REVIEWS

PIXIES

LIVE IN BRIXTON

Demon/Edsel (8-CD, 8-LP Sets)

This outstanding box set captures Pixies during their 2004 reunion tour’s four-night stand at London’s Brixton Academy. The tour marked the first live shows of the band (vocalist-guitarist Black Francis, lead guitarist Joey Santiago, bassist Kim Deal and drummer David Lovering) since their 1993 breakup.

Opening the first Brixton show with a cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong,” Pixies performed quite a bit of their catalog through the run of shows at Brixton Academy as well as covers of Peter Ivers’s “In Heaven” (from the David Lynch film Eraserhead) and The Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Head On.” And the crowds roared their approval as the band rocked out, while Francis’ vocals would turn on a dime from hushed to full-on ferocious. When Pixies performed “Nimrod’s Son,” the audience sang along with the “You are the son of a motherf---er” line with great gusto.

Santiago’s guitar pyrotechnics during the performances of “Va-mos” in the set are a particular highlight, as are Deal’s confident vocal on “Gigantic” and Lovering’s jaunty performance of “La La Love You.” But the main thing that the set emphasizes is that Pixies were (and remain) a terrific live act with one of the most unique sounds in rock.

Other standout performances in the set are the fiery “The Holiday Song,” the measured “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf),” the diabolical “Bone Machine,” the intense “Dead,” the magnificent “Gouge Away,”