THE PIXIES

This EP, the Pixies' recorded debut, does a decent job of introducing and summing up the style of one of the most unique bands in musical history, but some people go a bit too far and also claim that it's a total masterpiece. Nah. The EP is probably the most energetic twenty minutes the Pixies ever committed to tape, but the songs themselves are a bit lacking in actual character. Black Francis singing really quickly over the band's frenetic instrumental backing is always entertaining to listen to, but that sound is pretty much all that the EP has going for it, since Francis by this point hadn't really found a distinctive songwriting style. Basically, it's a bunch of totally conventional material given unconventional treatment, which is good as a briefly interesting oddity but yeah, whatever, Surfer Rosa has all of this plus, y'know, interesting melodies to back it up. The classics, I guess, are "Caribou" and "Nimrod's Son," and they're not bad songs by any means, but they certainly don't show the band up to the level of writing unabashed classics like "Where Is My Mind." Even "Vamos," which would later end up on Surfer, wouldn't go on to be one of its stronger tracks. A good starting point for the Pixies' mini-legacy, but really, unless you're a really big fan of totally generic adrenaline-pumping rock that just happens to be performed in a really intriguing manner, it honestly doesn't amount to much more than a blueprint for their later successes.

OVERALL RATING: 6

SURFER ROSA (1988)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: Where Is My Mind?, River Euphrates, Bone Machine, Gigantic. LOW POINTS: None.

Having found a great style on Come On Pilgrim, the Pixies basically continue on the same path with more developed results, this time within the framework of a full length album (though not that much more full length - it still packs 14 tracks into just 33 minutes). Steve Albini was brought into produce, giving the sound an even more intense edge than it had before. Like the following effort, though, I didn't get what the fuss was over this supposed alternative 'classic' whatsoever - well over half the album seemed unmemorable and the sheer abrasiveness and odd vocal stylings made it difficult to be very appealing, not to mention the album's musical ideas seemingly flying by at a fast rate despite the short lengths of most of the tracks, but gradually, I got used to the sound and all the interesting quirks it has, and lo and behold, Surfer Rosa turns out to be a near-excellent effort. Maybe it's not quite a masterpiece like some would say, but damn good

Actually, pretty much the whole first half here is awesome in all of its' glorious perversity. I mean, who else besides this band could make an opener like "Bone Machine", a deceptive absolute mess of odd noise riffing (throughout the album Joey Santiago is damn good at covering up the fact that these songs are actually pretty basic with his noisy lead tricks), barely audible almost spoken word lyrics like 'he bought me a soda and he tried to molest me in the parking lot, yup yup yup', in-between verse screaming and a bizarre stop-start structure that halts itself for the quiet backing vocal-led chorus? Or how 'bout the almost wrong-sounding chord sequence to "Break My Body" that actually becomes infectious upon further listenings (the backing vox rule the day again here!), or the off-the-wall ska of "Something Against You", where Black Francis probably uses some weird-ass effect on his voice while screaming his lungs out, bringing to mind some party where all the guests are drunkenly 'celebrating' at once, and the driving indie rock of "Broken Face" that actually makes a chorus of 'I've got a broken faaaace... uh huh, uh huh' sound almost sing-alongish.

Even better, though, is the unstoppable trio of classics that close off side one, starting with Kim Deal's contribution "Gigantic". She actually isn't quite as good a lead vocalist as a backing one (the next album would prove this even more), and this anthemic tune is actually very simplistic (and long at nearly 4 minutes!) even for the album, but that bass riff rocks my socks off, the repeating 'gigantic, gigantic, gigantic...' chorus is one giddily entertaining hook. "River Euphrates" has yet another glorious echoey noise-riff that magically interplays with harmonies, a weirdly poppy vocal melody and primal 'chorus' energy, and "Where Is My Mind?"... oh man, that's gotta be one of their best songs ever. Lyrically an ode to Francis' scuba diving hobby (though in his own typical weird way), the acoustic/electric riff that serves as the main foundation of the song is genius in its' simplicity, and the 'oooooo' backing vocals throughout produce a haunting edge that's just as frightening as the more aggressive moments on here, and it's something very special.

Unfortunately, they just can't sustain that brilliant creative spark, and while nothing on the second half is bad at all, it's definitely for the most part not anything spectacular. Sure, you get hilarious displays of their personality in a short snippet of studio banter (that 'you fucking die!!!' thing Rich mentioned below), the spoken 'this song's about a superhero named Tony... it's called 'TONY'S THEME'!' introduction in the otherwise unmemorable punkster of the same name, and bizarre, almost glam-ish lyrics on the straightforward as hell "Cactus" ('Bloody your hands on a cactus tree / Wipe it on your dress and send it to me'), though none of these songs have the same great character as side one's tunes do, and don't go much beyond 'good, but not great' - this especially applies to the more monotonous, overlong remake of "Vamos" from Pilgrim, even if that one's still a fun time. Factor in a few other just 'enjoyable' snappy songs like "Oh My Golly!", "I'm Amazed" and the especially unassuming closer "Brick Is Red", and you'll see why I can't really call this the unbelievably entertaining and oddball classic-level album I want to (even if it is a hell of a lot better than I initially thought). Still a solid 8 though for all those highs and that really, really cool fast-paced style they've got going. They'd get even better at this, though - hang on tight!

OVERALL RATING: 8

The Pixies are one tough band to nail down, and their albums are even tougher to describe. This album was their full-length debut, produced by indie icon Steve Albini, whom I know absolutely nothing about except that he really likes to make drums sound really loud so I won't go into any criticisms of his personal demeanor, and rather brief in length (33 minutes) especially considering that the CD era was just coming into full bloom at the time. The band manages to make up for this relatively short running time however by making each individual song as ear-catching and brain-frying of an experience as possible. Black Francis, one of the most unique "singers" that I've heard (I put the word in quotes for a reason), is as much of a showman as David Lee Roth was with Van Halen and more, except in this case you don't even know if he's even trying to push forth a particular persona at all. The music backing up his screeching wailings is very nearly as whacked-out, with each instrumentalist in the band seemingly acting in isolation from every other one yet still managing to form a backing that's both musical and catchy at the same time. On top of all that, bassist Kim Deal has got to be one of the top backing vocalists in the biz, but I'll get to that when I review the next album. The reason I went over all of these characteristics when discussing this particular album was mostly because 1) I've decided that I'm never going to write an intro paragraph again in my life because they're tedious and boring and no one reads them, and 2) this album is probably the one that's most typical of all of these characteristics so hey, why not?

