-= Frank Black Forum =-
-= Frank Black Forum =-
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Members | Search | FAQ
Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

 All Forums
 Frank Black Chat
 All Over the World -- Pixies Live!
 An English Language Treatise Analyzing the Pixies
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  

Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1034 Posts

Posted - 08/20/2014 :  16:56:14  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TREATISE ANALYZING THE PIXIES AS A LIVE ACT AND SPECULATING ON THEIR NATURES AS INDIVIDUAL MUSICIANS AND AS A COLLECTIVE IN THE YEAR TWO-THOUSAND FOURTEEN ANNO DOMINI IN SEVEN PARTS...




Part the First: One's Live Music Preferences


What do you want from a live concert? The big hits, a good buzz? The rarities? A stunning light show? The songs performed exactly like the records? Improvisation? A show unique to your city, that venue, this moment in time?

The only band I enjoyed hearing the songs same live as on record from were the Ramones; it was after all, their raison d'être. Sure I wondered what a five minute version of Bad Brain would sound like but I never expected it and went to a few shows on their retirement tour to dance to one fast amazingly catchy tune after another.

But I want more from other bands. I enjoy when they stretch some songs out; not every one has to become a twelve minute jam but it's good when they go on extended moments; I love when a band plays a different set list every night or just skips one altogether and if they talk to the audience, I appreciate when they skip the canned banter and offer up something genuine to the moment.

I remember reading reviews over the years of people being dissatisfied with the Pixies stage demeanor and the lack of physical antics. No co-ordinated jumps between Frank and Joey, no head thrasing from Kim Deal, their focus the music, presented in a nearly Ramonesque fashion; boom boom boom.

While the tempos increase, the performances are very similar to the recordings. I believe this is a source of pride for them, particularly pre-reunion. Of the live recordings I've heard, there's precious little variation between the albums and the concerts; Vamos being a big exception, all that precision and discipline exploding through Joey. Not only is it one of my favorite songs on record, it could be my favorite to hear live because of Joey's solo.

Here's where I really veer into what is most likely a pointless speculative exercise (wait, now you tell me...!)based solely on observation of live dvds, online clips and interviews. But again, that's what a forum like this is for and I certainly present the following with all due self-awareness.

Part the Second: DAVE


In multiple interviews he's mentioned Neal Peart and Rush. I went through a Rush phase years ago but rarely listen to them at all these days. Certainly, Peart's drumming style is very much removed from Dave in the Pixies; but Mr. Lovering has said that he had to learn how to play in the Pixies, to shift his style to something simpler that supported the music.
My impression is that drummers are utilitarian. I guess they'd have to be, right? With some exceptions, they don't lead. If Frank wants to play Gigantic for ten minutes, Dave's there. If Frank wants to rip through Crackity-Something-Planet of Sound in six, he's there; if Kim wants to sing In Heaven, he's there.
Watch the special feature from the Pixies acoustic show in 05 (I think) where Dave is trying Frank's suggestions for an acoustic version of Debaser. It's interesting. Too bad they didn't pull it together for that show as it sounded great in this footage.
Recent versions of La La Love You have become even more of a showcase for Dave and it looks like the band is really enjoying it. I think if they extended the end of Motorway or the bridge of Cactus, Dave would be fine with it.

Part the Third: JOEY


Joey is a creative and tasteful guitar player and his style, maybe aesthetic is a better word, seems very similar to Kim's, of which more below. Another guitar player could maybe play more, play faster, be more technically advanced than Joey but wouldn't have come up with the solo to Hey. This is not a new idea, but I think the Pixies musical limitations (not including Dave who I'm guessing, per the Rush influence was more techincially advanced) coupled with Frank's songwriting creativity is partly why their songs work.

Each note Joey plays perfectly fits the song and he does it again and again throughout their albums.

Yet ironically, I think this same ability or aesthetic is what keeps them from being a better live band, per my taste. I'm aware that lots of listeners want to hear the songs as recorded with as little variation as possible; that it's all about getting to hear some amazing creations performed Right. In. Front. Of. Them.

I've no idea how this breaks down on this forum, surely the largest nexus of Pixies/Frank Black patrons on the internet, but if I had to guess I'd say my taste is in the minority.

What's especially interesting to me is what Joey does in Vamos towards the end of his solo, not the messing around with his pedals or the cord or the recent playing the guitar backwards, all of which I enjoy but those lightning fast runs he'll sometimes throw in before Frank returns to the mic; I love that and I think, suspect maybe, that Joey is actually techinically better than he comes across or is percieved by rock critics; that he could do more of those types of leads if he wanted, but chooses not to in his pursuit of originality.

Part the Fourth: KIM


Kim strikes me as the most rigid, the one who's personal taste hews closest to the official recordings. I think I read, maybe it was in FOOL THE WORLD, how Dave would try to push Debaser to a faster tempo but Kim would dig in.
I'm assuming that growing up in Dayton, surrounded by blues players hitting the same progressions and long solos influenced her away from that.

