Doolittle (album)

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Doolittle
A monkey surrounded by lines forming geometric shapes. The border of the image is brown, and "Pixies" is printed in the upper-right corner
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 17, 1989
RecordedOctober 31 – November 23, 1988
StudioDowntown Recorders (Boston)
GenreAlternative rock
Length38:38
Label
ProducerGil Norton
Pixies chronology
Surfer Rosa
(1988)
Doolittle
(1989)
Bossanova
(1990)
Singles from Doolittle
  1. "Monkey Gone to Heaven"
    Released: March 20, 1989
  2. "Here Comes Your Man"
    Released: June 1, 1989
  3. "Debaser"
    Released: July 21, 1997

Doolittle is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 1989 on 4AD. Doolittle was the Pixies' first international release. Main songwriter and vocalist Black Francis's lyrics allude to biblical violence, surrealist imagery and descriptions of torture and death.

The album is often praised for its "quiet/loud" dynamic, achieved through quiet verses based on Black's relatively subdued vocals and guitar patterns, which then reach peaks in volume and tone with the addition of crashing parts by lead guitarist Joey Santiago, and emphasis on the rhythm section of bassist Kim Deal and drummer David Lovering.

Doolittle is considered one of the quintessential albums of the 1980s, and has sold consistently since its release. It reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold in 1995 and Platinum in 2018 by the Recording Industry Association of America. The Pixies released two singles from the album: "Here Comes Your Man" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven", both of which reached the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US, while tracks such as "Debaser" and "Hey" remain fan and critical favorites. Numerous music publications rank it as one of the top albums of the 1980s, and it has been heavily influential for many alternative rock artists.

Background[edit]

The Pixies' classic line-up in 2009. L-R: Santiago, Black, Lovering, Deal

The band's 1988 album Surfer Rosa was well received in the United Kingdom but not in the United States,[1] After its release, the band toured Europe with fellow Bostonians Throwing Muses.[2] In July 1988, versions of the songs that would appear on Doolittle—including "Dead", "Hey", "Tame" and "There Goes My Gun"—were recorded during several sessions for John Peel's radio show in 1988, and "Hey" appeared on a free EP circulated with a 1988 edition of Sounds.[3]

The first demo sessions were recorded in 1988 in the Boston recording studio Eden Sound, while they were on touring breaks. They recorded at Eden for a week, which was around the same time they spend starting and finishing the previous year's Purple Tape sessions. The group's frontman and principal songwriter Black Francis (born Charles Thompson, later Frank Black) gave the upcoming album the provisional title of Whore, which he later claimed was meant "in the more traditional...operatic...biblical sense ...as in the great whore of Babylon".[4]

After completing the demo tape, the band's manager Ken Goes suggested two producers: Liverpudlian Gil Norton and American Ed Stasium. The band had earlier worked with Norton on the single version of "Gigantic" in May 1988. Francis had no preference. Ivo Watts-Russell, head of the band's label 4AD, chose Norton to produce the next album.[5] Norton arrived in Boston in mid October 1988 and had Francis come to his temporary apartment to review the album's demos. They spent two days analyzing the song structures and arrangements, and two weeks in pre-production while Norton familiarized himself with the Pixies' sound.[6]

Recording and production[edit]

The recording sessions began on October 31, 1988, in Boston at Downtown Recorders, then a 24-track studio. 4AD gave the Pixies a budget of $40,000 (approximately $98,976 today), excluding producer's fees. This was a relatively modest sum for a large late-1980s indie label, but four times the amount spent on their debut, Surfer Rosa.[7] The three weeks sessions began on November 28 at Carriage House Studios, a residential studio in Stamford, Connecticut. Norton was assisted by two assistant recording engineers and two second assistants[8] He hired Steven Haigler as mixing engineer, having earlier worked with him at Fort Apache Studios.[9]

Francis brought a mixture of newly written and older tracks to the recording sessions.[10] Many of the newer tracks were underdeveloped, and according to Norton, consisted of sort minute or minute and half "ditties" consisting of short bursts of "verse, chorus, verse, beat-beat-beat-bang....finished". As producer and arranger, Norton says he often built tracks by suggesting the band double or repeat sections. This songwriting approach is evident in the fact that of the some 23 songs or ideas the band started with, only three of the albums final 15 tracks are longer than three-minutes.[10]

