Product Details

• Actors: The Pixies
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: 4ad / Ada
• DVD Release Date: April 27, 2004
• Run Time: 144 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001XARDQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,893 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 06/15/2004

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rising up from the ashes..., June 7, 2004

By 

J. Fahey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pixies (DVD) (DVD)

After years of silence, the Pixies have been blasting through 2004 with a newfound interest in preserving their legacy and possibly even furthering it with their nonstop touring schedule. It goes without saying that the Pixies are an incredibly influential group and that Frank Black's songwriting was never as good as it was at the band's peak.

That said, despite it's highpoints, this DVD feels a bit like a missed opportunity. The only real point of interest for anyone other than Pixies fans is the terrific 'Gouge' documentary. Through interviews with all band members except for Kim Deal and a slew of rock critics and musicians such as David Bowie and Thom Yorke, it does a great job of explaining just why the Pixies were such an important band. The one complaint is that the documentary is filled out with performances from a concert which is available in its entirely elsewhere on the disc.

And it's a great concert from the Pixies earlier days. It would have been nice, though, if they could have also included another concert from later in the band's career. I would have liked to have been surprised with some rare performances, but admittedly, I have no idea how much footage the band actually has in the vault.

The behind the scenes, on the road footage is hardly essential viewing and is kind of boring unless after all these years your still obsessed with every bit of Pixies minutiae. Or Kim Deal, since she's featured more than anyone else.

Finally, there are the videos. While as a Pixies fan, it's nice to have them all, it's doubtful that anyone will be going back to rewatch them too often. They are incredibly low-budget and it shows. None of them are particularly memorable.

So for those who have yet to discover the Pixies, skip over the DVD for now and go straight to the CDs. For everyone else, this is worth checking out, even if a little more content would have been desirable.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Behind the Scenes + Videos + Live, May 1, 2004

By 

E. Bartoszak "Media Geek" (murrell's inlet, sc United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pixies (DVD) (DVD)

The Pixies were and still are one of the greatest Rock bands of all time. They mixed a raw youthful punk sound, with latin flair, and some of the most derangued and beautiful lyrics ever written. They weren't a popular band during their time, but have since influenced everyone from Nirvana to Radiohead.

The DVD is actually more than I expected. I thought we'd get a standard set of videos with a bunch of old interviews and maybe a tiny bit of live stuff. Couldn't be more wrong.

The live show is priceless, and worth the cost of the DVD alone. It's an early show (Frank looks so young), and captures music ranging from "Pilgrim" all the way up to "Surfer Rosa". Raw, beautiful, rock your socks off stuff here. Just makes you want more.

The video section is pretty standard stuff, a collection of videos from back in the day. Nothing too special, but nice to have and see after all these years.

The documentary "On The Road" is a decent look back at backstage antics, roadtrips through Europe, etc, mixed with various clips of live footage. Decent, but nothing too spectacular.

The documentary "Gouge" on the other hand, is wonderful. Newer interviews with the band, and praising words from people such as David Bowie, Tom York, and Bono. This goes through all the Pixies releases, and puts everything into a nice perspective. The only omission from this is Kim Deal. She's nowhere to be found, and that's saddening. "Bass Goddess" she is called in this section, too bad she couldn't be included.

Overall this is a must for any Pixies hardcore fan, and also provides a nice glimpse into the band for any Newbie.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For those of us who couldn't be there, July 19, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pixies (DVD) (DVD)

There is a lot that isn't needed here. Surfer Rosa and Doolittle say most of what I need to know about the Pixies, and I have little use for the music videos or the "On The Road" documentary. The latter is like a bad home movie, with glimpses of our heroes, but virtually no content. It was hard to force my way through it. Unlike some below, it didn't strike me as the "Kim Deal cam", though Kim was more talkative than the others when on camera. Similarly, the "Gouge" documentary, though far superior to the "On the Road" piece, is dispensable. There are famous British musicians making insightful comments about the music we loved 15 years ago, but this is vital music to listen to, not to analyze to death. David Bowie is remarkably articulate, PJ Harvey always good to hear from, but they, the rest of the musician/fans in this piece, and the Pixies themselves fail to say much you probably haven't already thought about the music.

It's the music itself, in the "Live" piece from 1988 that makes this DVD a good buy for the price. The Pixies are caught at their youthful peak in performances I'm glad to have on DVD, never having had the chance to see them back then, and fairly certain the reunion tour won't recapture the magic. Buy this if you want to see a great Pixies concert from their early days, and consider the rest icing.