Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven

Punk, heavy metal, surf rock, pure pop, screaming guitars, manic vocals, abrupt stop-starts, short song structures, and strange, often disturbing lyrics about almost everything under the sun: from their 1986 inception to their 1992 disbandment, the Pixies combined all these elements to stunning effect, and in so doing paved the way for the indie/alternative/grunge explosion of the early 1990s. Containing the college radio hit "Monkey Gone to Heaven," along with three additional songs that weren't available on the Doolittle LP. Vocalist/rhythm guitarist Black Francis and group manage to make two of the three songs interesting. You can hear especially different Pixies on "Weird at my School," which delves into atypical territory for the band through country & western/bluegrass themes. The only disappointment is the very uninspired "Dancing the Manta Ray," which was an obvious throwaway from Doolittle and should also have been excluded from this EP. It repeats three guitar chords and Francis yelling "Do the manta ray" throughout most of the song. Yawn.

Ripped to MP3

1. Monkey Gone to Heaven

2. Manta Ray

3. Weird at My School

4. Dancing the Manta Ray