The Purple Tape

Infobox Album
Name = The Purple Tape
Type = studio
Artist = Pixies


Released =
Recorded = March, 1987
Genre =
Length =
Label =
Producer =
Reviews =
*"NME" rating-10|5 [http://www.nme.com/reviews/pixies/6535 link]
*Pitchfork Media (6.4/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/20891-pixies link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/pixies/albums/album/147415/review/5943341/pixies link]
Last album =
This album =
Next album =

The Purple Tape is the name given by fans to the Pixies' original 17-track demo tape, recorded at Fort Apache Studios in March 1987 by Gary Smith, due, quite simply, to its mostly purple appearance. Eighteen tracks were recorded in the session; a cover of Larry Norman's "Watch What You're Doing" was cut from the final tape.Fact|date=March 2008 Eight of the tracks were released in 1987 as the band's debut, "Come On Pilgrim" and the remaining nine were released under the title "Pixies" in 2002 by Sonic Unyon records.

Original

#"Levitate Me" - 2:30
#"The Holiday Song" - 2:08
#"I've Been Tired" - 2:36
#"Break My Body" - 2:00
#"Down To The Well" - 2:36
#"Rock A My Soul" - 1:40
#"I'm Amazed" - 1:40
#"Build High" - 1:41
#"In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)" - 1:43
#"Caribou" - 3:17
#"Here Comes Your Man" - 2:50
#"Subbacultcha" - 2:52
#"Vamos" - 3:10
#"Broken Face" - 1:23
#"Nimrod's Son" - 2:15
#"Isla De Encanta" - 1:42
#"Ed Is Dead" - 2:32

Several of the tracks on the tape appeared in later albums (albeit rerecorded), such as "I'm Amazed", "Broken Face", and "Break My Body" on "Surfer Rosa", "Here Comes Your Man" on "Doolittle", "Down To The Well" on "Bossanova", and a revised "Subbacultcha" on "Trompe Le Monde". [The bridge of "Subbacultcha" also formed the main riff of "Distance Equals Rate Times Time" on the same album] A cover of "In Heaven" (Lady In The Radiator Song), from the surrealist David Lynch film "Eraserhead", features on the demo. "Down To The Well" and "Rock A My Soul" also appeared on a "Sound Waves" EP.

The original "Subbacultcha" and "I'm Amazed" both had a different chorus line to later releases, which were both dropped for apparently sounding too weak. The removed chorus from "Subbacultcha" later appeared as the basis for "Distance Equals Rate Times Time", a separate song immediately following the revised "Subbacultcha" on "Trompe le Monde".

A version of "Tame" that appears on some bootlegs is purported to come from these sessions, although that has not been confirmed.

"Come On Pilgrim" (1987)

"See main article".
#"Caribou"
#"Vamos"
#"Isla De Encanta"
#"Ed Is Dead"
#"Holiday Song"
#"Nimrod's Son"
#"I've Been Tired"
#"Levitate Me"

"Pixies" (2002)

This official release is often nicknamed "The Purple Tape", though it is missing the tracks from "Come On Pilgrim". It contains the previously unreleased "Rock A My Soul".
#"Broken Face"
#"Build High"
#"Rock A My Soul"
#"Down To The Well"
#"Break My Body"
#"I'm Amazed"
#"Here Comes Your Man"
#"Subbacultcha"
#"In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)"

References