During production, Haigler and Norton added layers of guitars and vocals, including overdubbed guitars on "Debaser" and double tracked vocals on "Wave of Mutilation". During the process, Norton advised Francis to alter and lengthen several songs, including "There Goes My Gun" which was originally a much faster Hüsker Dü-style song. At Norton's advice, Francis slowed down the tempo.[11] His suggestions were not always welcome; several instances of advice to add verses and increase track length contributed to the Francis's frustration. Once, he took Norton to a record store and handed him a copy of a Buddy Holly greatest hits album in which most of the songs are around two minutes or three minutes long, justifying why his songs should be kept short.[12] Francis later expressed that Norton was trying to give the band a more commercial sound and Francis wanted to keep it more grunge-like.[11]

Tension between Francis and Deal became visible to band members and the production team during recording. Bickering and standoffs marred the recording sessions and led to increased stress among the band members.[13] John Murphy, Deal's husband at the time, recalls that the band dynamic "went from just all fun to work" during the production.[14] Production continued until December 12, 1988, while Norton and Haigler mixed the album. During this period Santiago became unhappy as he felt was adding too much reverb to his guitar parts. In response, he covered his Marshall cabinets with blankets to make that he didn't his live sound to be interfered with.[15] The final tapes were sent for mastering later that month.[16]

Music and lyrics[edit]

Norton's production is markedly different to Albini's recording of Surfer Rosa. and is far more polished than the debut's ambient and raw recordings. Albini's recording emphasised Francis's abrasive guitars that both popularized the band and sealed his reputation, leading to later work with musicians such as Nirvana and PJ Harvey. Critics continue to debate whether Norton's or Albini's production best served the Pixes.[17]

Ed Nash of The Line of Best Fit described the record as "an album steeped in sex".[18] The lyrics for "Crackity Jones" allude to Francis's roommate during a student exchange trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, whom he described as a "weird psycho gay roommate".[19]

Two of the songs are based Old Testament stories of sex and death:[20] the story of David and Bathsheba in "Dead", and Samson and Delilah in "Gouge Away".[21] Francis's fascination with Biblical themes is traced back to his teenage years; when he was twelve, he and his parents joined an evangelical church linked to the Assemblies of God. The themes also influenced the lyrics of "Monkey Gone to Heaven", the Devil being "six" and God being "seven".[22]

Side one[edit]

The album opens with "Debaser", described as a "noisy surf-punk" song,[23] is widely considered instrumental in their crossover into the mainstream. It begins with a Deal's bass guitar pattern, which breaks into the first chorus when joined by Santiago's guitar riff and Black's shouted vocal. The track has consistently been a live favorite and contains an extended coda where the baseline is overlain with, according to the music critic Rob Hughes, Santiago's "frenzied guitar riffage...at full tilt as the song hurtles to its climax".[23] Written while Black was an anthropology student at UMass, Boston, the lyrics borrow heavily from the 1929 surrealist short film Un Chien Andalou.[23] the lyrics "slicing up eyeballs" refers to Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's 1929 film Un Chien Andalou.[15] Francis and said that he "got into avant-garde movies and Surrealism as an escape from reality...To me, Surrealism is totally artificial. I recently read an interview with the director David Lynch who said he had ideas and images but that he didn't know exactly what they meant."[24]

It is followed by "Tame", a track built from a Deal bass progression overlaid by Joey Santiago guitar parts which include what he has described as a "Hendrix chord". The guitar break in the chorus are often regarded as one of the peaks of the Pixies' signature quiet verse loud chorus dynamic,[25][26][27] In 2019 the music writer Mark Beaumont speculated that "Tame" and the album closer "Gouge Away" were among the tracks Kurt Cobain had in mind when writing "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which he said was his attempt at "writing a Pixies song".[28] "Tame" ends with Francis and Deal repeatedly grunting, mimicking the sound of two people having sex.[18]

"Here Comes Your Man" was written when Francis was a teenager. Along along with "Monkey Gone to Heaven", it was described by Rolling Stone's critic Chris Mundy as a melodic and "outright pop song".[29] It was first recorded for the Purple tapes sessions, a version described by the music writer Phil Udell as rough "around the edges".[30] The album version was rearranged by Norton.[10]

