624. Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988)
















Track Listing

1. Bone Machine
2. Break My Body
3. Something Against You
4. Broken Face Listen Listen
5. Gigantic Listen Listen
6. River Euphrates
7. Where Is My Mind?
8. Cactus
9. Tony's Theme
10. Oh My Golly!
11. Vamos
12. I'm Amazed
13. Brick Is Red

Review

Ah, the first Pixies album (Come on Pilgrim is really an EP), and probably the best, Steve Albini's production just gives it that extra little menace that puts this album a little notch above Doolittle. There isn't a bad song in the bunch, all of them are great and then for different little reasons. Sometimes they are powerful, sometimes charming, but always great.

Few albums have been as successful in creating an original sound and also being extremely influential. There is very much an identity to the Pixies which is fully formed here, be it the Latin influences, the surf music influence or the way it is all peppered with the right amount of noise to make it accessible enough with just the right amount of challenging.

The fact that Kim Deal probably has her most marked presence of any Pixies album also explains the attraction of this. She just has a great voice, and as you can see from Gigantic, and the Breeders later, she can also write songs pretty well. Really an amazing album.

Track Highlights

1. Where is My Mind?
2. Gigantic
3. Vamos
4. Cactus

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Surfer Rosa's lyrical content includes examinations of mutilation in "Break My Body" and "Broken Face", while references to superheroes appear on "Tony's Theme". Voyeurism appears in "Gigantic", and surrealistic lyrics are featured on "Bone Machine" and "Where Is My Mind?". Puerto Rico references and Spanish lyrics are found on the tracks "Oh My Golly!" and "Vamos." The latter track was previously featured on Come on Pilgrim, and appears on Surfer Rosa as a rerecorded version of the original song. Many of the themes explored on previous recordings are revisited on Surfer Rosa; however, unlike on the band's later albums, the songs in Surfer Rosa are not preoccupied with one overarching topic.

Where Is My Mind?: