The Pixies "Doolittle" Alternate Track Sequence (According to the liner notes!)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by JayB, Aug 12, 2009.

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  1. JayB

    JayB Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT
    Hi folks,

    I had forgotten all about this until I read about it in a "Doolittle" review from a while back and it refreshed my memory..I found it interesting and thought folks here would as well.

    For fans of this album who don't know about it the liner notes in "Doolittle" had suggested an alternate track sequence of;

    Gouge Away
    Mr. Grieves
    Dead
    Wave of Mutilation
    Tame
    Hey
    I Bleed
    Monkey Gone to Heaven
    Silver
    Number 13 Baby
    Crackity Jones
    Here Comes Your Man
    La La Love You
    There Goes My Gun
    Debaser


    It's hard to mess with such a classic album, but I resequenced it according to this tracklist, burned a CDR & put it in my IPOD, and it does indeed flow well! It's hard to imagine not hearing "Debaser" start the album, but I've always loved "Gouge Away" and felt it seemed out of place as the last track..

    Anyway, I thought folks might want to try this if they didn't know about it..
     
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  2. hutlock

    hutlock Forever Breathing

    Location:
    Cleveland, OH, USA
    So does "Monkey..." still close side 1 then?
     
  3. JimSmiley

    JimSmiley Team Blue Note

    Not sure about "Silver" opening side two either. :thumbsdn:
     
  4. blind_melon1

    blind_melon1 An erotic adventurer of the most deranged kind....

    Location:
    Australia
    Wow, Debaser last?

    I love putting that disc on and hearing it first...gets me going! :)

    Glad it came out like it did!
     
  5. JayB

    JayB Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT
    I can't say it's better, but I found it interesting!

    I agree "Debaser" last doesn't seem quite right, but I like "Gouge Away" in a more prominent position..
     
  6. blind_melon1

    blind_melon1 An erotic adventurer of the most deranged kind....

    Location:
    Australia
    Gouge away should be there :)
     
  7. RipItUp&StrtAgan

    RipItUp&StrtAgan New Member

    So did Black Francis/Frank Black ever mention this or is it just because the lyirics are printed out of order? I've seen other albums with they lyrics printed out of order but never really put any thought into it.

    I'll give it a try, Gouge Away does seem like a good enough opener but Debaser for a close is strange, also, Crackity Jones into Here Comes Your Man seems a little off too.
     
  8. JayB

    JayB Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT
    Also, maybe someone else can chime in but I believe the re-sequence was supposed to form some sort of "concept" album.
     
  9. PBo

    PBo Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    Which liner notes are you referring to? I checked mine for the original US release and couldn't find anything mentioned.
     
  10. Fortune

    Fortune Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Yeah, just because the lyrics are printed in a different order in the lyric sheet doesn't mean that was an intended alt. track listing.
     
  11. godonnygo

    godonnygo New Member

    Nah, always good to save the best for last - keeps you motivated to listen through the average moments.
     
  12. JayB

    JayB Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT
    Folks,

    I read about this years ago in SPIN magazine (remember that one?) and copied the track-list.

    It doesn't say it directly in the liner notes about the alternate track-listing (that would be to easy!) but here's what I found on the web after a quick search and this echo's the track-listing I had written down many moons ago and stuck in my CD. Again I'm just passing along what was written take it for what it's worth;

    The members of Pixies wanted to take advantage of the newer Compact Disc technology and do something cool akin to "secret tracks" of yester-year. You may remember that when CD players were still a newer technology most decks came with the ability to reprogram the order of the tracks. This is a largely useless and undesirable feature, but the technology was new and people thought it was cool. So in the liner notes of the CD, if you know what you're looking for, a secret re-ordering of the tracks is indicated. Some people say this is the true or original ordering but I doubt that. It is an extremely good lineup though that definitely rivals the normal line-up and any fan Pixies knows that this is an extremely well assembled album to start with.

    If you open up your liner notes, you'll see that the song lyrics are listed out of order, and that some pages have lyrics for two songs- one set being right-side-up and the others upside-down. If you go through the book one page at a time, the track order is the order that the lyrics are listed in. This is only for the ones facing right-side-up. When you get to the end of the booklet, turn it upside down and go back through it from back to front, this time the up-side-down ones being readable and the track listing continuing in the order they're presented. Though it's not a simple reversal of the order, this does result in the first track being last and the last track being first.

    If what I wrote seems confusing or complicated, trust me, once you see the booklet it's pretty intuitive to follow.
     
  13. theholygoof

    theholygoof Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    I had never heard of this before -- even though I've read the 33 1/3 book on Doolittle. I thought it was really interesting, and I personally think Gouge Away works better as the opener.

    I think Debaser is the better closer -- it has a forward-looking view that I like the idea of at the end, as Black sings "I want to grow ... up to be ... be a Debaser!! ...

    I also was intrigued at how much better I liked Silver in the alternate position. Historically not one of my faves ... I think it tends to get overshadowed by the LP's Biggies.

    Thanks for posting!
     
  14. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member

    Location:
    ....
    This was pretty typical of 23 Envelope's designs... you'll notice that The Breeders' Last Splash, for instance (and I think the first Throwing Muses CD) have the lyrics printed out of order (and in the case of Last Splash, missing "Driving on 9").

    Also, the above-quote from Spin magazine just seems like speculation to me. I think it's just an artistic decision on the part of 23 Envelope.
     
  15. JayB

    JayB Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT
    It may be, this alternate "Doolittle" tracklisting was actually mentioned in the "Double Nickels on The Dime" 33 1/3 book I just read this past weekend as well.

    Maybe it is BS, who knows. Either way I think it actually is a very good alternate sequence!
     
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