With our first long-read Classic Review, Alex Thompson dissects Doolittle
With Doolittle, US alt-rock band Pixies forever changed the sound and style of indie and alternative music, with their weird and subversive blend of genres and aesthetics to create an album that would prove to be one of the most influential of the 1990s.
Described by David Bowie as the "most compelling music of the 1980s" outside of Sonic Youth, the band’s early releases proved popular in the underground scene but failed to make a dent in the mainstream. Their first album Surfer Rosa garnered critical success and went on to influence the likes of Nirvana, Pavement and the Smashing Pumpkins but proved to be too weird and rough to achieve true mainstream success. Rock elements were combined with grune, punk and post-hardcore influences to create a harsh and abrasive style of guitar music. It was brilliant but ultimately, failed to make the impact the band envisioned.
Then came Doolittle.
Doolittle built on the songwriting and many of the instrumental ideas of Surfer Rosa but combined it with sharper production and punchier hooks and more conventional rock elements. It still kicked and screamed like a proper Pixies record but was also more restrained, tightly written and more densely layered. This was the album that shot the band into the mainstream.
This might sound like the Pixies toned down their raw and vicious sound but this is far from the truth. From the opening track, ‘Debaser’, guitars squeal and rage behind a pounding rhythm section and screamed and chanted vocals. The lyrical content was just as violent and chaotic as on Surfer Rosa, take one of the main lyrical phrases “slicing up eyeballs” for instance. Hushed and whispered vocals on ‘Tame’ quickly turn to brutal, animal screams as the guitars and drums pick up for the electrifying chorus sections. There’s weird, breathy vocals, tightly written bass and drum sections and holding the track together.
‘Wave Of Mutilation’ is perhaps the Pixies most conventional rock track since ‘Where Is My Mind?’. The driving power chords and heavy back beat of the drums makes it one of the easiest listens on the album but the group still inject some of that trademark violence and angst in the lyrics, vocal delivery and guitar lines that makes it unmistakably Pixies. This is one of the tracks I find myself going back to time and time again, a proper Pixies track with enough weirdness and grit to keep it exciting but enough pop charm to make it a hit.
‘I Bleed’ is a different beast entirely, seeing Francis and Deal duet vocals over a sluggish bassline and screaming guitar lines, dark and moody lyrics combined with that usual punch of Pixies angst. This is contrasted by the bouncing riff of ‘Here Comes Your Man’, one of the most recognisable riffs of the 1990s that’s backed up by some excellent drums, bass and, in my opinion, some of Kim Deal’s best backing vocals. It’s a classic tune for a reason, a brilliantly written song with some incredible instrumental work and a bulletproof riff at its heart.
This is then immediately subverted by the dark and gloomy ‘Dead’, detuned guitar passages cutting between staccato vocal lines and a doom-laden rhythm section. It’s just as dark and brooding as their previous work but feels tighter, heavier and more well rounded, due to production from Gil Norton (Echo And The Bunnymen). On this album, the band seem unable to stick with a single aesthetic between songs (sometimes they can’t even do it for the same song) and it creates an album full of twists and turns that always manages to catch the listener off guard.
‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’ sees the Pixies return to their more infectious choruses, with some incredible backing vocal work which is contrasted by the sinister, almost-spoken passages which make up the verses and, essentially, screaming towards the end of the track. I love it. The bass line is beautifully simple, drumming is bare bones yet somehow perfect and the production manages to leave the whole thing sounding crisp and clean whilst still retaining the band’s trademark grit.
‘Mr Grieves’ kicks off with some ska-esque chords that chop and cut, punctuated by Francis’ punchy vocals before the track transitions into a moody chorus that is reminiscent of early Libertines tunes with its kinetic guitar lines and minimal drum beat. It sounds like a proper indie tune has been microwaved, sounding warped and messy but utterly engrossing. ‘Crackity Jones’ is another odd one, a fast and driving alt-rock tune that sees Francis scream and wail over guitar twang and simple bass line and drum groove that rage behind some more vicious and violent vocals.
The driving drum beat that begins ‘La La Love You’ functions as another musical motif on the album, providing the backbone for a track that combines acoustic chords and tuneful whistles with a guitar line that drops in and out of the track, juxtaposing the cutesy “I love you” refrain with yet more angst and violence. This is continued on ‘No 13 Baby’, featuring some of the most strained vocals of the album that flood the mix, before being swamped by beautifully chaotic guitars as the tune transitions into an enormous chorus.
With ‘There Goes My Gun’, we see the return of the pounding drum groove from tracks like ‘La La Love You’ combined with pretty much one lyric - “there goes my gun”. At under two minutes, it’s one of the shorter cuts on the album but still packs a gut punch in its instrumental and vocal delivery. Another track that packs a punch, ‘Hey’ begins with the shouted, almost disembodied vocals of Black Francis and a more conventional rock bass line that walks and meanders under Joey Santiago’s melodic guitar parts. This quickly devolves into your usual Pixies tune as the guitar begins to bite and the drums kick in. It’s a song that makes the most of light and shade, beautifully transitioning between more melodic and heavier sections with incredible ease.
‘Silver’ changes direction entirely, a slide guitar and hypnotically sluggish drum beat forming a bluesy, almost Americana backdrop for some falsetto vocals and stabbing lead guitar. It’s a track that never really goes anywhere, no big chorus or breakdown, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a weird little breather in the middle of the album, an interlude of sorts.
Doolittle comes to a close with a bang. ‘Gouge Away’ is an equally violent tune, combining gory lyrics with an infectious bass line and some truly biting lead guitar and vocal melodies that drive the tune forwards. It’s angsty, vicious and I love every minute of it.
In short, Doolittle is one of the all-time classic indie and alternative rock albums. By blending the band’s unique aesthetic with some incredible production, tight and cohesive songwriting and enough grit to de-ice an entire fucking motorway, the Pixies prove themselves to be one of the most exciting and progressive groups to come out of the 80s and 90s. This is an album that revels in its weirdness and obscurity but equally celebrates its occasional pop appeal, it’s both pop and anti-pop. It’s hard to understate the influence this album has had and continues to have, almost three decades later it still sounds as fresh and exciting as it must have upon first release.
9/10
Alex Thompson
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