Bossanova

Pixies sound different here. The bass is less prominent, Kim is less prominent full stop actually, although she does make important contributions. This is very much a Black Francis song-writing showcase, and a Joey Santiago guitar playing showcase! Take ‘Cecilia Ann’ for instance, a fast Surf-Rock guitar instrumental to open. And then the second song is called ‘Rock Music’, and two tracks in manages to be one of the heaviest songs on the entire album. Charles is screaming but his vocals are slightly buried, but it hardly matters when the guitars are as heavy and great as they are. And then ‘Velouria’, a stunningly weird sci-fi pop song, a twisted love song, a song that means nothing at all? It’s just a damn fine song with lots of melody, Kim on support vocals and more great guitar. It was said The Pixies had gone ‘soft’ with ‘Bossanova’ by certain critics. I can’t see that myself. Well, sure, this record lacks any screaming as loud or aggressive as ‘Tame’. It lacks the raw edge of ‘Come On Pilgrim’. But, there are plenty of aggressive guitar parts here, even with the seemingly more commercial melodies of a ‘Velouria’. ‘Allison’ may be one of the best one minute seventeen second long songs ever written! ‘Is She Weird’ is suitably ‘weird’ I suppose, and also totally brilliant. The guitars are again to the fore, bass guitar too for this number and the vocals are more the demented Pixies vocals of old. But, do we even want ‘demented’ Pixies when we can have utterly beautiful Pixies, such as ‘Ana’ or ‘All Over The World’. ‘Ana’ is truly beautiful with Surf style guitar and very pretty and soft vocals. ‘All Over The World’ is something of an epic by Pixies standards, topping the five-minute mark. It progresses through various sections actually, contains some great sounding guitar and vocal parts throughout. It’s a song with a different structure than anything they’d done before and shows Black Francis trying to experiment with the music of The Pixies and not become stagnated too much within a particular style

‘Dig For Fire’ opens with one of those patented distinctive Pixies guitar introductions, moves into a fairly strong chorus but never quite takes off in the manner it sometimes threatens to. ‘Down To The Well’ features a more aggressive vocal performance, ‘The Happening’ even more so, Charles screams the vocals out but then we have softer, beautiful vocal and guitar passages. It’s a wonderful work of contrast, and yeah, the softer guitars really do sound wonderful and hauntingly beautiful. ‘Blown Away’ is more standard fare by Pixies standards, but still a strong piece of work by anybody else’s. ‘Hang Wire’ gets to grips with itself with some impressive guitar, both lead and bass – a great sound. ‘Stormy Weather’ is a favourite of mine, I don’t quite know why, just something about the weariness in the vocal performance added to the guitar sounds. ‘Havalina’ is another beautiful softer surf guitar influenced instrumental track. The vocals here are brief but the echo added to them works very well. Although ‘Bossanova’ probably is a step down from ‘Doolittle’ as far as the sheer impressiveness of the sound is concerned, there is something addictive about this, a special atmosphere surrounding it. OK, so that’s not exactly something tangible, and will most likely differ person to person. What’s more solid than some fanciful romantic atmosphere are the songs themselves. They are nearly all great, and ‘Bossanova’ ultimately is another special Pixies record.

 

 

 

Strange Days

The vast majority of these songs had already been written and arranged prior to the recording of the debut. Many of the songs hail from the same song writing sessions that produced their first long player. Since they largely already had a bunch of material ready this album appeared only six months after its predecessor. They sound more assured this time round, perhaps due to greater experience in the studio. The keyboard bass was replaced by a sessioneer on regular bass guitar for part of this record. It sounds slicker than previous recordings. We open with the title song. The keyboards swirl in madness, Morrison’s voice booms out loud and clear and it’s a fine song. A good start to the record all round as ‘You’re Lost Little Girl’ and ‘Love Me Two Times’ follow. The lyrics to ‘You’re Lost Little Girl’ and the tone of Jims voice gets to me every time. ‘Love Me Two Times’ is just stupendous! Especially arriving on the heels of the previous track. ‘Love Me Two Times’ works as a great rock song with a groovy rhythm! The Doors once again prove themselves adept at middle section breaks when great piano comes in guaranteed to raise a smile! A superb song all round.

‘Unhappy Girl’ despite the lyrical tone is lighter musically but extremely melodic with it. The music contrasts the lyrical content and helps you focus on the words, actually. Fine words they are too. ‘Horse Latitudes’ is very hard to take seriously. Musical effects bordering on the humorous despite their admittedly unsettling nature accompany Jim in preacher voice, reading out his spoken word poetry. Thankfully its short. It does serve a purpose breaking up the record sonically. In a sense its there to provide variety. One of the Doors earliest songs gets a recorded appearance next. ‘Moonlight Drive’ is another fine song on an album full of them. Very little faulting this record, actually. ‘People Are Strange’ has been covered a number of times and with good reason. Another fabulous set of intriguing lyrics and music full of hooks but without neglecting depth. ‘My Eyes Have Seen You’ is a great phrase to build a lyric around and the music is up-tempo and features plenty of Ray attacking his instrument with vigour! ‘I Can’t See Your Face In My Mind’ slows things down, sounds unusual but perfectly natural at the same time. Some exotic sounding guitar playing in particular a highlight of this track. Another great piece of cover art, incidentally, cementing The Doors position as a band that were indeed different from the norm.

The epic eleven minutes plus ‘When The Music’s Over’ closes the record. Strange Days indeed? It features Rays keyboard bass, is wonderful throughout and drags the album up a notch all by itself. Very intense and full of passion. Great playing from Ray, Robbie and John. We do have ‘Horse Latitudes’ however. We also have admittedly ‘Love Me Two Times’, ‘People Are Strange’ and ‘When The Music’s Over’. But, these apart, the record lacks obvious standouts of such a quantity as their debut. All the songs are still pretty great though and overall this is another fine and frequently exhilarating ride, no doubt about it!