Exclusive: Pixies Albums Being Reissued for "Minotaur" Box Set

All of the Pixies' studio records are being reissued in Limited Edition and Deluxe Edition box sets titled Minotaur that will be released on June 15, 2009. Rolling Stone has learned that the sets — which include the Come on Pilgrim EP (1987), Surfer Rosa (1988), Doolittle (1989), Bossanova (1990) and Trompe Le Monde (1991) — are being repackaged with the assistance of the two men responsible for art directing and shooting the photographs for the original albums, from Surfer Rosa's iconic flamenco dancer to Trompe's popping eyeballs: Vaughan Oliver and Simon Larbalestier.

Jeff Anderson, the founder of A+R (Artist in Residence), who is overseeing the project, says he didn't want to touch the original master recordings of the Pixies' albums, so the reissues will feature the music as it was originally released. The sets will not feature any live tracks, and decisions about bonus tracks haven't been finalized. But the packages will definitely be stocked with bonus artwork — and they're named after a mythic creature befitting the band's powerful, warped rock & roll. Here's how they break down:

For $175, the Deluxe Edition gives fans the five albums on a 24k layered CD and a Blu-ray for a total of five discs, plus a DVD of the band's 1991 Brixton Academy gig (a year before their split) that also includes all their videos. The Deluxe Edition features additional artwork by Oliver and a 54-page book. The Limited Edition costs $450 and includes the entire Deluxe Edition plus all five albums on 180 gram vinyl, a Giclée print of Oliver's artwork and a 72-page hardcover book. The Limited Edition comes with a slipcase, the Deluxe in a custom clamshell. Pre-order information is available at the A+R Website.

Oliver says he and Larbalestier came up with new artwork for the set by following the process they used back when the Pixies were originally recording: Simon shot photos, and Vaughan used them as a jumping off point — Vaughan also put his students at the University of the Creative Arts in Epsom to work, allowing them to design the track list titles. "My starting point would always be the music, reading the lyrics, talking with the band," Oliver explains. "The images that Charles [Thompson, a.k.a. Black Francis] painted with his lyrics really struck a chord. His work is full of fantastic imagery that always appealed to me, and those were ideas I was trying to reflect with the packaging."

Get a look at Oliver and Larbalestier's work in action as Anderson and Vaughan talk about Minotaur to a soundtrack of "Where Is My Mind," above.

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“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

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