The Album Review Club - *** Christmas Break Playlist (next album 7/1/26) ***

Having moaned at a lack of Metal on this thread and being volunteered by @Coatigan it seemed appropriate to not put forward a Metal album as my first offering!

Pixies are the most influential Alternative Rock band ever, and Doolittle is probably the most influential album of its genre - discuss.

For me this is their iconic album (Surfer Rosa is a very close second) but I do like most of their music - even the latest album Doggerel is a good listen.

The first time I heard this album it took my breath away, and has done so pretty much every play since. If we had a poll of greatest opening album tracks, ‘Debaser’ would be up there for me. It sets the tone of the whole album and embodies all that is great about Pixies music. Kim Deal rocks the opening bass line and paves the way for some typical discordant Pixies guitar. I gave up trying to understand the vocals a long time ago for the whole album there are references to surrealism, the bible, the environment and failed Japanese businessmen (apparently!).

Listening to this album in one go is like a great roller coaster ride. You get the intense acceleration with ‘Debaser’ and then the rest of the album is white knuckle ride of awesome tunes. You just turn up the volume, hang on and enjoy (hopefully)! ‘Debaser’ is definitely one of my favourite songs from the album, it has interesting but ultimately nonsensical lyrics and brilliant chord structures. Kim Deal's fantastic backing vocals, are particularly stand out on this opener, but she nails them all and her and Black Francis create amazing dynamic harmonies.

As one of my all time favourite albums there aren’t any low points. If I’m being a little critical, 'Silver' is the only slightly under par tune but it leads into the immense final track ‘Gouge Away’.
Here Comes Your Man', 'Monkey Gone to Heaven' and 'Hey' are the other stand out tracks. It’s even got a traditional love song ‘La La Love You’ if anyone is in need of a tune for Valentines Day ;)

This album is at times dark and sinister. But at the same time it is a lot of fun. The best thing about Pixies is that the music is so catchy and the tunes so hard hitting and memorable.

I think Fog put The Breeders forward as an offering. It will be interesting to see how this compares with folk. This Pixies lineup is the original and best. Since Kim Deal left they’ve struggled imho to recreate this sound and I think Doolittle is the pinnacle of their music. Having said that the current bassist Paz Lenchantin comes a pretty close second, and they still seem to enjoy playing together live (they’re touring again in March).

I love this album. Play it loud and then rip it apart, I’ll still be blasting it out and enjoying it when I’m even older and greyer!

 
The Pixies one of those bands i find a couple of great tracks inbetween some not so great.
It will be an interesting listen to see how this album stands now.Never have they been in my favourite bands list but it has my favourite Pixies song 'Monkey Gone to Heaven' on it.
First listen to the Pixies this century coming up.
 
bennyboy said:
The Pixies one of those bands i find a couple of great tracks inbetween some not so great.
It will be an interesting listen to see how this album stands now.Never have they been in my favourite bands list but it has my favourite Pixies song 'Monkey Gone to Heaven' on it.
First listen to the Pixies this century coming up.
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I nearly went for another Biffy Clyro album just for you ;)
 
Simiar to a few here, never made it through a full album, never got into the band.

Was quite looking forward to a metal album, but this one is probably long overdue its go.

Tried this particular album some time ago, although didn't persevere. Was tempted to try again when Breeders was up, but didn't find the time. Third time lucky perhaps.
 
Coatigan said:
How were you not better at the guessing game, better memory of posters' likes and dislikes than many here, including myself.
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I may have him confused with another poster. I seem to remember he refused to partake in that particular review. Some things just stick in the mind I guess (or not!)
 
GornikDaze said:
As a matter of interest what are your pre-conceived ideas?
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Shouty old rubbish - which is short-hand for lots of high-pitched/distorted guitar, lots of screeching and not much melody.

But I always give albums a fair crack of the whip on this thread. I even gave The Smiths a 6/10, so we'll see how it measures up.
 
RobMCFC said:
Shouty old rubbish - which is short-hand for lots of high-pitched/distorted guitar, lots of screeching and not much melody.

But I always give albums a fair crack of the whip on this thread. I even gave The Smiths a 6/10, so we'll see how it measures up.
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Interesting. I’ve dragged Mrs Daze to many Pixies gigs over the years, and I think she shared your preconception. We saw them support Pearl Jam at Hyde Park in the summer and as we came out she said she finally ‘got it’ and thought they were awesome that night. Needless to say we are off to see them again in March at her request
 
I was very busy with work when they started to become famous and for reasons I'm no longer sure off I thought Black Francis seemed a bit of a knob and so didn't give them a fair crack of the whip which I've subsequently kept meaning to do over the years but just never got round to it; so this is a nice pick and a good opportunity from my point of view.
 
threespires said:
I was very busy with work when they started to become famous and for reasons I'm no longer sure off I thought Black Francis seemed a bit of a knob and so didn't give them a fair crack of the whip which I've subsequently kept meaning to do over the years but just never got round to it; so this is a nice pick and a good opportunity from my point of view.
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That's the beauty of this thread.

Over the years, several people have said how good the Pixies are and you just shrug it off and think "it's not my thing".

But I like that once you've committed to this thread, you have to listen and you have to be fair, measuring each album against what you've heard before. In doing this, you are gradually widening what you listen to and get an appreciation of what you like and why you like it.
 
It’s an album I have. A few years ago I went through a phase of collecting albums that were deemed influential. This one came up repeatedly so I bought it, played it a few times and filed it under NMT.

Had it on the car as I did the dump run. Will give it at least a couple more shots before I comment further :-)
 
RobMCFC said:
That's the beauty of this thread.

Over the years, several people have said how good the Pixies are and you just shrug it off and think "it's not my thing".

But I like that once you've committed to this thread, you have to listen and you have to be fair, measuring each album against what you've heard before. In doing this, you are gradually widening what you listen to and get an appreciation of what you like and why you like it.
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I’d agree with this.
I’ve sort of semi-tried a few times to give The Pixies a listen and always pass it off as much the same sort of noise, that may well have been a big influence in grunge, but only a few songs stuck with me.
They are a band I really want to get, for the Kim Deal connection alone but we’ll see.

Another interesting week ahead.
 
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