Breeders’ Second LP Makes Quite a “Splash” on New Box Set
Two decades after its original release, indie rockers The Breeders will reissue a 20th anniversary edition of their breakthrough LP, Last Splash, that may turn out to be one of the year’s most grandiose packages.
The Breeders started as a side project for Kim Deal, bassist for the Pixies. Debut album Pod (1990) featured Deal on guitar alongside Tanya Donnelly of Throwing Muses, Perfect Disaster bassist Josephine Wiggs and Slint drummer Britt Walford. Though sales were slight, critics praised the album, as did one major fan: Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
Following the dissolution of the Pixies in 1992, Deal turned to The Breeders full-time; the band, now featuring Deal and Wiggs alongside guitarist Kelley Deal (Kim’s twin sister) and drummer Jim Macpherson, spent the summer opening for Nirvana in Europe and building a considerable live fan base. That winter, they recorded Last Splash, which was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. Lead single “Cannonball” missed Billboard‘s Top 40 but became an MTV staple thanks to a video directed by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and up-and-coming director Spike Jonze. It’s also been used in a slew of movie trailers, most notably South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. (Tracks from the album have been found in the strangest places; a guitar loop from album cut “S.O.S.” was the backbone of The Prodigy’s U.K. chart-topper “Firestarter.”)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxvkI9MTQw4]
While the band was hampered by Kelley Deal’s arrest for drug possession and subsequent rehab in the mid-’90s, the Deal sisters returned under The Breeders moniker (albeit new band members) with 2001’s Title TK. Another album and EP (Mountain Battles (2008) and Fate to Fatal (2009)) followed, and this year the Last Splash-era lineup will tour and reissue their most beloved album.
And what a reissue! SPIN confirmed the track list for LSXX will run across seven vinyl LPs (or three CDs) and feature:
- The original album
- Stockholm Syndrome, a 1993 live show in Stockholm that was partially released to the band’s fan-club in 1994. This pressing features nine previously unreleased recordings.
- A 12″ of rare and unreleased tracks, including B-sides, demos and a BBC session
- Four of the band’s EPs, released between 1992 and 1994, each on 10″ vinyl
It will also contain a 24-page booklet of unreleased photos and recollections from both the band and their friends and collaborators, including Kim Gordon and Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis.
LSXX will be available on April 23; pre-order links are not active yet, but the track list is after the jump.
LSXX (4AD, 2013)
LP 1: Last Splash (originally released as 4AD CAD 3014 (U.K.)/Elektra 61508 (U.S.), 1993)
- New Year
- Cannonball
- Invisible Man
- No Aloha
- Roi
- Do You Love Me Now?
- Flipside
- I Just Wanna Get Along
- Mad Lucas
- Divine Hammer
- S.O.S.
- Hag
- Saints
- Drivin’ on 9
- Roi (Reprise)
LP 2: The Stockholm Syndrome (partially released on Live in Stockholm – Breeders Digest BD-01, 1994. * indicates previously unreleased track)
- Shocker in Gloomtown
- New Year
- Hellbound
- Saints
- Hag *
- I Just Wanna Get Along
- S.O.S.
- Roi
- Head to Toe
- Happiness is a Warm Gun
- Cannonball
- Invisible Man
- Doe
- Drivin’ on 9
- Don’t Call Home
- Limehouse
LP 3: Demos, Rarities, and Sessions (* indicates previously unreleased track)
- No Aloha (BBC Session – 7/24/1993) *
- Flipside (BBC Session – 7/24/1993) *
- Divine Hammer (BBC Session – 7/24/1993) *
- Hag (BBC Session – 7/24/1993) *
- New Year (Demo) (from bonus single with initial pressings of album – 4AD CADD 3014)
- Grungé (Demo) (from bonus single with initial pressings of album – 4AD CADD 3014)
- Invisible Man (Demo) (from 13 Year Itch compilation – 4AD SHUFFLE (U.K.), 1993)
- No Aloha (Demo) *
- I Just Wanna Get Along (Demo) *
- Mad Lucas (Demo) *
- S.O.S. (Demo) *
- Saints (Demo) *
- 900 (Demo) *
- Iris (from No Alternative compilation – Arista 07822 18737-2, 1993)
EP 1: Safari (originally released as 4AD BADD 2003 (U.K.)/Elektra 66432 (U.S.), 1992)
- Do You Love Me Now?
- Don’t Call Home
- Safari
- So Sad About Us
EP 2: Cannonball (originally released as 4AD BADD 3011 (U.K.)/Elektra 66279 (U.S.), 1993)
- Cannonball
- Cro-Aloha
- Lord of the Thighs
- 900
EP 3: Divine Hammer (originally released as 4AD BADD 3017 (U.K.)/Elektra 66260 (U.S.), 1993)
- Divine Hammer (Single Version)
- Hoverin’
- I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love with You)
- Do You Love Me Now Jr?
EP 4: Head to Toe (originally released as 4AD BADD 4012 (U.K.), 1994)
- Head to Toe
- Shocker in Gloomtown
- Freed Pig
- Saints
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Terrific! Well done to the Breeders for getting this lot out as a vinyl set. Really excellent. Put me down for one!