ALBUM OF THE YEAR - SHORT-LIST .... ALBUM #2 - Feb 2020

When you get stuck on choosing your second album to join the short-list for Album Of The Year (with another 11 to go), it does make you wonder if this exercise is going to work out .... Feb was a bit of a 'dry' month. 

Initially I had chosen in lieu of anything else, The Wedding Present's 'Marc Riley Session 4'. I love this band, but it was a bit of an inessential release. Only 9 tracks (under 37 mins), for this fourth volume, although the version of 'Bewitched' is truly something special

https://open.spotify.com/track/33pPIpZqOEYhHilNYjmi3b

plus ... confession time : I didn't actually buy this yet.... so I wasn't comfortable with my Feb choice, but didn't have other options.

After consulting my rule-book (see my second ever post), I found a loophole....

Pixies released their seventh album in Sept 2019 ' Beneath The Eyrie'. I didn't buy it immediately, and so with the Feb 24th release of the 'Deluxe' version, I had my Feb winner.

My relationship with Pixies probably isn't 'the usual'. I'd heard bits and piece's, mainly on The Chart Show, loved Monkey Gone To Heaven,  but it really started with a Best Of in 2012. 

In June 2013, I bought, in one go, six Pixies CDs (the 4 pre-split studio albums, plus B-Sides, and BBC Sessions). This were second hand, and cost about 12 quid with postage for all.  I don't recommend this... its great when you decide you want to invest in a band with a back catalogue to catch up on, but ... I've probably still never really listened to half of them - plus, what I had heard  (50%) of Doolittle before buying it hyped it up to 'best album ever - maybe' status, and I think the 'new' (to me) stuff wasn't so great... 

I did and do love Frank Black (plus other names) solo too ... but I have never seen Pixies or him live. There were chances ..  they played Milan 2013, but at that time, my kids were 4 and 2, and I wasn't going to many gigs, especially since I remember the tickets were pretty expensive (the norm these days, but I begrudge fifty plus euro for a big gig where you can't see much - or watch a screen -  much prefer 10 euro for a tiny room) 

They did play a warm up gig at Cambridge Junction in 2017 ... being an hour ahead of UK, I see this announced around 8am, and tried ...and get lucky! I had a ticket ! now to book flights etc... and then realized, I already had a flight ... flying with my family to Sardinia for the summer holiday ... I gave the ticket to a old friend, who likes to remind me often just how good the gig was ... 

Someone once sang 'The latest Pixies' records suck!'  but I don't agree, this is their third since the big reform and I really like them all ... now, I should really listen to their old stuff ... 

The album is packed full of unforgettable choruses, and feature a particularly strong first three tracks to grab the attention.

Convinced?  Ok good... 

Now about Deluxe versions ... a weird thing, and a mixed bag. Extra tracks sound like a good thing, but I recall as an example, Morrissey's 'World Peace' album, where the extra tracks just meant the album dragged on until it seemed it would never end, and there is something to be said for an album that doesn't overdo its welcome. Not so in this case with Pixies, thankfully. 

Although they are called 'demoes',  to my ears, they are well recorded 'proper' studio songs, that could have been on the album proper (unlike say some of the Manics deluxe album, which is literally a badly recorded version of the album track , for every album track, in album track order... enough!)

So , Pixies in my opinion, squeeze onto the short-list with a bit of a technicality, but if you missed out on this, give it a listen. Its good they are still around

Next time, you'd better believe it, I'm going to do March ...