Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…

20 March 2018

BAND: PIXIES

ALBUM: SURFER ROSA

RELEASED: 21 March 1988 – 30 years ago…

ARTWORK: “A photograph of a topless ‘friend of a friend’ of the band, posing as a flamenco dancer, pitched against a wall which displays a crucifix and a torn poster. Simon Larbalestier, who contributed pictures to all Pixies album sleeves, decided to build the set because ‘we couldn’t find the atmosphere we wanted naturally.’ According to Larbalestier, Black Francis came up with the idea for the cover as he wrote songs in his father’s “topless Spanish bar”; Larbalestier added the crucifix and torn poster, and they ‘sort of loaded that with all the Catholicism.”

ROLLING STONE wrote: “Smack in between hardcore punk and alternative, it was difficult
to make sense of the Pixies’ ferocious noise. Their secret weapon was leaping from sweet to screaming, pensive to pummeling: On “Gigantic,” Kim Deal sings like Peppermint Patty as the band drives a spike into Eighties rock.”

ALL MUSIC wrote: “In a year that included landmark albums from contemporaries like Throwing Muses, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine, the Pixies managed to turn in one of 1988’s most striking, distinctive records. Surfer Rosa may not be the group’s most accessible work, but it is one of their most compelling.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME! says: One of my all-time favorite bands. Shattering havoc, other-worldly catchiness, hellish racket, shrieking choruses, lots of primal s*c*r*e*a*m*s and utterly cool Kim...

THREE HIGHLIGHTS: Where Is My Mind? / Bone Machine / Gigantic…

* WHERE IS MY MIND? – genially deranged…

* BONE MACHINE – piercing live rendition…

* GIGANTIC – coolest bass player ever…

SURFER ROSA in full…

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Pleased to meet you – Turn Up The Volume‘s first (1990) of many Pixies concerts…