Important Albums: #1 - Pixies "Surfer Rosa/Come On Pilgrim

Yeah, so I discovered the music of the Pixies watching a film. At the end of Fight Club as Ed Norton and Helena Bonham Carter watched their city burn all I could think was Jesus what is this song? I was in Victoria, British Columbia living with two of my best friends. I checked the end of the credits for the name of the band. I immediately went on the computer and downloaded a couple of songs on Limewire or some equivalent. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
      The next day I went into town, to Lyle's Music. I searched the P's, found Pixies and picked up a copy of Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim. Even the album sleeve was exotic. Compelling. I looked at the back of the album. Read the song listing. Broken Face. Break My Body. Gigantic. Vamos. Brick Is Red. I didn't know what to think. I went up to the counter and paid for it. Excited. Remember back when when you got genuinely excited about records? I headed for the bus stop and popped the cd in my discman. I caught the number 14 bus back to the house in View Royal. The album started as the bus pulled out and I didn't know what to do. I remember smiling a lot. I must have looked like some kind of fool. When the drums began at the start of Bone Machine, then the guitar kicked in I was confused and unprepared. Frank Black started talk/yelling, then Kim Deal's angelic vocals came in and Frank Black started screaming like a banshee and I fell head over heals in love. It was sort of like taking a walk along a cliff and realising a second too late that you'd stepped off the edge. "I was talking to Peachy Peach about kissy kiss." The lyrics were obscure and perfect.
      The first song ended quickly and Break My Body started. Black Francis' jaded primitive vocals mixed with strange effortlessness, with Kim's soft feminine voice. I couldn't make sense of it, and the songs kept ending and starting so quickly. Where had this music come from? And how had I missed it? I didn't know music could be like this. I'd enjoyed plenty of albums before Surfer Rosa/Come On Pilgrim, loved plenty of albums before it. But not like this. When Something Against You kicked in my love was sealed. Black Francis' screaming was so angry. So desperate. So defiant. And at the end when he yelled "Oh yeah, I'm one happy prick." that was it. This guy, this girl, this band were making music specifically for me. For that moment. For my life. I had never heard such a mix of anger and beauty and intelligence and fun.
       And each song got better, and better. Every moment. The record was perfect. Frank's squeaking vocals at the start of Broken Face. The crushing grinding guitar. Who produced these songs? I quickly discovered it was the legendary Steve Albini, who if he never did anything else in his entire life would have his reputation cemented in rock and roll history for his work producing the two perfect e.p's, stuck together on this one monumental album. Fortunately he has been responsible for so many other albums and bands in independent alternative music that I needn't have worried.
       I couldn't believe how complete the Pixies's sound was. How each song began so flawlessly and maintained that level and built upon it song after song. It was like the band had access to my brain and heart. And had modelled this album and their sound and all their idea's specifically on my personal tastes and desires. Tastes and desires I wasn't even properly aware I'd had until that moment when this album began. That mix of purpose, of specific structure mixed with raw impulse. The way the album felt almost loosely performed and recorded yet still sounded so important, and vital.
      I spent that entire bus ride from downtown Victoria to our house in the suburb of View Royal in complete awe. And then River Euphrates began and I was euphoric. Kim Deal's vocals fade in in a series of ra ra ra's, Frank starts singing and then counts down to the chorus and Kim Deals vocals come back in as she ra ra ra's over Frank's voice so you can't understand what he's singing. That moment was everything for me. It summed up everything I loved about this band. I realized I was literally at that very moment listening to my very favourite music I'd ever listened to. The idea that the music, the melody, the pure emotion of the sounds being sung were more vital and important than the actual literal lyrics blew my head open. Opened my whole view on music, widened the avenues of my musical appreciation. It single-handedly did more for my enjoyment of music than any other album, any other band I had heard. And I don't say that loosely. The song that had made me look into this band, that had led me to this album hadn't even come on yet. That was next. Where is My Mind.
      That song profoundly affected me for a long time. Normally, when I hear a song that good I struggle to pay attention to the rest of the album. I press repeat a lot. But the very song after Where Is My Mind is Cactus. Probably the song that did grab me the most lyrically. The lyrics are so dark and personal and raw. Gritty and grimy and sexy much like I imagine the dress he's singing about.