So how does the album actually hold up musically regardless of how well it represents the band? It's all over the place, Dave. It takes a few listens to be able to remember any of the melodies at all, because even though the melodies are memorable, they're so unconventional and multi-faceted that the brain simply can't process them on first listen - it's just impossible. The one exception might be Kim's sole contribution, the simple and rather lyrically unsubtle bassy chick anthem "Gigantic," along with an unlisted minute-long track of hilarious studio banter with Black Francis yelling "You FUCKIN' DIE!" and then awkwardly trying to explain exactly why he said that. Otherwise, stuff like "Bone Machine" and "River Euphrates" is terrific, but the song lengths are so slight (most of the tunes hover around two minutes) and the music so speedy and atypical of any style that most people have heard before that you won't exactly be able to sing it in the shower (and if you can, you'll probably end up breaking the glass by jumping around too much so I'd still recommend against it). The one openly-enduring classic sits right in the middle of the album, the musically-awkward, stomping guitar anthem "Where Is My Mind," even if its wavy, lumbering riff is so good that it makes it nearly impossible to remember a single other aspect of the song. This isn't to downsize speedy delighters like "Broken Face" and the ska-influenced "Something About You," but they definitely get by more on impact than actual musical character.

As an album, thisun's slightly overrated and not the band's best - the material starts to slip a bit on the second half (even though "This song is about a superhero named Tony! It's called TONY'S THEME!" is one of the most instantly-quotable lines in the band's catalogue), with several of the songs like "Vamos" registering as decent but nothing particularly special beyond the Pixies' admittedly-distinctive flavorings. Regardless, it's still a fine album, and the fragmented nature of both the songwriting and the tracklisting keeps things consistently interesting throughout. Plus, the cover photo.....ah, screw it, enough's been said already. Just go look it up on allmusic.com or something. You'll probably be more pleased if you're male.

OVERALL RATING: 8

COMMENTS

I have a request to make. Please, will someone out there explain to me for the jillionth time how the fuck I am supposed to ENJOY this stuff. It sounds like a bunch of college nerds who picked up instruments one day, learned how to play them in 20 minutes, and then mixed whatever the hell came into their "literary," "post-modern" minds into an LP that was probably recorded in two hours in front of a laundry machine in their dorm basement, with the help of some very strong Cuban weed and a complete disregard for the tenets of listenability. Classic? Best album of the 1980's? Beatles quality? What the fuck, guys. What the fuck.

Not that I have anything against people who ADORE it, but I've heard Creed albums better than this. Hell, I've heard CHICAGO albums better than this. And this is supposed to be the "cornerstone" of alternative rock. Hell, it doesn't even sound that revolutionary. What exactly did it inspire? Alice in Chain's feverish nightmares?

Hey, I know what you're going to say. I've been brainwashed by the mainstream, I've been bought by Britney Spears, I like putting greedy corporate execs' kids through Ivy League, etc., blah blah blah. . . Now now now, there's no need for that kind of language. I may not be a "Tru" indie, or have "cred" as it were, but I've heard enough underground noise to know that the Sonic Youth, Jesus and Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine could all kick the Pixies' behind out of Boston. AND out of Seattle.

A sad 4 out of 10 from me--and only because "Where is My Mind" is actually listenable.

why do you need the urge to bash the pixies in every f single board you can? Music is subjective. You aren't supposed to get every single great song in the world. Can't you admit that almost every f non-paid reviewer that has come across the pixies has praises for them? can't you just accept that: "well, they must be good, I just don't get them"?. But no. You must be stubborn. Get it: Pixies rulez, I say it, Prindle says it, Bunnell says it, man, even Starostin says it. If you don't like it, worse for you.

Now, the record. Many folks belive Surfer Rosa to be the pinnacle of Pixies music, but I don't see it. I like it a lot, but both Trompe Le Monde and Doolittle are way better, IMHO. That said, I think Brick Is Red is the best song in the record. Yup, better than Where Is My Mind. I just love those guitar noises. Listen to it again, and tell me it doesn't plain rules.

You people are fucking insane. The Pixies DEFINE alternative music, and Surfer Rosa is the greatest. There is no punk-oriented music that can touch it. It's not an album. It's magic. Pure, unadulterated magic. Their other albums are great, especially, Doolittle, but nothing comes close to Surfer Rosa. It's not just something good to listen to, it's also fun.

And I say this as someone who has always loved the Pixies (since the Doolittle album came out). From the first listen to the last, it was great all the way through. And it seems odd to me that anybody wouldn't "get" the music, or find the singing or guitar to be wacky or weird. To me, it's just music, and it doesn't matter if it's played with a butt kazoo and a dying goat, good music is good no matter what the instruments sounds like.

My only problem with them is that their later albums seemed overly produced, too ego-oriented, and lacked edginess. Plus, they just didn't sound like they were having fun anymore. And if you're not having fun while making music, then you're just not doing it right.

I have pity for anyone that doesn't instantly understand Surfer Rosa's appeal, as they clearly don't really understand the nature of music. Trying to explain the appeal is like trying to explain blue to a blind man. And thinking you can enjoy the first part of the album without liking the second half is like saying you like the first part of sex. It's just fucking insane, and the best I can do is offer my pity and suggest you try better drugs.

I take back my first comment. I don't know what the hell I was thinking.

Not that I like Surfer Rosa--far from it. But the Pixies are a decent band when they want to be. Bossanova is awesome.

I'VE CHANGED MY MIND!! THE PIXIES ARE A-OKAY!!!

DOOLITTLE (1989)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: Debaser, Monkey Gone To Heaven, No. 13 Baby, I Bleed, Here Comes Your Man, Gouge Away, Wave Of Mutilation, La La Love You. LOW POINTS: None.

