Pixies - Doolittle (1989)

This is the third Pixies album I've had to review. Neither of the others were anything to write home about (and yes, I am aware that I wrote about both!). I'm not expecting much more this time around. I have noticed that since I've become aware of Pixies existence there are plenty of music critics who cite them as influential, especially when it comes to early 90s alternative rock and grunge. We'll see if Doolittle, released between Surfer Rosa and Bossanova is worthy of such praise.

"Debaser" opens things with a decent generic rocker track which is ruined by some asshole screeching incomprehensible lyrics. Same problem with "Tame". Both songs have a solid beat and bass line. If you're a teenager from 1989 and you want to play some noise to piss off your parents this is a good starting point.

Things calm down a bit for the next two tracks, though it seems the lead singer isn't taking things very seriously. He's not really singing as much as he is fucking around with the melody. I don't mind so much because these songs are really short, except with short music there isn't much time to get used to the weird stuff he's doing.

"Here Comes Your Man" has an old-school 50s rock feel. It's a bit sweet for what I was expecting on an early grunge album, but has given me more appreciation for what Pixies is all about. They have some range and are clearly interested in exploring classic genres. "Mr. Grieves" is similarly interesting- it's a jumbled mix of reggae, blues, and grunge that barely holds together, but it works.

Later tracks on the album feature one tendancy of Pixies albums past- sparse lyrics over uninteresting instrumentation. But I don't have too many bad things to say about Doolittle. It's too short and inoffensive to generate much emotion in me. I don't mind it. I don't really like it though either. Pixies? Eh... 2 stars.