The Pixies in 1990

Like I said, I think it's great the way that 4AD made posters to advertise the release of singles and EPs. Just sometimes I wish that the poster was more than just a blown-up version of the EP's cover.

These posters for the Dig For Fire and Velouria EPs are pretty cool though. And one thing that really got my attention was the Dig poster- I'd never seen that version of the "Pixies planet" logo which they use at the top of the poster.

The Pixies in 1991

I was lucky enough to find the Planet Of Sound EP on tape in 1994 in Northampton, MA. I forget, but I think that when Pixies EPs came out on cassette it was done through, or with, a Canadian record label. I ended up finding the Velouria EP on tape too; I'm pretty sure it was at the old Newbury Comics on Cape Cod. This was in the late 90s and I don't think it's there anymore.

After Belly's Star, I think my favorite back cover of an album is the Pixies's Trompe Le Monde. The colors are bright and bold, and those (cow?) eyes are creepy and beautiful. The photo itself is amazing, and the lettering makes it look like a poster for a 1960s Roger Corman horror movie.

"The Cult Of Ray"

Other than the Madonna "Blond Ambition" shirts that I got in 1990, the only music T-shirt I ever had was The Breeders's with the cover of Last Splash on it. One that I always wanted was the one for The Cult of Ray- it was simple and perfect: just the one-eyed face.

And other than Oddballs, Ray is probably the last FB album that had a cover that I liked (well, Show Me Your Tears has a cool cover too).

Raygun was a really neat magazine. I don't know for sure, but I think it was only published in the 1990s. If you've never seen it, all I can say is that it was very much a 1990s kind of magazine. It had a very experimental, "alternative" look- the type was always off-center or different sizes. Photos would be fragmented. It's hard to explain. I bought the issue from 1995 with Belly on the cover, but I'd never seen this one, which came out sometime in 1993, I think. I'd love to get my hands on it.

Some Throwing Muses posters

A couple months ago I was at the record storer a few blocks from where I work and I saw Chains Changed on cassette, used, for $3. It was in good shape and I really wanted to buy it, but it kind of felt like it would be a little bit of a waste- I've got In A Doghouse already (it would've been awesome if Doghouse had included the artwork for Chains the way that REM added the Chronic Town images to the sleeve for Dead Letter Office. I probably should've gotten it. Less than two weeks later I was back and it was gone.

The posters for Hips and Makers and University are fine, but the one that I really like is the one for the Shark EP.

"Surfer Rosa" and "Here Comes Your Man"

I love how 4AD and v23 would make promotional posters, not just for albums, but for singles and EPs. The poster for "Here Comes Your Man" isn't that special, but I love this one for Surfer Rosa.

"Last Splash"

I'd never seen this poster before but I think it's amazing. I always loved the cover for Last Splash and I've got a T-shirt with that picture. I love how the colors are so bright and the way the did the lettering for "The Breeders".

"Teenager Of The Year"

Teenager Of The Year (1994) Frank Black

I never got Teenager on CD, only tape. But I think the first Cd I ever bought, before I even had a CD player, was the orange Headache EP (not the one pictured here; the one with a plain silver circle).