Aren't 4ad are just a big bunch of great people? Being an intelligent label, and never one to miss out on an opportunity to cash in on a legend, they kindly compiled this scatterbrained collection of zany Pixies B-sides for our grateful consumption. Wahey! Now we don't have to buy all the singles... aaaaaw. Yeah, this is a B-sides compilation, but because it's the Pixies it manages to be tonnes better than most other bands' A-side output. Many would kill for a Greatest Hits that was as good as this. Well, mostly. *Song-by-song* The re-recorded and re-amped ...  Read the complete review

The Pixies are often quoted as one of the most influential bands of recent times (you know, if you ignore The Beatles). Nirvana even said that they were trying to sound like the Pixies when they recorded “Smells like Teen Spirit” – so that makes the Pixies an influence on yet another big influential band! Formed in Boston, USA, they were together between 1986 and 1993 – a woefully short time, when it comes down to it – but they produced some wonderful music in that time. Frank Black was their main songwriter, and he’s been responsible for some brilliant, short, noisy pop. He also did a great screaming vocal. Other band ...  Read the complete review

Woo-hoo! At last another Pixies record. Well, nearly. This collection is a particular gift to most Pixies fans who were'nt there the first time round, as the singles (and hence the B-sides) are very hard to find now. Personally I was a bit dissapointed with this album, but hey, what did I expect for a B-sides album?! The songs which aren't just different versions of album tracks are not what I'd call standard Pixies tunes. I think this is because they're mostly early songs, and they come across quite rough and brash. The covers, namely, "I've Been Waiting For You", "Winterlong", and "Evil Hearted You", are ...  Read the complete review