Lastest release cooked-up leftovers

Pixies
The Purple Tape
spinART records The "new" Pixies album is made up of leftovers from The Purple Tape, the infamous first recording session for the Pixies. It consisted of 17 songs, eight of which were chosen for the mini-album Come On, Pilgrim. So the "new" Pixies album is really the oldest Pixies album. For anyone who doesn't know, the Pixies are the band to blame for much of the sounds of the early '90s grunge scene. Kurt Cobain even admitted that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt to write a Pixies song. This album, which I am now dubbing The Purple Tape, is surprisingly diverse in sound. It is a beautiful mixture of loud rock, some noise and even a twinge of country on "Build High" and "Rock a My Soul." Every song contains the traditional Pixies sound: the awkward yelps of Black Francis (now known as Frank Black), the straight time Kim Deal bassline, the pounding of David Lovering and the wonderfully noisy guitar of Joey Santiago. The worst drawback of the record is that it's too short. It is only 18 minutes long. The songs are like mini versions of songs-to-come. This album contains the original versions of the "Broken Face" and "Break My Body," which were both later released on Surfer Rosa. There are also original versions of "Down to the Well," released on Bossanova, "Subbacultcha," from Trompe le Monde and the precursor to the poppy tune "Here Comes Your Man" off Doolittle. Although very interesting, The Purple Tape is the Pixies' garbage. But the Pixies' garbage is still pretty good. For the big Pixies fan, this album is fun and completes the collection. This disc is most definitely for previously acquainted fans. This album is very much welcomed into my collection, but it is low-grade for the Pixies.