monde

― kraudive, Monday, October 15, 2018 10:03 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM. While I disagree that Surfer Rosa is a better collection of songs than Doolittle (as someone mentioned above), Trompe le Monde crushes both IMO. They should have never recorded another note of music as the Pixies after that, as it was a perfect album to go out on. Bossanova is the worst of their original run, but two thirds of it was still up to their then usual high standard.

Thirded.

Yeah the Hague "Catapult" is in no way good, too much chorus, too many ridiculously dinky keyboard figures. I mean, it's an unimpeachable song, I'm sure I would still have liked it if it had come out this way!

Good album, but it's no Trompe le Monde
― kraudive, Monday, October 15, 2018 10:03 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

absolutely, what a perfect run at the end of the record too!

I think it's perfect front to back. I still play TLM lots and I've barely played the others since the initial reunion gigs probably. So much heart and soul.

And I think it's amazing how TLM's reputation has totally changed recently.

I can only guess Albini's dismissive remark about them being a boring bar band was fueled by some personal animus because that is just wrong

Yeah, he's totally walked that comment back (like 15 years ago iirc). He and his wife are very tight with Kim now, plus he engineered the recent Breeders record.

He *loves* Kim.

I have no problem believing that Steve loves Kim and dgaf about the Pixies

who doesn't?

30 years old

wow! i still remember my brother getting mad at me for stealing his cassette and taking it with me to summer camp that year.

you were right to do it

Am I the only one who thinks "Hey" kinda sucks?

TBF, this may just be a side-effect of my decreasing amount of patience for listening to Frank Black do his thing.

Yes, I think you are

Also, 30 years later "Silver" is still great

idk how i feel about it now, but it sounded pretty great when i was 13/14 -- my favorite doolittle memory is a mental montage of all of my different friends who liked this album all enjoying their different favorite songs. i am delighted when i think about all of us being little kids jamming out to doolittle.

it's great and I still love Mara Carlyle's "Hey"/"1 Thing" mashup thing also

apparently doolittle was just certified platinum in december

I wouldn't say that "Hey" sucks but it would not have occurred to me that many people would pick it as the best song on this album (or even top 3 tbh).

^ I've barely heard the album in two decades, but that does seem surprising. The ranking is otherwise pretty much exactly what I'd have guessed from radio and other chatter at the time.

I now see that "Hey" is extremely popular on Spotify too. Was it in a film or something?