The Pixies. The artsy crowd love them, but unlike what so often happens, this is actually a good band. Right from their debut EP,
Come On Pilgrim the band had strived to make a difference in the rock scene. However, where
Pilgrim and full-length debut
Surfer Rosa were basically sonic attacks of the visceral kind, 1989’s
Doolitle is a creepily melodic, somberly naïve album.
Featuring the «monkey gone to heaven» on the cover,
Doolitle kicks off with
Debaser, which perfectly combines the band’s poppy sound with Black Francis’ raspy, angered vocal delivery. Upon listening to this song, one starts to notice something unusual: much like in Nirvana, it’s Kim Deal’s bass that drives the song, with the group’s estrogen bearer also delivering all the backing vocals on the album. ^
But after
Debaser, a strange pattern takes place: only the odd-numbered songs are good.
Wave Of Mutilation (track #3) is perhaps the album’s crowning jewel, with
Debaser (#1),
Here Comes Your Man (#5) and
Gauge Away (#15) following suit. From the even tracks, only
Tame,
I Bleed and
Monkey Gone To Heaven stand out.
Crackity Jones is very funny, but by no means a Pixies classic, and as for the rest they’re merely uninspired filler songs, some of them so short you don’t even notice them, others boorishly long and uninteresting.
But putting the music aside for a second, let’s focus on the lyrics. They’re often surrealistic, frequently sardonic, and have nothing to do with the group’s sugary melodies. Take
Here Comes Your Man, for example. It’s been played exhaustively in radio stations all over the world in the past decade. But how many people have noticed that the song is actually about a burial…from the dead man’s point of view?! Other songs contain odes to marijuana (
Gauge Away) or guns (
There Goes My Gun) and there’s even an ecology-conscious lyric on
Monkey Gone To Heaven (a song about a little monkey that dies covered in «10.000 tons of sludge from New York and New Jersey», which contains references to the destruction of the ozone layer).
However, as good as the lyrics are, many of the songs need improvement musically. And that is basically why I am not going to bow down to this record like everybody else. It’s undoubtedly a good record, arguably the Pixies’ finest hour, but it’s a far cry from perfect. Still, all of you indie-rock fans should give it a try. It’s worth your time.
Reccomended Tracks:
Debaser
Wave Of Mutilation
Here Comes Your Man
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Gauge Away
