Pixies – Doggerel: Do We Finally get The Old Magic?

Germany
USA
United Kingdom

Three years after their last album, the Pixies are back with "Doggerel". It's the fourth album by the indie rock trailblazers from Boston since 2014, meaning the quartet has now released as many albums since reuniting as they did before the band split up in 1993.

The milestones from the band's early days, like "Doolittle" and "Surfer Rosa," will likely remain untouched forever. But the albums of the last decade are also unreservedly rewarding and always sound like the Pixies and nothing else.

So is "Doggerel", the eighth album of the band around singer and guitarist Frank Black. He confirms this impression, but also sees some changes in detail to the sound of the past: "We tried to approach it a little bigger, more daring and more orchestrated this time. I really like playing the punky stuff, but you just can't create that vibe artificially. So we took a different approach." Guitarist Joey Santiago adds, "This time we grew. We don't have songs under two minutes long anymore. Instead, we have little breaks and more conventional arrangements, but still have our twists in there."

The pre-released singles "There's A Moon On", "Vault Of Heaven" and "Dregs Of The Wine" give an excellent impression of how this sounds. The prominent bass drives as usual, the loud-quiet dynamics of the guitars have lost nothing of their effect and the voice of Frank Black is as unmistakable as ever.

As a producer, the Pixies have again fallen back on Tom Dalgety, who also sat behind the controls for Royal Blood, Ghost or Killing Joke. "Doggerel" is already his third collaboration with the band.

[muffinman]

Saw pixies in Glasgow 1990. Gig was cancelled 3 songs in when the crowd caused part of the stage to collapse.
Still one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen - they were electrifying

[evanisovich]

Paz Lenchantin also played bass for A Perfect Circle, as well as for Billy Corgan’s post-Pumpkins effort, Zwan.

[festersuncle]

Don't forget about The Amps. Another great Kim Deal band

[NickP]

My favorite band since ‘87 or ‘88’! Pixies are absolutely one of the most important bands to have ever existed. The influence they’ve had over countless other bands is undeniable.

When I was in 8th grade, my dad came home from work and said, “Ya know that Pixies band you like so much? Well, I work with Kim Deal’s ex husband, John Murphy”. A few days later, my dad came home with a ton of Pixies promo records (Patrick ripped my WLP copy of Doolittle, my UK original of Surfer Rosa, and a lot of 12” singles) plus a bunch of other Pixies memorabilia. If you look in the cover of “Surfer Rosa”, it says “Mrs. John Murphy” instead of Kim Deal. Luckily, they were still on good terms, and being a Boston band and me being from the Boston area, I was extremely fortunate to hang out with the band numerous times starting at the age of 15 or so and many times after that. I also saw saw and hung out with The Breeders a few times as well. It was obviously a dream come true to an impressionable kid my age.

On the wall by my HiFi rack, I’ve got 4 separate framed signed pictures of each member. Kim apparently liked how her breasts looked in the pic, circled them, and wrote, “Pretty baby! Kimmy Deal”. lol. Frank Black’s name was still Black Francis at the time, which her scribbled very darkly on the picture. Joey, the absolutely wasted guitar player, signed, “Say no! Joey S”. Ha!

They always have been and always will be my favorite band of all time. Since Kim left, things aren’t quite the same, but Paz did a fantastic job of filling those huge shoes of hers.

[michelelamberti]

die ersten beiden alben waren legendär. sind es immer noch.

[pgatti]

Saw them 2 days ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Fantastic!

[filmsonsong]

God damn thank you!! This album has been mostly panned which is fucking absurd. It’s a great album, their first great one since their return and this must be recognized.

[ricefieldrecords]

A video under 10 minutes in length seems to be rare for you, but refreshing and very welcome.

[raphaelroth]

Was thinking about getting this release, thank you for the review! Great vid as always

[edmararaujo]

Michael, When you want to show the hype sticker, put one of your hands behind it, so the camera will be able to focus correctly.

[thoronmetal]

Love the first 4 Pixies albums. Doolittle especially.

[jamesfinley]

Michael mentions The Breeders when talking about Kim Deal, but I have to recommend the album “Pacer” by her band The Amps. It’s not as popular as her Breeders work, and I really like her chemistry with Tonya Donnelly, but the album by The Amps is absolutely perfect. It’s still in regular rotation for me.
As for the new Pixies, I am happy to hear some positive reviews as to their latest. I have found Frank Blacks solo career more entertaining than the post Kim Pixies material. I will have to give this one a listen because after watching Michaels videos for a while, I have come to appreciate his opinion.

[chrisknowlton]

I bought the deluxe CD in the hardback book. The artwork is beautiful and total 4AD!! Never heard or bought any post Kim Deal Pixies until this. It was getting very mixed reviews. I was very pleasantly surprised how good it is. Excellent songs, playing and production.

[MargueritaMarguero]

Between Kim Deal and Paz they had the legendary Kim Shattuck (The Muffs, great band) but somehow it didn't work...R.I.P. Kim, we miss you😪

[playvinylinthemilkynight]

I like this new album, not sure if its any better than the last 3 yet, but I think the song "Haunted House" stands out, great song. Thanks for sharing, Michael.

[louismiles]

Paz played on 3 pixie's albums, doggerel rules, HEAD CARRiER is such an underated record

[mortimer]

Best Pixies album since "Indie Cindy", hands down.

[soniclad]

Why didn't they include the single "Human Crime" in the album? The single was released in March 2022 and sounds great.

[Universityofvinyl]

I disagree; I thought the last LP, Beneath the Eyrie was excellent! And I agree that the new one is also great. Check out "It's a Pixies Podcast" for great behind the scenes interviews recorded during the studio sessions - great insights from their producer, Black Francis, Joey, etc.

[NB-imok]

Agree that the Pixies are one of the most influential of bands. I really rate Indie Cindy and Beneath the Eyrie. Only played Doggerel a couple of times so far but I'm liking it. It's got the classic Pixies DNA. Enjoyed your review 👍