Death To The Pixies - Pixies

First and foremost, I can't believe what a bad job I did on this review, so here's a completely new version of it, after all I can't let Frank down! Death to the Pixies was my introduction into the world of Black Francis, and since then i've never looked back. It is, of course, the best of the Pixies album, released back in 1997, several years after the Pixies had ceased to exist. The album, obviously, can not contain every good song that the Pixies have done, as that would take up around five CD's, but this compilation makes an effort to bring together all the different styles played by the ... more

Death to the Pixies is meant to be a ‘Best of…’ album, but calling it The Best of The Pixies would be a bit of a misnomer. Sure, this album includes some of the classics, like “Debaser”, “Caribou”, Gigantic” and “Monkey Gone To Heaven”, but where are the rest of them? Where’s “I Bleed”, “Letter To Memphis”, and what about “River Euphrates”? I don’t know who put this record together, but no Pixies fan I know would include fillers like “Holiday Song”, “Nimrod’s Son” and “Cecilia Ann” on a track list for the album which is supposed to celebrate the best songs of this band. Anyway, I wouldn’t ... more

Death to the Pixies was my introduction into the world of Black Francis, and since then i've never looked back. The album, obviously, can not contain every good song that the Pixies have done, as that would take up around five CD's, but this compilation makes an effort to bring together all the different styles played by the band over the years. Cecilia Ann is a strange choice for an opener in many ways, as it's short and instrumental, but, it does it's job fantastically. Other highly noteable songs include 'Nimrod's Son', with it's upbeat strangeness, 'Velouria', for it's heavy riffs, 'Monkey ... more

Any 'Best of' compilation faces the danger of leaving out many of the songs which, while not commercial hits are idiosyncratic favourites. When I first heard this record I had heard very little of the bands music and it certainly convinced me of their quality. Most of the well known stuff is on there including 'Caribou' and 'Bone Machine'. Subsequently I have become a bit of a Pixies fanatic and can understan the gripes of those who moan about the omisions. Despite this I would say that this album is a cruicial buy for those who, like me do not know much about the band. Put simply the Pixies ... more