Customer Reviews

Minotaur (Deluxe Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For the music and art alone I would give it all the stars in the world. For the box only 4 stars.

I love having the box and the artwork, but, and this is a BUT I do think it is a little pricey. This is said by a guy who flew from Hawaii to the mainland to see them live.
A little note first. Amazon explains this as being a bunch of DVD's and a bunch of Blu-rays. There is "only" one Bluray, 2 DVD's and 5 gold CD's.

The Bluray contains all albums and video's.
The DVD 1 has all albums, and DVD 2 has a Live set from Brixton in 1992.
The SurferRosa CD is not the Surfer Rosa/Come On Pilgrim version (naturally).

In any case, I am very happy with the box, and since I just saw them live, I've been listening to them constantly the past month.

What I would like to see in the box: B-sides and another live set. I really do not think Brixton recording is their best live performance ever.

I'll let others decide if the sound really has been improved. It sounds very good on my system. I think the box was worth it. PLAY IT LOUD!!!

I must credit the previous reviewer for giving the actual break out for this product (5 CDs, 2 DVDs, and 1 Blu-ray Disc). A cursory cost analysis reveals that the artwork makes for a large part of the price. If you seriously dig the Pixies, like I do, and you can afford to burn the cash, then this should make a great addition to your music collection (or is that Pixies collection). Let it be your screaming fist of defiance against economic doomsayers.

I could wax poetic about the virtues of the Pixies. But, if you've read this far, then you probably already know and feel the same. You probably own all their albums. So what are you missing? 5.1 audio mixes, a concert, and a hardback art book residing in ostentatious packaging. The 5.1 mixes give a new dimension to the music you already love, but they're not really mind blowing. They do make a stereo mix seem flat. Then again, maybe I'm just a snob.

So that's the product. It's probably best suited for the most pretentious collectors.

On another note, Amazon originally shipped me a set that had two copies of Surfer Rosa, but no Doolittle. Naturally, I returned it and the process was smooth. My replacement was here before the deficient item had left. I've been using Amazon for about eleven years now and have always experienced excellent customer service no matter where I've been around the globe. I'm also an active duty service member, so some of those locations weren't exactly vacation spots. It just peeves me to read a review where a customer uses this venue negatively review their shopping experience rather than the product. So, thanks Amazon, without you I wouldn't have even known the Minotaur Box Set existed, nor would I have my own. And to whoever got the box with two Doolittle CDs in it, now you know.

I am a huge 4AD fan! I've been a slave of the label since the mid-eighties. With this in mind, I had to have this Pixies box set--Even though, technically, this is not a 4AD release (Vaughan Oliver designed it and so I must add it to my collection/4AD shrine). And of course, I am also a devoted Pixies fan (Joey Santiago, you are one amazing Pinoy/Filipino!!! Props to my peeps!!!).

First of all, I was blown away by the box set's weight. It is over twenty five pounds. The fake fur box is also cool. Most of the box color I've seen online is kind of brown/beige. Mine is red/maroon. I guess the color scheme varies per release... I am not sure. Anyone knows? The content is awesome. The gigantic book feels and looks hand made. How the CDs are housed is clever and fun. And the packaging of the vinyl records is beyond impressive. My only complaint is that I miss Simon Larbalestier's original Pixie's photos (I am still learning to appreciate the pictures used for this monumental box set). Don't get me wrong, Simon's photography is arresting. I guess that I am just being nostalgic.

Overall, you will be amazed by Minotaur! This is one of the best Christmas gifts that I have ever received in my life (possibly the most expensive one so far...). Vaughan Oliver has proven again that he is a genius!!!

Indispensable if you like the Pixies. It comes in a huge breen box and contains the LPs plus the Cds as well as some other great stuff. Back when they existed, even if one bought their records, I sometimes did not find the Pixies that ultra-engaging but time has served them well. It is very pricey but it is signed by all band members so it is a very nice object to own if one can afford it.

First of all I want to say that I love the Pixies and everything they've done in their sadly short lifespan. Second, the customer service at Amazon is excellent. This review and rating is specifically about the boxset.

I bought this boxset mainly for the high resolution music released on the DVD and Blu-ray discs in this boxset. As somewhat of an audiophile and a Pixies lover I couldn't have been more excited to get my hands on the best quality versions of some of my favorite albums. Most of my music listening is done through a computer so I went through the effort to rip the 2-channel stereo versions (without any loss of quality). Unfortunately both what I heard and objectively saw was reuse of CD material. Though I did not have the capability of playing the 24/192 Blu-ray rips, I could not hear anything different about the DVD 24/48 rips. Yes, the DVD contained 24/48 stereo tracks and not 24/96 as advertised. Regardless, my experience with high resolution music is that there is a blatant and easily discernable difference between regular CD ripped music. I did not do a direct comparison because I feel like there is no point in having high resolution music to begin with if you can't clearly tell the difference.

I also analyzed every single track from both the Blu-ray and DVD with Audacity. I'm not necessarily an expert but in the audio spectra there was an obvious cutoff of frequencies at about half of 44.1 kHz, the normal sampling rate for CD music. There also seemed to be a bit of compression. Based off this and my listening experience, I'm pretty sure that all the material is simply sourced from the CD mastered music, which means it's basically worthless. The one peculiarity however was the Doolittle Blu-ray rip, which seemed perfectly fine and actually mastered at 24/192. I couldn't keep the boxset just for this though and have since sent it back to Amazon. I did not analyze or listen to any of the 5.1 mixes but based on everything I'd imagine they weren't that spectacular.

Even though I received a full refund, I feel gypped due to the expectations I had for this. For both the Pixies fan and newcomer, I would not recommend this boxset. The live content is pretty cool as well as the artwork but that (and the Doolittle on Blu-ray?) isn't enough to constitute the price. Either go out and purchase their CDs or, like me, you already have them! If there is something I should clarify in this review, please comment.