John Darko
In early March, British label 4AD released a refreshed version of Pixies at the BBC. The original 1998 edition‘s 15 songs featured a mix of cuts recorded for John Peel and Mark Goodier between 1988 and 1991, arguably the Pixies’ creative zenith. The 2024 version enlarges that track count to 24 and puts each session in chronological order across two CDs: four for John Peel, one for Mark Goodier.
Typically, bands would play four or five songs live in a BBC studio for a looser and rawer sound than heard on their studio albums. It was also an opportunity for a band to stretch its legs. Cover versions here include The Beatles’ “Wild Honey Pie”, The Beach Boys’ “Hang On To Your Ego” (which would later become Frank Black’s debut solo single) and – most bonkers of all – “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)”, as seen/heard in David Lynch’s Eraserhead.
The original release’s mastering quality reflects the trends of the time with the more liberal application of dynamic range compression resulting in a ‘louder’ sound. For the uninitiated, dynamic range is the amount of audible space, volume wise, sitting between a song’s loudest and quietest sounds. Low dynamic range refers to less space, more dynamic range to more space. Through a nice pair of headphones or loudspeakers, we can hear how dynamic range compression (or the lack of it) impacts our favourite records.
We can also measure a recording’s dynamic range compression with software like MAAT’s DR Offline Mark II. The 1998 edition of Pixies at The BBC clocks in with an album average of DR8 where the slightly ‘louder’ (and more dynamically compressed) sound plays nicely to the band’s loud-quiet-loud song structures. More by luck than design, that compression fails to ruin the mood as it ordinarily might.
Having said that, the original versions of Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim, Doolittle, Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde come in at DR12, DR13, DR12 and DR12 respectively. The first four Pixies albums were where terrific sound quality met a band at the peak of its powers.
What of the 2024 edition of Pixies at The BBC? This new master isn’t a radical departure from the original with the 24-song edition registering an album average identical to the original release: DR8
File Name | Format | SR | Word Length | Max. TPL | LUFSi | DR (PMF) |
01. Levitate Me (John Peel Session 3rd May 1988) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.14 | -8.43 | 8 |
02. Hey (John Peel Session 3rd May 1988) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.03 | -11.77 | 8 |
03. In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song) (John Peel Session 3rd May 1988) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.16 | -7.63 | 7 |
04. Wild Honey Pie (John Peel Session 3rd May 1988) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.09 | -8.56 | 8 |
05. Caribou (John Peel Session 3rd May 1988) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.05 | -8.47 | 7 |
06. Dead (John Peel Session 9th October 1988) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.33 | -8.28 | 8 |
07. Tame (John Peel Session 9th October 1988) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.12 | -8.80 | 7 |
08. There Goes My Gun (John Peel Session 9th October 1988) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.08 | -8.17 | 8 |
09. Manta Ray (John Peel Session 9th October 1988) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.09 | -8.32 | 7 |
10. Down To The Well (John Peel Session 16th April 1989) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.17 | -8.57 | 7 |
11. Into the White (John Peel Session 16th April 1989) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.14 | -8.91 | 8 |
12. Wave Of Mutilation (John Peel Session 16th April 1989) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.08 | -9.84 | 8 |
13. Allison (John Peel Session 11th June 1990) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.07 | -9.48 | 8 |
14. Velouria (John Peel Session 11th June 1990) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.01 | -11.22 | 11 |
15. Hang on to Your Ego (John Peel Session 11th June 1990) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.08 | -10.40 | 9 |
16. Is She Weird (John Peel Session 11th June 1990) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.12 | -11.93 | 10 |
17. Monkey Gone to Heaven (Mark Goodier Session 18th August 1990) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.15 | -10.12 | 9 |
18. Ana (Mark Goodier Session 18th August 1990) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.12 | -14.31 | 12 |
19. Allison (Mark Goodier Session 18th August 1990) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.11 | -8.62 | 8 |
20. Wave Of Mutilation (Mark Goodier Session 18th August 1990) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.11 | -8.89 | 8 |
21. Palace of the Brine (John Peel Session 23rd June 1991) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.11 | -8.32 | 8 |
22. Letter to Memphis (John Peel Session 23rd June 1991) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.11 | -7.97 | 7 |
23. Motorway to Roswell (John Peel Session 23rd June 1991) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.10 | -8.86 | 8 |
24. Subbacultcha (John Peel Session 23rd June 1991) | .flac | 44.1k | 16 | +0.15 | -8.55 | 7 |
Number of EP/Album Files: 24
Official EP/Album DR: 8
Cover versions aside, very little of the material presented here will excite casual listeners. This release is for collectors and super fans where none of the BBC versions creatively surpass their studio album counterparts.
The 2CD set’s trifold cardboard packaging is structurally serviceable and houses a nice booklet with artwork from 4AD regular Simon Larbalestier, who did the cover art for Surfer Rosa and Red House Painters’ masterful debut Down Colourful Hill.
The double CD set also presents us with a puzzle. The first disc has a run time of 29 minutes. So too does the second disc. The total run time of both discs is 58 minutes. This begs the question: why is Pixies at The BBC now spread across two CDs when a single disc would suffice? A CD can accommodate up to 80 minutes of music. Thankfully, the price is low – €12.99 from Amazon DE – with the 3LP set (why not 2LP?) available for under €30.
Further information: Pixies at The BBC
