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MUSIC REVIEWS: Pixies

Pixies Sell Out: 2004 Reunion Tour

0512_music_pixies_sell_out
Pixies Sell Out:
2004 Reunion Tour

Rhino
Music   ••••½
DVD Picture/Sound   •••
Extras   ••••
Pixies Sell Out is the oddest sort of union between the archetypal indie-rock band and the mass audience it deserved but never had. The DVD documents a French festival concert and sweetens the program with 15 bonus-track extras from other dates. Cleverly, the program opens with a composite performance of “Bone Machine” — then it’s on to the 27-song concert. Rooted to their spots onstage, the Pixies radiate fierceness and focus, particularly in the four-song screamfest from “Crackity Jones” to “Tame.” Their art-damaged punk-pop has aged well, and the crowd merrily flagellates itself to Frank Black’s obsessive, hook-filled rants. Sonically, I prefer the punchier stereo mix to the disembodied surround. The latter dissipates the band’s machine-like roar, and it’s one of the rare times I’d complain that the center channel is overloaded to the detriment of the left and right fronts.