      Then the album changes direction again as Tony's Theme kicks in, at supersonic speed. The velocity of that song, the change in tone took my breath away. The simplicity of the songs, of the album kept overwhelming me. This was the Pixies debut album, the first songs they had recorded. They hit the ground running at this speed. With a sound that was this complete, with idea's that were this original and so perfectly realized. The Pixies were and still are the band that best represent how I felt, how I feel. If I ended up in heaven this was the music that would be playing. If I ended up on a dessert island this was the specific album I would want with me.
       To me, in my personal view the most beautiful sound in music is Kim Deal and Black Francis singing together on Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. I had never heard such a ferocious mixture of beauty and rage. Riding on that bus it was the most exciting and lovely sound I had ever heard. That hasn't changed.
       I almost forgot to mention the studio banter. The legendary studio banter. Frank Black telling Kim to fucking die was a revelation. It somehow added both to the intimacy of the album and to the looseness of the sound. I appreciated that window into the band's lives, that glimpse into their personal relationships. And they were funny as hell. At the start of I'm Amazed when Kim talks about the rumours in high school, it still makes me laugh.
       If I had to be extra specific I would have to say Surfer Rosa was actually my favourite Pixies recording. But my introduction to the band was through the version featuring Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim on one disc. So even though they were initially two separate e.p's I always see them as one complete album. And while I do think Come On Pilgrim is the looser of the two recordings, Pilgrim is just as vital and responsible for pushing me over the edge, body and soul into a lifelong love affair with the band as Surfer.
     Caribou, is one of their best loved hits and also showcases Kim Deal's wonderful vocals. the two song combo of The Holiday Song and Nimrod's Son were shocking to me, both in the unashamedly catchy melodies and in the serious subject matter. The anger and frustration in the Pixies songs always impacted me greatly.
     Come On Pilgrim also contains my all time favourite Pixies song. I've Been Tired. This song encapsulates everything I love about the band and their music in three wonderful minutes. Lyrically it is one of my the best songs ever written from any genre or era. It is amazingly, endlessly clever and inventive. It's happy and heartbreaking and desperate. Musically it's the same. It's catchy and heartbreakingly beautiful, and ferocious. It's unashamedly raw and personal. It's impact was especially heavy me. The mixture of description, and emotion was unlike anything I had ever heard. When Frank Black says Don't give me no shit because... and Kim and him start yelling I been tired. Well, that was me. I'd never heard music that affected me so personally, so specifically. Music that was also so much fucking fun.
      The Pixies became a large part of the soundtrack to my time in Victoria. Walking downtown, around the inner harbour. Strolling through Beacon Hill Park. Along Dallas Road. They became a large part of the soundtrack of my time in Toronto, and Australia and everywhere else, too.
      I've always been in awe of the rage in Pixies music. I used to listen to a lot of Pantera, Sepultura, Slayer, Helmet, Rage. I still do. But  for the most part the anger and rage in that music was always sort of comic book type stuff. Sometimes ironic and whatnot. Black Francis though, his rage was real. I related to his anger. And the weird effortlessness of his vocals really added to it. On Pixies albums his scream is gargantuan. Primal. So I was pretty shocked when I finally got to see the Pixies live in 2004 during their first reunion tour, at Arrow Hall in Mississauga. I went alone. Made my way out to the awkwardly located venue out around Pearson International Airport, walked into the big cavernous building and made my way excitedly up to the front of the stage. I think the Datsuns opened for them, and a local Toronto band called the Marble Index. An unfortunate task for both bands. No one was interested. Everyone just wanted the Pixies. When they finally took to the stage I was left in awe. Or even further in awe, I guess. Frank Black just stood calmly in front of the microphone, playing his guitar. He leaned casually up to the mic, opened his mouth and that hellish scream fell out seemingly without any effort whatsoever. That really blew my mind. And for me that's how it's always been. Frank Black's rage always beat out the cartoon anger of other heavier bands. The Pixies will always be the prettiest and most ferocious band I know, and Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim is the album I love the most.