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I got Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim together as the one CD, but of course it would make more sense to review them separately instead as the one package. Surfer Rosa was the third Pixies album I bought after Doolittle and Bossanova and is one of those albums which did a great deal in helping me shape my music tastes and become the person I am today. It is also one of those albums that brings me back to a certain moment in time as well, a time before I had a car and I used to have to travel places by public bus, with my little mp3 player and I'd listen this album quite a lot. For this album the band hooked up with the one and only Steve Albini, an excellent choice in producer as his no bullsh!t production techniques helped the band progress yet still keep the raw sound they had on their debut EP Come On Pilgrim.

From the first thuds of David Lovering's drums in the intro to 'Bone Machine' you can tell that the band mean business here. If Come On Pilgrim managed to get a few people's attention in the alternative rock world here they were going to have to prove that they were worth the attention of a far greater number. This song initially seems to be about a girl, but when you hear Black Francis' insane surrealist lyrics in the second verse "I was talking to preachy-preach about kissy-kiss. He bought me a soda. He bought me a soda. He bought me a soda and he tried to molest me in the parking lot. Yep, yep yep yep!" you really start to scratch your head and wonder what the song is about. Perhaps this means something, perhaps it doesn't, but it does give the song a surreal and dark edge. The most striking feature of this song however is Joey Santiago's brilliant and memorable guitar lines which give the song a slightly groovy yet unhinged feel. 'Break My Body' is characterised by an alternating time-signature between the verses and the chorus. The odd time-signature in the chorus gives the music a more artful feel and is a sign of the musical progression from their Come On Pilgrim debut. Kim Deal's bass here seems to have a will of it's own, perhaps making good use of the musical creativity that she still had in the band at the time. Following this is one of the most distinctive and most aggressive songs on the album 'Something Against You', with Black Francis barking the line "I've got something against you" all throughout the song through a distorted vocal effect. The cool little intro riff is an indication of the bands surf-rock influences and will get stuck in your head for days. The song also features what is probably one of the best uses of the word 'prick' ever in music, with the very last line "Oh yeah, I am one happy prick". The song is over in under two minutes and is just so irresistibly goofy. Continuing with the frantic punk-rock pace is the just as bonkers 'Broken Face', with Black Francis singing "I got a broken face" like a giddy mental patient. The song however does briefly deal with the dark theme of incest; "There was this boy who had two children with his sisters. They were is daughters. They were his favourite lovers". Doing a brilliant job of keeping everything together musically is drummer David Lovering, whose brilliantly precise drumming controls the pace of the song and doesn't miss a beat in the process.

The bass intro to the next song is unmistakable. The terrific 'Gigantic' is the only song written by and sung by Kim Deal (credited here as Mrs. John Murphy) on this album and also proves that she had what it takes to be a good songwriter and vocalist and not just the bass player and backing vocalist in the band. The song is a classic example of the quiet-loud format that the band are known for, with the verses restrained and melodic and the chorus sounding huge and urging you to shout along. The song gives way to an electric climax with some nice noisy guitars and a melodic undercurrent. If pop music means simple, memorable music then this must surely be one of the best pop songs there ever was. Fractured melodies and noise collide on the next song 'River Euphrates', which also features some weird alternating time-signatures and some nice surreal lyrics from Black Francis. Trying to make sense of this song is a challenge; "Dead Sea make it float, One sip from the salty wine. Dead Sea make you choke. Let's ride the tiger down River Euphrates". The song features some really great guitar work from Joey Santiago and showcases his knack for effortless guitar melody. Not to mention the rock that is drummer David Lovering keeping it all together. "Ooooooh – stop", and so starts Black Francis' unmistakable acoustic guitar melody and eerily distant cries of "oooo-ooh" in the intro to 'Where Is My Mind?'. Joey Santiago pours his unforgettable lead guitar melody perfectly over this and what a sweet melody it is. Something about this song just makes you feel good and not give a **** about anything that's bothering you in life, this is what makes this one of the great Pixies songs. Despite all of this the song does seem like an ode to insanity and does have a bit of a dark edge to it, but the care-free yet haunting feeling of the song is what really makes it stand out among all the other great Pixies songs. It's a really great song to listen to really late at night lying in bed with your headphones, as the last eerie cry of "oooo-ooh" enters your ears you feel a slight chill going down your spine. The dark, sinister and minimalist-sounding 'Cactus' features Black Francis singing over a repetitive glam riff reminiscent of T. Rex's 'Get It On'. Here Francis seems to be with either lonely in the absence of a lover or creepily obsessing over an ex-lover; "Sitting here wishing on a cement floor. Just wishing that I had just something you wore. I put it on when I go lonely. Will you take off your dress and send it to me?".

Kim Deal's bright and enthusiastic voice introduces the next song 'Tony's Theme'. The super-cool-sounding punk riffs and the shout-along chorus of "To-ny" make this an uplifting and infectious tune. There's even a bit of time for some grinding guitar noise/anti-soloing in the middle. The short and energetic 'Oh My Golly!' sounds like the close cousin of 'Isla de Encanta' off their debut Come On Pilgrim, with it's buzz-saw guitars and Spanish lyrics. The Spanish lyrics are offset by cries of "Oh my golly! Oh my golly!" and the song lyrics also lend the album it's title; "Besando, chinando con surfer rosa (Kissing and chewing with surfer rosa)". A short untitled interlude sandwiches itself in between 'Oh My Golly!' and the next song 'Vamos'. This recording features a bit of humorous studio banter and Black Francis explaining his reason to someone unknown for shouting "you ****ing die!" at Kim Deal. Mental stuff. 'Vamos' picks up where 'Oh My Golly!' left off for some Hispanic-tinged mayhem. 'Vamos' also appeared in shorter original form on debut EP Come On Pilgrim, but the band re-recorded it here for their debut album proper and extended the song by over a minute. Overall the instruments pack more punch and the vocals have more energy and clarity than they did on the original version. The extended mid-section contains some nice surreal improvised guitar noise and of course some insane screams from Black Francis. The song fits into this album perfectly and works remarkably well here. 'I'm Amazed' opens with what appears to be a segment of an interview with Kim Deal and Black Francis talking about someone's exploits with school hockey players. It's unclear whether it's a true story or a fictional piece written in the studio but it sounds pretty crazy. The song itself is short, fast and over in the blink of an eye and also features dual vocals from Black Francis and Kim Deal. It's not a bad song as such but it does sound like a bit of filler just thrown in towards the end for the hell of it. The album finishes with 'Brick Is Red', which is dominated by some nice bluesy and melodic lead guitar work from Joey Santiago. The vocals don't appear until past the half-way mark of this two-minute song and the lyrics are as cryptic as you can expect from Black Francis; "A fist is fast. And Jimmy's cast. Hang Me". The album does seem to pelter out slightly over the last two songs but it doesn't take away from the greatness of this album.

Surfer Rosa was a step in the right direction for the Pixies. It earned the band a big following in Europe and the UK and they were also established them as one of the key bands in the American independent underground rock scene. This was the only album that the band made with Steve Albini as producer. The drum sounds that he got on this album are certainly worth noting, as it's always great to hear drums that actually sound like a person playing drums. It was this raw yet crisp production that inspired many bands to seek the productions talents of Steve Albini, including a certain Nirvana who got him to produce In Utero with them. The band would go on to even bigger and better things with their next album Doolittle, and cement their reputation as one of the most influential alternative rock bands of all time.

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