Death to the Pixies 1987-1991

Pixies

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 1997)
• Original Release Date: October 7, 1997
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002HR4
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #26,028 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Disc One of Death to the Pixies is the random-button scrambling of the Pixies' studio discs; Disc Two is a convincing live show that repeats a few of the songs and still doesn't make you feel that you've heard too much. There are, of course, plenty of arguments to be made for the band's original sequencing, but since the Pixies are as adept at pop hooks as they are at punk screech, the set works to freshen songs you know well--an effective reintroduction to a group that perhaps sounds even greater now than it did when making an LP a year in the late '80s and early '90s. Gigantic indeed. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great "best of" cd and great live cd from a great band., June 12, 1999

By A Customer

If you're reading this review, you're probably thinking about buying this compilation. If you don't already know that the Pixies are the greatest band of the late eighties and early nineties and one of the greatest bands of all time, this will prove it to you. If you know that already, but for some reason don't yet have this album, get it immediately.

The first CD, the "greatest hits" compilation, is a good mix of Pixies songs. Because the Pixies were so consistent in their greatness from one song to the next, it's hard to say what their greatest songs are. Still, this does a good job of picking ones that no one would argue against, the obviously great songs (as opposed to some of their more subtly awesome songs). The second CD, the live performance, is an incredible taste of what the Pixies must have been like in their hey-day. None of the songs on it sounds like the original, album version, and some of them sound very different. Highlights include the more mellow, slowed-down version of Wave of Mutilation, and Into the White, a B-Side from one of their singles that's simply gorgeous. Well, it's hard to write so little about such an incredibly original and outstanding band. If you don't have any Pixies material yet, hurry and buy this. If you're already a fan and have questioned if this is just a sell-out box set, it's not; it's a nice "greatest hits" CD coupled with an incredible live performance.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent live show makes up for unnecessary Disc 1, July 16, 2002

By	"dresneer" (Basking Ridge, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

There are 2 reasons to want this album: a. You're looking into this band called the Pixies and figure a greatest hits comp is a good place to start (Disc 1), or b. you're a huge fan and want the live recording (Disc 2).

If you fall under reason (a), don't bother with this record- yet. You're better off with Come On Pigrim or, if you only heard of them through Fight Club, Surfer Rosa. The Pixies generally have three sounds: The beautiful and melodic, the screamy and noisy, and the creature you get when the two are glued together. The "greatest hits" selections are a bit suspect, leaving some of the best melodic songs (Motorway to Roswell) in favor of good, but not great tracks (Gouge Away). (Of course, if the tracks were indeed chosen by engineer Steve Albini, it would explain the preference towards the louder, noisier tunes.)

However, if you can file yourself under reason (b), despite the hefty price tag, the live album is absolutely fantastic. The sound quality is as good as I have ever heard on a live album and you can tell the band's having a hell of a good time on stage. The two highlights of this disc easily go to Into the White, one of the Pixies lesser known but most rocking songs, and Where is My Mind? where the crowd's ghostlike singing is even more haunting than Kim Deal's moaning on Surfer Rosa.

The flaw of the album is the price tag, because most prospect purchasers are only interested in one of the two discs, so my recommendation would be to buy it if you consider yourself the completist superfan, otherwise, just wait to find it in a used bin (if there ever is one there).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't do the Pixies justice, August 16, 2000

By	K. Bell "Kables" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Death to the Pixies" is a great marketing concept: couple a best of disc with a rare live disc and sell it to thousands of Pixes fans around the globe who will be forced to buy it for the live tracks. For those die-hard fans who already own everything the Pixies have released, this compilation is a huge waste of money, as none of the tracks included on the best of disc are new or rare. So, knock off one star.

It doesn't end there. Whoever chose the tracks for the first disc seemed to have done so arbitrarily, and each of these 17 tracks could have easily been replaced by 17 others. Furthermore, the tracks aren't even in chronological order, but instead the disc jumps around in time, fragmenting even more the already disjointed flow of the disc. Knock off another star.

The bottom line: if you're a die-hard Pixies fan who can afford this double-disc set, it's probably worth it for the live disc; if you're a rich soon-to-be Pixies fan, skip it and buy "Come on Pilgrim," "Surfer Rosa," "Doolittle," "Bossanova," and "Trompe le Monde"--in this case, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts; if you're poor and want to get into the Pixes, buy "Death to the Pixies" used and borrow your friend's Pixies albums and burn or tape them.