Home · Albums · Pixies · Doolittle

Doolittle 1989
Album · by Pixies ↗ View artist

Doolittle

In April 1989, Pixies released Doolittle, their second studio album, with a sound that balanced the rawness of their debut Surfer Rosa and the clarity of a more polished production. The contrast between the darkness of its lyrics —filled with surrealism, biblical violence, and references to death— and the clarity of Gil Norton's work, who joined as producer, defined the album's unique character. Recorded under modest conditions —at Eden Sound studios, a small space in the basement of a Boston hair salon— the record captured the band's energy without losing the intensity of its arrangements.

Year
1989
Songs
15
Duration
38 min 37 seg
Listen to the album ★

15 song|s

Song list

# Title Available ⏱
01

Debaser

2:52
02

Tame

1:55
03

Wave of Mutilation

2:04
04

I Bleed

2:34
05

Here Comes Your Man

3:21
06

Dead

2:21
07

Monkey Gone to Heaven

2:57
08

Mr. Grieves

2:05
09

Crackity Jones

1:24
10

La La Love You

2:43
11

Number 13 Baby

3:51
12

There Goes My Gun

1:49
13

Hey

3:31
14

Silver

2:25
15

Gouge Away

2:45

About the album

Doolittle, according to DoReSol

Of the fifteen songs, three stand out for their immediate impact: «Here Comes Your Man», a single that climbed the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States; «Monkey Gone to Heaven», with its environmental critique; and «Debaser», where the band fused chaos and melody. The specialized press received the album with varied praise: NME called it a work that "makes you jump out of your skin", while Rolling Stone gave it three and a half stars in its first review. By the time Doolittle had been on the market for six months, it had already sold over one hundred thousand copies in the United States.

The recording process was not linear. Black Francis, the band's leader, composed most of the songs during a European tour with Throwing Muses in 1988, and some were even premiered in live sessions for the BBC or on a free EP from Sounds magazine. Norton, who had already worked with the band on the single «Gigantic», spent weeks pre-producing the material, adapting the arrangements to Francis' ever-changing personality. The result was an album that, decades later, remains certified gold in the United States and a benchmark for alternative rock artists.

Discography

More from Pixies

See all →
Surfer Rosa 1988

Surfer Rosa

13 song|s