Oh, and would they get better indeed - with this album eventually growing on me like probably few others ever have, the Pixies just about became real good pals of mine (from a listener's perspective of course - I doubt Black Francis would ever want to hang out with me). See, there are a lot of key things I look for in great music, but I'll always have a profound respect for albums with an overflowing amount of personality and character like this one, where every last song sets its' own entirely different mood. This kind of thing is especially worthy of respect when the album in question condenses all these ideas into short song lengths a la Revolver, is able intersperse the absurd songs with the poppy and accessible (also the case where production is concerned), can effortlessly make backing vocals sound like the greatest things ever, can shift between styles almost with the listener not even realizing it, and.... crap, there's really a lot to be found within the chambers of insanity that is Doolittle.

Indeed, the crazy diversity of approaches here is one that, quite honestly, no Pixies release comes even close to. Starting out randomly, the twisted reggae of "Mr. Grieves" gets fused with punk, there's an almost dreamy power pop tune about 'driving my car into the ocean....' in "Wave Of Mutilation" (listen to this one on its' own a couple times and you'll realize how great a gift for unconventional but eventually appealing pop melodies Francis has, and that almost calm vocal style he does on the chorus is quite different from his usual style), the almost epic-styled "Hey" (again, this is 'epic' by the standard of the Pixies, not Yes) has a great dramatically building soul influence within its' bassline and vocal melody (and that desperate 'we're CH - AINED!!!' is another great hook), and even the drummer David Lovering gets in on the act with his (maybe?) tongue-in-cheek bubblegum love song "La La Love You" - he provides a great rhythmic addictiveness to this one, and the 'I.... love... you' exchanges between him and Kim Deal in the verses are great fun.

Speaking of Kim Deal, besides getting on the neat experimentation here with her slide guitar-heavy country ballad "Silver" (which not very many fans seem to like a whole lot, and yeah, it may not be great, but I'm personally fond of its' interesting, slow charm), the backing vocals on this album reach their absolute pinnacle, particularly on the somewhat goth-style "I Bleed" - she takes a great light but kinda creepy counterpoint tone that turns me on, and is just about the best point of an already strong highlight (not that the noise bursts from Joey Santiago during the chorus aren't great as well). She also shines on the short, pounding borderline psychotic singalong "There Goes My Gun", and especially the absolutely brilliant "Monkey Gone To Heaven". It's a song about some underwater God of the sea who got 'killed by 10 million pounds of sludge from New York and New Jersey', and his 'death' is celebrated by a dictionary-defined majestic singalong harmonized chorus to die for. It's even joined by solemn cellos and violins! And an awesome 'if man is five, then the devil is six, then GOD IS SEVEN!!!' bridge that ties it all together, the album cover imagery included!

Now, the more abrasive approach of Surfer didn't just disappear overnight, of course, but even the more openly harsh songs have an incredibly distinctive vibe of their own. Witness the opening "Debaser", probably the pinnacle of the Pixies career and one of the greatest songs ever written by mortals. I mean, how can you possibly deny the genius of the opening lines 'Got me a movie, I want you to know / Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know / Girlie so groovy, I want you to know'? Or the adrenalizing simplicity of the chanting chorus - I AM UN CHIEN ANDALU..... SIA!!!!!!! WANNA GROW!!! UP TO BE!!! BE A DEBASER!!' [cue Kim Deal softly speaking 'debaser...' here in appropriate fashion]. Also, while they may not be among the better songs on here, it's interesting that the chorus of "Tame" is the vocal screaming of the title (going totally against it in the process), and the noisy guitar/vocal interplay racket of "Dead" interestingly goes from rip-your-head-off-intense to an almost joyful anthemic chord progression in a matter of seconds. And Kurt Cobain even admitted to being hugely inspired by the intense quiet-to-loud dynamics of the closer "Gouge Away".

Oh man, such an awesome album, and to think, I haven't even mentioned two of the better songs on here in the absurdly awesome "No. 13 Baby" (it's difficult to get the 'Black tear falling on my lazy queen / Gotta tattooed tit say number 13' lines out of my head, and the extended guitar ending is one of the most wonderful closings to any song I can think of) and the very 60's pop-influenced "Here Comes Your Man". Not only does this have more great Kim Deal backing vocals (how can you possibly beat the 'so long, so long' lines in there?), but it serves as the ultimate proof that, for all his weirdness, this band could write a gorgeously flowing pop melody that's immediately memorable and likeable, and it's made even better by the fact that it's jammed in between some of their more out there tracks like "Dead". Excellent.

And that's just about it - this is definitely one of the best albums of the 80's, and it's no wonder some even go as far to call it the best album ever, period. As much as it's grown on me from an effort that kinda overwhelmed and sometimes annoyed me to a near-masterpiece, though, I'm not sure I'd quite call Doolittle a 100% undeniable classic just yet - as much as I have a high respect level for everything, some of the more inaccessible stuff like "Crackity Jones" (probably the only song that comes remotely close to completely losing my attention on here), "Tame" and the like is still not always easy for me to listen to, though the percentage of brilliant material is definitely at a really, really high level. Minor flaws aside, this is definitely a strong 9.5 with chances of increasing to 10 even, and an essential underground classic that represents the entire band at their best.

OVERALL RATING: 9.5

Clear, shiny production can make or break a band depending on the skill of the bandmembers in using this production style to their advantage, and the Pixies' second full-length is a damn good example of a band doing just that. Albini is out and he took his fuzzy, drum-heavy sound with him, and his replacement Gil Norton coats the album with a glossy, waxy sheen not before seen on a Pixies release. The result would normally be degraded by indie purists as a cash-grubbing pop-rock sellout, but the band manages to keep its central vision intact -- in other words, the album's easier on the ears, but it's still really freaking weird. This was my personal introduction to the band, and I wasn't really sure what to think at first - the songs were interesting, certainly, but the generally short running times and wacky, off-kilter hooks made me think that the band would never rise above the level of a "slightly-memorable oddity" in my book. Boy, was I wrong. The album's like Surfer Rosa with about a half-kettle of hooky goodness poured into the pot, and hearing the band go all over the place both instrumentally and melodically while still generally staying within the confines of good pop music is truly a special thing indeed. Plus, throughout the album Kim Deal continuously proves that backing vocals can be an artform in themselves - almost all of the appeal of the somewhat melodically-simple "I Bleed" lies in the way she backs up Black Francis' ramblings with a distant, airy vocal tone, and her low-key, hypnotic vocals on the chorus of "Monkey Gone To Heaven" send the listener into a state similar to the song's namesake. And instances like that are the rule, not the exception.

