Review Summary: Pixies = awesome
Doolittle may just be my favorite Pixies album. Seriously. It's forty minutes of pure enjoyable music. It's fun, uplifting, and a bunch of other things. This album came out a hair metal's peak, and while bands like Whitesnake and Bon Jovi were raping and killing rock and roll, bands like the Pixies were making it better. Oh, and without them (and maybe R.E.M., Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr.), no Nirvana. *gasp*
The longest song on Doolittle is like, what, four minutes? Yeah, pretty short. But sometimes, I like short songs better than long ones. Long songs tend to get boring after a while, and maybe that's why I can only listen to one or two Opeth albums a month. But anyhow, the Pixies have some really short songs. The first song on the album, Debaser, is only one minute and fifteen seconds, but it's an energetic blast of excellence. This song is way catchy. Every song on the album is catchy. And simple, too. Not simple as in KISS song simple, but really awesome simple, like The White Stripes (no offense to KISS, you were good in the 70's).
After Debaser and Tame, we get Wave of Mutilation, a song that everyone, whether they know it or not, has heard. It's short, sweet, melodic, and it's so good, it can make a brutal guy like me shed a small, small tear. After I Bleed, Here Comes Your Man comes up and it too blows my mind. It's one of those catchy sing-a-long tunes that just puts a big, huge smile right on your face. How anyone can not like this song is beyond me. Dead goes by, and then comes the Pixies' most famous song (besides Wave of Mutilation), called Monkey Gone To Heaven. While most of the previous songs were short and energetic (except for a few), this song shows a slower, darker side of the Pixies. It's a beautiful song really, with some great guitar-playing and subtle vocals from Black Francis until the end, which sends chills down my spine. When Black Francis shouts "God is 7!" at the top of his lungs, for some reason, I always shiver. What is this song about? Hell if I know. But it's so damn awesome, it doesn't matter what the hell it's about.
Unfortunately, after Monkey, the album goes
slightly downhill, but not really, because it's still on the level of completely amazing. Of the latter songs, the closer, Gouge Away, is easily the best. Although I would have preferred a more energetic or happier number to close the album, Gouge Away is spectacular either way.
Doolittle is one of the best albums ever made, hands down. If you like Nirvana and you haven't listened to this, you need to get on it right now!!! Doolittle is one of the only albums that makes me want to get up and dance, and one song later it makes me want to cry. I'm telling ya, not many albums make me do that. Trust me, Doolittle is a very special album. There's maybe one filler song on the whole damn album, and even then, it's good filler. So please, buy this album. It's a classic in every sense of the word. If you don't like the Pixies, you're not a friend of mine.
