Bossanova

Pixies

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 20, 2003)
• Original Release Date: August 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 4ad / Ada
• ASIN: B00008YJHC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,157 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

When they first hit the underground scene, the Pixies were like an exotic drink that hid its sweetness behind a ferocious bite. The album's production is like a crude explosion: every strum and clang comes down with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. English and Spanish lyrics collide as singer Black Francis (later Frank Black) shouts in a hoarse monotone and Mrs. John Murphy (later Kim Deal of the Breeders) backs him up with throaty wails. Yet somehow the clash of these bruising titans makes for tracks that print indelibly upon your consciousness--once let in. Kurt Cobain is their most famous student. He grafted the Pixies' time-honored craft of the big bang theory onto Nirvana's biggest hits. (You start with a quiet verse and then explode for catharsis in the chorus--evidenced best here with "I've Been Fired.") The Pixies themselves have served quietly, attaining post-punk godfather status not by tooting their own horns, but through the praise of a steady stream of genuflecting admirers whose word of mouth continues to increase the band's deserved critical standing. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the weirdest thing the pixies ever did., April 20, 2004

By	Campbell Roark "tri-zeta" (from under the floorboards and through the woods...) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bossanova (Audio CD)

My favorite band throughout all of high school broke up when i was in 9th grade. It's ok though, cuz I dropped out before completing 10th. This is they: The Pixies.

Ecce Pixies. The first time I heard this (I had bought it earlier that day, in the cheap bin at the Aiken mall on cassette) I listened to it the whole thing, over and over, on the long greyhound ride from SC to WV, going home for Thanksgiving break, 1992... I was one week shy of 14.

It's odd- Come on Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa are both visceral angry, snarling little albums- you can hear the progression, but they both sound similar. Same for Doolittle and Trompe le Monde- both are poppy, punky, surrealistic little goldmines with songs about topics as diverse as Roswell, Samson being blind and pulling down the temple pillars (Gouge Away), how we bringing the apocalypse down on or heads, love and gun-running on a panamanian schooner...

BUT. Bossanove sounds like nothing else The Pixies ever did. And that's why it's my fave (She's my fave, undressing in the sun...). It's an ethereal, black-as-night, grim but gorgeous album full of reckless punk screaming and the rambling lyrics of Black Francis, Ms. Deal's badass bassery, Dave's fine drumming and the ever-inimitable Mr. santiago's piercing guitar lines. This is the album that made me want to learn surf guitar (before all you cheap copsters with your pulp fiction soundtracks crashed the gates, he he).

Velouria, The Happening, Ana (my favorite song by them- a gentle and soft spanish masterpiece that stands out utterly in their corpus, sounds like waves breaking on blue sand at sunset), Cecilia Anne, Allison... This is an album that you can put on and enjoy. Oh, and it works really well if you put it on while waatching Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland,' indulge in some minor league organic substance abuse, turn the tv volume down and- ENJOY.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the pixies' greatest album (and that's saying something), December 15, 1999

By	Grock (the red river valley) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bossanova (Audio CD)

I, like many other young'uns, was introduced to the Pixies by the name-dropping habits of bands like Nirvana. After buying Doolittle, and scarfing up the rest of their releases, the rest of my CD collection has basically been rendered average. At first listen, Bossanova sounded rather dull compared to "Debaser," "Here Comes Your Man," and other perfect pop tunes off of Doolittle. But like any great album, it slowly but surely grows on you. Every listen will reveal a new quirk. "Cecilia Ann" gets things rocking majestically but of course with a surfer's touch. "Rock Music" has become my favorite song with indecipherable lyrics. Black Francis' scream is truly an instrument as much as the guitar or bass. "Velouria" has a guitar riff and melody that seem odd at first listen but totally make sense and seem like perfection later. This entire album is chock full of great melodies and harmonies. The fastest song on the album, "Allison," also seems to be a love song of sorts, or at least infatuation, featuring the simple yet effective lyric, "and when the planet hit the sun, I saw the face of Allison." "Ana" is a great acoustic song with an overall eerie vibe. Same for "Havalina," which closes out the album with a bit of calm after the chaotically fun "Stormy Weather," which I like to think of as a sing-a-long for the end of the world. Then there are the epic tracks "All Over The World" and "The Happening," which are great examples of lengthy songs that can keep a listener riveted through their entire playlength. The latter of the songs also features Black Francis' trademark lyrics dealing with outer space and its inhabitants. The album as a whole features wonderfully obscure lyrics that will leave you scratching your head, smiling, thinking, or possibly all of the above if you're moderately demented. I cannot stress how great this album is!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You must. You have to. BUY THIS CD NOW, January 15, 2001

By	Carlene Bellamy (the USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bossanova (Audio CD)

The first Pixies song I'd ever heard was "Where is My Mind?". At the time, I didn't think it was a *great* song, but nonetheless it was different and interesting enough to make me curious. A few years later I'd heard "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and "Here Comes Your Man" and I was hooked.

Doolittle was my first Pixies album, and it is great. But Bossanova is my favorite. To call Bossanova a perfect rock album would not be inaccurate. While not as well rounded as Doolittle, it is still a beautiful, powerful disc.

I still remember hearing it for the first time. I popped it in my CD player and was just blown away by "Cecilia Ann", a Surftones cover. DAMN! "Rock Music" followed, and even though I could not tell for the life of me what he was saying, I found myself screaming along to the lyrics anyway.

And then there was "Velouria". This is one of my favorite Pixies songs of all time. Weezer recently did a cover of this, but the original is still better. It's charged with this... ENERGY and EMOTION!

I have not the space here to describe the rest of the tracks on here, so I'll just pick my very favorites. "Allison" is short, but very catchy and with great lyrics. The cleverly titled "Ana" is mellow and smooth, and a true surf song (Hey- look at the lyrics sheet. The first letter of each line spells SURFER). "The Happening" is a wierd song but it has a great beat and what is more or less a Shakespearean sonnet at the end. It's also about Aliens :) "Stormy Weather" is a song that you WILL NOT be able to resist singing along with. And then, of course, "Blown Away". MY GOD, that is a great song. I love the lyrics.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If you have ever enjoyed a single Pixies song, or just love exceptional rock music, then you owe it to yourself to buy this album. The music on this CD is DRIVEN. You can FEEL the power an emotion behind every track. The lyrics are not your standard fare either, but are raw and beautiful, like poetry. Best of all, the Pixies know how to play their damn instruments! VERY WELL. They know how to achieve a powerful and driven sound without just hammering out power chords. The beat is charged. But there is something else that makes me love the pixies. They can somehow wrap the music around and let it carry you away, let you scream and dance and just lose yourself in the sound, and by the time it lets you go you just feel good. This album does that unassumingly from the first track and makes no apologies.

Buy this disc. Now.