The songs on the album are musically very much in the Surfer Rosa vein, with ear-catching hooks that only really hit you once your brain has them safely committed to memory after the fourth or fifth listen, but there are a few more towering standouts this time around. Said standouts are almost unanimously held to be the insane, rambling shout-match album-opener "Debaser," which is without hyperbole one of the best songs ever written, the dreamy anthem "Wave Of Mutilation" with an uncharacteristically restrained Francis lead vocal, and the single "Here Comes Your Man," which almost seems like a parody of simple pop music what with its walking, Beatles-like surf guitar and repetitive lyrics (it uses the word "boxcar" more than any song I've ever heard besides that one on Chronic Town, you know what I'm talking about). The rest of the material stays safely lodged in the "weird shit" file, but it's not like it's any worse for it - "Mr. Grieves" starts out as a giggling reggae pastiche before abruptly turning into rollicking cowpunk, "Dead" is drummer David Lovering's place to shine with some great fills in-between barrages of one-note guitar and filtered vocals, and "La La Love You" borders on being a novelty-tune, with the bandmembers jokingly quipping "I love you" for the first two minutes before Francis finally jumps in at the end huskily crooning "All I'm sayin', pretty baby, la la love you, don't mean maybe....." - I'm not sure how they come up with this stuff, but it's awesome.

This album is the Pixies' pop classic if not quite their indie classic (I guess the vocals are way too audible.....come on, open your hearts, you jagged gee-tar lovers), and even if it's not quite perfect (as much as I want to marry Kim Deal based solely on the quality of her backing vocals, her twangy "Silver" just doesn't cut the mustard) it's definitely one of the more interesting albums ever recorded. It has production just as shiny as the same year's Forever Your Girl yet the music is completely on the other end of the spectrum, stop and think about that. Actually, it has no significance whatsoever, though it would've been really really cool if they'd done a cover of "Straight Up" during one of their live performances which would've thus been captured for posterity by a sea of miniature handheld tape recorders. I stopped saying informative things several sentences ago, so if you're still reading, shame on you.

OVERALL RATING: 9

COMMENTS

This record just plain rules. I think all the FIFTEEN songs are great, maybe except Tame, and I would add Hey as a definite highlight. One of my desert island records, buy it TODAY, at ANY price. Or do like me, I burned a 30 track record with Doolittle then Trompe Le Monde =)

Meh. It's not bad.

I don't know how it made such a huge splash in 1989 (really it's just what Captain Beefheart would sound like if he played pop-punk, surf-rock, had better production and was obsessed about, uh, French art films and similar stuff), but Debaser, Here Comes Your Man, No. 13 Baby, Hey, and Gouge Away are pretty good songs. The rest is weird, random, and weird again. But at least it's more listenable than Trout Mask Replica.

I'm sorry, I like Bossanova. I really do. But I have one problem with this album--randomness! Sure, there's lots of "chaotic" albums out there--Exile on Main Street, The White Album, Mellon Collie--but at least they have SOME kind of structure to them.

Oh well, I guess that's why everybody likes it so much. I mean, come on, where else are you going to find an album rated five stars out of five by AMG that sounds this intentionally fucked-up?

I'd probably like it better if they changed the order of the songs, though. Believe you me, that makes a difference.

BOSSANOVA (1990)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: Velouria, Dig For Fire. LOW POINTS: Stormy Weather.

Aggghh. Okay, I guess you might be able to say The Pixies took their approach as far as it was going to go with Doolittle, but I'm really not sure what made them turn into the direction of becoming, well, an almost completely normal rock band. The interesting diverse personalities within each song, the insane vocal presence, the Kim Deal backing vocals, so much stuff that made the album so great... it's like, almost completely wiped out. Granted, I first heard Bossanova before I had come anywhere close to assimilating the previous two albums, but it was still ehh. The last half of the album in particular seemed to blend into a generic mush where the previously very compact song structures of before got too stretched out, the atmosphere was dull and indistinguishable, the melodies were their usual (at the time to my own perception of the band) unmemorable, and I was ready to consider this an incredibly bland low 5 quality album at one point, a record that, to my surprise, a lot of fans held in high regard. BLAH.

Fortunately, there is quite a bit to like about the album (if certainly not exactly love like the brilliance of before), which leads me to now consider it, well, pretty good at least. Certainly opening with an instrumental surf rock cover in "Cecelia Ann" (originally by the Surftones, specifically) is an odd move given the band's track record so far, but it does have a good verve to it, and although a little too underdeveloped, the punchy, melodic fast pop rocker "Allison" is quite pleasurable, and "Ana" continues the surf influence of "Cecelia Ann", also bringing to the forefront a quality the Pixies themselves rarely ever show - peacefulness. That pleasant guitar line and understated vocal tone here is definitely very easy to relax to, and bring to mind good imagery of an island. Maybe it isn't a great song, though it's definitely very good.

Elsewhere, some of the old racket is captured in the almost prophetic short screamfest "Rock Music" (which belongs in the "Debaser" camp of being raucously catchy in spite of its' upfront abrasiveness - and it's got almost totally unintelligible lyrics), "Is She Weird" has a fine stick-in-your-head chorus that ranks as one of their most memorable ('is she weird, is she white, is she promised to the night...'), and of course, there's "Velouria", the only 'classic' on here as far as I'm concerned, with a mammoth-sounding riff and a higher genuine emotional presence than what we're used to from these guys. What's with the side-closing "All Over The World", though - a 5-1/2 minute Pixies song? Sure, it's not bad, and it does build pretty well, but given all their really short or normal length songs previously, sitting through this one is almost a psychological chore, and it's not that memorable for me to discuss very much.

