Trompe Le Monde - Pixies > Reviews > The Navajo Know

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	The beginning of a new musical era
Disadvantages:	The end of a musical era

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Pixies... a great band for every generation. Trompe le Monde... the album that ended that generation. In fact, Trompe le Monde is credited with being one of the greatest Pixies albums and appears in many top 100 albums of the 1990's.

The album itself was released in 1991 and includes a wide variety of music, and can be described as highly eclectic, no matter how cliched the term has become. It is definitely one of Black Francis's finer musical moments.

It contains 'U-Mass' and 'Planet of Sound', two songs which both appear on the Pixies best of album, Death to the Pixies, as well as 'Head On', which is a Jesus and the Mary Chain cover. Tracks such as 'Planet of Sound' and 'Subbacultcha' provide the more rock based moments on the record, whilst lighter tracks such as 'Letter to Memphis' and 'Motorway to Roswell' give Black Francis, or Frank Black as he is now known, a platform for deep and emotional vocals. When considering individual tracks, it's hard to forget the fantastic playing of Joey Santiago on the totally unique 'The Navajo Know'.

All in all, Trompe Le Monde is almost a decade old, but Frank Black and his motley crew inspired many a modern artist, and this is acknowledged by a far few including both Kurt Kobain and Dave Grohl. Trompe Le Monde is by far my favourite Pixies album and seems never to age... everyone should at least listen to if not buy a copy...