719 Pixies - Bossanova (1990)

 719 Pixies - Bossanova (1990)

Studio Album - Alternative Rock



About the Act:

  • Origin: Boston Massachusetts
  • Style: Alternative Rock
  • Existence: 1986-1993, 2004-present
  • Membership changes: only two
  • Studio albums: 7

About the Album:

This was their third album

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

I can hear three things in here: post-punk, Talking Heads and Nirvana. 

Post-Punk is a term used for punkish bands that came along after the heyday of punk. This has a kind of punk feel to it in some ways, it is fairly simple (or seems it) and energetic, and the production makes it sound like it has been recorded in a barn - there is strong but close reverb on it, and the guitar is quite dominant, mostly crunchy, and quite choppy or thrashy at times.

In terms of talking heads, well it kind of has that sort of attitude, but also there are spoken sections that remind me of Talking Heads a lot, and the production is tending in that direction too. Also, the subject matter has at times the sort of studied banality with a small slice of weird, that Talking Heads were so good at.

Musically, Nirvana is the largest element, but this pre-dates Nevermind, for example, and Nirvana have quoted Pixies as an influence. There are three major things here. 1. The quiet/loud/quiet structure that dominates Nirvana. 2. The chord sequences and structures that are unusual, and seem somewhat random at times. 3. The really nice bass sound in the quiet bits.

As well as these things, there is another guitar sound which has caused Pixies to be somewhat labelled as Surf Music, it's that twangy surf guitar sound, and this is used a lot for solos. Finally, this is actually quite musically sophisticated at times. I have to respect a band that sound like they are punkish but are not scared to use an augmented chord. There are sometimes harmonies and it is musically well-put-together.

The singing varies, some is singing, there is some real screamy screaming at times, and some talking. The lyrics vary from pretty good and interesting to really repetitive and banal. For me, in this, the low point was Stormy Weather, and the high point was Is She Weird.

So, a bit of an enigma in some ways, definitely better than I expected from what little I knew of the band, and I generally enjoyed it, at least most of it. None of the songs are boss nova.

7/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0BK1LxNNcaNUtAqTBQAOR8

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLnDs-u_f2H6MRmVlackmdazXffWF7_-W

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bossanova_(Pixies_album)



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