Under The Influence

So, I finally got around to listening to the Pixies. I've actually heard a number of the songs on here already over the years - Where Is My Mind? is particularly familiar. Great to finally hear the work as a whole though.

I think I've always feared that I needed to be there from the start to really appreciate The Pixies - that doesn't seem to be the case... but I can see it will take a few listens to fall properly in love with this.

Catchy pop tracks - really clever little melodies. Very original with the twists and turns the songs take - even when pitted against today's works it doesn't sound dated. Of course you get to enjoy Steve Albini's production wizardry too. You can tell straight away that he's responsible for the drum sound... it's just so solid.

Looking forward to working my way through the rest of their catalogue. Come On Pilgrim is next on the list.

Thunder's passing has always seemed like such an injustice to me. OK, so he was the hardest rocking junkie punk in the whole industry... but still, he'd kinda cleaned up his act. Besides, he was still creating really kick-ass music - 1998's Copy Cats being a perfect example.

There are all sorts of interesting elements on Copy Cats (which, not surprisingly, is a covers album); Rockabilly, surf-guitar, rock, pop. Embarrassingly I'm unfamiliar with most of the covers on here. More research required methinks.

I always like to think of Thunders as a bubble-gum pop artist - the emphasis is often placed on the lighter side of the tunes. And listening to Love is Strange now I still think it's a valid description. As always his guitar work is exquisite - it always was on the studio recordings, it's when he stuck a needle in his arm and stumbled out onto the stage that things got a bit inconsistent.

R.I.P. Mr Thunders.