Music Banter - View Single Post - Wave Of Mutilation: Pixies Reviewed
View Single Post
Old 08-06-2011, 09:57 AM   #19 (permalink)
Zer0
 
Zer0's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Ireland
Posts: 3,792
Default

Bossanova
Year: 1990
Producer: Gil Norton
Length: 39:45




Track Listing:
1. Cecilia Ann
2. Rock Music
3. Velouria
4. Allison
5. Is She Weird
6. Ana
7. All Over The World
8. Dig For Fire
9. Down To The Well
10. The Happening
11. Blown Away
12. Hangwire
13. Stormy Weather
14. Havalina

Bossanova was the second Pixies album I bought after Doolittle. I remember seeing the rather excellent video for 'Velouria', which featured the band members moving in super-slow motion down some rocks, and thought "this song is awesome, I have to get this album next" Just watch the video, it's so simple yet so awesome. Bossanova really doesn’t disappoint as such, trying to top Doolittle was always going to be a tough challenge for the band, but fair play to them they did pretty damn well. On Doolittle, their first album with Gil Norton, the glossier production gave their sound more clarity and gave their music more listener appeal. On Bossanova the band would take this further and create a very melodic and straight-forward rock album with shimmering production, and as a result move even further away from the raw, energetic madness of Come on Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. By the time of this album tensions had already come to a head between Black Francis and Kim Deal, resulting in a brief hiatus. On return Francis had made it clear that the Pixies was his band and he assumed all creative control on this album, leaving Kim Deal feeling a bit alienated.

The album opens with an interpretation of The Surftones' instrumental 'Cecilia Ann', a track which seems to combine spaghetti-western soundscapes with Iron Maiden-esque gallops and even keyboards. Black Francis’ love of metal is perhaps the key influence on this track and would have more of an influence on the next album Triompe le Monde. 'Cecilia Ann' however is a very good introduction to this album, so good that Muse decided to rip it off for their song 'Knights of Cydonia'. 'Rock Music' couldn’t be a more suitable name for the second track. Joey Santiago’s energetic punk riffs provide the perfect backing for Black Francis’ intense and indecipherable screaming. The odd time signature in the verses adds to the unhinged feel of the song and shows that the Pixies were still willing to experiment with musical arrangements as well as write brilliant pop songs. However there’s none of this vocal intensity to be found elsewhere on the album as Francis’ vocals move more towards melodic, straight-forward singing on the biggest part of the album. The more melodic and better-produced sound does work wonders though at times, especially on the brilliantly memorable 'Velouria', which is one of the best songs the band ever recorded. Joey Santiago’s melodic, laser-precision lead guitar line in the intro is one of the many, many reasons to love the Pixies. He knows exactly what he’s doing with his guitar and makes it sound so effortless. As usual Black Francis’ lyrics don’t really make much sense, "Hold my head, we’ll trampoline, finally through the roof, on to somewhere near, and far in time". They do however paint a clear yet strange image in your head and seems to suggest space travel of some sort. This is the Pixies at their very best and stands up against all the standout songs on Doolittle and Surfer Rosa. The short sprint of 'Allison' follows this up very nicely, allowing the album to pick up pace a little bit. This is another highlight of the album, the fast surf-punk guitars recall their earlier material but this is combined with Francis’ melodic vocals to create a short, sharp pop song. There’s even some time for a noisy guitar solo and some Iron Maiden style-gallops with its one minute eighteen second length.

