Other Mixes By Rob Conroy
CD
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Single Artist
CD
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Mixed Genre
CD
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Mixed Genre
Cassette
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Single Artist
Daughter and sons of motherfuckers
| Artist | Song | |
| Pixies |
Caribou 
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| Pixies |
Ed is Dead
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| Pixies |
Nimrod's Son
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| Pixies |
Levitate Me
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| Pixies |
Bone Machine
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| Pixies |
Break My Body
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| Pixies |
Broken Face
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| Pixies |
Gigantic
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| Pixies |
River Euphrates
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| Pixies |
Where is My Mind?
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| Pixies |
Cactus
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| Pixies |
Oh My Golly!
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| Pixies | Vamos [Surfer Rosa] | |
| Pixies |
Debaser
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| Pixies |
Tame
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| Pixies |
Wave of Mutilation
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| Pixies |
I Bleed
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| Pixies |
Here Comes Your Man
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| Pixies |
Monkey Gone to Heaven
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| Pixies |
La La Love You
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| Pixies |
Hey
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| Pixies |
Gouge Away
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| Pixies |
Allison
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| Pixies |
Dig for Fire
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| Pixies |
Stormy Weather
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| Pixies |
Trompe le Monde
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| Pixies |
Alec Eiffel
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| Pixies |
U-Mass
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| Pixies |
Letter to Memphis
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Comment:
So toss me onto the pile of the dozen-plus Pixies compilers on the site. The creation of this mix was definitely inspired by popkulcher's "Pixiedust" mix posted two days ago, although I've been considering the idea of doing one of these for the past couple of years (my complete lack of any b-sides or rarities precluded me from doing so until now). In the summer/fall of 1989, Pixies were definitely *the* key band of my life and definitely place me firmly back to my freshman year at Penn State when I hear them. Even now, Surfer Rosa is absolutely, gut-wrenchingly amazing from start to finish; even the songs that I did not include here are great and worthy of inclusion. However, while re-listening to these albums yesterday (for the first time in quite awhile), the following opinions were formed/refined: 1) I like Come On Pilgrim more now than I did at the time, and I loved it then. 2) Doolittle, which has the reputation as the band's crowning achievement, is half-great and *totally* front-loaded. The first five songs are faultless and one of the best combined opening salvos in (semi-)recent memory, but I think that it really peters out after that (with the exception of the three or four songs--"Monkey," "La La," "Hey" and "Gouge Away"--that I included here, none of which are even close to being as good as the first five). 3) Bossanova sucks. I remember being seriously disappointed in it when it came out (even though I gave it a generally positive review in the college newspaper), but I assumed that it'd sound better with the passage of time. It doesn't. The production is offensive and the songs are just... well, weak overall (although I think that "Allison" and "Dig for Fire" are pretty brilliant). And I thought I liked the song "Is She Weird" a lot more than I do. 3) Trompe le Monde is somewhat underrated by people in general, although it sounds disconcertingly like a Frank Black solo album (to me, not a good thing) in quite a few places. Last songs cut: "I'm Amazed," "Subbacultcha," "Brick is Red," "Head On", "Tony's Theme," and "I've Been Tired." By the way, if anyone has that b-sides collection... *clears throat*Feedback:
You know, I stand by "Doolittle" as a great album, but you have a point. The great songs on there are at the beginning and the later part of the album feeds off them to a certain extent. And yes, the EP and Surfer Rosa are both great, start-to-finish. I don't know of the B-sides collection you're talking about, but I do have the Purple Tape(on cd, ironically) which is the other half of the "Come On, Pilgrim" sessions. It's an interesting listen. Anyhow, this looks great, pretty similar to what mine would look like, I think.
one just can't go wrong with Pixies; one of my favorite bootlegs has
Bowie's old Tin Machine covering Debaser; as for the mix title,
I believe the lyric reads:
as loud as hell
a ringing bell.
Bowie's old Tin Machine covering Debaser; as for the mix title,
I believe the lyric reads:
as loud as hell
a ringing bell.