Side one closes with the album's first single, "Monkey Gone to Heaven". Written in D major, it opens with Francis playing a short chord progression backed by Deal's bass guitar.[31] The track is over-dubbed with cellos and violins, a choice Norton was nervous about, admitting in a 2005 interview that it took the band "outside [their] usual parameters", that they had earlier believed "we weren't ever going to do on a Pixies song".[10] "Monkey Gone to Heaven" describes the impact of human-caused environmental destruction on the ocean.[22] Francis said, "On one hand, it's this big organic toilet. Things get flushed and repurified or decomposed and it's this big, dark, mysterious place. It's also a very mythological place where there are octopus's gardens, the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, and mermaids." The song's lyrics question humanity's place in the universe.[32] "Mr. Grieves" takes the theme of destruction further, suggesting the human race is doomed to extinction.[33] Francis described "Wave of Mutilation" as being about "Japanese businessmen doing murder-suicides with their families because they'd failed in business, and they're driving off a pier into the ocean."[34] Imagery of the drowning and the sea are also used in "Mr. Grieves" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven".[35]

Side two[edit]

The second side begins with "Mr. Grieves", a song described by critic Betty Clarke as "wired folk".[36] It is followed by "Crackity Jones"; it is partly sung in Spanish and incorporates G and A triads over a C pedal. The rhythm guitar part, played by Francis, starts with an eighth-note downstroke reminiscent of second-wave early 1980s punk rock.[37]

The following track, th whimsical, tongue-in-cheek "La La Love You" is sung by the band's drummer David Lovering, who satirically adopts a baritone 1950s style croon.[38][29][39] Its tongue-in-cheek vocal style and simplistic lyrics (including the line "first base, second base, third base, home run") were intended as parody of a crude sex jokes.[40] Francis asked Lovering sing so it would be "a Ringo thing".[41]

The penultimate song "Silver" is written around a county music riff played on slide guitar. It is the only track not fully written by Francis, as Deal co-wrote the song; Deal performs the lead vocals on the track.[42]

Artwork and title[edit]

A black-and-white photograph of a bell attached to a machine by a hose.
"As Loud As Hell" by Simon Larbalestier, from the Doolittle booklet. The image alludes to lyrics in "I Bleed".

The artwork was designed by photographer Simon Larbalestier and graphic artist Vaughan Oliver who had worked on the Pixies' previous albums, Come on Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa.[43] Larbalestier stated Doolittle was the first album where he and Oliver had access to the lyrics, which "made a fundamental difference".[44] Both Oliver and Francis wanted macabre and surreal images to illustrate the album. The images are placed in pairs, with each juxtaposing two principle elements such as a monkey and halo for Monkey Gone to Heaven, a pelvic bone and stiletto for "Tame", and a spoon containing hair laid across a woman's torso for "Gouge Away".[45]

Around the time Oliver decided on the cover art, Francis discarded the album's working title Whore as he "thought people were going to think I was some kind of anti-Catholic or that I'd been raised Catholic and trying to get into this Catholic naughty-boy stuff...A monkey with a halo, calling it Whore, that would bring all kinds of shit that wouldn't be true. So I said I'd change the title."[46]

Release[edit]

Around October 1988, the American label Elektra Records began to take interest in the Pixies and, amid a bidding war, signed the band.[47] Elektra then negotiated with the Pixies' British label 4AD, which held their worldwide distribution rights, and released a promotional live album containing the album tracks "Debaser" and "Gouge Away" along with a selection of earlier material.[3] Two weeks before Doolittle released on April 2, 1989, Elektra and 4AD closed a deal that gave Elektra distribution rights in the US. By that time, PolyGram had already secured Canadian distribution rights.[48]

Doolittle was released in the UK on April 17, 1989, and in the US the following day. Elektra's major label status helped get retail displays for the record put up across the United States. Elektra also got "Monkey Gone to Heaven", the first single from the album, sent to major radio stations.[49]

In the first week after its release in Britain, Doolittle was number eight on the UK Albums Chart.[50] In the US, the album entered the Billboard 200 at number 171.[51] With the help of college radio-play of "Monkey Gone to Heaven", it eventually rose to number 98, spending two weeks in the Top 100.[51] Doolittle sold steadily in America, breaking sales of 100,000 after six months.[52] By early 1992, while the band were supporting U2 on their Zoo TV Tour, the album was selling 1,500 copies per week.[52] By the middle of 1993—two years after the release of the band's last album before their initial breakup, Trompe le MondeDoolittle was selling an average of 1,200 copies per week.[52] Doolittle was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1995 and Platinum in 2018.[53]

Critical reception[edit]

Contemporary professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Chicago Tribune[54]
Los Angeles Times[55]
NME10/10[56]
Q[57]
Record Mirror4/5[58]
Rolling Stone[59]
Sounds[60]
The Village VoiceB+[61]

