| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 09/23/2022 : 22:03:30
This thread is about reviews for Doggerel
As you may have guessed
We can also review the reviews here
For starters, The Scotsman - 4 stars
Pixies’ dystopian visions are catching up on them – perhaps for the first time since they formed in the mid-Eighties, real life is stranger than their lyrics but there is still probably no other band on earth who would write a song called You’re Such a Sadducee, even if just to rhyme with “sad to see”, or pair “economy” with “Deutoronomy”.
While frontman Black Francis is on his best Ray Davies behaviour on acoustic guitar-led pop tracks Haunted House and The Lord Has Come Back Today, guitarist Joey Santiago gets his first Pixies songwriting credit on Dregs of the Wine and twists classic traditions with the gothic surf guitar of Vault of Heaven and mean lunatic rocker There’s a Moon On. The title track is more of a conventional rock epic, snapping at the five-minute mark – a wanton indulgence by trim Pixies standards.
Love the Ray Davies-mention.
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| 35 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| stuczuba |
Posted - 11/07/2022 : 03:14:21
arsefuse
|
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 11/02/2022 : 16:07:53
no one give it a click |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 11/02/2022 : 12:51:08
Won't read it, because it's their best
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 11/01/2022 : 17:35:36
Mostly positive review that refers to Bossanova as "their mediocre album"
https://artsfuse.org/263797/rock-album-review-the-pixies-spiky-sonics-smoothed-over/ |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 10/31/2022 : 10:17:09
Q: “Who’s your favorite band?”
A: “The Pixies!”
Q: “What’s your favorite Pixies song?”
A: “You mean What’s my favorite The Pixies song?” |
| Stevio10 |
Posted - 10/31/2022 : 08:15:32
The t-shirt / complilation 'Death to the Pixies'sounds a lot better and more specific than 'Death to Pixies' - that sounds like needless Disney genocide! |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 10/31/2022 : 08:08:39
I think it would be funnier if this discussion was its own thread and it went on for 80 pages |
| Sprite |
Posted - 10/31/2022 : 06:00:03
I've seen numerous articles with band members over the years where they were who cares about whether 'The' was included or not. Certainly very few people made a thing about in the late 80s/early 90s. |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 10/30/2022 : 13:53:43
Yeah, never got why Charles dropped the article. I thought he was playing a joke on us
When reviewer says band isn’t cool without old bass player reviewer is slamming new bass player |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 10/30/2022 : 11:40:50
Yeah, the whole band calls it Pixies. Perhaps most importantly, their album covers all just say Pixies, not The Pixies. |
| johnnyribcage |
Posted - 10/30/2022 : 10:49:24
quote:
Originally posted by Sprite
Every Gen-X knows they're called The Pixies
Pretty sure I’ve heard / read Charles explain that it’s just “Pixies,” no the. That said, it’s very weird to call them just “Pixes.” Hey we’re going to see Pixies tonight…? No. We’re going to see THE Pixies tonight.
I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings. |
| Sprite |
Posted - 10/30/2022 : 10:40:05
Every Gen-X knows they're called The Pixies |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 10/30/2022 : 09:13:24
Paz addresses them as "Pixies" |
| Sprite |
Posted - 10/30/2022 : 04:56:18
Wouldn't even read a review that addresses them as 'Pixies' |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 10/30/2022 : 01:26:48
The reviewer comes off looking worse than anyone |
| cptnpasty |
Posted - 10/29/2022 : 23:37:48
quote:
Originally posted by Jamie
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Very negative review here
https://www.michigandaily.com/music/iconic-alt-rockers-pixies-return-with-doggerel-an-album-that-leaves-no-impression/
That last line (To Pixies: Please, we are begging you to stop.) really bothers me. You can hate it, but to tell an artist (any artist) to stop making art is an insufferable level of critical arrogance. Like really, who do you think you are?
It's just a bandwagon to jump on, a reviewer's attempt to elevate themselves. This one has been there since Pitchfork did their one star review thing. I operate to a certain extent in the literary world and it's the same - too many critics who don't seem to have any clear idea of what it is they're in service to, apart from themselves.
www.guillermostitch.com |
| Jamie |
Posted - 10/29/2022 : 21:11:06
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Very negative review here
https://www.michigandaily.com/music/iconic-alt-rockers-pixies-return-with-doggerel-an-album-that-leaves-no-impression/
That last line (To Pixies: Please, we are begging you to stop.) really bothers me. You can hate it, but to tell an artist (any artist) to stop making art is an insufferable level of critical arrogance. Like really, who do you think you are? |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 10/29/2022 : 13:30:42
Dregs of the Wine is weird, I like it too.
