Doolittle - Pixies

Advantages: An album that's imaginative, well written and original.
Disadvantages: Sometimes the lyrics might leave you a tad confused

...The musical style of Doolittle is something that proves very difficult categorise due, in the main, to the fact that the Pixies sound is so different to anything else that went before or came after. Sure they had a huge affect on the era of grunge that was just beginning to sprout when Doolittle was realised (a certain Mr Kurt Cobain himself said no Pixies then no Nirvana) but Doolittle lacks the angst ridden pure aggression that typified grunge. ...
...like that. The music on Doolittle alone encompasses so many sounds ranging from metal to country with lyrics that are often dark and depressing in nature. Sticking with the label alternative rock is probably the best policy for those that need a genre. What can be said though is that the music of consistently high quality and is always a pleasure to listen to and is probably best described on a song-by-song basis. ~~#Debaser#~~ If nothing else ... Read review

Advantages: Impassioned
Disadvantages: I was too young 1st time around !

Although I was a bit young to find the Pixies when I was younger (I'm only 20) after hearing a few tunes I invested in their best of Death To the Pixies, and sybsequenty the rest of their back catalogue. While always alternative, the Pixies managed to weld their dynmanics and passion to insanely catchy riffs and choruses, and Frank Black's lunatic vocals on Debaser are enough to grab the attention of any listener, but even the more restrained tunes ... Read review

Advantages: The abiliy to swap between two contrasting thought processes.
Disadvantages: n/a

...enough to be nu-metal. Doolittle is, as are most Pixies albums, different to all the other Pixies releases. This album in particular is quite dark and sombre, with the expected exceptions. It uses the rocky style of the Pixies, yet incorporates the early inspiration that was to become grunge at the hands of Nirvana. Kurt himself has said he was influenced by Black Francis and his motley crew. Track Listings: 1. Debaser 2. Tame 3. Wave of Mutilation ...
...7. Monkey Gone to Heaven 8. Mr Grieves 9. Crackity Jones 10. La La Love You 11. No. 13 Baby 12. There Goes My Gun 13. Hey 14. Silver 15. Gouge Away The songs on the album are all outstanding, especially due to their variety. The opener to the album is 'Debaser', the most successful Pixies track to date, with it's poppy theme. On a similar note, it contains 'Here Comes Your Man', which is cheese pure and simple, but brilliantly done. However, ... Read review

Advantages: More accessible Pixies, beautiful melodies
Disadvantages: None Whatsoever

Doolittle is a strange album as it combines dark, moody music with poppy, upbeat music, in a Pixies way ofcourse. Don't get me wrong, this cd is not happy and jolly. We still have all the screaming from Black Francis, the insanely wonderful guitar from Joey Santiago and whining backup vocals from Kim Deal. The cd opens with Debaser, one of their finest ever songs, which is sure to make you drum your hands on your thighs. Then we have darker, heavier ...
...quietly and burst into a loud, in-your-face chorus. Here Comes Your Man is probably their most poppy, catchy song ever, yet it still done in the regular Pixies way. Undoubtedly, the highlight is their biggest hit, Monkey Gone to Heaven, an amazing song with quiet voice-and-bass-guitar verses, typical of the Pixies, and again bursts into a chorus to kill all other choruses. Every single other song on the album is also good. Not a single weak track ... Read review

Advantages:
Disadvantages:

Doolittle, the Pixies’ third album, opens with “Debaser”, the band’s most successful single to date. This song has been covered by, among others, Kerbdog (who split up recently – and Wilt have been formed by the lead singer – check them out), and it sets the feel for the rest of the album. Kim Deal’s simple, melodic bass lines and Dave Lovering’s usually even simpler drums (although the drum track on “Debaser” is amazing) act as a tonic to the manic ...
...lead vocals of Black Francis. This is the first Pixies album I ever bought, and it made me buy everything else they had ever recorded. The only (slightly) bad track on this record is “Silver”, as it is quite dissimilar to the others, and I would say this is the only bad song the Pixies have ever recorded. Highlights on this album are “Monkey Gone To Heaven”, “Wave Of Mutilation”, “Gouge Away”… the list goes on and on… If your musical tastes are ... Read review

Advantages: An almost indecent amount of variety on display
Disadvantages: Not so much a "band" record

...tragically hip English indie label 4AD by Throwing Muses (and soon to be Pixies) manager Ken "Anything" Goes. 4AD cherry-picked it down to the 8 track mini-LP "Come On Pilgrim". The astonishing sound this mis-matched foursome made was streamlined still further by producer Steve Albini on their debut full-length, "Surfer Rosa", and by the time the Gil Norton helmed "Doolittle" came out in 1989 the Pixies were the coolest band in the world, at least as far as the English music press were concerned; a substantial audience in England agreed with them, and "Doolittle" made number 8 in the main album charts, almost unheard of for an indie LP in the late 80s. These first three releases pretty much told the listener everything he needed to know about the Pixies sound; indeed, almost twenty years on, "Surfer Rosa" and "Doolittle" are still considered... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Brillant songs
Disadvantages: So badly recorded it's not funny

...Surfer Rosa is my favourite Pixies release. OK, it's not as good technically as Doolittle, (in fact is one of the worst recorded things I've ever heard) but the songs still shine through - my favourites being Gigantic (sung by future Breeders singer Kim Deal under the name of Mrs John Murphy) and Where is My Mind? which showed that under all the shouting they could do a slow number. Overall though (especially when coupled with Come On Pigrim - as it is on the CD reissue) it is a very good buy - although i would recommend Doolittle if it was the first Pixies album you were thinking of buying..... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average off topic

Advantages: Thurston Moore takes the creative lead on this one
Disadvantages: Not enough people are listening to this

...left of field nineties guitar band. Daydream Nation although not their most accesible album is in my opinion their best, the tracks are noisy and share a theme of fast paced anti-melodic Punk. (I hesitate to use the word punk as this could mean many things which do not apply) The Album has a strange quality in that I am to this day unable to give a name to any of the tracks, I dont have a favourite track, Daydream Nation is more than the sum of it's parts. Related Bands: Pixies, Pavement, Nirvana, Jesus and Mary Chain, Dinosaur Junior, Butthole Surfers. If you like Daydream Nation these are some other albums I would recommend. Pixies: Doolittle Pavement: Slanted & Enchanted Thurston Moore: Psychic hearts To conclude with a word of warning I would like to mention that Sonic Youth are not to everyone's liking, the Music... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful