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PixiesAlbums ReviewedCome on Pilgrim (1987)Surfer Rosa (1988) Doolittle (1989) Bossanova (1990) Trompe Le Monde (1991) Come on Pilgrim(1987)New Zealand is a lovely country, with lots of sheep and mountains, and it's a good idea to come and visit us if you ever have the chance. Charles Thompson, however, made the right decision in 1986, when he opted out of taking a trip down under to view Halley's comet, and instead formed a band. He rechristened himself Black Francis, and took some vocal pointers from a Thai rock star. He recruited his roommate Joey Santiago, an unpredictable lead guitarist, Kim Deal (at that point known as Mrs. John Murphy) whose gutsy vocals and bass provided an excellent counterpoint to Francis' compelling screaming, and David Lovering who held all the various parts together with solid drumming. The resulting conglomerate, the Pixies, were one of the most idiosyncratic rock bands to emerge in the last twenty years of the twentieth century. Francis cites Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary as two of his favourite bands, and the Pixies' music reflects those influences; their song structures and melodies are generally catchy and listener friendly, but Santiago's guitar infuses them with a nastier edge. What really sets the band apart is Francis' vocals; his voice erratically screams its way through whatever topic comes to mind. Their debut EP, which took its name from a quote from CCM pioneer Larry Norman, was compiled from the demos that the newly formed band sent in as an audition for their record label. The subject matter of Come on Pilgrim is far less esoteric than on later releases; it does begin with his tribute to reindeer ('Caribou'), but marginal topics like incest and STDs are more familiar to rock and roll than Francis' later interests. Come on Pilgrim is consistently engrossing, but its short length counts against it, and Francis' vocals and Santiago's guitar are more controlled and less interesting than on later releases. It does provide Surfer Rosa with some excellent bonus tracks, and is more consistent than the album itself. 
Surfer Rosa(1988)Surfer Rosa is more expansive and more idiosyncratic than Come on Pilgrim, although it's in a very similar vein musically. Steve Albini's fuller production gives the album more impetus, while Santiago and Francis' personas are far more developed. There are few better three song sequences in recorded music than the trio of 'Gigantic', 'River Euphrates' and 'Where Is My Mind?' located in Surfer Rosa. 'Gigantic' is Deal's vocal spotlight, and sole writing credit; the subject of the song is somewhat distasteful, but it's awfully catchy. 'River Euphrates' is virtually incomprehensible, but I'm yet to hear a Pixies' song that I like more. 'Where Is My Mind?' is about as close as Surfer Rosa comes to a ballad; the music's pretty, but the lyrics are macabre ("Your head will collapse/But there's nothing in it/And you'll ask yourself/Where is my mind?"). Surfer Rosa gets off to a good start too, with the memorable 'Bone Machine' (with a particularly memorable second verse: ".........yup yup yup") and the driving 'Break My Body'. Elsewhere Surfer Rosa doesn't hold attention particularly well; none of the remaining songs are particularly bad, but every time I play this I want to hear 'River Euphrates', 'Where Is My Mind?' and 'Bone Machine' before I bother with the rest of the record. Surfer Rosa is coupled with Come on Pilgrim on CD, and it would probably be fair to up the rating half a star for the complete package since the total number of fantastic songs increases, and both releases are more noteworthy for their handful of amazing songs rather than sustained brilliance. Whatever I've just said, Surfer Rosa is little short of essential since its best songs are so memorable and unique.
Doolittle(1989)After the abrasiveness of Surfer Rosa, Doolittle is surprisingly poppy. It's still strange and skewed, but it's disarmingly laid back for large parts of the record. Black Francis comes up with a more personal set of lyrics than on other Pixies' albums; there are plenty of obtuse references ('Dead'; a retelling of the Biblical story of David and Bathsheba with the inspiring final verse "Uriah hit the crapper, the crapper") and general fancifulness, but there's also the occasional uncharacteristic tale of personal distress in 'I Bleed' and 'Tame'. Doolittle is an improvement on Surfer Rosa, despite the less upfront sound, because it sustains interest better over the course of the album, although the good second half isn't able to measure up to the almost flawless first side. Kim Deal is all over the record with lots of smooth energetic vocal parts that counterbalance Francis' inspired screaming, while Lovering gets a rare moment in centre stage with a crooning lead vocal in the either ultra-sincere or ultra-ironic 'La La Love You.' Doolittle gets off to a wonderful start with the nasty 'Debaser', complete with a set of ridiculous lyrics. "But I am un chien andalusia/Want to grow up to be a debaser" reads Black Francis' bizarre statement of crooked intent. The next six songs maintain this high standard impeccably, with wonderfully skewed pop/rockers, the peppy mellowness of 'Here Comes Your Man', and the memorable 'Monkey Gone To Heaven' with a lovely string section and a unforgettable bridge ("then GOD is seven"). Regrettably the Pixies can't keep up the momentum and the second half is nowhere near as exciting, although still perfectly listenable. While the material on the first half provided plenty of examples of good solid songcraft, the second half is far more reliant on gimmicks like the repetitive 'La La Love You' and the wacky 'Crackity Jones'. It does end on a higher note with the countryish Deal co-write 'Silver' and 'Gouge Away', a song that Kurt Cobain claims inspired much of Nirvana's output. While this album isn't quite as flawess as it's made out to be, there's plenty of good material and the group's zaniness is endearing as ever, although the Pixies were yet to create their ultimate masterpiece.
