Surfer Rosa is the debut studio album by the Pixies, released in March 21, 1988 on the British independent label 4AD Records. The thematic content of the album includes surreal lyrics with elements of black humor , many of which are devoted to a variety of mental disorders, mental illness and sexual deviations. Musically, the album stands out for its experimental recording technique and distinctive drum sound. In addition, Surfer Rosa contains many of the elements present in the collective’s earlier work, including lyrics in Spanish and references to Puerto Rico. One of the most famous things of the album despite the fact that it was not released as a separate single – was the composition Where Is My Mind? written by Black Francis under the influence of deep sea diving in the Caribbean . It was later included on the Fight Club soundtrack . The album was distributed in the United States by the British firm Rough Trade Records. However, the LP did not chart in either the UK or the US. The single Gigantic (in a re recorded version) was released in support of the album and reached number 93 on the UK Singles Chart. Surfer Rosa was re released in the US in 1992 by Elektra Records and was certified Gold by the RIAA in 2005. Pixies entered Q Division in December 1987, booking ten working days of studio time in which to record the album. 4AD allocated the band a budget of US$10,000. Albini‘s producer’s fee was US$1,500, and he received no royalties; Albini has a practice of refusing royalties from records he produces, viewing it as “an insult to the band.” Along with Albini in the studio, Q Division‘s Jon Lupfer acted as studio assistant. The recording process took the entire booked period of ten working days to complete, with extra vocal mixes subsequently added in the studio. Albini planned to mix the record “somewhere else”, but according to Lupfer, “He was unhappy there with it.”
During Kim Deal‘s vocals takes during Where Is My Mind? and Gigantic, he moved the equipment to record into a studio bathroom to achieve more “roomy” echo. John Murphy, Deal‘s then husband, said that Albini didn’t like the studio sound. Albini later said that the record could have been completed in a week, but “we ended up trying more experimental stuff basically to kill time and see if anything good materialized.” An example was Something Against You, where Albini filtered Black Francis‘ voice through a guitar amp for “a totally ragged, vicious texture.”
The recording of a conversation held between Francis and Albini can be heard at the end of Oh My Golly!. Lupfer writes that “it was a concept he (Albini) was going for to get some studio banter.” As Deal was leaving the studio to smoke a cigarette, she exclaimed:
“If anybody touches my stuff, I’ll kill ya.”
Francis replied with:
“I’ll kill you, you fucking die, if anybody touches my stuff”.
The track begins at this point, with Francis explaining the conversation to Albini, whose voice is not heard on the track. Lupfer later admitted that Albini knew “perfectly well what was going on.”
“I’m Amazed” begins with Deal recounting a story in which one of her former teachers who was “into field hockey players” was discreetly fired. Francis finishes Deal‘s sentences, joking that her response to hearing of the teacher’s activities was to try to join the team. Albini later observed the use of studio banter on Surfer Rosa:
“It’s on their record forever so I think now they are obliged to say that they’re ok with it, but I honestly don’t know that that idea would’ve ever come up if I hadn’t done it. There are times when things like that are revealing and entertaining and I kind of felt it was a bit gimmicky on this record.”
Surfer Rosa‘s cover artwork features a photograph of a topless “friend of a friend” of the band, posing as a flamenco dancer, pitched against a wall which displays a crucifix and a torn poster. Simon Larbalestier, who contributed pictures to all Pixies album sleeves, decided to build the set because “we couldn’t find the atmosphere we wanted naturally.” According to Larbalestier, Black Francis came up with the idea for the cover as he wrote songs in his father’s “topless Spanish bar”; Larbalestier added the crucifix and torn poster, and they “sort of loaded that with all the Catholicism.” Commenting on the cover in 2005, Francis said:
“I just hope people find it tasteful.” The cover booklet expands on the theme, and features photographs of the flamenco dancer in several other poses; there are no song lyrics or written content, apart from album credits, in the booklet.
Surfer Rosa has been highly acclaimed by music critics and has featured on many lists of “the best rock albums of all time”. Many alternative rock musicians, including Billy Corgan and PJ Harvey, have cited the album as an inspiration; Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain noted that Surfer Rosa had a strong influence on his album Nevermind, in this regard, in 1993 he invited the record producer Steve Albini to work on the album In Utero.
Tracklist:
- Bone Machine
- Break My Body
- Something Against You
- Broken Face
- Gigantic
- River Euphrates
- Where Is My Mind?
- cactus
- Tony’s Theme
- Oh My Golly!
- Vamos
- +I’m Amazed
- Brick Is Red
Pixies
Black Francis: vocals , rhythm guitar , acoustic guitar
Kim Deal: bass guitar , backing vocals , vocals (Gigantic) (credited as Mrs. John Murphy)
Joey Santiago: lead guitar
David Lovering: percussion
Technical staff
Steve Albini: producer, engineer
Simon Larbalestir, Vaughan Oliver (album cover, images in album booklet)
