Opinion varies as to which seminal slab of the Pixies back-catalogue is the greatest. Those who think the perfect breakfast is a cup of black coffee and cigarette rate the earlier Surfer Rosa and Doolittle; whilst those who think breakfast should consist of cake prefer the laterBossanova and Trompe Le Monde. It's not as if the Pixies suddenly turned into the Bangles, though. Black Francis still yowls like a Second World War fought out entirely between battalions of cougars; and "Down To The Well" isn't anything other than extreme arse-kicking. But with the endlessly magnificent "Velouria" and as-hitty-as-the-Pixies-were-going-to-get hit single "Dig For Fire", the Pixies had learnt to use their heat and power to make crowns and coronets, not just cannon and shell. When Nirvana's Kurt Cobain wrote "Teen Spirit", he claimed he was "just trying to rip off a Pixies' song". These are the ones he was trying to rip off.
{Caitlin Moran / Amazon}