Mmmmmm, sisters.
Pixies were a cool band. And by cool I mean disturbed to no end. In a decade when most were singing about love and heartbreak, Black Francis was singing about ***ing family life and living a joke. At least half the songs on the Pixies' twisted debut "Come on Pilgrim" are layered with lines of incest, death and rebellion. The stories that are emitted from the mouth of good old Frank Black are fabulously raunchy and morbidly true. From the son of a "motherf
ucker" to the sad story of a deceased L.A. woman, every song is special, but more importantly every song is entertaining and well written.
From the first note of Caribou, a strangled guitar squeal, Come on Pilgrim gave those with their ears open a taste of what music was to come, in a very raw and unadulterated fashion. "Repent!" screams Frank Black, in that strange tortured voice, one that was, just a minute ago, a soothing whisper. If music was a mental illness Come on Pilgrim would be manic depressive, quickly switching through emotions like a 15 year old pregnant cocaine addict. But there's nothing refreshingly unhip about that, is there? Though it's difficult to tell which is stronger in songs like Vamos, Pixies combine the surf-pop of the Beach Boys with Sonic Youth's freaky no-wave punk sounds using more than just ease. Though Kurt Cobain would eventually manifest their fresh sound into arena ready grunge, when the world first tasted the minimalistic, Gary Smith produced Come on Pilgrim it was as fresh and tasty as homemade pear pie.
But you might be asking yourself "What does it have for me?" How about classic indie rock songs? One such song is the anti-epic Holiday Song, which comes in roughly halfway through the album and makes a perfect climax for the record, an upbeat bit of noise pop glory if you will. Black is at his catchiest, delivering wicked lyrics about a boy who masturbates to his sister while Guitar wiz Joey Santiago rips through a comfortably awkward solo in the song's dying minutes. Though it pales in comparison to album opener Caribou, the song is a definite highlight of the Pixies' debut/career. But I guess what makes some glorious brings others to their knees, I say this as my biggest problem with this EP is its lack of true emotion and sensibilities. This for me is what makes the Pixies' follow-up, Surfer Rosa, such a more monumental record.
Overall this is perhaps the best compilation of randomly great songs about horrible people I have ever heard. The music is simple and perfect while the vocals defy the odds by tying in the poppiest of melodies with sinister undertones and freaky stories worthy of any Chuck Palahniuk book. Though Kim Deal is notoriously absent from the mic, I couldn't ask from much more from the Pixies debut. 4/5.
-Joe
