The Pixies: Sell Out 2004

By: Erik Swift

October 2005

DVD Features Video: Standard 1.33:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, PCM Stereo DVD released on 10/04/2005 by Rhino Running Time: 145 Mins Tracks: “Bone Machine (World Tour Version)” “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)” “In Heaven” “Something Against You” “River Euphrates” “U-Mass” “Bone Machine” “Cactus” “Ed Is Dead” “I Bleed” “Monkey Gone to Heaven” “Hey” “Levitate Me” “Subbacultcha” “Dead” “Gouge Away” “Velouria” “Mr. Grieves” “Crackity Jones” “Broken Face” “Isla De Encanta” “Tame” “Here Comes Your Man” “The Holiday Song” “Where Is My Mind?” “Vamos” “Wave of Mutilation” “Gigantic” Bonus performances: “Caribou” (Coachella) “Here Comes Your Man” (Move) “Debaser” (T in the Park) “Gigantic” (Coachella) “U-Mass” (Lowell, Mass.) “Crackity Jones” (Fuji Rock) “Nimrod’s Son” (Fuji Rock) “The Holiday Song” (Fuji Rock) “Subbacultcha” (Austin, Texas) “Vamos” (Austin, Texas) “No. 13 Baby” (Lowell, Mass.) “Planet of Sound” (Voodoo Music Experience) “Is She Weird?” (Lowell, Mass.) “Into the White” (Coachella) “Where Is My Mind?” (Move) “Monkey Gone to Heaven” (Move)

Many people refuse to embrace their history, especially in music. Band members come and go so often a scorecard can’t help, and the volume of crap slung in the press after breakups often gets old. Egos can even spur the denials of collaboration (Paul McCartney and Robert Plant have virtually denied they were even in bands at certain points in their careers). Time can bury hatchets, but usually only after solo careers fall flat. Until this summer, Pink Floyd’s members were the most notorious. Roger Waters said for decades he’d never play with his former mates. Bob Geldof begged them to make Live 8 a worthy sequel to Live Aid, and seeing Waters share the stage with David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason on July 2nd made an excellent end to the Pink Floyd story. Despite a billion dollar tour offer, they declined. Making a moment special forever, they retreated and left it for fans to savor. Talk about integrity.

The history of The Pixies follows a similar path. After universal praise as one of the most important American bands during a six-year run, they splintered in 1992. Black Francis vowed his days with guitarist Joey Santiago, bassist Kim Deal and drummer David Lovering were over. And that, as people say, was that. The singer inverted his name to Frank Black while releasing an excessive amount of mediocre material, Deal spearheaded various incarnations of The Breeders and Santiago scored soundtracks and formed The Martinis with Lovering. In 2003, Black revealed that the four got together for the occasional jam, sparking rumors that grew into roars when they reunited last year. And without Ian Astbury on vocals, thank God.

Rhino Records has released the DVD “Pixies Sell Out,” 145 minutes of live music from a tour that initially garnered planetary skepticism when it was announced. It was too simple, almost as much as the Sons Of Sam Horn’s claims in the band’s native Boston that the Red Sox would finally win a World Series in 2004. Their place on the bill at Coachella was greeted as a ruse, and why not? After breaking up via fax and all the bad blood, why would this band get back together? Gradually, more dates were booked and soon a full-fledged tour was a reality. The band unintentionally shows their own amazement at the proceedings when Black throws Deal an almost disbelieving look during the first line of “Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf).” Staring unwaveringly at the crowd, she doesn’t see him as she swings softly through this, the first song of an entire set in Belfort France that is the bulk of “Pixies Sell Out.” Deal soon murmurs “In heaven, everything is fine” over her bass’s heavy plod. It sure is.

Live, the Pixies remain a witty, worldly, well-read quartet that never bullshitted in the studio, and here quickly deliver song after song: “Mr. Grieves,” “Crackity Jones,” “Broken Face,” “Isla De Encanta” and “Tame” don’t last nine minutes. Black gets the spotlight during this segment, blathering one song, bellowing the next. His animated vocals lead the supercharged “Isla De Encanta,” putting smiles on the four faces. Santiago can do just about anything with his guitar, making it squeal (“I Bleed”), shimmer (“Ed Is Dead”) screech (Vamos”) or rock (“Cactus”), but will often hold a single note only to uncoil it suddenly. Loverling is solid throughout; his drumming on “Levitate Me” makes the song a collective high for Pixies, who wipe out the Eurockeennes Festival crowd with “Gouge Away.” Beginning with steady drumbeats, Deal absolutely dominates on bass. Spitting our her cigarette after a few drags to sing her parts, the fat rhythm she and Loverling create barely allows any room for Santiago’s hovering riffs to park, instead forcing him to peak and fall over her bass lines. “Stay all day if you want to,” sings Black. The quartet is in great form, and the crowd sings along with “Hey” as hard as they do for the excellent “Where Is My Mind?”

The disc bulges with nearly an hour of bonus cuts, some better than those from Belfort. At the sweltering Coachella, the fat guitars of “Gigantic” aren’t enough to overtake Deal, whose voice soars over Black’s. Assisted by Santiago’s beer bottle slide, the workout the band produces that same evening during the B-side “Into The White” is so fast and furious it’s a surprise the band finds a way to stop. “Planet Of Sound” is particularly poignant from New Orleans’ Voodoo Festival, in the calm before Katrina and her waves. Behind Black’s screams, a searing Santiago and a solid rhythm section, the swaggering “U-Mass” erupts at Lowell, MA’s Tsongas Arena. Deal’s wordless vocals beautifully grace the Manchester crowd that hears “Where Is My Mind?” 6 different camera angles from Manchester allow viewers to make their own clip of “Monkey Gone To Heaven.” Nine minutes of tour manager and lighting designer chitchat make up for the infamously interview-shy band members, too.

Complaints are few; that the band virtually eschews their final albums Tromp Le Monde and Bossanova is a mild surprise. “Pixies Sell Out” delivers 12 of the 15 Doolittle tracks to melt the most fervent fan, and there are many of them. Witness the one riding a raft – literally crowd surfing – during “River Euphrates.” Despite an excessive partying history, beer and smokes are the only apparent chemical distractions on-hand. With The Pixies squarely focused on each song, Mike Levesque Jr. magnifies the quartet perfectly in his stellar sound mix. “Pixies Sell Out” is also well filmed, looking great in widescreen. Combined, it makes for a quality production and a fun romp through the Pixies catalog. It’s a document that both fans can cherish and rookies can delve into.

One can’t truly appreciate the Pixies without appreciating many musical styles, partly because they had such a wide range of influences, from punk and surf music to flamenco and The Beatles. Besides, they always blended better with Primus, The Pogues and The Posies on “120 Minutes” than with Poison or Priest on “Head Banger’s Ball.” Catching them at Lollapalooza 2005 was almost calming, as if old friends walked into your home after years away. The crowd at Chicago’s Grant Park embraced their set like no one else’s that weekend. Everyone that saw it could feel the reunited Pixies’ power, knowing something wonderful was happening onstage. It was there, watching a rejuvenated, reinvigorated band that I now thought more of them.

Black, talking to Billboard upon the DVD release, sounded uncharacteristically positive about the band’s future. “In our spare time we’ll start to compile some demos, and if they start to sound good, we’ll do something,” he said. 2004 became a great year for Beantown resumptions with the New England Patriots and Red Sox back on top, and the Pixies closed it out in December with several homecoming gigs in Lowell. Damned if the notion that the Pixies would reunite didn’t make the rest of the world optimistic. Now if only Cream could do it….

Reviewer’s Opinion: BUY IT!!