My sister is about to turn 18 and I’ve decided it’s time to get her hooked on the Pixies, so I’m going to put together a “Best Of” CD with some of my favorites on it.
The catch is that she’s not really into extremely heavy music, so I’m going to try to avoid their really, really loud stuff. For example, “The Sad Punk” off Trompe le Monde won’t be going on there; it’s probably my favorite Pixies song, but I’m pretty sure it would turn her off. Some songs that will go on it are “Caribou,” “Ana,” “The Navajo Know,” and “Where Is My Mind?”
The albums I have to work with are:
Come On Pilgrim
Surfer Rosa
Doolittle
Bossanova
Trompe le Monde
And The Pixies, a sort of outtakes thing I picked up.
“Nimrod’s Son”
“Levitate Me”
“Bone Machine”
“Gigantic” (Kurt Kobain’s favorite song)
“Where is My Mind?”
“Oh My Golly”
“Wave of Mutilation” (both versions)
“Here Comes Your Man”
“Monkey Gone to Heaven”
“Hey!”
“La La Love You”
“Mr. Grieves”
“Cecilia Ann”
“Down to the Well”
“Head On”
“Letter to Memphis”
“U-Mass” and
“Palace of the Brine”
“Motorway to Roswell”
“Distance Equals Rate Times Time”
I love just about everything they ever did. You do know they’re getting back together in April, right?
You’ll find a lot of poppier tracks on Bossanova. Whatever you do, don’t leave out “Is She Weird,” “Velouria,” “Allison,” “Cecilia Ann,” and “Dig for Fire”.
You mentioned a collection of outtakes, The Pixies… do you mean, Death To The Pixies? That’s a 2-disc compilation, of which one disc is live performance. If that’s what you have, check out the live version of “Here Comes Your Man”. Outstanding stuff…
I looked up The Pixies on a music site. That’s the never-before-released “purple tape” (the collection of demo tracks they recorded in their first studio session over three days in 1987).
(slight hijack) Day One of the Coachella Music Festival, Indio, CA: The Pixies!
Oh yeah, and a little band called Radiohead. We got our tickets last weekend and now the endless wait for May 1st has begun.
Coachella’s gonna have some amazing bands: Pixies, Cure, Kraftwerk, Radiohead, Rapture, Wilco, Stereolab, …And you Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead, Death Cab for Cutie, Q and Not U, Flaming Lips, Air, Bell and Sebastian, Bright Eyes, Cursive, Mogwai, Broken Social Scene, Sleepy Jackson, Prefuse 73, !!!, Pretty Girls Make Graves…
Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons
Ana
Caribou
Where Is My Mind?
La La Love You
Is She Weird?
Velouria
Down to the Well
Hey
Head-On
Here Comes Your Man
Gigantic
Wave of Mutilation
Palace of the Brine
River Euphrates
Alison
Holiday Song
The Happening
Stormy Weather
Havalina
The Navajo Know
Now, keep in mind this isn’t supposed to be “The Pixies’ Greatest Hits”; this has to be a subtle bit of psychological manipulation. I’m trying to convert a Sigur Ros fan to the Pixies. I feel confident it can be done, but it’s going to be tricky. That’s why I’m starting with “Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons”: It’s got that huge, echoey kind of sound that fans of Sigur Ros (Enigma, Dead Can Dance, etc.) love. And I’m relying heavily on tracks from Bossanova, since it’s got more pop to it than most of the others.
I’ll keep tweaking this lineup tonight, then probably go ahead and burn it and pop it in the mail tomorrow (sister’s birthday is Saturday). Keep suggestions coming!
Full Coachella lineup: Saturday
Radiohead
The Pixies
Kraftwerk
Wilco
The (International) Noise Conspiracy
Sparta
Desert Sessions
Laurent Garnier
Hieroglyphics
The Rapture
Stereolab
Future Sound of London
And you will know us by The Trail of Dead
Peretz
Death Cab for Cutie
Kinky
LCD Soundsystem
Living Legends
Seb Fontaine
Sander Kleinenberg
The Black Keys
The Sounds
Howie Day
Junior Senior
Mark Farina
Moving Units
Sahara Hotnights
Electric Six
The Stills
22-20’s
Da Lata
Juana Molina
Phantom Planet
Mindless Self Indulgence
Dios
Q and not U
Stellastarr*
Savath & Savalas
Erase Errata
The Section Quartet
DJ Icon
Sunday
The Cure
The Flaming Lips
Air
Belle & Sebastian
Basement Jaxx
Paul Van Dyk
Bright Eyes
Atmosphere
Thursday
BRMC
Cursive
Le Tigre
The Crystal Method
Dizzee Rascal
Ferry Corsten
Adam Freeland
Mogwai
Ash
2many Dj’s
Muse
Sidestepper
Danger Mouse
Donald Glaude
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra
The Thrills
Elefant
Richard Fearless
Broken Social Scene
Thelonious Monster
The Sleepy Jackson
Prefuse 73
!!!
Pretty Girls Make Graves
The Cooper Temple Clause
Sage Francis
Eyedea & Abilities
T. Raumschmiere
The Killers
Home Town Hero
The Section Quartet
I don’t think I made the cut, but it’s okay since I broke the rules anyway. See, my take is that whenever I try to make a mix tape/CD for someone that’s tailored to what I think are their tastes, it always backfires. I end up with the stuff that’s not quite the soul of the band, or worse yet, novelty songs. The Pixies are especially prone to this, since, for example, “Here Comes Your Man” shows up on every Pixies compilation, but it’s not like most of their music, which is why it took me a while to appreciate them. (A similar rule is that every Pixies compilation has to end with “The Navajo Know” or “Havalina.”)
So I think I’d be doing anybody a disservice by making a Pixies compilation that doesn’t include “Vamos,” for example. Also, I don’t know who Sigur Ros is/are.
My best-of Pixies playlist, which I’m listening to right now! and I’m not 100% convinced of the ordering yet, but it’s pretty good:
Cecilia Ann
Dig for Fire
Cactus
I Bleed
Holiday Song
Alison
Gigantic
Isla de Encanta
Caribou
Tame
Here Comes Your Man
Tony’s Theme
Planet of Sound
Velouria
Oh My Golly!
Vamos
Lovely Day
Havalina
Head On
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Gouge Away
U-Mass
Levitate Me
The Navajo Know
Thanks for all the suggestions, folks! The final playlist is the same as the one I posted above; I love some of those transitions, like from “Hey” to “Head On.”
Guilty on both counts. Heck, I ended with “The Navajo Know” and “Havalina.”
By the way, I told my sister I’m sending this to her, and, since I remember how it took me a couple of tries to get what’s so cool about the Pixies, I got her to agree to listen to it all the way through at least three times. When I first heard them, I couldn’t stand them; it was a couple years later before I caught on and became the rabid fan I am now. So I figure three thorough listens (and of course the boundless respect she has for her big brother) ought to do the trick.
