Pixies - Trompe le Monde
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Music CD Cover
Artist: PixiesEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-05-20
Music Label: 4ad / Ada
Soundtracks:
- Trompe le Monde
- Planet of Sound
- Alec Eiffel
- Sad Punk
- Head On
- U-Mass
- Palace of the Brine
- Letter to Memphis
- Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons
- Space (I Believe In)
- Subbacultcha
- Distance Equals Rate Times Time
- Lovely Day
- Motorway to Roswell
- Navajo Know
Free Music Notes for Trompe le Monde
Free Music Review: Probably their most consistent album, without the highs of yore
Hit: 3 Stars
Firstly, I just have to say how annoying it is that the track listing on the back of the cd is put in random order-you have to pull the booklet out from the cd to see the correct track listing. I have no idea what that is all about.
Secondly, overall, I think, this album could be their most consistent, in that pretty much all the tracks are listenable. It's just that it lacks a killer song which jumps out at you on first listen [like, say "River Euphrates" on "Surfer Rosa"] or on subsequent listens [like "Monkey gone to heaven" on "Doolittle" or "The happening" on "Bossanova"].
Thirdly, this album wears its influences on its sleeve more than their previous classic albums. By that I mean on albums like "Surfer Rosa" [especially] and "Doolittle", Pixies sound like no other band I have heard of...they inhabit their own space. Also, this album, like Bossanova, is less hardcore than "Surfer Rosa" and "Doolittle".
Okay, here are the songs I like most on this album and the ones where I can hear similarities with other songs by other bands:
Best song: Alec Eiffel. Has a poppy/Ramones like sound to it, with a pinch of the B52s. Features an organ, perhaps a Hammond, and a prettyish outro, sort of like "The happening" on "Bossanova".
Songs that remind me of other songs:
U-Mass: has a cool beat, a vaguely AC/DC like guitar riff, and ends with a Nirvana like guitar riff ["Smells like teen spirit"]. Apparently Nirvana were influenced by Pixies...perhaps there is a feedback loop at work here? [I don't know when this album was released compared to Nevermind].
Subbacultcha: the guitar riff in this reminded me of the theme to the tv show "Peter Gunn". Atmospheric-it has a "noir" feel to it...you could imagine Humphrey Bogart rapping the lyrics to this song! Kim Deal, underutilised on this album [again!], adds to the noir feel.
The Sad Punk: has a Black Sabbath like guitar sound to it with Francis providing his common "wild man" type punkish vocals. It's a song of two halves...it changes tempo.
Head on: channels the Sex Pistols for the guitar riff [which one? Um, either "God save the Queen" or "Anarchy in the UK"-forget which] and Australia's The Church for the vocals, I think, and the guitar sound [like in, say, "The unguarded moment"-a classic Church song].
Lovely day: reminiscent of Iggy Pop's "Lust for life" sound wise and the vocal stylings of The Door's lead singer Jim Morrison.
Bird dream of the Olympus Mons: has a U2 vibe to it, circa The Joshua Tree, along with the vocal style.
Space [I believe in]: guitar is a bit funky in this song and the guitar sound reminds me of The Beach Boys. Kim sings backing on this.
Letter to Memphis: for some reason I think this song has a Bay City Rollers type riff...and I don't really remember the Rollers! Am I right, or what?
Other sort of interesting songs:
Trompe Le Monde: clangy, distorted guitar sound, poppy vocals and heavy metal type lead guitar licks.
Planet of Sound: bassy, hard rock riff. Francis sounds like he is singing underwater! It's meant to sound like that, I take it. Unlike, say, "Motorway to Roswell", which sounds like it was mastered from a scratchy LP [as some songs on this cd can sound like].
Palace of the brine: slower tempo song, with a boogie vibe to it. Kim does backing vocals.
Overall, this album is not "essential Pixies". It has no songs I would choose to put in a compilation by the band, at least no automatic selections.
Three stars might be generous for this offering-perhaps two stars out of five might be more on the money, but, like I say, most songs are listenable and sort of interesting.
In my view, the Essential Pixies albums are: Surfer Rosa [I have the cd which included the bands EP "Come on pilgrim", so, why not get two cds for the price of one there?] and Doolittle. The former is more hardcore, and the latter is hardcore covered in chocolate-with the pinnacle of their pop compositions "Monkey gone to Heaven".
P.S. if you like Surfer Rosa, you may find Coldseed's "Completion makes the tragedy" something on a similar wavelength, though in heavy metal form.
If you like weirdly poetic lyrics, try Patti Smith's Horses. I've reviewed those two other albums here.
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