Pixies Sell Out
February 2006 Reviewed by: Joseph Taylor Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Forty-year-old Frank Black (aka Black Francis, aka Charles Michael Kitteridge Thompson IV), leader and songwriter of the Pixies, is somewhat overweight and balding. (You’ll have to excuse a certain middle-aged music writer for taking comfort in those facts.) However, on their 2004 reunion tour, the Pixies were as challenging and edgy as ever, and they demonstrated how a band can age gracefully and sound valid playing music that has the aggression and drive of youth.

The title of the Pixies’ new concert DVD, Sell Out, refers to the fact that the band sold all of the tickets to the shows on the tour. When the Pixies broke up in 1992, they were influential (Kurt Cobain cited them as an inspiration), but their sales were modest in the US. Their standing with critics, musicians, and music fans continued to grow over the years, while Black went on to a solo career and bassist Kim Deal established the Breeders. Some tours in 2004 had to move to smaller venues, but the Pixies’ reunion was so popular the band often had to move shows to larger spots.

The first thing I should point out about the Pixies is that their music isn’t always easy. While songs like "Here Comes Your Man" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven" are memorable, dark pop tunes, many songs on Sell Out are filled with jagged guitar lines, feedback, electronic squeals, and Frank Black’s shrieks. The lyrics are often inscrutable, evoking spiritual and physical pain and a sense of dislocation from society. There’s an undeniable power to the music and exactness in the band’s playing. The latter is well displayed in the opening sequence of the DVD, a series of performances of "Bone Machine" from different shows that segue into each other smoothly.

The main selection on the DVD is a performance at Eurokéennes Festival in Belfort France that features 28 tracks. A bonus is 15 tracks from seven other shows. The Pixies don’t move around a lot or interact with the audience, so it’s up to Fabien Raymond, who directed the filming of the French show, and the other directors to keep things lively. Raymond keeps the camera moving and shoots the band intelligently. The film looks a little murky, but it has a likable, smoky, rock-festival atmosphere. The two-channel sound is a bit muddy and could have used more detail in the drums and bass, but the surround-sound mix is lively and open. One of the bonus tracks, "Money Gone to Heaven," lets you choose among six camera views to experience the song.

At nearly two and a half hours, Sell Out is a long haul, but the Eurokéennes Festival section of the DVD runs about 80 minutes, and you can play the bonus tracks at your leisure. I wish the producers had included interviews with the band in the bonus material, but what’s left -- impassioned performances from a powerful band -- is enough to recommend Sell Out.

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