[.ca] Bossanova

Death of the Pixies:
Someone has to say it, even if it gets me the dreaded "not useful" ratings for being negative about a CD from one of the best rock bands of all time. If you liked the raw sound of Surfer Rosa or Doolittle (two of the greatest CDs of all time), or the greatest hits/live double CD, Death to the Pixies, don't count on liking this. Despite 60 or 70 good reviews below. This is the Pixies very toned down. There are a few songs I enjoy - mildly - every 5 years or so, like Digging for Fire and Velouria, but this CD was where I started to lose interest in this band. I could go on for pages about the greatness of the Pixies or Surfer Rosa. I think Kim Deal kept making good music for a long time after the Pixies. But the Pixies became boring to me right about here. Your mileage may vary, but personally I'd go for Surfer Rosa, then Doolittle, any of the live CD's that come into print, and maybe even the new Wave of Mutilation best-of. And then to the Breeders and Amps if I want to keep the Kim Deal connection. In at least one rabid Pixies fan's opinion, if you don't need a complete Pixies collection, better to buy something from another band than this. If you like Frank Black's solo work, or if you like other later Pixies CD's like Trompe Le Monde, disregard this - you may like Bossanova as well. It's just a huge break from the early sound of the band.

the weirdest thing the pixies ever did.:
My favorite band throughout all of high school broke up when i was in 9th grade. It's ok though, cuz I dropped out before completing 10th. This is they: The Pixies. Ecce Pixies. The first time I heard this (I had bought it earlier that day, in the cheap bin at the Aiken mall on cassette) I listened to it the whole thing, over and over, on the long greyhound ride from SC to WV, going home for Thanksgiving break, 1992... I was one week shy of 14. It's odd- Come on Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa are both visceral angry, snarling little albums- you can hear the progression, but they both sound similar. Same for Doolittle and Trompe le Monde- both are poppy, punky, surrealistic little goldmines with songs about topics as diverse as Roswell, Samson being blind and pulling down the temple pillars (Gouge Away), how we bringing the apocalypse down on or heads, love and gun-running on a panamanian schooner... BUT. Bossanove sounds like nothing else The Pixies ever did. And that's why it's my fave (She's my fave, undressing in the sun...). It's an ethereal, black-as-night, grim but gorgeous album full of reckless punk screaming and the rambling lyrics of Black Francis, Ms. Deal's badass bassery, Dave's fine drumming and the ever-inimitable Mr. santiago's piercing guitar lines. This is the album that made me want to learn surf guitar (before all you cheap copsters with your pulp fiction soundtracks crashed the gates, he he). Velouria, The Happening, Ana (my favorite song by them- a gentle and soft spanish masterpiece that stands out utterly in their corpus, sounds like waves breaking on blue sand at sunset), Cecilia Anne, Allison... This is an album that you can put on and enjoy. Oh, and it works really well if you put it on while waatching Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland,' indulge in some minor league organic substance abuse, turn the tv volume down and- ENJOY.

Like shoegazing Talking Heads:
This album was my formal introduction to a band that largely set the stage for the grunge generation of bands that followed after they disbanded in 1992, only to get back together in 2004 for the Coachella festival. Though the comparison is a bit far fetched at times, for the most part, Pixies' 'Bossanova' makes me think of a raw Talking Heads (think "All Over The World" and "Dig for Fire"), showered with a shoegazing sound of sorts, such as the case of the closing track "Havalina" (my favorite in the album). There's plenty more great songs, like the brilliant "Rock Music" where the unsettling screaming goes in hand with the guitar riffs to deliver one solid album opener (though it's song #2, it feels as if the album doesn't start until you get to it), and the college classic, "Velouria", which is to say that this is one album that deserves close attention and listening. Though for most newcomers into their music, you might not find the album to sink in after just one listening, the true downside of the album is the short length of most of the songs, many of which don't even live to see the 3-minute mark. Definitely leaves you wanting more, after a few listens.

Like Talking Heads playing shoegazing music:
This album was my formal introduction to a band that largely set the stage for the grunge generation of bands that followed after they disbanded in 1992, only to get back together in 2004 for the Coachella festival. Though the comparison is a bit far fetched at times, for the most part, Pixies' 'Bossanova' makes me think of a raw Talking Heads (think "All Over The World" and "Dig for Fire"), showered with a shoegazing sound of sorts, such as the case of the closing track "Havalina" (my favorite in the album). There's plenty more great songs, like the brilliant "Rock Music" where the unsettling screaming goes in hand with the guitar riffs to deliver one solid album opener (though it's song #2, it feels as if the album doesn't start until you get to it), and the college classic, "Velouria", which is to say that this is one album that deserves close attention and listening. Though for most newcomers into their music, you might not find the album to sink in after just one listening, the true downside of the album is the short length of most of the songs, many of which don't even live to see the 3-minute mark. Definitely leaves you wanting more, after a few listens.

It's my kind of "Rock Music".:
Even though "Surfer Rosa" and "Doolittle" get all the praise, this is actually the album I play most. Not that I don't love the others as well, but "Bossanova" has a sound and flow to it that really works. Alot of the tracks are short but rocking ones, like "Cecilia Ann", "Allison", and "Hang Wire". "Dig For Fire" is really the only track I remember being popular, and it isn't even the best one. That would be "The Happening", and for that song alone I will never get rid of this. Overall it's a great disc, maybe not the first one I'd recommend, but a must for the "Pixies" fan. After one listen you'll be "Blown Away".

• Cecilia Ann
• Rock Music
• Velouria
• Allison
• Is She Weird
• Ana
• All Over the World
• Dig for Fire
• Down to the Well
• Happening
• Blown Away
• Hang Wire
• Stormy Weather
• Havalina