Most
Pixies
fans know that the mini-album
Come On Pilgrim
was taken from
The Purple Tape
, the 17-song demo the group cut during their first studio session in 1987. Fifteen years later,
answer the nagging question, "What became of the rest of the demos?" While many of them appeared on bootlegs, this nine-song collection is a useful document for die-hard
fans, not only because it compiles all the remaining demos in one place, but because it also sheds some light on the band's creative process.
is arguably the purest version of
the Pixies
' sound, buzzing with the vitality of the band laying down their crazed songs as quickly as possible -- 17 of them in three days -- and relatively free of the abrasive and glossy influences that producers
Steve Albini
and
Gil Norton
brought to their subsequent work. Interestingly, the remaining songs from
didn't all appear on the group's first full album,
Surfer Rosa
, though that's where several of them ended up; instead,
returned to these songs throughout their career, dispersing them in a surprisingly even fashion through
Doolittle
,
Bossanova
, and
Trompe le Monde
. As with any collection of demos, the main attraction here is in hearing what the band changed or discarded, and
deliver the goods. The previously unreleased (officially, anyway)
"Rock a My Soul"
may be the album's biggest treasure, an irresistible throwaway that captures
at their poppiest and most cryptic. As good as any of their B-sides and, arguably, some of their later album tracks, it's too bad the group never found room for it on an album or single. Conversely, several of the songs that did show up on later albums and singles sound better here than they did in their final renditions.
"Down to the Well,"
never one of
' best songs, sounds much fresher than the rather stiff take that appears on
;
"Build High"
's weird, unhinged
rodeo-punk
reveals more of the influence
X
had on the group's sound than the rather kitschy version that ended up as a
B-side.
also reveals how much
Albini
Norton
shaped the group's songs, both for better and for worse:
"Break My Body"
"Broken Face"
sound essentially the same as the versions that ended up on
, but lack the apocalyptic punch that
gave them; on the other hand, this version of
"I'm Amazed"
has the slightly softer, melodic bridge that
had the group cut because it sounded "too pussy" (actually, the bridge gives the song some much-needed contrast). The minor tweaks
and the band gave
"Here Comes Your Man"
between this version and the one that appeared on
-- here, some verses are separated and the song's intro is played by the bass instead of the guitar -- were enough to change it from cute to a classic. The major changes made to
"Subbacultcha"
-- they cut out one part of the song and added it into a completely different track,
's
"Distance Equals Rate Times Time"
-- made it tenser and tougher, but possibly less interesting. And though it's essentially the same rendition of the song, the studio version of
"In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)"
somehow just doesn't sound right without the ferocious burst of applause that follows the live version that appears on the
Gigantic
single. Still, it's a fitting finale to this short but fascinating document of
' early days, which is really just more proof that the group had a method to their madness right from the beginning. ~ Heather Phares