Caught in the Carousel

Full of light; shining.
Relating to or being a hue that has a combination of high lightness and strong saturation.
Sharp and clear in tone.
Superb; wonderful

the Pixies

During the latter part of 1988, the Boston band, Pixies, joined forces with producer Gil Norton, to set about crafting a 15-song opus. The working title of the album was Whore. It would be released in April of 1989 under the name Doolittle. This second studio album from Black Francis - vocals/guitar, Kim Deal - bass/vocals, Joey Santiago - lead guitar and David Lovering - drums/vocals, was certified Gold in 1995.

the Pixies

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the album's release, the Pixies began a tour in Dublin, Ireland that wound its way through Europe during October of this year. The U.S. leg started in Los Angeles in November and concluded in Washington D.C. on December 1. While March of 2010 will find the band in New Zealand and Australia continuing to ride the momentum born 20 years ago with songs ranging from "Debaser" to "Gouge Away" (and everything in between), I will most likely have my own anniversary celebrations to remember their performance of Doolittle on November 30 in Washington, DC.

the Pixies

The evening began with Memphis, Tennessee's own Jay Reatard - garage punk musician extraordinaire! Seems odd to put "punk" and Memphis in the same sentence. However, it's also odd to think of that state with a pro hockey team…With his flying V guitar giving our ears the good assault of four-chord anthems, while howling lyrics through his hair, Jay, along with his bassist and drummer, capably set the stage for what was to come. As they blistered their way through an all too short set with songs like, "It Ain't Gonna Save Me," and "Blood Visions," Jay Reatard left the audience with the knowledge that they are a band to pay attention to and be reckoned with in the years to come.

the Pixies

At 9:00 EST, one word in the dictionary began to take on a new definition:

1:Full of light; shining: As early press from The London Times suggested; "The Pixies offer (a) Cinematic Extravaganza for "Doolittle Tour" dates . . . "an array of thought-provoking and eye-catching visual effects." This manifested itself over the 2.5 hours that the Pixies joyfully worked their way through the Doolittle album, its b-sides and three encores. The band opened with "Dance The Manta Ray," raced into "Weird At My School," took two breaths and pounced into "Baileys Walk." They then completed this early onslaught of B-sides (how cool would it be to have songs like these that don't make the actual album?) with "Manta Ray." Playing under four huge, color changing, eye-ball like globes, in front of a huge screen that broadcast films designed specifically to accompany 12 of the 21 songs that make up the album, the band further saturated the senses by shifting in and out of violent arrays of white light into combinations of gentler green and red staging color effects.

2: Relating to or being a hue that has a combination of high lightness and strong saturation: As the last strains "Manta Ray's" mixture of vocals that are Kim Deal's innocent cooing and Black Francis's howl were washing over the capacity crowd, Ms. Deal broke into the notorious bass line of the seminal track "Debaser." As the song started to roll, guitarist Joey Santiago offered up that marvelous melody on his gold Gibson (one of a few he would use throughout the evening) which comes at you like a rain that breaks the back of a hot summer day; a song in which these guitar strains are immediately followed by a thunder of drums from David Lovering. All the while, setting the table for Black Francis to deliver lyrics based on the surrealist film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí - Un Chien Andalou. From then on, no one in the audience sat . . .not quite certain if they had time to breathe, either. Especially since the next song was the exceptional, "Tame." A song that opens with the line; "Got hips like Cinderella/Must be having a good shame." I would argue that this is the most effective song to use breathing through the words that are the chant to the song's bridge. Whatever the case, the combination of these two numbers left 4,000 people strongly "saturated" . . .but we were just getting going.

the Pixies

3: Sharp and clear in tone: As the Pixies pressed through the balance of the album, they seemed to be able to capture that equilibrium of sincerity and authenticity while appearing to be as relaxed and reveling in "a" moment as much as the audience was appreciating the opportunity to hear Doolittle played in its entirety. Deal, with her ever-present smile, was largely the only one to speak throughout the performance. She created an atmosphere that allowed us to imagine that we were actually putting a needle on a record. At her direction, the packed house took the needle off, turned the record over and started with Side 2. With the advent of CD's, MP3's and other technologies, "sharp/clear tone," may not be in keeping with vinyl. The band, however, was razor sharp and clear, as it blasted through songs like "Wave Of Mutilation," "Crackity Jones," and "#13." As they reached the finale of "Monkey Gone To Heaven," with its closing lyrics of "If man is 5, and the devil is 6, then god is 7," it seemed that the band had been joined by a 4,000 person chorus, as teenagers to 50 year olds not only sang along, but stood on the backs of chairs, raising their fingers to reflect the 5, 6 and 7 of the song's lyrics.

4: Superb; wonderful: As this penultimate performance of the U.S. leg of the Doolittle tour neared the end, the Pixies treated us to three haunting songs; "Hey," "Silver" and "Gouge Away." While reviewing my notes from the night, I saw that I had scrawled "B. Francis' howl is back." For me, this was most evident when they played "Hey." As the song rolled into the lyrics "We're chained," the gigantic screen offered footage of chains in red and white, disconnecting and reconnecting. All the while they moved up and down or side to side on the monitor. It seemed to add to his ability to flow from a great tonal voice into - dare I say - his "trademark" bone-chilling scream. When that dynamic played against Deal's almost lilting vocal cooing, you could shut your eyes and still see the chain connecting and disconnecting. Shortly thereafter, they ripped into that Pixies invention of loud/quiet/loud sound with the remarkable "Gouge Away." It was superb. And it was wonderful.

the Pixies

A friend once told me that while attending a university in New England during what should have been the "heyday/playing days" of the Pixies that she had not heard much of them. This, unfortunately, wasn't all that unusual in the states in 1989. At the same time, however, the band was enjoying a stronger reception abroad. While the trajectory of the Pixies was temporarily suspended in 1993, the press, in the intervening years reported about the Pixies influence on bands like Nirvana, and Radiohead, as well as the accolades from giants such as U2 and David Bowie. During their hiatus, Black Francis continued to write and perform exceptional solo offerings as well as offering excellent music via Frank Black and the Catholics. Deal would press on with The Breeders, while Santiago made great things happen to film soundtracks and Lovering literally made "magic" happen. Occasionally, there is a rock band whose parts - on their own - continue to display snippets of its talent. However, that festival of sound and feast for the eyes is better served when all the parts join together. This was no more evident than seeing these four people execute on the dazzlingDoolittle. I found it amazing to once again see them playing some of their body of song, as well as rightly playing on the back of the influence that they have left on so many fans and so many bands.

the Pixies

That said, I would like to offer point 5 to the definition:

Brilliant brl·liant (brǐ l'yənt) adj.
5: The Pixies November 30th live performance of the Doolittle album at Washington DC's D.A.R. Constitution Hall.

VIVA DOOLITTLE! VIVA the PIXIES!

—Peter Hamm
Photos courtesy of Pamela Obenchain

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