What can you say about Surfer Rosa that hasn’t already been said? That the Pixies seminal album is one of the most influential releases of all time is well documented, but it’s a statement that doesn’t really fill you with joy. An influential album is often something that you have to love, whether or not it strikes a chord with you. If you don’t you’ll be forever banished from the often boring and predictable realm of established opinion where dogma rules. Yawn! The really great thing about Surfer Rosa is not how influential it is, but just how fun, funny and relentlessly vicious it is. From the opening confession of ‘Bone Machine, “You buy me soda, you buy me a soda and try and molest me in a parking lot, yep, yep, yep”, to the squeal of ‘Broken Face’, and Kim Deal’s bawdy tale of having sex in a park on ‘Gigantic’, “What a big black mess/what a hunk of love”, this is an album that relentlessly entertains, shocks and thrills. It’s also pretty deep. The verbatim use of a convicts’s letter on ‘Cactus’ is an inspired piece of plagiarism, “Bloody your hands on a cactus tree/wipe it on your dress and send it to me”. And then there’s ‘Where Is my Mind’, an anti-materialism lament that is so much more than the sum of its parts. Indeed, it was this very song that turned me from being a closed minded teenager to having a voracious appetite for music that continues to this day, and it proves that truly exceptional guitar playing does not have to be fast or complicated. Surfer Rosa is more punk than punk, and long may it continue to be loved. Happy Birthday!
I started out writing for the Manchester Evening News as a freelance journalist back in 2008. The idea that I would be given free access to music and gigs seemed somehow miraculous to me, and I proceeded to take full advantage of the situation. When the M.E.N. decided to constrict its coverage to only the very biggest bands, Simon Poole approached me with a plan to make sure that all the very talented musicians of this world that pass through and/or live in Manchester would not go unnoticed. As the New Releases editor here at Silent Radio Towers, it remains my proud duty to cast a critical eye over the music and reviews that come my way in a manner that is both supportive and fair. Above all, I strive to write as entertainingly possible. Favourite musicians include the Pixies, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Mercury Rev, Os Mutantes, The Knife, Beach House etc etc. I'm a firm believer that all genres (except nu-metal) contain music of great quality...
