For October, the Mental Jukebox is dialing it way back to the eighties and going deep. Deep cuts have always been an important element of music listening to me because they’re often the songs that resonate with me most. Deep cuts are usually the ones that the true fans appreciate most. I like my singles and hits, but I love my deep cuts.
The art of creating a stellar two-minute banger is one thing. Creating an album full of them is another. Doolittle doesn’t let up. Ever. On tour, the band still trots out a bunch of these tracks – and honestly I wish they would play the whole album in sequence. It’s an album where the deep cuts were just as strong as the singles. The singles, “Here Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Gone To Heaven” in particular, may have been more melodic. But most fans love the Pixies for the fits of rage where melodies almost don’t matter. Case in point: “No. 13 Baby”.
Black Francis could’ve sung this one without a coherent tune and it would still be just as strong. On “No. 13 Baby”, Dave and Kim lay down a chunky rhythmic bed, but musically this is Joey’s show. His guitar is, at times, possessed on the song. Sometimes it feels like it’s buried underground only to rise from the dead and die again. It’s that soft-loud-soft dynamic perfected where the guitar gets us to rise and fall along with it.
“Viva, don't want no blue eyes. La loma, I want brown eyes.”