Saturday, March 21, 2009

Surfer Rosa - Pixies Review

1. Bone Machine
5 Stars

A very great song, it's one of my favorite songs off the album. It has a very raw sound and a very powerful chorus. The guitar is very well-played and the lyrics are very creative.

2. Break My Body
4.8 Stars

Once again, the guitar has a very raw sound and very catchy lyrics. This song does take a while to get into, but so do a lot of their other songs, but overall, this is a great song.

3. Something Against You
4 Stars

My least favorite song, but it's still a prettu good song. Steve Albini, the record's producer, put Black Francis's voice through an amp (I'm not sure if that was it) to get the really rough sound out of it.

4. Broken Face
4.2 Stars

This is probably the song I listen to the least on the whole record, Somethisong Against You probably being the second. I'm pretty sure this song is about self-mutilation, and even if it's not it really seems like it.

5. Gigantic
4.7 Stars

Named as a "Pixies classic," Gigantic plays the same bass line throughout the whole song, and has a a really raw (again) guitar chord progression. Kim Deal's only song on lead vocals that's on a studio album. For me, this song marks where everything starts getting really good on the album. The songs meaning is about watching a black man and white woman have sex, and is most about "big black cocks." What isn't to like about this song?

6. River Euphrates
5 Stars

This is one of the best (in my opinion) Pixies songs of all time, along with other songs on this album.

7. Where Is My Mind?
5 Stars

This song marks the second half of the album. This is the song that I liked right away. This is the song that made me want to keep listening to Surfer Rosa. This is the song that made me want to get more Pixies albums. This was my favorite song for a really long time. If it wasn't for this song, I probably wouldn't have listened to Surfer Rosa again. All of their songs take a while to really grow on you, but with this song I was instantly blown away. This song, of course, also appeared at the end of Fight Club and now, because of that, this is the only Pixies song anyone really likes or knows at all, which actually annoys me a lot now. Same thing with anyone that only knows the Pixies from Fight Club. A little note about the bass line, almost every bassist thinks Kim Deal goes into sixteenth notes during the end, but she stays with eighth notes the whole time.

8. Cactus
5 Stars

The guitar has a really bluesy sound to it. This was the second song that I really got "hooked" on. Even though the lyrics kind of creeped me out, I still would listen to it. Also, this song is one of many examples of Lovering's (the drummer) repeated use of the same drum beat.\

9. Tony's Theme
3 Stars

I'll be honest, I really don't like this song. Some parts of it are kind of good, but all together this song is kind of boring.

10. Oh My Golly!
3.9 Stars

This song is a good example of Black Francis's bilingual vocals (Vamos being next).

11. Vamos
4.5 Stars

Let's go play by the beach!
I really like this song a lot, but I never listen to it because of the interlude is so long. I know that's kind of a weird reason to not listen to it, but instead I just listen to the version off of Come On, Pilgrim. But what sucks is that the song, vocals and music, is performed way better off the Surfer Rosa version.

12. I'm Amazed
5 Stars

This is another one of those songs that I liked right away after listening to it once. This is a great song and one of my favorite pixies songs.

13. Brick Is Red
5 Stars

Again, one of those songs I liked right away, and again one of those songs that are one of my favorite Pixies songs. I really like listening to the gutiar intro for some reason, it is of course very raw and when it gets to the vocal parts, it's still very great. This song feels a lot longer than just 2 minutes.

Song Average: 4.6 Stars
My Overall Average: 4.8 Stars

A very, very raw album, which is what I prefer. This might be their rawest album they have ever made. Joey Santiago is a very good guitarist, along with Black Francis. Kim Deal is a very "simple" bassist, along with David Lovering with his repeated drum beats. Overall, this is a very great album, either this or Doolittle are my favorite albums. I highly reccomend this album, and to anyone listening to it for the first time, please give it time. This is a kind of album that you need to wait until you start feeling the full effect of it.

No comments: