Pixies “Come on Pilgrim” 1987. 4AD Records. Today, April 6th, is Black Francis/Frank Black’s birthday (b. Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV in 1965) so I’m spinning one of my favorite Pixies recordings, their debut mini-LP which was compiled from a quickly, inexpensively made demo tape. Full of signature loud-quiet-loud yelps and howls, this album has so many great tracks: “Caribou,” “Isla de Encanta,” “Ed Is Dead,” “The Holiday Song” and “Nimrod’s Son” among my all-time favorite Pixies songs.

I’ve seen the Pixies play live a couple of times, the first back in the fall of ‘89 in Madison, WI when they opened for Love and Rockets (Kim Deal chainsmoked through the entire show in a very non-smoking venue) and then again in late 2004 in Milwaukee. I was several months pregnant and we had seats in the 10th row, close to Deal, and her deep bass had the kid kicking inside and in time.