Pixies have put out a lot of archival material over the years, but Complete B-Sides: 1988-97 always had an asterisk next to it: officially released, widely praised, never on vinyl. That changes now. The compilation, first issued on CD in 2001 during the band’s decade-long hiatus, has been reissued through 4AD on double LP for the first time, remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Vanbergen, who has spent recent years working his way through the band’s back catalog.

The original 19-track collection covers the band’s classic 4AD era, 1988 to 1991, and includes some of the most beloved Pixies tracks that never made an album: “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf),” “Into the White,” “Bailey’s Walk,” and “The Thing,” among others. For the vinyl edition, the original tracklisting fills three sides neatly; a fourth side has been added with six live tracks drawn from later Pixies single releases, including a live “Debaser” from the 1997 re-release. It’s a practical addition that makes good use of the format rather than just padding things out.

The new artwork was handled by Chris Bigg (v23), a longtime Pixies collaborator, using photographs from Simon Larbalestier’s archive — images originally intended for use by the band but shelved at the time. Both Bigg and Larbalestier worked on this reissue in tandem with the recent Live at the BBC reissue, with both projects serving as a tribute to the band’s late visual director Vaughan Oliver, whose design work was as much a part of the Pixies identity as anything on the records themselves.

This sits inside a broader 40th anniversary push from the band. Earlier this year they unveiled four previously unreleased songs — “Dig For Fire (Albini Version),” “Go Man Go,” “Brackish Boy,” and “Punk Loop”, set to appear on forthcoming remasters of Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, due September 11. Those will be available in standard black vinyl alongside limited Dinked International Editions containing the unearthed tracks.

It’s worth noting what Complete B-Sides actually represents. When Pitchfork reviewed the original CD release, they gave it a 9.6 and wrote that it proved the Pixies “were the blinding visionaries of the 80s.” That’s not hyperbole for hyperbole’s sake — the band’s b-side output during the Surfer Rosa/Doolittle/Bossanova run was genuinely extraordinary, and tracks like “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)” have become as canonical as anything on the proper albums. Having all of it in one place, properly mastered and finally on vinyl, is the kind of thing that should have happened a long time ago.

The reissue is out now on 4AD in three formats: double black vinyl, double clear vinyl, and double CD. A double LP on “seaweed green” vinyl is available exclusively through BK Vegan.