PIXIES Poll: The best track on Bossanova

Tempted to go with "Rock Music" because of its ability to peel paint from the walls.

But the "oooohs" in "The Happening" are crazy tingly good too.

this is kind of difficult; I really love "Ana" & "Blown Away" (prediction #1 -> I'm gonna regret not voting for Blown Away) but really this comes down to Cecilia Ann vs. Dig for Fire for me...

prediction #2: top 3 will look like this

Dig For Fire
Rock Music
Havalina

The "beneath the skyyyyyyyyy/saying hiiiiiiiii" parts, rather. xp

I'd be happy with any song winning.

Man, the back half of this record is STRONG. "Hang Wire" is amazing.

tempted by:

rock music
dig for fire
stormy weather

voted for:

Haven't heard this album in years, but my favorite track in freshman year of college when I picked this up was "All Over the World" so I'll go for that.

This has always been my favorite Pixies album, btw.

Is there more from that session, tipsy?

Velouria, for the rocket-to-the-stars intro and the mad theremining throughout, for kim's hauntingly wordless echo of the refrain, and for frank's lyrical flight of fancy about lost continents, superbeings, rosicrucianism, time travel... and haberdashery?!

A vote for 'Down to the Well'. Already slightly regretting it - think I'm really voting for the Purple Tape version and I do love that late run of songs - Hang Wire and Stormy Weather especially.

is she weird

worst pixies album btw

First five songs are so tight, then it falls apart for me. Reaches it's nadir with the fire/desire rhyme in Digging for Fire. I've never understood the appeal of that song, seems so phoned-in. Gets better on the last few, but the middle of this record goes nowhere. It drags down how I perceive the rest of their catalog, even.

They're good when they're "stupid". I always have time for them.

I've never understood the appeal of that song, seems so phoned-in.

I agree. As did Gil Norton, I seem to recall reaading, which is why it wasn't on Doolittle.

Velouria, by far

I like Dig For Fire...true, i thought it was some lame Talking Heads rip until one night I found myself stoned in some Buffalo Wild Wings in Novi watching a football game with some co-worker...I wasn't really paying much attention, but when the football game was over, the lights came back on, and the last 45 seconds of Dig For Fire came on, and all it was was weird processed effects-coated harmonies spinning around each other like Blue Angels...I swear it was like a Visitation or something...

"Oh, wow, it's the Pixies," I said (I was not yet used to hearing them out in public).

"Who are they?" my co-worker asked.

"They're like one of my favourite bands," I said. "They're kind of weird."

"They sound weird," he said.

...so yeah, but anyways, turns out I completely forgot about The Happening. That wins.

Found "Velouria." Didn't see any others from whatever that session was on Youtube, but I hope they're out there.

This is my least favorite pixies album and it's still pretty great. I think I have to go with either Velouria or Dig for Fire. OK, DfF.

Havalina. probably the only track from this album i'd still listen to on a regular basis, if my friend hadn't stolen the tape of it from my car.

this and trompe le monde switch back n forth as my favorite pixies record. bossanova is more consistent in that i like every single song, but velouria and the happening (and maybe all over the world)are the only ones that i would consider naming as my favorite.

voted velouria w/o really having to think about it

I'm shocked that Dig for Fire isn't the practically unanimous favorite! I guess I always assumed that everyone loved it as much as I did.

"Dig for Fire" comes and goes as my favorite. Just like most of the songs on the album. That's the best thing about Pixies albums for me, because as good as the song I'm currently listening to is I'm anticipating the next one because it's good too (in almost all cases).

I'm shocked that Dig for Fire Velouria etc etc

Some of my friends made a mixtape which looped the end of the Happening over and over and they learned all the words that way. It's my favorite Pixies moment too.

"Velouria" is transcendent and everything else on this album sucks, IMO.

Sucks? Really?

Some of my friends made a mixtape which looped the end of the Happening over and over and they learned all the words that way. It's my favorite Pixies moment too.