Much like most of the second half here, which aside from the quirky and entertaining "Dig For Fire" (this has some of the most playful guitar lines and vocal hooks they ever came up with, actually), the evocative closing ballad "Havalina" (even if hardly great, much like "Ana" this song again displays a surprisingly pleasant surf-influenced peacefulness) and the second half of the 'epic' "The Happening" (which builds into an interestingly rambling lyrical monologue, though that's pretty much all the song has going for it, really), I don't feel like talking about, or even much less attempt to remember. Except for the utterly pointless "Stormy Weather" (really, does this do anything more than just repeat its' title over and over again?), the other four songs aren't unpleasant to listen to or anything, but they definitely help drag the album down to a middling, and somewhat disappointing deflated 7. There's something to be said for the consistency and talent of the Pixies that their unfortunate, temporary retreat into standard territory is still enjoyable, but that doesn't keep the album from being my least fave in their catalog.

OVERALL RATING: 7

After the flat-out craziness of the first two albums, this one came as kind of a shock to me. By Pixies standards, this is a incredibly conventional album, with the jankly, bizarre rhythms and song structures toned down in favor of a heavier surf-rock influence and a batch of songs which actually for the most part have completely identifiable verses and choruses and (believe it or not) subdued vocal performances by that most insane of showmen Mr. Black Francis (though he does let out some screeches on the abrasive, brief and strangely catchy-as-hell "Rock Music"). The more conventional approach to the album leads to some problems, though -- part of the Pixies' whole appeal was their out-of-control, totally original and askew approach to melody-writing, and they're simply not as adept at churning out solid rock 'n' roll for the apparently nearly-nonexistent contemporary 1990 rock scene. Songs like "Hang Wire" and "Down By The Well," which almost definitely would've been improved upon by crazy vocal antics or weird harmonies had they appeared on Doolittle, are given totally straight arrangements which don't work since the songs don't really have very special melodies at all. Plus, aside from playing bass, Kim Deal is absolutely nowhere at all to be found on this album, she utters not a single backing vocal nor does she write any of the songs, and this angers me. Francis is certainly a distinctive vocalist, but I'm not sure how the band could listen to the pitch-perfect counterpoint melodies on Doolittle and not want to replicate them on the followup.

The good news is that the aforementioned flaws are really only relative to the music on the previous two albums - the album's a disappointment by Pixies standards but it's still a pretty good rock album. The album's more boring and generic qualities only really come to a head during the last six songs -- otherwise, the first eight songs are given roughly the same musical approach, but the melodies are strong enough that it doesn't matter. "Velouria" is the classic, a subtly-driving power pop tune with a lovely, forlorn-sounding vocal hook, and "Dig For Fire," the bounciest song on the album, is a real charmer with some really cool-sounding dynamics going on over the course of the whole song. The instrumental surf-rock opener "Cecilia Ann" doesn't have the most original melody in the world, but the band infuses it with such energy that it's hard not to love, and "Is She Weird?" has one of the Pixies' most instantly-memorable choruses (even if they sort of overshadow the rest of the song). Meanwhile, "All Over The World" (an epic by Pixies standards, at almost five-and-a-half minutes) has an incredibly memorable fragmented vocal arrangement for the first few minutes before ending on a breathtaking singalong coda; I didn't think much of it at first but it's easily one of the band's best songs. If the melodies were this strong over the course of the whole album I wouldn't have any problem at all with the conventionality; as it is the album really spurts out into generic insignificance during its second half and leaves Bossanova as probably the Pixies' overall weakest collection of songs. Oh, and in reference to Kevin's review, I'd probably give Reese Witherspoon a high 8.

OVERALL RATING: 7

(Kevin Baker's review)

Ya know, I can't say that I know a ton about the Pixies. I got this cd from my good friend Neil who is a Pixies fanatic, and I like it. I do, I really do! In a moment of extreme upfrontness, I'll say Velouria is far and away my favorite on here. It's catchy as all get-out, has fascinating lyrics about lemur skin, and.....heck, words escape me. It was my 1st Pixies ditty to fall in love with....and what a good one to fall for! I've heard it said that Bossanova is their poppiest/most accessible album, and I suppose that's fairly accurate. Not overly weird, very melodic, not really abrasive in any way, shape, or form.....just like Reese Witherspoon! I seem to have developed a Reese Witherspoon fascination since I saw Legally Blonde a few days ago. Keep this in mind.

Now, what are some other highlights? You're sure to win with Is She Weird, a lovely swingin' ditty about some weird chick. Or maybe she's not weird. You decide. Oh, it also has this cool little lead guitar line that fits the song so perfectly...listen to it; you'll know what I mean. Also a highlight for me is the short 'n sweet little faster number Allison. Catchy little huggermugger with a nifty little solo. I also greatly like Ana, All Over The World, Dig For Fire...ok, I actually like all of the songs. Purty, purty, purty dreamypopsiclepopweirdsongs. And I don't find Black Francis's voice to be all that annoying; it goes well with the music. Well, THAT was a short review. Feel free to add an extra paragraph of me chanting Reese Is Fine Reese Is Fine Reese Is Fine to the end to pad it if you so desire.

OVERALL RATING: 9

COMMENTS

I'm listening to it right now, and I think is underrated. That said, it is one step back indeed. But Ana (my favourite song, and they played it live so I think it was close to their heart too), All Over The World, Velouria, Is She Weird, Dig For Fire, The Happening, Rock Music, Cecilia Ann, Down To The Well, and Havalina are very good songs! The problem is, the pixies are too good for just "very good". Except for Ana and Velouria, nothing matchs the sheer perfection of Doolittle.

