have you heard the one about how the Pixies album originally had a completely rearranged tracklisting? you might have noticed in the lyrics booklet that the songs are in a different order as follows:

1. Gouge Away
2. Debaser
3. Mr. Grieves
4. Dead
5. There Goes My Gun
6. Wave of Mutilation
7. La La Love You
8. Tame
9. Here Come Your Man
10. Hey
11. Crackity Jones
12. I Bleed
13. No. 13 Baby
14. Monkey Gone To Heaven
15. Silver

the reason for such a mass mixaround? Frank Black said that the label were trying to drag them in a more mainstream direction, so its quite possibly for commercial reasons.

on the released tracklisting notice how the 'hits' seem to all come in the first half of the record, with the more experimental or offbeat tracks coming later on. that seems quite in the style of a pop album.. plus the final two tracks on the original ordering end the album on a very sombre note. i always thought Monkey Gone to Heaven seemed out of place in the middle of the album, and would have been better at the end, much as i thought Gouge Away seemed odd as an album closer, ending it on a more 'upbeat' note. that seems like a sort of start poppy, end poppy kind of mindset.

with the original tracklisting a lot of the tracks seem to run very well into each other, and just *seems* to work very well as an album. the only thing that feels wrong is having Gouge Away at the beginning when Debaser is such an iconic opener. maybe thats just force of habit though..

so, anyone else ever heard of this? i dont think its ever been admitted and cant find any sources on the internet other than crackpot conspiracy theorists like myself. but its an interesting myth, and worth having a listen to if you can be arsed