Rob: I agree with your summation of their discography almost word for word (though, as I've noted, I have less love for Surfer Rosa than most fans). If the second half of Doolittle were anything like the first it would be a complete monster. Bossanova: jesus, my thoughts exactly on each of those tracks (though I think the opening instrumental surf track "Cecilia Ann" spruces up a mix tape quite nicely. Only noteworthy disagreement: I think "Planet of Sound" on Trompe is a stunner. If you still need the b-sides collection, I'm happy to dupe it for you. (I also have the BBC collection and the live half of their greatest hits package.)
Good selections. The Pixies are just a *little* overrated in my book. The good stuff is great, the rest can get kinda dull.
Doolittle
IS a monster. I'm surprised that not everyone loves "No. 13 Baby" or "There Goes My Gun" as much as I do. Oh well. Zach(robbins) and I made a Pixies mix not too long ago, it was an interesting process. http://www.artofthemix.com/FindAMix/GetContents.asp?From=/FindAMix/archivesearcha.asp&strMixID=47193
As for criticism: what's with the chronological order? AND, where the hell is "Motorway to Roswell"?
IS a monster. I'm surprised that not everyone loves "No. 13 Baby" or "There Goes My Gun" as much as I do. Oh well. Zach(robbins) and I made a Pixies mix not too long ago, it was an interesting process. http://www.artofthemix.com/FindAMix/GetContents.asp?From=/FindAMix/archivesearcha.asp&strMixID=47193
As for criticism: what's with the chronological order? AND, where the hell is "Motorway to Roswell"?
All of my single-artist mixes are in chronological order. I like to hear the band developing as the disc progresses. So why is that a problem?
Oh, and last I checked, "Motorway to Roswell" was the next-to-last track on Trompe le Monde. It's never done much for me, as it sounds like an outtake from the first Frank Black album.
I agree with you, almost , completely on your notes. I'm probably alone in this, but , Bossanova is my favorite album of theirs. I initially thought it sucked but I've burned myself out on all the other albums and I find that when I reach for Pixies, I reach for Bossanova, sometimes Trompe Le Monde(I agree with Marc on Planet of Sound)but I think Bossanova has a lot of beautiful songs on it.
This is a great collection by the way, all great songs, and I think the two that you picked from Bossanova are the best ones from that album.
Thanks a lot, greaseball. "Stormy Weather" is from that record, too.
Wow, Rob. I almost completely agree with your take on the Pixies' catalogue (though "Doolittle" is still my fave). Though personally, I find "Surfer Rosa" a little too clever-clever for my taste throughout (though I still like it). Actually, Rob, I think one could make the case that "Rosa" is far more frontloaded than "Doolittle," as the second half of "Rosa" *completely* blurs together for me, to the point where the songs seem indistinguishable. I still find "Doolittle" to be a nice mix of poppy numbers and darker tunes and it has a nice even keel all the way through. I have yet to get into "Bossanova," and I feel that "Trompe" is sorely underrated. By the way, g.a.b. is right about those lyrics. :-) I'll throw my hat in the "Pixies mix" ring as soon as I get ahold of the b-sides.
By the way, this contains a couple of my utmost favorites, including "Tame," "Bone Machine," "Break My Body," "I Bleed," "Gigantic." On the other hand, two of my top faves, "Rock Music" and "Subbacultcha," are missing. The absolute visceral energy of "Rock Music" just kills me every time.
Jeez, I forgot to mention "Debaser," which is not only far and away my fave Pixies track but one of my favorite songs of all time.
Funny, in a room full of my friends, you could definitely ask: Which is YOUR favorite Pixies album? And everybody in that room will have a slightly askewed answer. My opinion? "Doolittle," is my personal favorite, and wholeheartedly disagree that their momentum faded after the 5th track. This album served as a primer for a different kind of music for me. "Trompe Le Monde," is perversely delectable as well.
'Bossanova's lush, specially 'Havalina'. I think it's 'Trompe' that don't do much for me- tho I love the title track and 'Alec Eiffel' so points for including them here. And 'Caribou' which I think is my favourite track. Etc.
