Doolittle vs Barry Manilow

Recording sessions on the new album were not going well. They were in uncharted territory. The band were bashing out nearly a song a day, being gifted a budget of 40,000 dollars to get the album done. That was four times what their last album cost. And then there was the producer.

4AD records had assigned producer Gil Norton to oversee the recording of the album, hoping to avoid the same pitfalls that hampered the bands last album Surfer Rosa, which was critically successful but a commercial disappointment.

Norton's suggestions were not always welcome. He kept telling the band they needed more verses on their songs. Their songs needed more of a hook. And most importantly, all the songs were too damn short. Can we make the songs longer? How do we feel about making the songs longer? Let's make the songs longer. Eventually, Black Francis took Norton to a record store, where he handed him a copy of Buddy Holly's Greatest Hits. He pointed out most of the songs were about two minutes long. He told Norton, "If it's good enough for Buddy Holly, it's good enough for us"

In a Rolling Stone interview, lead singer Black Francis later recalled that "this record is Gil Norton trying to make us, shall I say, commercial, and us trying to remain somewhat grungy."

As it turned out, they didn't have to worry about trying to sound like commercial music. Because for the next decade, commercial music was going to try to sound like them.

Doolittle by Pixies is consistently noted as one of the best albums of the 1980s and one of the best alternative rock records of all time. It has been certified platinum in the United States, selling over a million copies worldwide and influencing countless bands around the planet with their dynamic, idiosyncratic style.

Which is why it's not really a shock that no one bought Barry Manilow's self titled 13th studio album, which until VERY recently failed to chart at all and sold at best 60,000 copies.

Why did Pixies influence so many people? How much creative power can an artist have after 13 albums? And what is Barry Manilow's connection to Middle Earth? We're gonna find out. Welcome to When Albums Collide.