On youtube there's a snippet of an inerview with Kim where she talks about real bass players and the discipline required to play her parts without pushing the music; her style contributes to the space in the Pixies songs.

During one version of Gigantics, Joey is playing some really cool noises over the rhythm, it sounds great, it's fucking awesome but she cuts him off to get to the "goodnight" bit. I think someone more attuned to improvisation would have let him go on, even if it had only been for another thirty seconds. But she wants to do the "bringing it down" bit and whatever he's playing is gone.
My impression is that Kim is a perfectionist (maybe they all are?) and that she wants...needs to recreate the song on stage, no fuck-ups, but if they do fuck-up, she's good for a charming laugh on stage.

Part the Fifth: FRANK


"If man is fi..." Oh.

I've had this theory for years, that there's an inner improviser within him that sometime emerges, perhaps most often in his solo performancs, when he can vary up the approach of a song without accidentally throwing his bandmates off.
I never get the impression, while watching live vids, that he's ever bored during Joey's solo. He seems content to let Joey go on for as long or short as his friend pleases.
I think this inner jammer peeks out when, as Peter Radiator noted a while ago, Frank varies his phrasing or perhaps the rhythm of a song. Look at Gouge Away or Planet of Sound, he lets the groove build and build before stepping up and singing.
It's possibly archived but I remember reading someone's review of a Chicago show in 04; where Frank just let the ending of Gigantic go on and on and on. I heard it on the official recording and it sounds great and I think it's the beginning of Gigantic becoming a longer song in concert and the usual big show closer, while Kim was in the band.
From the person's description of being there, they made it seem as if Frank was encouraging the song to go on and on. Prior to this, I think Gigantic was just played pretty similar to the recording and wasn't long at all in their early days.
Even back then, Frank was doing experiments with the set list, from the reverse order, to the alphabetical. At some point, maybe almost right from their inception, the Catholics played sans set list. Frank would let Rich take a longer solo during Cactus or Bullet, would let songs build up during the intros and even had two songs that were primrarily jams; Blast Off and 1826. Ahh, too bad the latter was never played live.


Part the Sixth: Post-Punk Postulation


So, why do the Pixies take so few chances with their live show? I think part of it is rooted in their personalities and part being their origin in the "post-punk" era. I think if Joey were more prone to extending songs, Frank would be fine with it but too many and perhaps Kim would have protested or been dissatisfied. I don't know, maybe she wouldn't have given a fuck. She certainly seemed to enjoy when they started breaking down Gigantic.

My preference is for them to extend some songs; I'm not saying everyting should be a ten minute jam, nor just another excuse for Joey to make noise (though I do enjoy it) perhaps that would diminish the wild abandon of Vamos.

But certainly, they could keep the groove going; they kinda do that already with No. 13 Baby. Or stretch the ending out, with Debaser or like they did with Into the White or with my favorite Pixies song and one of their most epic Motorway to Roswell; I think it definitely isn't served by how they're doing it now. I believe Motorway deserves more.

I think it was in 33 1/3 Doolittle (paraphrasing) that Frank said each song should be amazing on its own in a concert, that they didn't need to put a big showstopper at the end. Of course, they still do, usually with Where is My Mind, Vamos, Gigantic, or now sans Kim, with Planet of Sound.

Part the Seventh: Liberties


Do I expect them to vary up their live performances in the ways I've described? Not really, no.

Do I hope that they will at some point? Of course! But if they don't, I'm fine with it. I'll still savor Vamos and any other moment where they let the song breathe or in Vamos' case, explode.

I don't need nor want them to jump around on stage and if an appreciative smile and wave is it for the banter, that's fine too, but I'd love it if their creativity and joy in surprising their listeners would also be expressed by taking liberties with classic songs on stage.

Hell, they've released new music---legacy be damned--- surely that same go-fot-it attitude could transform the live shows, their songs no longer a predictable road but a cliffside from which to leap into the unknown...

hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *

Canada
1592 Posts

Posted - 08/21/2014 :  14:11:04  Show Profile  Visit hammerhands's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Thank you for the well thought through post.
It took me a couple of days to decide to spend the time
to read it, but it is well worth the time.

I concur about Joey's latent abilities. What he did
on Gigantic on April 26, 2011, and the work he did
on Frank's solo records are proof for me.

I've decided not to travel to watch rock bands anymore, except
Frank Black, of course. I don't get or give the energy I did
when I was a kid. I would much rather watch a local Jazz
group improvise, I get on the edge of my seat for that.

I can also say that when you know Jazz isn't being improvised
it usually isn't very thrilling either.


Edited by - hammerhands on 08/21/2014 14:12:10
Go to Top of Page

Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1034 Posts

Posted - 08/29/2014 :  16:31:11  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
You're welcome!
Go to Top of Page
  Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Jump To:
-= Frank Black Forum =- © 2002-2020 Frank Black Fans, Inc. Go To Top Of Page
Snitz Forums 2000