When Doolittle was released, it was received positively by many critics.[15] NME critic Edwin Pouncey wrote that "the songs on Doolittle have the power to make you literally jump out of your skin with excitement". He singled out "Debaser" as one of the highlights, describing it as "blessed with the kind of beefy bass hook that originally brought "Gigantic" to life".[62] Q critic Peter Kane wrote that the album's "carefully structured noise and straightforward rhythmic insistence makes perfect sense".[63] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote, "They're in love and they don't know why—with rock and roll, which is heartening in a time when so many college dropouts have lost touch with the verities." However, he concluded that "getting famous too fast could ruin them" while suggesting the lyrics reflect somewhat of a disconnection with "the outside world".[61]

Some reviewers were more critical. In a short review for Spin, Joe Levy found "the insanity less surreal and more silly, and the songs themselves more like songs and less like adventures". Rolling Stone's Chris Mundy published "a tentative endorsement", rating it three and a half stars;[64] but concluding that the "emphasis on more textured production has in no way taken away from the band's intensity. Francis is at all times in command of the album, quietly stringing us along before turning on us and screaming for attention."[59]

The album appeared on several contemporary end-of-year "Best Album" lists. Both Rolling Stone and The Village Voice placed the album tenth, and independent music magazines Sounds and Melody Maker both ranked the album as the second-best of the year.[15] NME ranked the album fourth in their end-of-year list.[65]

Accolades for Doolittle
Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Hot Press Ireland Top 100 Albums[66] 2006 34
NME UK 100 Best Albums[67] 2003 2
Pitchfork US Top 100 Albums of the 1980s[68] 2002 4
Rolling Stone US The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time[69] 2003 226
2012 227
2020 141
Spin US 100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005[70] 2005 36
Slant Magazine US Best Albums of the 1980s[71] 2012 34

Legacy[edit]

Retrospective professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic100/100[72]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[73]
Blender[74]
The Guardian[75]
Mojo[76]
Pitchfork10/10[77]
Q[78]
Rolling Stone[79]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[80]
SpinA[81]
Uncut10/10[82]

Ten years after their breakup, Doolittle continued to sell between 500 and 1,000 copies a week, and following their 2004 reunion tour sales reached 1,200 copies per week. At the end of 2005, best estimates put total US sales at between 800,000 and one million copies.[52] As of 2015, sales in the United States have exceeded 834,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[83] The band later released a number of singles from the album. In 1997, "Debaser" was re-released to promote the Death to the Pixies compilation.[84] In June 1989, 4AD released "Here Comes Your Man" as the album's second single. It reached number three on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 54 in the UK Singles Chart.[85][86] On May 6, 2019, "Here Comes Your Man" was certified Gold in Canada; On September 20, 2021, "Hey" was certified Gold in Canada.[87]

It has appeared in numerous lists as both one of the best albums of the 1980s and of all time. In a 2017 survey, Pitchfork ranked it as the fourth best album of the 1980s;[88] a 2003 poll of NME writers ranked Doolittle as the second-greatest album of all time;[67] and Rolling Stone placed the album at 141 on its 2020 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[89]

The album is widely regarded as one of the key alternative rock albums of the 1980s.[90] It established the Pixies' loud–quiet dynamic,[91] which became highly influential on alternative rock.[92][26] After writing "Smells Like Teen Spirit", both Cobain and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana thought: "this really sounds like the Pixies. People are really going to nail us for this."[93] Norton was frequently credited with capturing the album's dynamics and became highly sought after by bands wishing to achieve a similar sound.[94] Fellow alternative musician PJ Harvey was "in awe" of "I Bleed" and "Tame", and she described Francis's writing as "amazing".[95]

A 2002 Rolling Stone review gave it the maximum score of five stars, remarking that it laid the "groundwork for Nineties rock".[79] Critic Michael Powell called Doolittle "their most famous album".[77] It was included in critic Robert Dimery's influential book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[96] PopMatters included it in their list of the "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums" saying, "Doolittle captured the musicians at the top of their game".[97]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks were written by Black Francis, except "Silver" written by Black Francis and Kim Deal.

Doolittle track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Debaser"2:52
2."Tame"1:55
3."Wave of Mutilation"2:04
4."I Bleed"2:34
5."Here Comes Your Man"3:21
6."Dead"2:21
7."Monkey Gone to Heaven"2:56
8."Mr. Grieves"2:05
9."Crackity Jones"1:24
10."La La Love You"2:43
11."No. 13 Baby"3:51
12."There Goes My Gun"1:49
13."Hey"3:31
14."Silver"2:25
15."Gouge Away"2:45
Total length:38:38

Reissues[edit]

Doolittle 25: B-Sides, Peel Sessions and Demos[edit]

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album, 4AD released an edition titled Doolittle 25, containing unreleased B-sides, demos and two full Peel sessions.[98] In addition to the original track listing, the reissue contained the following tracks, all of which were previously released unless otherwise indicated.

