Pixies Complete B Sides 88-97 (Clear) (Ind vinyl is the pressing collectors have been waiting for: the first time this compilation has appeared on vinyl, remastered from the original analogue tapes, and issued on clear wax as an indie retail exclusive through 4AD (catalog 4ADIE 878).
Why the Pixies B-Sides Matter
The Pixies built their reputation across a dense run of 4AD singles between 1988 and 1991, and the non-album tracks from those releases have always occupied a strange, undervalued corner of the catalogue. “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)” is a genuinely different creature from its album counterpart. “Into The White” and “The Thing” are the kind of tracks that reward the dedicated listener who went further than the LP. For years, the only way to hear all 19 of these b-sides together was the 2001 CD compilation, released while the band were well into their hiatus. That disc covered everything from the “Gigantic” single through to “Planet of Sound,” closing with the instrumental “Letter to Memphis” from the American pressing of “Alec Eiffel.” It was a solid document that quietly slipped out and then disappeared. No vinyl edition ever followed. Until now.
What This Pixies Complete B Sides 88-97 (Clear) (Ind Vinyl Edition Adds
This reissue arrives 25 years after that original release and coincides with the band’s 40th anniversary. The audio has been remastered by Kevin Vanbergen directly from the original analogue tapes, completing the extensive work he has carried out across the wider Pixies catalogue on 4AD. The result is said to sound remarkably fresh rather than simply cleaned-up. Six live tracks have also been added, drawn from later Pixies releases including the 1997 “Debaser” re-release, which extends the scope of the compilation meaningfully beyond its original CD form.
The Artwork and the Clear Pressing
The visual side of this release is treated with the same seriousness as the audio. Designer Chris Bigg of v23, a long-term Pixies collaborator, created new artwork using photographs from Simon Larbalestier’s archive: images originally intended for Pixies use that were never published. Both Bigg and Larbalestier worked across this release and the companion Live at the BBC compilation simultaneously, with both projects conceived as a tribute to the band’s late visual director Vaughan Oliver. The result is a package with genuine archival weight rather than a standard anniversary reissue look. The clear vinyl pressing, available exclusively through independent retailers, makes this a format-specific edition that has no equivalent in the standard run. For collectors who have tracked down the 4AD singles, this is the vinyl document that pulls the surrounding material into a single, properly presented object.
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