Surfer Rosa - The Pixies (1988)

You might get a notice on the embed that you have to go to Youtube to view age-restricted content. Seems distinctly un-rock-n-roll, but here we are.

The Pixies were one of the most influential bands in the grunge and alternative rock movements of the 90s, which is a little funny since the original version of the Pixes had already broken up by the time most of that movement happened.

This first full album is a landmark in what you could do with unembellished, unpretentious rock music.

The start / stop, loud / soft / loud dynamic would be the blueprint for so many bands over the next decades. They didn’t invent it but they were very good at it. Funny, silly, and occasionally chilling lyrics helped set the expectations of what was to come as well.

Black Francis (aka Frank Black) would go on to be a fixture of rock music both as a solo artist and in the re-formed 21st century Pixies. That re-formed version had to do mostly without the (important, imo) contributions of original bassist and Breeders frontwoman Kim Deal, largely to their detriment but boys with guitars will be boys with guitars.

I was surprised to find that I haven’t written up any albums produced by Steve Albini other than this one. Albini’s work (he sometimes takes producer credit, and sometimes is just listed as engineer) has been described as a black and white snapshot of a band. He worked hard to get out of the way and present the strengths and weaknesses of the band exactly as they are, without using the studio to embellish. This record is a good example of his work.

Tracks I Liked

Bone Machine - great opener

Gigantic - the most sing-alongable Pixies song?

Where Is My Mind - Besides being a cracker of a tune, you might have heard it in other contexts