The only reason this album gets four stars is that the Pixies followed up this beautifully unhinged monster with Doolittle, a beautifully unhinged monster that can make you cry, rage and die inside, while at the same time seeing the world in colors you didn't realize existed before.
Doolittle is, above all, a classic album. Surfer Rosa is, above all, a classic debut. Those are different things. Surfer Rosa has its fistfuls of classic tunes, to be sure, but compared to Doolittle? No contest.
The first thing to know about this album, before freshly unwrapping it and sticking it into your player, is that Steve Albini produced it. I've never been much of a fan of his, as he tries to bring hyper-masculine tendencies to what, really, comes down to arty, sometimes downright femmy (in a malicious way) rock. He made P.J. Harvey's Rid of Me go from an after-hours confession to a wall of shrapnel. He took the nuance of Nirvana's In Utero and stomped it into submission. And he turns this debut full-length from the Pixies into a clattering drum and spiky guitar fest. I'm not one to say that this approach does not work for some bands, where the noise is key. But the Pixies, Nirvana, P.J. Harvey -- their words were just as important as the musical storm, and Albini buried them.
The other problem with Albini's approach, using lots of treble and little to no overdubs, is that a few of the songs near the end of this release are pleasant enough throwaways that are revealed immediately for what they are. Under the supervision of a different producer, these could have been made into great songs. In Albini's hands, they stick out as filler, flaws bleeding freely into the air.
Still, what's done is done. And it's hard to argue with the opening drum pummel of Bone Machine. You get the first taste of Black Francis' vocal style as he sardonically praises his lover for cheating on him. Things grow more and more fierce, until, between the thud of Dave Lovering's drums and the thump of Kim Deal's bass, he drawls out "I was talkin' to a peachy-peach about a kissy-kiss. He bought me a soda. He bought me a soda. He bought me a soda, and then he tried to molest me in the parking lot. Yep! Yep! YEP!" Deal joins Francis on the bridge, both of them sounding both angry and fallen at the same time. More screeches, lots of psychotic guitar meltdowns from Joey Santiago, and then both Deal and Francis coo out "Your bones got a little machine."
This leads directly into Break My Body, which could almost be a flip-side of Bone Machine. It shares the same heat, the same agony, and the same idea. Only, in this one, Francis essays activities like jumping from building to building, and missing his footing. Again and again on this release, the Pixies turn mutilation into sex. In this case "Break my body, hold my bones, hold my bones."
Something Against You is a hard-charging throwaway. Francis screams through his guitar pickup, so I have no idea what he's actually saying. It's a cute idea, and it's fun to listen to, but it doesn't really register as anything more than a textural difference.
Broken Face, begins with a looped and distorted Francis cooing, in near joy, "I've got a broken face! Uh huh, uh huh, ooo!" Things get stranger from there, with talks of drilling holes in heads, missing lips and tongues, and, since this is the Pixies, an obligatory mention of incest. What I love about the Pixies is they take these sick, twisted, violent fantasies and visions, and turn them into vital, burning, ugly/beautiful rock music.
The poppiest song on the release is next, done by Kim Deal. Francis lamely adds his vocals to the background, but that can't mask the fact that this is Kim's song all the way. Gigantic is its name, and fantasies of following a black man into the bushes near the side of the road is its game. You will be humming along with this. No. You will be singing, loudly, along with it. It is so catchy that the subject matter is even more subversive than it should be. Everything in it clicks, the vocals, the lyrics, the guitars, bass and drums finding their way into the sky.
River Euphrates follows, and it is the most unhinged moment on this release (and my personal favorite). Francis details in the verses how he has run out of gas on the Gaza Strip, and later on wishes to choke on salt from the Dead Sea. Kim adds frail, sexy "Ride"s throughout the build-up, then the chorus crashes into pure bedlam, buildings collapsing and people running for cover, as Francis screams "RIDE A TIRE DOWN RIVER EUPHRATES!" At one point, so loud and low, he doesn't even sound human.
Where Is My Mind? was made famous by the movie Fight Club, for being the music that played as large corporate towers crashed to earth. The lyrics are, on the surface, about Francis spotting a fish fluttering near his head in the Caribbean on a scuba dive. But his tone of voice, and the sadness of the delivery, turns it into a song about isolation, disconnection, and a curious hope that things will get better. Again and again when the Pixies want to get serious, they'll ride to the sea. ("Wave of Mutilation" and "Monkey Gone To Heaven" off of Doolittle, "The Sad Punk" off of Trompe le Monde, etc.)
Cactus is the closest to the blooze that the Pixies ever got. A song so well done, describing little letters back and forth between a convict and his lover outside the gates, that David Bowie covered it. It's still strange and a bit twisted -- the convict, for example, begs his girl to run naked in the desert, get bloodied by a cactus, then wipe off all the sweat and blood against a favorite dress and send it to him -- but it's also poised, and probably the closest thing to maturity this release has to offer.
Tony's Theme is another piece of filler. It's another cute one, positing itself as "a song about a superhero named Tony -- it's called Tony's theme!" But I have no idea what's going on in the verses, and Albini's ear-bleed approach doesn't help distinguish the words. In fact, it extinguishes them. One wonderful thing about the song, though? Kim sounds so sexy that I want to climb through the speakers...
"Oh My Golly," "I'm Amazed" and "Brick is Red," follow a similar template for me. I love the Spanglish of Oh My Golly, and the exultant chorus of "Rosa! Ooooh, Rosa!" But other than that moment, the song doesn't stick with me. I'm Amazed and Brick is Red is by-the-numbers Pixies.
Which leaves "Vamos," a song that was done once already on their debut EP, Come on Pilgrim. Well, this version buries the previous. I don't know if it's more practice, a better familiarity around their instruments, or what. But this song -- you play it, and the walls melt.
How is it possible for any album to surpass this? Meet me at "Doolittle," and find out.
PIXIES surfa rosa 1988 BONE MACHINE break my body SOMETHING AGAINST YOU broken face GIGANTIC river euphrates WHERE IS MY MIND? cactus TONY'S THEME oh my golly! VAMOS i'm amazed BRICK IS RED
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