The Purple Tape

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The Purple Tape
Studio album by Pixies
Recorded	March, 1987

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. 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.

Contents 1 Original 2 Come on Pilgrim (1987) 3 Pixies (2002) 4 "Watch What You're Doing"

[edit] Original

1. "Levitate Me" - 2:30
2. "The Holiday Song" - 2:08
3. "I've Been Tired" - 2:36
4. "Break My Body" - 2:00
5. "Down To The Well" - 2:36
6. "Rock A My Soul" - 1:40
7. "I'm Amazed" - 1:40
8. "Build High" - 1:41
9. "In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)" - 1:43
10. "Caribou" - 3:17
11. "Here Comes Your Man" - 2:50
12. "Subbacultcha" - 2:52
13. "Vamos" - 3:10
14. "Broken Face" - 1:23
15. "Nimrod's Son" - 2:15
16. "Isla De Encanta" - 1:42
17. "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.^[1] 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.

[edit] Come on Pilgrim (1987)

See main article.

1. "Caribou"
2. "Vamos"
3. "Isla De Encanta"
4. "Ed Is Dead"
5. "Holiday Song"
6. "Nimrod's Son"
7. "I've Been Tired"
8. "Levitate Me"

[edit] 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".

1. "Broken Face"
2. "Build High"
3. "Rock A My Soul"
4. "Down To The Well"
5. "Break My Body"
6. "I'm Amazed"
7. "Here Comes Your Man"
8. "Subbacultcha"
9. "In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)"

[edit] "Watch What You're Doing"

There remains some speculation ^{[attribution needed]} that there exists an 18th track on the original Purple Tape entitled "Watch What You're Doing", a Larry Norman cover. Absent from both "Come On Pilgrim" and the 2002 "Pixies" CD, some believe ^{[attribution needed]} it is being kept aside by someone, perhaps record producer Gary Smith, for future release.

However, its existence is subject to scrutiny. Most notably, the tracklisting on The Purple Tape artwork (above) shows no evidence of such a track, while the original Larry Norman version notably contains the lyric "Come on pilgrim / You know he loves you", also used by Black Francis on the tape's opener, "Levitate Me," making it perhaps unlikely a second song with the same lyric would be recorded on the same demo.

Pixies

Black Francis | Kim Deal | Joey Santiago | David Lovering

Discography

Studio albums and EPs: Come on Pilgrim (EP) | Surfer Rosa | Doolittle | Bossanova | Trompe le Monde Pixies at the BBC | Complete 'B' Sides | Pixies (The Purple Tape)

Singles: "Gigantic" | "Monkey Gone to Heaven" | "Here Comes Your Man" | "Velouria" | "Dig for Fire" | "Planet of Sound" | "Letter to Memphis" | "Alec Eiffel" | "Head On" | "Debaser" | "Bam Thwok"

Compilation Albums: Death to the Pixies | Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies

Related bands

The Breeders | Frank Black and the Catholics | The Amps | The Martinis

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