Pixies - Bossanova

Popular music must have really changed in twenty years, because I've never found the Pixies to be as inaccessible as people seem to say they were. I know they were recording just before grunge and alternative rock in general really took off, but an album like Bossanova hardly seems out of the mainstream now to me. I mean, it's not exactly what you'd call standard rock, but I could easily see songs like "Velouria" or "Is She Weird" playing on the radio. The album definitely has less of a unique reputation than their earlier work, and while I don't like it as much as Doolittle there's definitely a lot to find. The funny thing is, while it may be more mainstream, it took me longer to get into. I like most of the songs now, but at first it only really seemed to get good somewhere in the second half.

The first two songs, one of which is a cover, feature very little vocals and mostly serve as an extended introduction to the band's general sound. Of the fourteen songs, some are pretty darn short, some are a bit longer, some more melodic and others a bit off-beat, most of them focusing on otherworldly themes and being driven by a nice mix of Black Francis' eccentric singing, Joey Santiago's guitar, and Kim Deal's bass and backing vocals. Really, the second track's title of "Rock Music" is pretty fitting. My favorite song is probably "The Happening", with a unique spacey chorus consisting of a single sound changing in pitch, and which overlays with a half-sung monologue in the last section, one of the band's best moments. To be honest I was more interested in getting Surfer Rosa but chose this instead so I'd finally have an album from the year 1990 since I'm kind of weird, but it ended up working out pretty well.

Pixies - Doolittle

Doolittle is as good an argument as there is for simplicity in making music. They never get into complex structures or timing, they just make good rock music with a couple guitars, a bass, drums and a couple interesting voices. Kim Deal's pleasant femininity is a mellow counter to Black Francis' eccentric shouting, whispering, and laughing. He can still sing pretty normally when he wants too, though. It's a bit lo-fi, but better for it, as the lack of cleanliness in the production adds perfectly to the tone of the music. None of the songs are too long, with the 15 songs lasting less than a total of 40 minutes. They cut out all the fat and get straight to the essence of their sound, not a band for wasting time. It's definitely a strength of the album that it's so tightly focused. Deep, simple baselines and steady drums provide a backbone for alternating high-pitched and crunching guitar riffs. They often get into fast-paced, repetitive grooves that are as basely affecting as anything in music. They're usually a bit dark in tone, but can depart from that without sounding off. "Here Comes Your Man" sounds positively like surf rock, and "Mr. Grieves" has a reggae feel in the verse, but both still sound like Pixies.

"Debaser" starts it off perfectly, and is pretty much a microcosm of the band. "I Bleed" is slower paced, and uses Deal's vocals to great effect. Her voice has a haunting quality to it, and sets the mood for a lot of songs. "Monkey Gone To Heaven" has strange, spoken lyrics, string accompaniment, a great chorus and bridge, and might be the best of the album's many great songs. "Crackity Jones" is an awesome, very fast-paced song. "No. 13 Baby" is the longest track and given the most space to stretch out, which it manages to use well. "Silver" is another departure, which feels like a Western anthem. The dropping, picked guitar and forlorn vocals just brings the image of a duel with six-shooters in the dusty street to my head. "Gouge Away" is another nice song and brings it all home with the groovy verse and loud chorus. I didn't know music this old could be so kickass.