Pixies - Bossanova CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

Bossanova is more of a straight-ahead rock album – by the Pixies' standards, meaning it's still safely off the mainstream.

Joey Santiago's body-slamming guitars, Kim Deal's measured, penetrating bass and David Lovering's elemental drums sound denser and tougher than before, but some things haven't changed. Francis's surreal lyrics are, as always, open to conjecture; even he has stated he doesn't entirely understand them. "Is She Weird" might be about a prostitute; "The Happening" might be about aliens landing in Las Vegas; "Down to the Well" is probably about sex. But content is almost incidental to these songs; what stands out is the beat that throbs like a hangover, the fever-dream atmospherics, the pelvis-grinding abandon. Elsewhere, a classic Black Francis larynx shredder, "Rock Music," is off-set by the fanciful album closer, "Havalina," in which the Pixies' voices seem to echo dreamily around a canyon. Potent and compelling, Bossanova leaves the listener curiously anticipating the Pixies' next move. (RS 587)

MOIRA MCCORMICK

Sounding a bit more polished this time out, the Pixies forgo some of the blistering weirdness that populated their first records. Surf music and alien references pop in and point the band toward some new realm of strangeness. "Velouria," "Ana," "Rock Music" and "Down to the Well" are some of their best tracks.