It's a really underrated album, in my opinion. They toned down the abrasiveness that was in everything they'd done before, for sure, but I don't think they could have gone on making another Doolittle, and they probably couldn't take that direction any further, so they went somewhere else. I actually think it's probably their weirdest album, but in a more subtle way than the discordant, disturbing barked weirdness of Doolittle and Surfer Rosa. It's got a weird 50s sci-fi B movie feel to it, not just in the lyrics, but in the sound and melody structures too, in a similar kind of way to how early B52s sounded. There are a few bad tracks on it, yes, I thought Velouria was a bit too pop, in the same way that something like Here Comes Your Man, a straight pop song without really any of the sonic or melodic wonkiness that comes through in most of their songs, although full marks for the use of a Theremin, again, going with the 50s B movie style. Stormy Weather also seems a bit pointless and has no real ideas, though there are some ideas and sounds that come through, towards the end it sounds like they're sped the tape up, giving the vocals a strange wobbly unnatural sound. Rock Music is kind of similar to Something Against You from Surfer Rosa, abrasive and noisy, with a fantastic ringing one note distorted surf guitar as a lead, and some great whammy bar dropping rhythm guitar. Alison is a short sharp shot of pop adrenaline. Is She Weird charts familiar Pixies territory of sinister sounding verse followed by shrieking chorus, with some genius timing in some of the vocals ("I'm lyyyyyyyyyyying in it" extending over way past where it normally should). Dig For Fire comes from somewhere similar to Talking Head's Once In A Lifetime, again, with some fantastic vocal timing in the last throes of the song with Kim and Frank dueling to sing variation on "I'm digging for fire". The Happening is one of the standout tracks on the album, similar to Caribou in combining the abrasive with weird falsetto cooing, only with the abrasive part being the verse, and the chorus replacing the instruments with layers of ooohs, kind of like 10cc's I'm Not In Love. Made by psychopaths. About aliens landing. All Over The World has the familar sinister bassline, punctuated with something that's almost a heavy metal solo speeded up and gone wrong.

Granted, the album is flawed, but it is weird and it is interesting. The melodies generally go where conventional pop songwriting wouldn't take them. The sunny surf music angle that is taken on some of the songs is a nice diversion into somewhere different. The whole album is kind of a musical equivelant to a Troma film. The aural equivelant of watching Plan 9 From Outer Space on bad drugs

TROMPE LE MONDE (1991)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: Alec Eiffel, Motorway To Roswell, Bird Dream Of The Olympus Mons, Planet Of Sound, Space (I Believe In), Letter To Memphis. LOW POINTS: Lovely Day.

An excellent return to form, though unfortunately the last studio word for The Pixies. By this point Black Francis had assumed pretty much the entire control of the ship - while Kim Deal's backing vocals are thankfully more prominent here than on Bossanova, she still doesn't have any songs on this album, and Francis' personality guitar-wise is far more noticeable than Joseph Alberto Santiago's. At least they went out with a bang, though - Trompe Le Monde is a much more raucous effort than the often too subdued and normal Bossanova, with an expansive, very guitar-heavy tone that makes for great driving music, the lyrics and vocals are more inaudible than usual, and there's even a bit of keyboard work sprinkled around courtesy of session musician Eric Drew Feldman. I have to disagree with Rich's review below on one thing, though - I find this to be a really hook-filled album. Maybe not as much as Doolittle, but there are plenty of quotable lines to be found, and although this might be because I had gotten a lot more used to the band's style by the time I first heard it, this is also the album that was by far the most immediately appealing for me out of all in the Pixies catalog.

Like that aforementioned masterpiece of theirs, these songs have a lot of distinctive personalities to them, from the odd screamy rocker "Planet Of Sound" (which has some warbly tone to the vocals and the guitars that kind of do make the song sound out of an otherworldly galaxy, and it's a really really neat singable tune) to "U-Mass", a wildly entertaining lyrical tribute to the band's old university (with the fun 'IT'S EDUCATIONAL!!!' chorus and its' simplistic but ultra-memorable riff), the wonderful head-bobbing surf groove of "Space (I Believe In)" (a hilarious tribute to a guest musician who happens to be playing on the same song - 'JEFREY... WITH ONE F... JEFREY'... now what other band would have such a catchy tune dedicated to a tabla player of all things? And the 'spaaaaacious' Kim Deal backing vocal is a great return to that characteristic), and the utterly majestic and beautiful anthem that I suspect the future Frank Black may have been looking for on the last album but never found, the panoramic "Bird Dream Of The Olympus Mons", where lyrical surreality and beauty become one. That 'into the mountaaain' chorus is one of their more gorgeous moments.

My favorite, though, has to be the aggressive rocker "Alec Eiffel", where Francis muses about 'little Eiffel, pioneer of aerodynamics...' over the catchiest pounding vocal melody on here (and more great backing vocals!), but the best part of that song is the awesome keyboard ending, which has a very carnival-esque quality that merges perfectly with the guitar-heavy backing for an overall atmosphere unlike anything in their catalog. Coming in a close second to that, though, is "Motorway To Roswell", maybe the best 'Pixies epic' you can find, at an incredibly lengthy 4:43 - that odd vocal approach is unusually affecting as the 'last night, he could not make it...' lines are sung, the 'he started heading for the... mooootorway' melodic twist is awesome, it again makes great use of keyboard/piano placement (especially at the end), and in general this is where the expansive atmosphere shows, especially in the sympathetic storytelling lyrics. I get a great nighttime vibe out of this one.

You want more highlights? Okay! The opening title track does a great job of shifting into several odd vocal melodies in under 2 minutes long (with vocals effortlessly moving from gentle to aggressive), "Palace Of The Brine" and "Letter To Memphis" make up a pretty cool two-song suite that runs together seamlessly, the former another attractive backing vocal workout, and the latter... well, another good example of suddenly realizing how good the Black Francis school of songwriting actually is in producing neat but eventually catchy melodies (the 'trying to get to you...' hook that's immediately followed by the offbeat guitar line is neat as anything), the closing "The Navajo Know" is more of that Bossanova-derived peacefulness that makes for a fine way to end out their career, and the Jesus And Mary Chain cover "Head On" is a rousing pop-punk tune that may be by far the most immediately memorable to Pixies neophytes not used to that sense of melody, benefiting immensely from the exciting guitar energy. Plus, I've been informed that J&MC may be boring and monotonous (which the Pixies sure are not).

Of course, that's not to say the album is perfect - the style isn't quite as distinctive as previously, and inevitably out of 15 mostly short songs there are a few undeveloped moments that either pass me by for the most part ("Distance Equals Rate Times Time", the bland "Lovely Day"), don't gel together very well (the chaotic punk fused with uplifting slow balladry of "The Sad Punk") or are just lower-tier decent but unspectacular Pixies ("Subbacultcha", which is still fun, and has that ending line about groping for luna). I think I actually mentioned all of them in that burst of reviewing energy, didn't I? Yup, I did. A great way to go out for these guys (and girl) - some reviewers like Mark Prindle and Brian Burks actually consider it their pinnacle, which is understandable, since it is interesting as hell. Maybe this is a 9 on the right kind of day when those more fillery tunes have more impact on me.

