I'm sure I was aware of the Pixies by the mid 1990s, and had a 'best of' CD (which we'll come to in good time), but in the mid 2000s, I was in a music shop where Holiday Song was playing, so I asked the assistant "What's this?". He waved this CD at me, and at that point, you have to buy it, don't you?
The irony was, I already had Holiday Song on another CD! The Pixies were a band I enjoyed rather than loved, so revisiting their debut will be interesting. Bone Machine is a fantastic start, then it's high energy short songs, which while not in themselves remarkable, create a vibe, and none outstay their welcome. The single, Gigantic, is slower, but a good listen, however the memorable tracks seem to get fewer. River Euphrates is insipid, luckily followed by the much stronger Where Is My Mind? But of the remaining songs from the original album, only the feedback guitar on Vamos leaves any impression.
The CD version comes with Pixies' debut EP Come On Pilgrim, with standout tracks Caribou, the aforementioned Holiday Song (sounding absolutely fantastic) and Nimrod's Son, but not much else.
3* - a decent debut, several killer songs, but plenty of filler
Comments