Artist – Album: Pixies – Surfer Rosa
Released: 21st
March 1988
Sounds Like: the start of alternative 90's rock
Can you imagine what
it would’ve been like to be around the Pixies during their formative years,
before Frank Black being grew too big for his boots and before Grunge swooped
in to steal their essence? It must have been exhilarating to have seen them
when they were fresh, where their highly energetic bursts of music and mix of
screamed and crooned vocals would have had you panting for more; where they
headlined Netherlands (officially the coolest country in the world) despite
being relatively unknown worldwide and they played with their set lists by
playing through in alphabetical order or whatever. Or being the first amongst
your friends to have taken a chance on buying the album, sharing it with every
friend of halfway decent taste and scalding anyone who hasn’t heard it yet
because it’s THE FUTURE!
I can’t fathom how cool it would’ve been to have worked at
the studio where they teamed up with Steve Albini to record Surfer Rosa, laying down perfect pop rock
tracks such as ‘Gigantic’ and ‘Where Is My Mind?’, alongside insane
garage rock punk slices like ‘Bone
Machine’ and ‘Tony’s Theme’.
And, wow, what it was like for Frank Black, Kim Deal, David Leavering
and Joey Santiago we’ll never know. They
sound like they’re having the time of their lives, gleefully discussing
mutilation, scuba diving and love tokens for prison inmates. Apart from the bit
towards the end of ‘Oh My Golly!’ where Black seems
pretty irate and yells “you fucking die” to one of his bandmates.
It might be difficult for us to imagine what it would’ve been
like to have been there, but this album provides a thrilling glimpse at what a
riot it must have been like.
Albumaday... rating:
9/10
1. Bone
Machine – 3:02
2. Break
My Body – 2:05
3. Something
Against You – 1:47
4. Broken
Face – 1:30
5. Gigantic
– 3:55
6. River
Euphrates – 2:33
7. Where
Is my Mind? – 3:53
8. Cactus
– 2:16
9. Tony’s
Theme – 1:52
10. Oh
My Golly! – 1:48
11. Vamos
– 4:18
12. I’m
Amazed – 1:42
13. Brick
Is Red – 2:00
Listen to ‘Gigantic’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIu_b_fG_2g
No comments:
Post a Comment