Pixies formed in Boston in 1986 after Black Francis put out a classified ad looking for musicians who loved “Husker Du and Peter, Paul and Mary,” which reveals everything about the strange math that followed in the 40 years since. Joey Santiago answered first, bringing his sharp, surf-obsessed guitar style that could slice straight through Francis’ quiet-loud-quiet-loud distortions. Bassist Kim Deal soon joined and immediately gave the band a melodic center of gravity and a bare-knuckled levity that kept the weirdness from drifting away into the ether. David Lovering was a drummer whose dry, no-nonsense approach made every dynamic feel physical.
Together the quartet, along with The Replacements, R.E.M., Violent Femmes, and The Smiths, were transforming the catch-all tag of “college rock” into something that transcended campus radio stations and became “alternative nation.” It’s not hyperbole to say the Pixies were a foundational influence on the “indie rock” generation that spawned in their wake. After all, it’s well documented that the Pixies were far and wide Kurt Cobain’s favorite band.
Reissued in celebration of the band’s 40th anniversary, Complete B-Sides: 1988-97, which was first released in 2001, came a decade after the band split from that imperial era on 4AD. With time the album has grown from mere footnote, to an essential chapter of the group’s undeniable canon. If anything, what is essentially an odds and sods collection from their incredible run of singles (3 of which landed in the UK Top 40), it serves as a perfect encapsulation of the quartet’s idiosyncratic range. For every “Here Comes Your Man,” there was a Jekyll-esque equivalent on the flip, like the Deal-penned favorite, “Into the White,” a churning barrage of noise dotted with her bummer sweetness intact. Or they’re covering the David Lynch / Peter Ivers written Eraserhead doom ballad, “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” and Neil Young, with equal aplomb. The gigantic and sparkling “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)” could very well be the band’s finest moment. Though they may have laid a blueprint that built a certain dynamic in alternative rock in the years following, they were building a body of work that was as eccentric as they come. These songs have never felt disposable, they just didn’t fit.
Pixies finally give the collection the scale it always hinted at. The original analog tapes have been remastered, restoring the depth and punch that defined the singles themselves. Across four sides, there’s also space to reshape the pacing which makes the set less of an archival tidy-up and more like a proper album that had been waiting for the right format. With room to expand, six live tracks from the later era have been folded in, connecting the band’s meticulous studio work to the feral reputation that sustained them onstage. There’s also new artwork built from Simon Larbalestier’s photo archive and designed by longtime collaborator Chris Bigg, completing the circle while honoring Vaughan Oliver’s legacy. And even if you’ve never heard these gems before, the nostalgic kick that comes in revisiting this “classic” and definitive era of Pixies, feels visceral and comforting simultaneously. A perfect companion to an impeccable body of work.
2xLP available in black vinyl and crystal clear vinyl. |