'Is She Weird' brings the album, and indeed the Pixies’ sound, into a darker and previously unexplored territory and marks an evolution in their sound further away from that on Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. David Lovering’s processed drums and Joey Santiago’s creepy-sounding guitars set the dark and hushed atmosphere for the song, but it’s Kim Deal’s bass and Black Francis’ unusually quiet vocals during the verses that really add to this feel. In true Pixies fashion however this atmosphere is punctuated by a louder chorus which allows Francis to raise his voice somewhat and towards the end of the song the band flex their muscles a bit and build up the noise though layers of guitar and Francis’ screaming vocals. 'Ana' shows a quieter and dreamier side to the Pixies, something you would have never imagined on Surfer Rosa. Playing a blinder on this song is lead guitarist Joey Santiago who sounds so effortless in his playing. Throughout the course of the album there are some moments of sheer brilliance from Joey who had now refined his lead guitar style into one that is full of melodic beauty and expression. Kim Deal and David Lovering are of course as solid as ever as evident in the intro to 'All Over The World', Kim’s groovy little bass line locks in perfectly with David’s solid beat and Joey’s guitar licks. The song follows a typical quiet-loud format although the chorus doesn’t quite pack the punch it should. What does pack a punch however is Joey’s guitar playing and especially those two solos after the first chorus. This song is basically like two songs stuck together, with the second ‘song’ forming what sounds like an extended outro to the first one. It makes for a pretty good ending to the first half of the album. Along with 'Velouria', 'Dig For Fire' is one of the highlights of the album for me and is among the Pixies’ best moments. The song has an almost funky edge to it, with tight funky-sounding guitars and Lovering’s almost danceable drum beats. As per usually with any of the Pixies’ songs the lyrics paint a strange and surreal picture in your mind, "There is this old woman, she live down the road, you can often find her kneeling inside of her hole, and I often ask her ‘are you looking for the mother lode?’ Huh? No. No my child this is not my desire and then she said, I’m digging for fire". Black Francis’ straight-forward vocals really seem to drive the song and those vocal hooks of "I’m digging for fire" make the chorus, and the song itself, one of the band’s most memorable moments. The album once again takes a slower and darker turn with the haunting 'Down To The Well'. The song features an excellent lead guitar line from Joey which is prominent throughout the verses of the song. Vocal-wise while Francis’ vocals do have a dark and uneasy feel to them they can’t compete with Joey’s guitar and fail to add much to the song. But just listen to the guitars on this song and you will be impressed. During the second half of the album however the music does seem to drop in quality, but only slightly. While ‘The Happening’ is a very good song it clearly can’t compete with some of the album tracks of Doolittle and Surfer Rosa. One very noticeable feature about this song however is, like 'All Over The World', is basically two songs stuck together. The second song here is in fact 'The Thing' which appears in standalone form on the band’s Complete 'B' Sides compilation.

'Blown Away' I can admit is a filler track. Although not a bad song you can’t help but feel they can do much better than this. The only thing that really seems to grab you here is some brief lead guitar licks but the song itself is not really worth noting. Coming in like a breath of fresh air somewhat is the rather good 'Hangwire', which basically sounds like the first cousin of 'There Goes My Gun' on Doolittle. Like the latter this is a relatively simple and straight-forward Pixies song with quieter, restrained verses and a punchy, memorable chorus. The lyrics are rather interesting and striking, "They’re going higher, wind is whistling on the barbs, your head’s a hammer". The lyrics also lend themselves to the album title "Every morning and every day, I’ll bossanova with you". Not the best song on the album but certainly one of the better ones. Following this however is the worst song on the album and possibly one of the Pixies’ weakest moments 'Stormy Weather'. It just sounds like they just couldn’t really be bothered with the developing the song into anything interesting. It’s pretty uninspiring and they could have easily have just left this song off the album. The lyrics just consist of Francis repeating the line "It is time for stormy weather", and perhaps going on longer than it should have. The album does end however on a sweet note with the beautiful and dreamy 'Havalina'. The guitars add a romantic air to the song while the soft cries of "Havalina" create a dreamy and otherworldly feeling. The disappointing thing about this song however is that it could have been developed into more of a song; one verse just doesn’t seem like enough and leaves you wanting more. But still it is a nice song to end the album with.

Bossanova does have some brilliant moments that are up there with the Pixies’ best. The musicianship appears to have come on in leaps and bounds and the production is even glossier than Doolittle with greater evidence of overdubbing, vocal effects and various instrumental effects. What seems to let this album down slightly are the songs. Despite songs like 'Velouria', 'Allison' and 'Dig For Fire' being among the Pixies’ best, overall the album lacks songs that can compete with songs on Doolittle and Surfer Rosa, as a result this album falls just behind those two albums. But this album is certainly well worth getting and is a very enjoyable album to listen to. Those who feel slightly underwhelmed by it after listening to Doolittle and Surfer Rosa will grow to love it in no time and like Doolittle and Surfer Rosa this album does have a character and feel of its own and is just another step in the evolution of the Pixies’ sound.

__________________

Last edited by Zer0; 08-06-2011 at 02:52 PM.
Zer0 is offline   Reply With Quote