SACD / DSD

Pixies – Trompe Le Monde (1991) [MFSL 2013]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 38:57 minutes | Scans included | 1,23 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 819 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2066 | Genre: Alternative Rock

The title might be French for “fool the world,” but with Trompe le Monde, the Pixies weren’t fooling anyone: this was essentially Black Francis’ solo debut. It focuses on Francis’ sci-fi fascination and lacks any Kim Deal songs; even her backing vocals are far and few between. Yet the band sounds revitalized on Trompe le Monde, as if it were planned as their last hurrah. The raucous “Distance Equals Rate Times Time” and the explosive cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Head On” are fairly straightforward, but the lyrics remain quirky on “Planet of Sound,” a song about a Martian who lands on Earth, and “Palace of the Brine,” a tribute to sea monkeys and Utah’s Salt Lake. He even disses hipsters and pretentious students — basically, the Pixies’ fan base — with nasty little digs like “Subbacultcha”‘s “I was wearing eyeliner/She was wearing eyeliner” and “U-Mass”‘ “It’s eduuucaaationaal!” Musically, “Trompe le Monde”‘s psychedelic sheen and “Alec Eiffel”‘s atmospheric keyboards prove that the Pixies’ sound wasn’t defined by Steve Albini-style rawness. There’s also more emotional depth: “The Sad Punk” features the strangely poignant bridge “And evolving from the sea/Would not be too much time for me/To walk beside you in the sun,” and “Letter to Memphis” is a heartfelt, if cryptic, love song. Though Trompe le Monde doesn’t sound quite like the Pixies’ other work, Come on Pilgrim’s spooky beginnings, Surfer Rosa’s abrasive assault, Doolittle’s deceptively accessible punk-pop, and Bossanova’s spacy sonics helped make Trompe le Monde a rousing swan song and a precursor to alternative rock’s imminent success. Whether that means their music remained pure or they missed their chance to cash in is debatable; either way, the Pixies are one of America’s greatest, most influential bands.

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Pixies – Bossanova (1990) [MFSL 2008]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:12 minutes | Scans included | 1,63 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 828 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2035

When Bossanova arrived in 1990, it reflected the exhaustion the Pixies felt after Doolittle’s enormous success: For the first time, the band seems to be running out of ideas. Tellingly, Kim Deal contributes no songs, having formed the Breeders to give her work an outlet; that summer, their debut Pod won a warmer response than Bossanova received. Arguably the Pixies’ weakest album – though Francis has said it’s his favorite – most of it finds the band in fine form. Gil Norton’s spacious, reverb-heavy production makes the Pixies sound like a Martian bar band, which fits the cover of the Surftones’ “Cecilia Ann” and the glorious, shimmering closer “Havalina” perfectly. On the theremin-driven “Velouria”, science fiction imagery displaces Francis’ penchant for fetishistic lyrics; next to the token kinky song “Down to the Well”’s tired sound, it’s a refreshing change. The similarly cryptic “All Over the World” and alien abduction tale “The Happening” add to the sci-fi feel. Quirky pop songs like “Allison”, a tribute to jazz cool-cat Mose Allison, and “Dig for Fire”, Francis’ self-professed Talking Heads homage, heighten Bossanova’s playful, slightly off-kilter vibe, but rockers like “Hang Wire” and “Blown Away”, fall flat. However, “Rock Music” is one of the group’s most fiery outbursts, and “Is She Weird”‘s chugging grind and sexy, funny lyrics make it a classic Pixies song. The band was so consistently amazing on their previous albums that when they released a slightly weaker one, critics and fans alike judged them too harshly. But on Bossanova’s strongest moments, the Pixies explored their softer side and found different uses for their extreme dynamics. Like a straight-A student who suddenly receives a B+, Bossanova might have been a disappointment initially, but its (small) failings emphasize the strengths of the rest of the Pixies’ work.

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Pixies – Doolittle (1989) [MFSL 2008]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 38:43 minutes | Scans included | 1,57 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 810 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2033

After 1988’s brilliant but abrasive Surfer Rosa, the Pixies’ sound couldn’t get much more extreme. Their Elektra debut, Doolittle, reins in the noise in favor of pop songcraft and accessibility. Producer Gil Norton’s sonic sheen adds some polish, but Black Francis’ tighter songwriting focuses the group’s attack. Doolittle’s most ferocious moments, like “Dead”, a visceral retelling of David and Bathsheba’s affair – are more stylized than the group’s past outbursts. Meanwhile, their poppy side surfaces on the irresistible single “Here Comes Your Man” and the sweetly surreal love song “La La Love You”. 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. Though Doolittle’s sound is cleaner and smoother than the Pixies’ earlier albums, there are still plenty of weird, abrasive vignettes: the blankly psychotic “There Goes My Gun”, “Crackity Jones”, a song about a crazy roommate Francis had in Puerto Rico, and the nihilistic finale “Gouge Away”. Meanwhile, “Tame”, and “I Bleed” continue the Pixies’ penchant for cryptic kink. But the album doesn’t just refine the Pixies’ sound; they also expand their range on the brooding, wannabe spaghetti western theme “Silver” and the strangely theatrical “Mr. Grieves”. “Hey” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven”, on the other hand, stretch Francis’ lyrical horizons: “Monkey”’s elliptical environmentalism and “Hey”’s twisted longing are the Pixies’ versions of message songs and romantic ballads. Their most accessible album, Doolittle’s wide-ranging moods and sounds make it one of their most eclectic and ambitious. A fun, freaky alternative to most other late-’80s college rock, it’s easy to see why the album made the Pixies into underground rock stars.

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Pixies – Surfer Rosa (1988) [MFSL 2007]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 33:41 minutes | Scans included | 1,35 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 696 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2032

One of the most compulsively listenable college rock albums of the ’80s, the Pixies’ 1988 full-length debut Surfer Rosa fulfilled the promise of Come on Pilgrim and, thanks to Steve Albini’s production, added a muscular edge that made their harshest moments seem even more menacing and perverse. On songs like “Something Against You”, Black Francis’ cryptic shrieks and non sequiturs are backed by David Lovering and Kim Deal’s punchy rhythms, which are so visceral that they’d overwhelm any guitarist except Joey Santiago, who takes the spotlight on the epic “Vamos”. Albini’s high-contrast dynamics suit Surfer Rosa well, especially on the explosive opener “Bone Machine” and the kinky, T. Rex-inspired “Cactus”. But, like the black-and-white photo of a flamenco dancer on its cover, Surfer Rosa is the Pixies’ most polarized work. For each blazing piece of punk, there are softer, poppier moments such as “Where Is My Mind?”, Francis’ strangely poignant song inspired by scuba diving in the Caribbean, and the Kim Deal-penned “Gigantic”, which almost outshines the rest of the album. But even Surfer Rosa’s less iconic songs reflect how important the album was in the group’s development. The “song about a superhero named Tony” (“Tony’s Theme”) was the most lighthearted song the Pixies had recorded, pointing the way to their more overtly playful, whimsical work on Doolittle. Francis’ warped sense of humor is evident in lyrics like “Bone Machine”’s “He bought me a soda and tried to molest me in the parking lot/Yep yep yep!” In a year that included landmark albums from contemporaries like Throwing Muses, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine, the Pixies managed to turn in one of 1988’s most striking, distinctive records. Surfer Rosa may not be the group’s most accessible work, but it is one of their most compelling.

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