Disc 2 / LP 2 – B-sides & Peel Sessions
No.TitleNotesLength
1."Dead"Peel session, October 9, 19883:18
2."Tame"Peel session, October 9, 1988; previously unreleased1:58
3."There Goes My Gun"Peel session, October 9, 19882:18
4."Manta Ray"Peel session, October 9, 19881:49
5."Into the White"Peel session, April 16, 1989; previously unreleased4:11
6."Wave of Mutilation"Peel session, April 16, 19892:31
7."Down to the Well"Peel session, April 16, 19892:14
8."Manta Ray"B-side of "Monkey Gone to Heaven"2:04
9."Weird at My School"B-side of "Monkey Gone to Heaven"1:58
10."Dancing the Manta Ray"B-side of "Monkey Gone to Heaven"2:14
11."Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)"B-side of "Here Comes Your Man"3:02
12."Into the White"B-side of "Here Comes Your Man"4:43
13."Bailey's Walk"B-side of "Here Comes Your Man"2:24
Disc 3 / LP 3 (tracks 1–18) – Demos
No.TitleNotesLength
1."Debaser"Previously released3:00
2."Tame" 2:01
3."Wave of Mutilation"First demo2:04
4."I Bleed" 1:46
5."Here Comes Your Man"1986 demo; previously released3:07
6."Dead" 1:35
7."Monkey Gone to Heaven" 2:52
8."Mr. Grieves" 1:42
9."Crackity Jones" 1:21
10."La La Love You" 2:08
11."No. 13 Baby – VIVA LA LOMA RICA"First demo2:17
12."There Goes My Gun" 1:29
13."Hey"First demo3:22
14."Silver" 2:11
15."Gouge Away" 1:42
16."My Manta Ray Is All Right" 2:03
17."Santo"Previously released as B-side of "Dig for Fire"2:17
18."Weird at My School"First demo1:53
19."Wave of Mutilation" 1:03
20."No. 13 Baby"Previously released3:07
21."Debaser"First demo3:37
22."Gouge Away"First demo2:08

On December 9, 2016, a limited Pure Audio Blu-Ray version of the album was released containing a 5.1 surround sound mix by Kevin Vanbergen and a high definition stereo mix by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.[99] In 2022, the album was formatted for Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and released on Apple Music.[100]

Personnel[edit]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Doolittle.[101]

Charts[edit]

Chart (1989) Peak
position
Weeks
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[102] 53 9
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[103] 18 5
UK Albums (OCC)[50] 8 11
US Billboard 200[104] 98 27
French Albums (SNEP)[105] 66 2

Certifications[edit]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[106] Gold 50,000^
France (SNEP)[107] Gold 100,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[108] Platinum 300,000*
United States (RIAA)[53] Platinum 1,000,000

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

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  2. ^ Frank & Ganz 2006, p. 115.
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  4. ^ Sisario 2006, p. 21.
  5. ^ Sisario 2006, pp. 44–45.
  6. ^ Frank & Ganz 2006, pp. 139–140.
  7. ^ Sisario 2006, pp. 46–47.
  8. ^ Sisario 2006, p. 47, 54.
  9. ^ Sisario 2006, pp. 55–57.
  10. ^ a b c d Buskin, Richard (December 2005). "Classic Tracks: The Pixies 'Monkey Gone To Heaven'". Sound on Sound. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Sisario 2006, p. 52.
  12. ^ Frank & Ganz 2006, p. 142.
  13. ^ Sisario 2006, p. 53.
  14. ^ Frank & Ganz 2006, p. 144.
  15. ^ a b c d Hughes, Rob (April 17, 2018). "The Pixies: Looking back on Doolittle and the making of a classic". Louder. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020.
  16. ^ Sisario 2006, pp. 57–58.
  17. ^ Gordon, Jeremy. "The evolution of Steve Albini: "If the dumbest person is on your side, you’re on the wrong side"". The Guardian, 15 August 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2024
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  20. ^ Sisario 2006, p. 92.
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  24. ^ Sisario 2006, p. 29.
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  26. ^ a b Edwards, Mark (August 2004). "Pop: Loud quiet loud". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on April 29, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
  27. ^ Moore, Paul. "REWIND: Doolittle by Pixies is 26-years-old this week, JOE ranks its 5 best songs". Joe.ie, April 18, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
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