The Pixies - Pixies - Spinart Records

Pixies MP3s downloaded from Emusic.com

In 1987, I first heard an advance cassette of "Come On Pilgrim" from 4AD. The songs blew me away, and I was able to meet with the band on their tour dates in Canada. They are now hailed as a hugely influential band, but when I went on a roller coaster with Charles "Black Francis / Frank Black" they were living in "who knew?" territory.

The Pixies never sold a lot of records (The Breeders "Last Splash" was the first 4AD album to go gold in Canada) and 15 years on, it surprizes me they are thought of as a hugely influential band, and that it's been 15 years since I first heard them.

This EP consists of nine tracks which didn't make it to their debut EP. Most of the songs were re-recorded on later Pixies albums, which provides an interesting contrast and insight to the production process.

What made the Pixies special was that they didn't set out to be rock stars, they were music fans, and really enjoyed playing music. Their enthusiasm for rock, pop, science fiction, b-movies, comic books, their fans and other bands can be heard in these tracks. Buoyed by a great sense of humour — listen to the cool spy-tune version of "Subacultcha", this EP is a great addition to your collection.

As a bonus if you get the MP3 version, is that you can easily shuffle and compare the demos with the album versions of the songs. Try doing that with your 15 year old cassettes and vinyl in less than two hours.