I don't have enough time to read all the comments, so here's my two cents-doolittle cuts-esp. crackity j, there goes my gun, MR GRIEVES-bossanova!!!NO Fucking Velouria!!! It looks really good, and is a really ballsy one, and i see which type (if its possible) of pixies fan you are, but really-you need velouria, anyway keep up the good work
i just read your blurb, and i remember feeling the same way, particularly about Doolittle and Bossanova-and with Trompe, i initially despised it except for alec eiffel and motorway to roswell--but i went through a spell where i really began to love doolittle-especially the second half ambush of mr grieves, crackity jones, no. 13 baby and there goes my gun- w/ bossanova i found that the first half except is she weird i really loved, the middle section sucks, and then the ending is good-esp. stormy weather and havalina--and trompe le monde seems like an album written on another planet--but i've never really been able to enjoy u-mass they way others could- a really underrated song from that album is d=r x t. anyway, just some thoughts-now i'm gonna read the rest of the comments since i'm caught.
I've always that that the first couple of tracks of Doolittle, most notably Debaser, are some sort of musical representation of pure energy, if that makes sense. Great mix, great band, yadda yadda yadda....
Should read: I've always THOUGHT that... sorry!
In response to your questioning of the problem with chronological order. Unoriginal. Hearing the band's development, OK that would make sense if you made connections between songs from previous albums that hinted at future ones, but there's not a lot of that here. In fact, you chose a lot of really similar-sounding songs from Come on Pilgrim through Doolittle. (Even similar-sounding songs within one album!) I suppose they do hint at future endeavors by sounding alike but there's not much documented progress on this mix. Also, what about things like Dig for Fire? First, that's an overrared song if I've ever heard one, second it's one of a kind in the Pixies catalogue... I don't even know where this is going. I like the mix, thats all I was trying to say, then you knocked Motorway. *BAM*
Uh, Alex, Rob can more than aptly speak for himself here, but I think I should note that Rob does these mixes this way because that's how he personally enjoys them, and isn't concerned with "flow" or anything like that. It's a "chronological listing of [his] favorite songs by the artist in question."
Well said, Vinz. And the "flow" (which, to me, is totally irrelevant on a single-artist mix) is just fine here. Trust me. I've heard this mix and no one else has. And who, when doing something as basic as a single-artist mix, is trying to be "original"? Thanks for all the comments--from everyone, seriously. In response to the title correction: yup, you're right, I'm sure, but ya know... I actually like my original (mis)interpretation of that line more and I think I'm going to keep it.
cool enuf, Rob-o...& no shame in being a
bell ringer. 'Twas good enuf for
Quasimoto.
(...plus I think Frank sung it live that way once !)
bell ringer. 'Twas good enuf for
Quasimoto.
(...plus I think Frank sung it live that way once !)
Heavily overrated. A handful of outstanding tracks. The rest: plain teeedium. But who am I to . . .? ;)
It it means anything, I'm inclined to agree with the "overrated" assessment, even though I love Sufer Rosa and some of their other stuff.
Trompe le mond is too much heavy metal to me but the rest is awesome stuff, but the first Frank Black album sounded great back then
Seems kinda silly to contest someone's choice on how to order a single-artist mix. Personally, I would say the vast majority of my single-artist mixes are arranged chronologically. Like Rob, I enjoy hearing how the artist's work develops. To the extend most (good) bands follow a common curve of getting better and better (at least up until the inevitable fall-off in quality), these almost by their very nature have a natural-sounding flow to them. I do, however, mix up some of my single-artist mixes where I think it will come out sounding better. I find this works best where the band is particularly consistent and chronology doesn't matter; or particularly inconsistent (either in quality or style) and running the songs in order will lead to long stretches of songs that don't fit in. My Pixies mix, for example, was arranged out of order for the former reason. One of my favorite single-artist mixes is my Guided by Voices mix, where, given the wide variations in sound quality and style, it was much more fun to jumble things up then to listen in chronological order.
Looks like I typed "then" for "than" in the last sentence of my prior post. Further proof that an Ivy League education ain't worth a dime these days.
Lisa beth does have a valid (if pedantic) point. Although I've seen these guys referred to with both the "the" intact and without. On the other hand, it always bothers me greatly when people say "The Talking Heads." :)
hi, rob! long time no see and ... wow, this looks tasty. any chance i could get me a piece of this action?