 Bossanova(1990)Bossanova is often regarded as the weakest link in the Pixies discography, and I'm certainly not going to argue with that. It's not so much weak in terms of material - this record's more even than the weaker second halves of Surfer Rosa and Doolittle - as it is in terms of style. Often it just sounds like a watered down version of the previous record, with some of the quieter songs failing to register ('Ana') and other songs using noise to compensate for a lack of ideas ('Rock Music'), and even though they're dabbling with new styles such as surf music influences, it's easily the most predictable Pixies record. What's also noticeable is a lack of participation from Kim Deal; she doesn't contribute any songs and there's nary an audible backing vocal or memorable bassline anywhere. Frustrated by Black Francis's reluctance to place any of her songs on Pixies albums, she created The Breeders as an outlet for her musical abilities and their debut album Pod was released the same year. While it's arguably the most diluted Pixies album, Bossanova still has its moments that less charismatic bands would cherish. The off-kilter chorus of 'Is She Weird', the dark blues of 'Down To The Well' and the jerky new wave rhythms of 'The Happening' are instances of unhinged brilliance, while the alien love song 'Velouria' and the catchy 'Dig For Fire' are the most accomplished songs. While there's nothing completely awful, a lot of the other songs are relatively unexciting; 'All Over The World' goes on for more than five minutes (a prog epic by Pixies standards) without doing anything exciting, only the repeated title makes an impression from 'Hang Wire', while the dynamics free full octane 'Rock Music' fails to leave an impression. Only the Pixies could pull of something as off kilter yet catchy as 'Dig For Fire' and 'Velouria', which makes the more routine moments of Bossanova all the more disappointing.
Trompe Le Monde(1991)There aren't any individual songs on Trompe Le Monde as strong as 'Debaser' or 'River Euphrates', but this album is better than its predecessors because it's relentlessly good. The tracks all segue into each other, maintaining a fast pace, while someone scrambles up the styles so that the album skitters unpredictably from simple rockers to pretty ballads. On the whole Trompe Le Monde is loud and abrasive, while Kim Deal is again pushed into the background. Deal's virtual absence leaves room for Santiago to spray his unpredictable lead guitar parts all over the place, and he's constantly able to invigorate the album with his catchy aggressiveness. The solo in 'Space (I Believe In)' is brilliant in its laughable simplicity, while the conclusion of 'U-Mass' collapses under with a chaotic explosion of guitars. Most of the songs are based on geeky science fiction themes; 'Motorway' to Roswell' tells the story of the rumoured alien landings while 'Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons' describes a lunar landscape. It's kind of pointless singling out songs from this album; if I was in charge of choosing the single I'd probably go for the catchily brain dead 'U-Mass' (a salute to Francis' old university). On the other hand, if I had to drop a song I'd give the slightly aimless 'Distance Equals Rate Times Time' the boot. Both of these choices, however, are arbitrary, as the quality level is very even. The absurd lyrics are back in 'Space (I Believe In)', with Francis dedicating half the words to his observation that the session keyboard player (Jefrey) only spells his name with one f. Largely due to tensions between Deal and Francis, the Pixies announced their split in 1993, but their short career was generally as much fun as a barrelful of monkeys. Few groups have managed to provide such a high entertainment quotient while maintaining artistic integrity and inspiring a legion of imitators. Black Francis started a solo career as Frank Black, while Kim Deal launched The Breeders. Rumour has it they've been playing together again in secret, but Black Francis promises that they'd have to get really drunk before they'd commit to a full scale reunion.
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Written 2001-2007, Graham Fyfe