OVERALL RATING: 8.5

I swear, it's like Black Francis purposefully made an album that was really hard to review just to piss me off. He pulled out all of the stops -- first off, most of the melodies are covered by layers of loud, heavy guitars, which not only makes most of the songs hard to remember but renders every single lyric he sings completely incomprehensible so I can't even quote any of his bizarre musings as space filler. It's like he took "Rock Music" from Bossanova and made an entire album out of it. To top it off, the songs are listed out of order on the back cover with the titles randomly splotched across the border with not even a set of track numbers to direct me as to where on the album each song might reside, and since the vocals are so hard to hear it's difficult to match up each song with its title by means of its chorus. But damn it, it might've taken me like six or seven listens, but I'm ready to review this goddamn album, and get this.......I like it! Like so many talented bands led by a cruel, malevolent dictator, the Pixies' final album is really little more than a preview for said cruel dictator's solo career - this is a Black Francis album through and through. He wrote all of the songs (excepting a cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Head On" which is given the same loud treatment as every other song on the album anyway), he's the only one you can hear on any of the songs, and the whole album is just oozing with a distorted rock trashiness that you just know could only come from a guy like him.

It all makes for a very......well.......cool listen, for lack of a better adjective. Everything may sound trashy and less focused on melody than what most had come to expect of the Pixies by this point, but the new sound is a lot more breathing and full than anything that they'd churned out before, and it lends itself well to superb wall-of-harmony rockers like the title track and "Alec Eiffel." The distinctive Pixies melodic edge is kind of lost thanks to this musical approach, but simpler, chunky numbers like the stomping "U-Mass" work anyway, and a lot of their musical trademarks are still present on tunes like "Space (I Believe In)"(mostly due to its surf-rock like riff which hearkens back to....uh....Bossanova....yeah, way back there a whole year ago) and the brief, rolling closer "The Navajo Know." About a third of the songs are kind of iffy and insubstantial either as songs or interesting slabs of quirk-rock ("Subbacultcha" and "The Sad Punk" come to mind) but their presence on the album is justified by awesome songs like "Letter To Memphis" and "Motorway To Roswell," which I couldn't hum if you paid me but I sure remember liking them! That's really all I have to say. A lot of fans pump this one up as the Pixies' underrated peak, but I'd rather be a bit more true to my own opinion and brand this one as a hard-hitting album that doesn't quite capture the unique and interesting qualities of top-quality Pixies music. Still, it's a really good album, even though it took me four listens before I could even remember how a single song sounded.

OVERALL RATING: 8

COMMENTS

Fun all the way. Very fun all the way. The title track is gold, and so are the highlights that Nick pointed out. Alec Eiffel never got me THAT much as everybody seems to say, but man, it is a great song. But Motorway.... Motorway just makes me cry. Huh? what? yeah, listen to the part when he whines "last night, he could not make it, he tried hard but he could not make it". It is not the lyrics but the way they're sung. In resume, great swan song! Pixies viva forever!

AT THE BBC (1998)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Wild Honey Pie, Is She Weird. LOW POINTS: None.

A live album, gathering 15 career-spanning performances The Pixies did at the BBC throughout their career, though not in chronological order. Of course, like most live albums it's not really revelatory, and at just 35 minutes, this one's especially skimpy. Plus, you don't get any adrenalizing energy bursts due to the lack of a crowd noise, and well, there's not a whole ton of differences between these takes and the originals. Still, the major appeal of At The BBC from my perspective is that when you take these songs out of the context of their delirious studio efforts which work as a whole, it seems easier to realize how great and inventive the vocal melodies to several of these songs are on their own. While maybe not better than the originals, I gained an even greater appreciation for songs like "There Goes My Gun", "Letter To Memphis" and "Ana" in this format.

The song selection here is pretty good, leaning a bit more toward Doolittle than anything else, with five songs from there. There's unfortunately nothing from Surfer Rosa, three from Bossanova (there's a particularly strong performance of "Is She Weird" on here, with energized vocal screaming, and even I think Kim Deal yelling out 'oh fuck!', probably after making a mistake), the two best songs from Come On Pilgrim, two from Trompe Le Monde, an entertaining non-album rocker in "Manta Ray" (one of their more spirited songs - I really dig that cute 'my manta ray is alright...' Kim Deal backing vocal chorus), a couple covers in the creepy Eraserhead soundtrack tune "In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)" and the highlight on here, the opening Beatles cover "Wild Honey Pie", which was merely a good but fillerish novelty interlude on The White Album, but in hindsight it's about the perfect song for The Pixies to do, from the bizarrely bouncy jagged riffs and the 'HONEY PIE!!!!' screaming. It's extended a bit with great guitar and vocal hysterics, and it's something special.

As for a couple of the rest, well, it's interesting to hear a more subdued version of "Monkey Gone To Heaven" without the violins and cellos and Francis speaking the verses in a lower tone, and the production style of this album is in general very different and more raw than what we've come to expect from them in the studio. "Levitate Me" is still majestic as ever, and this is overall a very good time. Not really a great or necessary purchase (even if it's probably above an album that only fans and completists need) but definitely not an unenjoyable one either, and the surprises here very much make it worthwhile.

OVERALL RATING: 7

COMPLETE B-SIDES (2001)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: Into The White, Winterlong. LOW POINTS: Bailey's Walk.

Another posthumous release for The Pixies (though technically it isn't now, as they're actually touring - please don't tell me an actual reunion album that will fuck up Trompe Le Monde's status as a great swan song is on the way), as it gathers together 19 of their B-sides on one album. Within these walls, there are a few alternate/live versions, covers, non-album nuggets, and so on, actually managing to all cohere together in a listenable effort. Of course, being B-side quality material and all, it's generally well below their usual studio album standard (except of course the eternal odd-album-out whipping post Bossanova), but it's good overall, and it reveals quite a few interesting things about The Pixies, a lot of which you already know, but some stuff you don't. I figure it'll be easier to subdivide the review into a couple parts.

