The Pixies-Cactus-Surfer Rosa
Surfer Rosa
was the only Pixies record I’ve ever had and is the only Pixies record I’ve
got. “Was”, because it was an album that fell in the great vinyl cull and “is”,
because it was one of the first records that I really regretted getting rid of,
and therefore one of the first ones that I replaced on CD. And I don’t really know why Surfer Rosa is the
only album (in fact, the only record), that I’ve ever had by them. It shouldn’t
be their sole entry either in my music collection, as it’s a really great
record and therefore should have-and normally would have-spurred me on to more
of their music. Maybe it was because I rated Surfer Rosa so highly that on one
level that I didn’t want it to be diminished by hearing something that possibly
wasn’t quite as good; subconsciously I knew that nothing could top Surfer Rosa.
This was
one of the few albums and one of a few records that took me completely by
surprise when I first heard it. I hadn’t heard anything from the Pixies before
then; not one single, not a Peel session track, nothing on a compilation.
Although I have quite a good, but useless memory for when I first heard of an
artist -a review, something on the radio, or a recommendation, I can’t recall
when or where I first heard about The Pixies. I can’t remember either where I
bought the album from which is a bit odd as well because again, I have a
remarkably good memory for such useless facts. For instance, I remember buying
“Room to Live” by The Fall from One Up Records in Aberdeen, A Sudden Sway’s “To
You with reGard” from Rumblelows in Whitechapel and the Human League’s “Dare”
from HMV. I just don’t remember buying Surfer Rosa. What I do remember is that
it wasn’t a record that I knew would be good because of who it was-like The Fall,
Captain Beefheart or New Order in their prime, for example. It also wasn’t an
album that, to use an over-used phrase, “a grower”. (Christ, that’s a terrible expression-it
sounds so earnestly OGWT-y, prog rock-ish. I swear I’ll never use it again. Ever).
But it
wasn’t a sort of record that you’d gradually grow to appreciate. I knew from
the first few notes of the first track that this was something special. It’s
one of those rare, very rare albums where every track is as good as the
previous one, and as you listen to it-and I do remember this-I found myself in
a sense of disbelief that it got better as the album played all the way
through. But that’s not quite right. That would infer that the later tracks on
the album were an improvement upon the earlier ones and that it built up to a
crescendo of brilliance, prog rock style. It was more like just when I’d
thought that the next track would surely be the crap, filler one (and most
albums have this, including ones by The Fall and Dylan), it never happened.
Each track on Surfer Rosa was so innovative and fresh and exciting that it blew
me away. So much so that this was one of the few occasions that instead of what
I’d have normally done for friends, (copying the album to a cassette and raving
about it); I went out and bought them a copy. (The only other time I‘ve done
this was with Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares album. I must have had money to burn). I know that I
did this with Surfer Rosa for at least three people and it wasn’t even
Christmas or their birthdays. But it was a great present and much better than a
pair of socks.
And this is what "Totally Shuffled" is all about;
One track per
day for 366 days on a broken iPod. 366 tracks out of a possible 9553. From the
obvious (The Rolling Stones), to the obscure (Karen Cooper Complex). From the
sublime (The Flaming Lips) to the risible (Muse). From field recordings of Haitian Voodoo music
to The Monkees. From Heavy Metal to Rap by way of 1930’s blues, jazz,
classical, punk, and every possible genre of music in between. This is what I
listened to and wrote about for a whole year, to the point of never wanting to
hear any more music again. Some songs I listened to I loved, and some I hated. Some
artists ended up getting praised to the skies and others received a bit of
critical kicking. There’s memories of spending too many hours in record shops,
prevaricating over the next big thing and surprising myself over tracks that
I’d completely forgotten about. But with 40 years of listening to music, I
realised that I’ll never get sick of it.
I may have fallen out of love with some of the songs in this book, but
I’ll never fall out of love with music.
Get/read "Totally Shuffled" here
Kindle e book http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA
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