ABOVE: A video tour of the Pixies’ massive new $450 boxset, Minotaur. Is it worth it?
Would you drop $450 on a set of five albums you probably already own?
The Pixies certainly hope so.
Known for dynamic musical shifts and songs such as “Where is My Mind?,” “Cactus” and “Caribou,” the influential indie/alt-rock band is set to release a massive boxset that includes, among other things, all five of the Pixies’ original studio recordings. Reportedly weighing in at two feet tall and 25lbs, Minotaur may be the first deluxe boxset to live up to its name.
Available for presale orders beginning June 15, here’s what you get in each set, according to the band’s 4AD Records website:
The Minotaur Deluxe Edition ($175) will include all five Pixies studio albums - Come On Pilgrim (1987), Surfer Rosa (1988), Doolittle (1989), Bossanova (1990), and Trompe le Monde (1991) - on 24k layered CD and Blu-ray (five discs total), with reinterpreted artwork by Vaughan Oliver, the graphic designer who created all of the artwork that accompanied the Pixies’ studio albums.
Also included in the Deluxe Edition will be a DVD of a Pixies 1991 performance at the Brixton Academy in London, the group’s videos, possible live tracks, and a 54-page book, all housed in a custom slipcase.
The Minotaur Limited Edition ($450) will include everything in the Deluxe Edition, as well as all five albums on 180 gram vinyl, a Giclee print of Oliver’s artwork, and a 72-page hardcover book, all housed in an over-sized custom clamshell cover.
With CD sales in decline and illegal file-sharing threatening the future of record labels around the world, it is little surprise that bands are looking for new and exciting ways to convince fans to buy their albums.
What is surprising is that the new ploy typically involves releasing reissues of readily available albums repackaged with a few extras (books, remixes, bonus tracks, etc) and stamped with a pricetag that is in the three digit range.
Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown was immediately released in a deluxe version, while Pearl Jam recently released four versions of the breakthrough Ten in honor of the album’s upcoming 20th anniversary.
The massive Pixies set is being assembled by A+R, the company responsible for Nine Inch Nails’ recent deluxe set for Ghosts I-IV. Limited to 2,500 copies, the $350 set sold-out quickly. (Maybe Trent Reznor quit Twitter because he was too busy counting his money to text?)
The recently reunited Pixies are set to tour later this summer, stay tuned for Pixies Tour Dates as they become available.
