1989_11 The Daily Collegian November 1989

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The Daily Collegian
Wednesday, November 1,1^ Page 5
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Fiery Pixies Du the Mould thing
Black Francis gets fatter, Idol gets thinner, sound remains the same
By Steve Leone
Contributing Writer .
Back in Boston, years before, a
'certain eccentric twosome ' in an
unknown band, formed later as The
Pixies, advertised the following:
"Wanted: a musician for a four-piece
who plays Husker Du-like thrash
guitar."
This connection; to the Du-sters
couldn't have been made more evident
than at the WarfleM in San Francisco
last Saturday night, when The Pixies
headlined a gig with their idol, ex-
Husker Du front-nan Bob Mould, and
demonstrated in a two-hour set a fiery
likeness to the man and his music.
Fat man Black Francis of The
Pixies pens post-punk tunes which
marry heavy bass lines and speedy,
pounding beats with an atmospheric
texture of churning guitars, high-
pitched screeching and melodic vocal
phrasing. On vinyl these complex
musical sounds swirl seemingly like a
mass of overdubs. Live, each song
from the band Saturday was played
with uncanny accuracy, surprisingly
loyal to the recorded versions.
To start off the show, the band
members walked out as silhouettes in
front of a backdrop of pinks and
greens, took their places, and rapidly
shot off a dosage of riffs and screams.
Quick to deny their reputation as
stylishly hip. the band then had white
light hit the stage, which illuminated
them all in casual attire — jeans, T-
shirts, etc. — .and then they slid
smoothly with a grin into "Broken
Face.'' an obscure cut off their first
record.
The Pixies started off in trleir early
years just playing for kicks In .Boston
clubs, but "in 1987 they landed a
contract on the eclectic and
subversive British label 4AD, which
produced two critically-acclaimed.
import records, revered by many to be
freshly alternative, original. This
year, the band put" out a number-one
alternative record distributed by an
American major. Elektra. A sub¬
sequent tour, an MTV video, and a
heavy college-radio following gave
The Pixies the "pop" status that they
never wanted. They made this clear
during the San Francisco gig.
"You've probably heard this one
before." remarked bassist Kim Deal
bitterly before straining through the
first familiar chords of their hit
"Monkey Gone to Heaven." It was
quite obvious that the band was
daunted by radio overplay of some of
their better cuts. They steered clear of
their other college-radio hits "Here
Comes Your Man" and "La La Love
You," both of which went to number
one on the college charts.
The rest of the show, however,
became quite wacky. At one point,
during "Nuniber 13 Baby," one of the
members of the overzealous crowd
climbed upon the stage, ran around
behind Francis, and took a stage dive
back into the crowd. Unfortunately,
he almost dragged bassist Kim Deal
with him. A roadie saved her. but the
whole thing pissed off Francis. He
threw off his guitar and walked
offstage. Kim, though, laughed it off
and had a cigarette over by the drum
kit. When he didn't return, she ran
over to the mike   said,  "Hold un a
minute while I go get the guys," and
then she ran offstage. They did return,
and. for another hour straight, they
played -almost everything from their
albums "Surfer Rosa," "Doolittle," and
their EP "Come on Pilgrim," but not
before Francis made a crack to the
audience in. front: "Thanks, lame
motherf— ers."
Although John Doe of X was
scheduled to appear and open, he
didn't, so "second-act" Bob Mould
opened the show. He came out playing
his instrumental piece. "Sunspots,"
off his Virgin solo release "Work¬
book," and quickly went through all
the cuts on the record In an hour-long
set
When the lights finally came on
during his second song. "Wishing
Well." It looked like Bryan Adams was
up there posing as Mr. Mould. The guy
was damn skinny! Mould used to be
caricatured as a big fat man; in fact,
that night's double billing could have
been, touted, once before, as the show
ofthe two screaming fat men. But no.
E3ob is a svelte, thin guy now. Ana
Francis seems to be getting larger.
This changing of the guard would
seem, as Dylan would wont to say, a
twist of fate.
Mould's band was tight. If boring
theatrically, but Bob himself was all
over the place, sweating up a few
smooth solos of his own. He also had
a good time ripping feedback off his
tumed-up amps. But his vocals live
weren't comparable to his polished
studio voice recorded on his Virgin
release. At least he squirmed all over
the ground during his last song,
"Wherever the Winds Blow." He didn't,
however, play anything from his
Husker Du days. He encored Instead
with a straight version of Nell Young's
"Cinnamon Girl," which kind of made
up for it, but not really.
I miss the fat Bob Mould.
Get comfortably
numb with The Daily Collegian
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