Come On Pilgrim landed the Pixies on the map of the college
rock world, but
Surfer Rosa proclaimed that a new sheriff was in town and
was going to take rock in a whole different direction.
Rarely has a band been able to juggle so many big ideas into one
cohesive unit: lyrics about sci-fi, sadism, spaghetti-western tales
of vengeance over a backdrop of punk, pop and rockabilly surf rock.
But the Pixies were able to weave this mess into pop gold. Praised
as a landmark album,
Surfer Rosa logs in at barely over 30 minutes.
The duo guitar assault of Black Francis and Joey Santiago
combined punk, straightforward rock and even elements of rockabilly
and Tex-mex. Kim Deal’s bass provided the sturdy backbone and David
Lovering’s pristine drumming turned tunes like “Broken Face” and
“Something Against You” into three-minute blitzes. The more mellow
tunes were no less powerful, and are the most recognized tracks on
the album: “Gigantic” and “Where Is My Mind?”
Surfer Rosa is given a splatterhouse production sheen by
Steve Albini. Albini, known for his stripped, lacerating
production, can’t mask Thompson’s obvious love of a great Beach
Boys-like guitar hook. Still, there’s plenty of anarchism going on
in
Surfer Rosa, most notably Deal’s scattered, spoken-word
story about field hockey player lust.
If anything divides Pixies fans, it’s the
Doolittle vs.
Surfer Rosa debate. Much like how fans debate early Beatles
vs. late-era Beatles, some fans categorize themselves as
Surfer Rosa fans and some categorize themselves as
Doolittle fans.
Doolittle represents a warmer, hook-friendly Pixies
(courtesy of Gil Norton’s production) and
Surfer Rosa‘s anarchic fun. Do yourself a favor and pick up
both.