First part is the alternate and live versions of album tracks, which consist of a noisier but more vocally audible "River Euphrates", what could possibly be the definitive version of "Vamos" in a live take (if possible, it's made even faster than before, which makes it a riot right at the chorus and the high-pitched guitar points), a slower 'UK surf' version of "Wave Of Mutilation", which certainly brings out the melodic beauty of the original even more, and makes the 'drive my car, into the ocean' lines work even more effectively, the 'rambling monologue' section of "The Happening" included by itself and retitled "The Thing" (i.e. the only reason for that song to exist in the first place), and a cool instrumental version of "Letter To Memphis" to end the entire collection, actually working almost as well as the great original song did.

Now, the non-album songs, some of which have also appeared in different versions on the At The BBC and self-titled albums, generally aren't great, but there are a few keepers, especially Kim Deal's lightweight but also catchy and hypnotic as hell classic "Into The White" (a really delightfully sexy indie romp, and definitely a song that should have made a studio album - curse you Black Francis). There's also a studio version of "Manta Ray" and its' hilarious rhythm heavy companion piece "Dancing The Manta Ray" (where Francis takes a drunken, dangerously close to Dave Matthews-sounding vocal tone), the bouncy, country-ish ditty "Build High" (one of the original Purple Tape demos, and actually close to a highlight on here), the punky "Vamos"-style "Weird At My School", and the extremely grating "Bailey's Walk", easily their worst song ever - what a dumb novelty that one is, as the histronic vocal approach gets a little over the top (okay, a lot over the top). Fortunately, that's the only real low point, and for a B-sides collection, one big misfire isn't bad at all.

As far as the covers go, there's a more intense live version of "In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)", a couple takes on Neil Young in the form of "I've Been Waiting For You" and "Winterlong" (the latter of which really stands out if only for the gorgeous harmonies on it, and the beautiful melody the song already had is no slouch either), as well as even video game music on "Theme From Narc", a cool oddity there. I haven't exactly named all the songs - none of them are bad except "Bailey's Walk", but they're B-sides for a reason, and unlike the eventually addictive Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, they pretty much remain unmemorable on further listening - but I wouldn't want to spend that much time on a review of a damn B-sides album anyway. Overall, definitely worth getting as a final companion piece to their regular studio albums.

OVERALL RATING: 7

I wasn't even planning on reviewing any Pixies albums besides the regular-issue studio ones, but I saw several copies of this disc at the library and decided that it was just too easy of a cheap (read: free) listening opportunity, so I took it home, ran it through AudioCatalyst and burned it onto an MP3 CD for my listening pleasure (If you're from the FBI, that's actually cool reviewerspeak for "I purchased it legally at a retail store for $15 and the artists in question have received royalties for my purchase"). I don't even really know which Pixies album tracks were released as singles (except "Here Comes Your Man" of course) but these are their B-sides, 19 of 'em, all packaged together for you, the consumer and avid Pixies fan. Surprisingly, most of it sounds pretty much exactly like the material that made it onto their albums. The rub's that none of it's particularly wonderful, so if the songs actually were on any of their regular albums I wouldn't be listing them as highlights (except for the layered "Into The White," which adds five more minutes of gleeful Kim Deal shoegazing to the Pixies canon, thus upping the previous total from "seven minutes" to "twelve minutes").

The songs are generally all pretty good, though, the best of which are a pair of gorgeously-harmonized Neil Young covers ("I've Been Waiting For You" and "Winterlong"), a slow surf-ballad-ish take on "Wave Of Mutilation" which works a lot more than anybody could possibly expect it to, the last two and best two minutes of "The Happening" turned into a song of their own and renamed "The Thing," and an uptempo slice of pure-pop catchiness bearing the moniker "Make Believe." An alternate but very-similar-to-the-original take on "River Euphrates" shows that the song still kicks just as much ass as it did before even when you can hear the vocals, and a live cover of "Vamos" from Surfer Rosa is included, which benefits greatly by segueing into a droning take on "In Heaven" from the soundtrack of David Lynch's Eraserhead. None of the other songs are really worth mentioning, but with the exceptions of the somewhat annoying "Bailey's Song" and "Santo" they're all fairly worthy compositions on a fairly worthy compilation. Plus, the problem with most artists' B-Sides collections is that the choppiness of the material makes it all seem kind of fakely strung together......but we're taking about the Pixies here, so this choppiness basically gives off an aura similar to any given one of their albums. Score one for the weirdos!

OVERALL RATING: 7

PIXIES (2002)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: None. LOW POINTS: None.

This release really belongs right alongside Come On Pilgrim in the Pixies' discography because, well, a part of it actually is Come On Pilgrim, half of the same demo tape that first led the Pixies on the road to greatness. The legend of the 'other half' of the album has been a part of the band's history for years, and here it is, finally seeing daylight 15 years later as a brief 18 minute EP. It mainly consists of songs that would eventually be re-recorded on all of the next four albums (plus one decent but unspectacular rocker "Rock A My Soul" and the ever-present cover "In Heaven"), and all I can say is that it seems like they entirely picked the great stuff on the demo for Pilgrim, because in the wake of most of these songs existing in much better versions elsewhere, Pixies is utterly inessential for anyone but diehards.

I'm actually very shocked that the All Music Guide wrote such a long review for it, going into detail about how much different these versions are than their more well-known counterparts, but I just can't bring myself to care or notice anywhere near as much - "Break My Body" and "Broken Face" sound weak compared to the more intensely produced versions on Surfer, plus while it's nice to know they had "Here Comes Your Man" written this early in their career, and it's still a great song, that doesn't mean this version adds anything to the Doolittle one. In fact, it has a unnecessarily meandering instrumental bridge in between the intro and verse that detracts from it. "Down To The Well" does stand out more on here without being amongst the generic half of Bossanova, but it was never one of their top songs in the first place, and the same can be said for "Subbacultcha" and "I'm Amazed". I know this selection of songs may have been part of an intended album originally, but in the wake of their career path, this plays out a lot more like a very short outtakes album than anything at all worth your time. Nothing on here is bad at all, and on its' own the song quality probably merits a 7 or so, but I drop the rating severely out of sheer archival pointlessness.

OVERALL RATING: 5