Before you can blink, another pod appears…
The subject is the one band – and – in recognition of an album they released 20 years ago today (Sept 23rd).
ross ofcourse is the curator and compiler of this very special edition and he explains below about an event between John Peel and the band:
Keeping It Peel – Podcast (Trompe Le Monde XX)
“Twenty years ago on the 23rd of September 1991, 4AD released the Pixies fifth and final (at the time…) studio album. Trompe Le Monde was an immense piece of gobsmackery that lifted every Pixies fan off their feet with joy; it was even better than what they’d been hoping and waiting for. It also garnered the band many new fans and converts, which was a shame, as not long after Black Francis pulled the plug on the project for what would be many, many years. Subsequently the middle-aged members have reunited to become a lean, mean touring machine, but the oft alleged sixth studio album has yet to appear…
A couple of weeks before the album’s debut John Peel received a pre-release tape in the post and subsequently started Witnessing it from the hilltops every time he was on air. A phone interview with Black Francis was arranged and announced on the show, only to – as you will hear in the inital stages of the podcast – spectacularly fail to occur, as a series of Peelian blunders graced the evening. A redux was planned, with more care. And the main body of the podcast you are about to hopefully enjoy listening to is John Peel interviewing Black Francis whilst playing tracks from the album – the whole vinyl release album, mostly in order – and discussing such things as tablas players and why all Mons are not alike.
The podcast closes to the sound of Peel from the next day, equal parts ebullient and mortified as he references the previous evening’s broadcast The actual order of events is contained in the File Properties of the mp3.
It shouldn’t need saying, but this presentation is in no way meant to be a substitute for any ‘real’ copy of Trompe le Monde. This twenty year old cassette-tape-from-an-FM-radio-broadcast isn’t what the Pixies, and certainly 4AD, intended you to hear in terms of audio quality. If you haven’t already got this – WHY NOT? – go and buy it from the 4AD site right this minute. What this IS intended to represent is how those of us there, at the time, experienced it. Peel talking around & playing the Pixies across the flawed but full-of-soul analogue airwaves, something you may have missed. A touching-from-a-distance mnemonic for us of when we were all so much younger and it was new; perhaps now a new experience for you. In either case drenched with palpable feeling and honesty.
Ladies and gentlemen, with extreme pleasure, two decades after the fact, Keeping It Peel is proud to represent, with massive respect and affection, John Peel, Black Francis and the Pixies: Trompe Le Monde’s Twentieth Anniversary.”
Listen here:
*Warning* The file size on this one is a big’un.
» D/load [This episode is 1hr 8mins long/file size is 94.7mb]
Additionally don’t forget coming up in 1 Month:
#KeepingItPeel – October 25th
Will you be taking part ? If you are drop us a line via the form in the above post to let us know.
TheRobster
September 23, 2011
Holy moly. It’s the Pixies! It’s Peely. It simply doesn’t get any better than this!!!
Gareth Jones (no not that one)
September 23, 2011
This is a historical document. Should be on a plinth.
I remember this from all those years ago never forgot.
Thank you for the heart of my bottom. Truely wondeful.
Sticky Carpets (@stickycarpets)
September 25, 2011
I vaguely remember this, cannot wait to revisit my youth with this. Thank you for continuing to put these together.
Mike Shumaker
October 2, 2011
oh wow. sick !
Mark
October 2, 2011
I also taped this interview and it is still my only copy of Trompe… Bad me
Alan Woods
October 3, 2011
In tears. Thanks so much.
James Gardner
October 3, 2011
I believe I still have this interview on tape in my loft. I was so excited about the new album and the Peel interview that I sat there and taped it off the radio, complete with incorrect “Mons” reference. Brilliant, takes me right back (about 20 years in fact!)