Doolittle

Product Information

Doolittle’s push for the big time worked, at least in Britain: improbably enough, it made the top 10. The Pixies' arty, noisy weirdness mix with just enough hooks to produce gleefully demented singles like Debaser, – inspired by Bunuel's classic surrealist short Un Chien Andalou – and Wave of Mutilation, their surfy ode to driving a car into the sea. I listened on a U-Turn Orbit with Ortofon 2M Blue into a Schiit Mani and then a Schiit Vali with my HD6XX headphones.

Pixies – Doolittle (1989, Vinyl) - Discogs

Sleeve and inners have some minor discoloration marks and there is a very small tear on the opening side, inner booklet has no creases or tears. In a decade where, increasingly, image was as important as talent, the heavier end of the rock spectrum had descended almost into self-parody. Taylor’s Version) [From The Vault] Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) [From The Vault] Agora Hills My Love Mine All Mine “Slut! Connor: I think Surfer Rosa has higher peaks (and lower lows) but this album feels more cohesive and is better paced.There's no rule here stating that I absolutely have to be a fan of every single nominated album, is there? So this week I finally gave this album a spin, and to be honest I am still wondering what the hype was all about.

Pixies Reissues (Vinyl) | Steve Hoffman Music Forums Pixies Reissues (Vinyl) | Steve Hoffman Music Forums

Black Francis hollered and howled like that neighbour you always tried to avoid; singing about slicing up eyeballs, God being seven if The Devil is 6 and Man is five, and the sound the mother makes when the baby breaks. Doolittle was an album audibly intended to push the Pixies into the big time, or at least as close to the big time as a US indie band could hope to get in 1989, an age when mainstream rock meant Phil Collins and Tina Turner. My favourite track on Doolittle, though, is one that many people skip past or describe as filler, while also being the longest track here - at 3:52 positively prog-like in duration by Pixies standards. The vocalist often sounded like a non-vocalist, mixing screams and shouts with whispered, almost spoken passages, occasionally switching into Spanish for no apparent reason. Doolittle is bookended by violence, mainly being perpetrated on eyeballs, from the Bunuel-inspired surrealist slicing in Debaser to some Old Testament gouging, Samson and Delilah style, in closer Gouge Away.

Black Francis's caterwauling complemented nicely by Kim Deal's backing vocals and solidly underpinned by her bass and Lovering's drums with Joey Santiago's guitar riding over and around it all. Kim's bass dominates like never before but the drums, guitars and vocals are equally as clear and wonderful sounding.

Pixies: Doolittle 25 review – alt-rock milestone from US Pixies: Doolittle 25 review – alt-rock milestone from US

The Pixies proved so influential that it’s now almost impossible to imagine how bizarre they seemed on arrival in the late 80s. My original, which I assume is the US pressing, has a greenish label for the Doolittle album proper, while the new one I found has a more bronze-colored label, and the entire gatefold is built slightly thicker.By contrast, my CD copy has all the lyrics, the photos are much bigger, and they’re printed in a lovely duotone sepia. Francis is at all times in command of the album, quietly stringing us along before turning on us and screaming for attention.