The Pixies "Surfer Rosa" is an amazing experience. This 1988 album is a superb mix of brilliant songwriting, insane lyrics, abrasive guitars and stunning melody. Many of the songs are brutal, with heavily distorted guitars and strange lyrics about incest and injury, yet they are often quite catchy and melodic. This single album influenced more bands than any other album of the late 80s. But none of them can ever even hope of making something even half as brilliant as Surfer Rosa.

The first song, "Bone Machine" is a classic. It's the quintessential Pixies song. Also, listen to it and you'll realize how much they influenced Nirvana. "Break My Body" and "Something Against You" are fast and furious, "Broken Face" is one the best Pixies songs. "Gigantic" is haunting and beautiful, with thunderous guitars and drums swirling around Kim Deal's lone bass and beautiful voice. "River Euphrates" is all about melody, and it is excellent.

"Where is my Mind?" is the climax of the album, and possibly the best song made in the 80s. It is chillingly beautiful and unforgettable. If you haven't heard it, it's the song used over the credits at the end of Fight Club (great movie). "Cactus" is different, and "Tony's Theme" rocks. Although the last four songs don't seem quite as focused, they are still excellent.

To close, Surfer Rosa is one of those timeless, brilliant rock albums that everyone should own. What are you waiting for?

Ahhh nostalgia. The Pixies were the "College/Alternative" poster children of the late 80's, early 90's. Powered by the frenzied and always amusing lyrics of Black Francis as well as the alluring voice of bassist Kim Deal (The Breeders, etc.), the Pixies started making it big with the single "Monkey Gone to Heaven" off of 1989's "Doolittle." However, "Surfer Rosa" (which includes the debut EP "Come on Pilgrim") represents their earliest and most loveable work. While more money was spent producing later albums, "Surfer Rosa" stands on its own, less filtered, more raw, capturing the Pixes at a time when they were just beginning to coalesce as a band that "owned" its sound. For many Pixies fans this album is their greatest accomplishment.

Doolittle is flawless. Bossanova is Amazing. Surfer Rosa is beyond everything. time and time again as you listen to it, it takes you somewhere better and somewhere new. anyone that rates pixies overrated or in bad taste, they couldn't be more ignorant. they need to read and listen more. Listen to Surfer Rosa with your headphones and loud. listen to it 1000 times.

have a beer while you experience the album. spread the word. with all the redundant heartless music out today (blame mtv),

this album is more than essential. it is necessary. sorry for being so serious,just listen to it. it doesn't matter if you listen to garbage now, maybe your taste will change. if it doesn't, the hell with you. scumbag. hahaha just kidding, well not really.

One of the problems with these reviews on Amazon.com is that someone will generally only review something if they really care about spreading the word about how great that band is. Which means, of course, that 90% of the reviews are 5-star ones. And Amazon.com doesn't mind this, I'm sure, since they're trying to sell this stuff. But this is one of the few times you should listen to what people have to say about this album; You can see by reading these reviews that there are no ten-year old kids writing about the latest pop craze. These reviews are written by people with an understanding of what makes great music. You'll have to excuse us for gushing about the Pixies, but they were simply so far ahead of their time and their brilliance is so blindingly obvious that it's hard not to gush. Anyway, on to the review:

I couldn't seem to find out how to give this album 4.5 stars, which is what it truly deserves. Surfer Rosa is one of the best albums by the greatest band of all time. Doolittle is even more incredible, with absolutely no filler, while the other three albums (Bossanova, Trompe Le Monde, and the mini-album, Come on Pilgrim) are about on par with this one. Surfer Rosa is the Pixies at their rawest. I've heard this album described as "calculated noise". It sounds at first to be simply pure chaos, but on repeat listens you realize exactly how melodic it is. And catchy. I have yet to get "Broken Face "out of my head. But, unlike the fantastic Doolittle, Surfer Rosa does have some filler in it. "Brick is Red", a mostly instrumental, is a poor way to close the album. While it is played well, it's simply not that great material. It's not bad, it's actually pretty good, but compared to the absolutely great material on the rest of the album, it's a disappointment. And while all of the rest of the tracks are unbelievable, their not quite as incredible as the Pixies best album, Doolittle. I'd rate this as a five-star album and Doolittle as a 6-star album, but since I can't do that, I have to choose one notch lower than perfect. There are very few albums that deserve a perfect rating, and this isn't one of them. It's very close, and is an incredible album that everyone should have, but it still shows the signs of a band finding it's voice.

'Surfer Rosa' matched up the Pixies, on their first long player, with Steve Albini (later to produce Nirvana's 'In Utero') and he brought a sound that was as precise as a razor whilst somehow permitting completely uninhibitted performances. This album is, for my money, the Pixies' finest hour. At the time, this sound was basically unheard of, apart from the more delerious musings of Sonic Youth. But listening to Surfer Rosa is like watching someone load up a pistol and then fire it through you. It's an album you can feel, not just hear. The cranking, defiant 'Bone Machine' kicks off the album, probably one of the most confident opening tracks of any band on their debut album. Black Francis screams out 'You're so pretty when you're unfaithful to me!' and you know you're in for something different. All of the songs are great to explore over many times. The art school atmosphere of this record makes the lyrics fascinating cryptic exercises that you can listen over many times and find new angles. My favourite tracks are Cactus (very scaled down and hauntingly sexy), Break my body (which sounds like a jet taking off and is over in less than two minutes) and River Euphrates which features the most intense screaming to ever grace a recording. It took me many listens to work my way into this album and I'm still learning about it with each play. David Lovering's drums are beautifully recorded - every beat sounds like a body blow and this solid, gutsy foundation allows Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and Black Francis a lot of freedom to have fun with their playing knowing that they can land any solo they fly with onto Lovering's almost shockingly solid backbeat. 'Where is my Mind?' is the crowning achievement of the album known to many, but make no mistake, this speaks best as an entire album, and it came to be one of the most influential on the nineties (still two years away when this was made). Often imitated, but never bettered...