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Surfer Rosa

Pixies

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iTunes Review

Released in 1988, Surfer Rosa is one of the early landmarks of the alternative rock boom that would arrive the early '90s. This album was so influential it jumpstarted many alternative bands, influencing Nirvana and Pearl Jam among others. The album itself is a five-star work of vast color and power. There's funky, heavy, zany, and wistful material from top to bottom, capturing every aspect of great rock 'n' roll, from jubilation to frustration, from sex to heartbreak, and from insight to humor-all with maximum visceral impact. Key tracks: "Where is My Mind," "Gigantic," and "Bone Machine"

Customer Reviews

Kurt Cobain's favorite ablbum at the time

My first Pixies album, this is definitely my favorite, with Doolittle following close in second. From the opening track to the end, this album shows the diversity and the talent of this band, with Kim Deal's fantastic vocals that only graced "Gigantic", but is a beautiful track. Frank Black's range shows from scream in "Something Against You" to "Where is my Mind?" is just mind numbing. Kurt Cobain at one point before his death called this album his favorite and that "Smells like Teen Spirit" was his failed attempt to write a Pixies song. Definitely one for the ages if you are an indy fan.

Wheel, Reinvented

To some, the charm of the Pixies will remain a mystery. To those who this album taps on the shoulder, it will be a revelation. The first time I began to understand, it reminded me of when the Ramones made sense. Vistas will open, your mental horizon grows, and you smile. Listen to it, regardless what you have heard. Let it be your experience. And join the club.

I think most important album in rock history is Surfer Rosa

As Poison was rising to the top of the rock scene with rubbish like "I won't forget you Baby" and "Talk Dirty to Me", the Pixies recorded and released an album that would influence every band who would later come to wipe the lipstick and the smile off of Bret Michaels' face. Surfer Rosa introduced the loud/soft dynamics that are the defining elements of early 90's alt rock. When Kurt Cobain transitions from singing "load up on guns, bring your friends...." over a bass line and simple 2-note guitar riff into "with the lights out it's less dangerous..." he is using a template that originated with songs like River Euprates and the earlier Ed is Dead. This was Cobain's favorite album and it shows. But where Nevermind was embraced by everyone from former metalheads to former punks to boot-scootin' rednecks, Surfer Rosa is a challenging album. It would never be the commercial success it deserved to be due to Steve Albini's dirty and raw production. This thing sounds like a live band playing in a studio apartment with a mic in the middle of the room. It's also simply too weird to be a mass-market hit. It opens with the lines "you're into Japanese fast food and I dropped off your Japanese lover and we're going to the beach all day....you're so pretty when you're faithful to me." It's an important album, but if you are new to the music of the Pixies, you may want to start with something a little more accessible like Trompe Le Monde or Doolittle and work your way into Surfer Rosa. I'm in the minority here. And I would even venture a guess that noone agrees with me... But I believe that River Euphrates is the band's best song. It's on here. And if you disagree with me and you don't like that song, then there are always the near-perfect boobies on the cover art. Everyone can agree on those.

Biography

Formed: 1986 in Boston, MA

Genre: Alternative

Years Active: '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

Combining jagged, roaring guitars and stop-start dynamics with melodic pop hooks, intertwining male-female harmonies and evocative, cryptic lyrics, the Pixies were one of the most influential American alternative rock bands of the late '80s. The Pixies weren't accomplished musicians — Black Francis wailed and bashed out chords while Joey Santiago's lead guitar squealed out spirals of noise. But the bandmembers were inventive, rabid rock fans who turned conventions inside out, melding punk and...
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