Still hard to pick a favorite song for me, they're all really good.
|
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 10/29/2022 : 09:11:04
I really love Dregs of the Wine and think that kind of song should be the future of the band. Everything else, now with many many listens, I have a similar response as to much of BTE. Fine songs but they don't excite me very much, it feels like any sort of band can do that kind of song. With the Pixies I want things only the Pixies can do. But I've also come to accept that mostly won't happen anymore. |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 10/28/2022 : 22:50:49
It was the most exciting song on the first listen
(But a lot of the songs were teasers in the podcast of course)
And with Nomatterday and Doggerel it's still the one I like the most
Do think the other songs have their great moments
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 10/28/2022 : 17:24:19
Joey's guitars are wonkier and weirder, Frank's acoustic is quiet in the mix with real loud drums, which is a mix tone that reminds me of Surfer Rosa. Typically these modern Pixies productions pump everything up. The silverware percussion gives a new texture and messiness to the drum sound. Frank's doubled, gruff, in-character vocals sound like they're from some weird demo he made that would end up getting rejected, not the super polished Dalgety Pixies stuff. The mix has a lot of empty space, a bit of the loud/quiet/loud thing that seems to have been lost these days.
Ironically, the song that sounds the least like it wants to be a single ends up being the catchiest song on the album. |
| johnnyribcage |
Posted - 10/28/2022 : 17:18:47
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
It's an obnoxious, cruel review, but I do agree with parts of it, and the praise for Get Simulated is right on the money. It really is the only song on the past few albums that has that Pixies random feel, not so formulaic, and the production is more gritty and interesting.
I understand what you’re saying about the song in general, but I don’t hear any more or less “grit” in the production. The engineering and production sounds like everything else on the album to me. The “grit” would maybe be in the vocal raspy delivery. But that’s just performance. Just my perception.
I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings. |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 10/28/2022 : 15:51:58
It's an obnoxious, cruel review, but I do agree with parts of it, and the praise for Get Simulated is right on the money. It really is the only song on the past few albums that has that Pixies random feel, not so formulaic, and the production is more gritty and interesting. |
| johnnyribcage |
Posted - 10/28/2022 : 13:11:04
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Very negative review here
https://www.michigandaily.com/music/iconic-alt-rockers-pixies-return-with-doggerel-an-album-that-leaves-no-impression/
Well, he’s in the minority. Can’t please everyone. Hey, Led Zeppelin didn’t write tunes that everyone liked. They left that to The Bee Gees.
I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings. |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 10/28/2022 : 12:48:28
Very negative review here
https://www.michigandaily.com/music/iconic-alt-rockers-pixies-return-with-doggerel-an-album-that-leaves-no-impression/ |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 10/18/2022 : 15:43:44
This guy loves The Lord Has Come Back Today
https://www.clashmusic.com/news/pixies-ooze-class-with-the-lord-has-come-back-today/ |
| johnnyribcage |
Posted - 10/05/2022 : 19:01:45
quote:
Originally posted by billgoodman
https://www.allmusic.com/album/doggerel-mw0003723646
Yes, agree with this one
3,5 stars
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?
I feel like I’m inhabiting a different universe when I read a lot of the reviews of this album. I’m not hearing all the country and folk and 60s Pop that everyone else is hearing. I’m hearing continued Frank Black Francis work. I listen to a LOT of country (real country not the slick nashville shit from the last few decades), folk, 60s and 70s music, and jazz, and all kinds of other shit, and I guess if modern classic rock (I think that’s a legitimate newer genre by the way) song writing is inspired by country folk, and actual classic rock, yeah, I hear it. But this ain’t classic rock, or any of those other things. I always hear it I guess, in his work, and always have. These inspirations are not the headline here. That stuff has always been there.
It’s just not what comes to mind for me first second or third or more when I listen to this. I just hear a continuation of what Charles has been doing from the beginning. Maybe I’m into it too deep, or maybe I’m just too familiar with it, and I know the players and the songs too well to think of it in these terms.
I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings. |
| QuaBear |
Posted - 10/04/2022 : 11:51:14
quote:
Originally posted by johnnyribcage
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
re: the Pitchfork review. I will never understand how people hear Head Carrier.
"Head Carrier buckled under the weight of a band attempting to live within the confines of its legacy: They spent their time hitting marks, pretending to be the group they once were."
Head Carrier is full of mid tempo, country-ish melodies, pleasant tunes, just like a Catholics album. I barely hear anything of them trying to capture 1.0 Pixies sounds. Even Um Chugga sounds like a Catholics song to me because of its truck driving country feel. I don't understand why so many people and reviews say that only now on Doggerel is Frank "comfortable" with doing that kind of solo/Catholics songwriting. Head Carrier is a pleasant, poppy album with some country and blues-y flairs to it. Even All The Saints, now a live staple, reminds me of Dog in the Sand (the song) as well as like something from Bossanova.
Agreed but there is still something I can’t put my finger on about HC and definitely IC that does not sound comfortable. It sounds forced and overthought, and maybe that’s just in the production. I’ve used the word comfortable, but not in the context that I think Charles is now “comfortable” writing a certain type of song. More just that the band feels comfortable and genuine with this latest one. They were getting there on BTE. I can’t really explain it, it’s just a vibe I get.
I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings.
Agreed. I feel Head Carrier and I.C. has some forced songs. Blue Eyed Hexe, Baal's back come to mind as just trying too hard to get "loud." Again, that's just my opinion. But I share your sentiments ribcage
|
| johnnyribcage |
Posted - 10/04/2022 : 10:38:07
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
re: the Pitchfork review. I will never understand how people hear Head Carrier.
"Head Carrier buckled under the weight of a band attempting to live within the confines of its legacy: They spent their time hitting marks, pretending to be the group they once were."
Head Carrier is full of mid tempo, country-ish melodies, pleasant tunes, just like a Catholics album. I barely hear anything of them trying to capture 1.0 Pixies sounds. Even Um Chugga sounds like a Catholics song to me because of its truck driving country feel. I don't understand why so many people and reviews say that only now on Doggerel is Frank "comfortable" with doing that kind of solo/Catholics songwriting. Head Carrier is a pleasant, poppy album with some country and blues-y flairs to it. Even All The Saints, now a live staple, reminds me of Dog in the Sand (the song) as well as like something from Bossanova.
Agreed but there is still something I can’t put my finger on about HC and definitely IC that does not sound comfortable. It sounds forced and overthought, and maybe that’s just in the production. I’ve used the word comfortable, but not in the context that I think Charles is now “comfortable” writing a certain type of song. More just that the band feels comfortable and genuine with this latest one. They were getting there on BTE. I can’t really explain it, it’s just a vibe I get.
I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings. |
| pixie punk |
Posted - 10/04/2022 : 09:56:18
https://www.song-bar.com/album-releases/pixies-doggerel-album-review
PUERTO RICO PIXIE |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 10/04/2022 : 08:28:12
re: the Pitchfork review. I will never understand how people hear Head Carrier.
"Head Carrier buckled under the weight of a band attempting to live within the confines of its legacy: They spent their time hitting marks, pretending to be the group they once were."
Head Carrier is full of mid tempo, country-ish melodies, pleasant tunes, just like a Catholics album. I barely hear anything of them trying to capture 1.0 Pixies sounds. Even Um Chugga sounds like a Catholics song to me because of its truck driving country feel. I don't understand why so many people and reviews say that only now on Doggerel is Frank "comfortable" with doing that kind of solo/Catholics songwriting. Head Carrier is a pleasant, poppy album with some country and blues-y flairs to it. Even All The Saints, now a live staple, reminds me of Dog in the Sand (the song) as well as like something from Bossanova. |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 10/04/2022 : 07:46:58
6,5 is a great score on the Pitchfork scale.
I'm actually surprised it's that high
Fair review too
Means Doggerel means more as a record than just something for the average fan
Or the writer is a fan, which is also a possibility
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 10/04/2022 : 06:40:40
Their review for BTE was also pretty solid, considering it's low score.
You have to remember, that for Pitchfork an 8 means it enters their very select "Best New Music" category, which is carefully curated towards maintaining their status as tastemakers for hip 20-somethings.
The review sounded more like a Pitchfork 7 to me, but I've noticed they are a vindictive outlet who "build it up just to tear it back down". Once they've decided a band isn't hip (they gave EP1 0 or something like that), it's hard to get back into their good graces score-wise. |
| QuaBear |
Posted - 10/04/2022 : 06:28:09
Some good points in the piece by Pitchfork, however, I feel from the writing, it sounds more like an 8, or at least a 7.5. The thing I don't like about the Pitchfork piece is they scored it at a 6.5. And they did that because they are weighing the pixies "legacy." They are not actually reviewing the actual music...don't get me wrong, I get it...but still. |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 10/04/2022 : 04:18:31
That was actually a decent and surprisingly well written piece by Pitchfork, |
