[.ca] Surfer Rosa

Before the Breeders and Frank Black, there was this Boston quartet, playing hardcore's rush and terseness against the acoustic grit and the minor-key flourish of Latin pop. Their first full-length album is their starkest, harsh and trebly, with the drums right in your face, and songs edited to eliminate any note that's not absolutely necessary. Singer Black Francis yelping away about destroyed bodies and the river Euphrates, alternately acting cryptic and crazed. Kim Deal, then calling herself "Mrs. John Murphy," contributes the highlight, "Gigantic," a creepy anthem about childhood voyeurism. The playing is snarly and tricky but unfailingly tuneful, and the hooks come out of nowhere, hiding behind the noise, and bite down hard. --Douglas Wolk

Pixie Dust Bite:
Buy Buy Buy! If your ears are vomiting of todays chart topping music and you prefer someting a little more strange, weird, screamed, spine tingling and most importantly influential, Surfer Rosa is your choice.

The only CD to ever blow me away on the first listen:
How can I put into words how great this is? "Surfer Rosa" is one of the best CD's I have ever heard. I am a huge Nirvana fan, and when I first heard this CD, even I had to admit to myself that this band, the Pixies, laid the basic blueprint for Nirvana. When you actually take the time to listen to the Pixies, if you know anything about music at all, you realize that without them, the whole Seattle sound phenomenon may never have happened. This is just an amazing album. Messy, explosive, dirty, raw, brilliant -- those are just a few ways to describe it. Every track is great in its own way, but some standouts are "Bone Machine," "Where Is My Mind?", and the Kim Deal-penned "Gigantic," one of the best expressions of female sexuality I've ever heard. All of the instruments are excellent, particularly the drumming, and Black Francis' (Frank Black's) vocals are perfect. Some say the underproduction of Steve Albini is pretentious and unnecessary, but it's not -- it just means you have to listen a little harder, and that's a great thing. I first heard this CD the day before yesterday, and I've listened to it six times since then -- that's how undeniably great it is. Do yourself a huge favor, and run out right away to buy this. If you like the kind of music that led you to be checking out Pixies albums on amazon, you'll love this album.

Start here for Pixies:
Surfer Rosa is so seminal that this meager review can do it no justice. I'd be ashamed to provide a summary of this album; it's just so damn good. Pixies were the band I wanted to be when I was 20, and Surfer Rosa is the album I wanted to make. Hell, they still are; it still is. It's flailing, emotional, hilarious even. It's daring and open and certainly not akin to mainstream rock of its era. How do I pick a gem on an album that's so great from start to finish? I'm just not going to. If you're a fan of rock, be it "indie" or arena, you should own this record.

If at first...:
This is the album to buy if you want to start getting into the Pixies. I wasn't sure what to think about the album on my first listen. Then as I listened more, I realized the genius in the simplicity of this album. The one thing I did notice was the production of the drums. They sound HUGE. Steve Albini was at his best with that. Highlights are "Where is My Mind?" "Cactus" and "Bone Machine."

Everyone loves this band because they kicked:
This band did everything before anyone else. In the late eighties they rocked the casbah with surfer rosa, their second album. Their is so much original young talent in this band that comes through, fifteen years later i love listening to them, they never soured like REM or Janes addiction, they just broke up. They have an edgy punk sound without going over the edge that sonic youth goes over, they can still be appreciated by the masses. I am one of millions that would agree, they have a huge cultlike following and are defacto foundation layers of riffy, innovative, catchy and sometimes funny / unusual...it helps if you speak spanish as every now and then they will sing in spanish (seldom)...

• Bone Machine
• Break My Body
• Something Against You
• Broken Face
• Gigantic
• River Euphrates
• Where Is My Mind?
• Cactus
• Tony's Theme
• Oh My Golly
• You Fucking Die! I Said... \oHidden Track\c
• Vamos
• I'm Amazed
• Brick Is Red