― Adam Bruneau, Monday, March 2, 2009 4:55 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

There is also a b-side "The Thing" which is just the end of Happening

Hang Wire since it contains one of my favourite song couplets:

The day is like a warm night
Salt rusts the cold line.

Is She Weird is the best, but almost every track are perfect from side 1.

"The Happening" in a walk. Piece for piece, it is my favorite Pixies song & IMO sort of neatly condenses seemingly disparate aspects of their sound into four glorious minutes. And yeah, that coda..

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

There's a lot of good stuff on the album and I probably like Velouria and Dig for Fire just as much,
but voted Allison cause it's not getting enough love here.

I wish I could remember the writer who described the Pixies as "anal cheekiness," but that's this album all over, from production to lyrics. I mean, it was fascinating at the time, especially since I'd somehow missed Doolittle (maybe too busy with rap), but I cringe just thinking about most of Bossa Nova now. Ooooh, is she weird? Is she white? Is she promised to the night? Please. "Velouria" was so over-the-top in every way that it somehow outmocks, outweirds, outcommercials, and outprettifies the rest. I might even love it more than "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in the right mood.

I hate "Is She Weird" and not a fan of "Hang Wire" but the rest of this album is really beautiful.
Gotta be "The Happening" for that beautastic ending

^yeah this...plus I can leave All Over the World except for the extended coda with all the distorted talking.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

"All Over the World" 0

Really????

is she weird getting more votes than the happening is more o_0 for me.

^^

I voted for "All Over the World" but it didn't register... :(

is she weird getting more votes than the happening is more o_0 for me.

― mizzell, Friday, March 13, 2009 3:09 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

Is She Weird = worst Pixies song imo

I CANNOT BELIEVE I FORGOT TO MAKE MY BOSSANOVA POLL GAG

this is how it would have gone

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Thursday, 12 March 2009 00:01 (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I CAN HARDLY WAIT, BETTY

;_;

how does lemur skin reflect the sea?

i can't believe i never noticed the theremin on velouria until now. bossanova/trompe > first two LPs

"The Happening". just for the heavenly "in the suuun" part and talky second half alone.

i had some friends that made a cassette tape with only that song looped over and over.

oops i said the exact thing almost ten years ago. :-/

A javelina was caught speeding near 22nd and Kolb in Tucson. https://t.co/NPmuBvrATc pic.twitter.com/X1F1StOYVG

— Hannah Tiede (@HannahTiedeTV) February 25, 2020

Havalina, the album's closing song, was composed after Charles and his girlfriend were chased by a wild pig in Arizona.

'So he decided to write a real pretty love song. I've been thinking about this...I don't think there's anything innately erotic about pigs. But generally they are sweet, shy, mysterious creatures. Especially the little ones. When they get big, they get kinda gross.'

— Kim Deal, Melody Maker

I kinda wish I'd voted for Ana instead tbrr

More hushed surf mirages with structures like breath on a mirror plz

I remember being very excited when I found a copy of the famed truck stop surf comp that had the original version of "Cecelia Ann."

Played by everyone's favourite sonic guru Steve Hoffman, y'know. It's even his original kick-the-amp reverb splash at the start of the Pixies' version.
https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/3593451.jpg

Holy shit!

!!!!!!

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/cecilia-ann-by-the-pixies-surftones-on-youtube-yes-i-wrote-the-song-with-my-buddy-frosty.272578/

Supposedly a tribute to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Y0uQLgriA

"Sicilienne" => "Cecilia Anne"

NEVER knew the Cecilia Ann backstory! That rules.

Me neither, crazy

this album rules

holy shit @ the hoff!

"All Over The World" (0 votes) certainly is not the greatest song but it's such a groove and despite being a lesser Pixies song could be many, many other bands' career highlight.

Much of this record is lost in the blur of time to me. I had it both on cassette and on CD. For some reason, I have never ripped my Pixies CDs...

Weird #1

The pre-chorus of “velouria” is awesome

Or second half of the verse, whatever

maybe I need to listen again, I remember being underwhelmed by it as a lead single and that maybe shaped my enduring impression... I did love this album as an overall listening experience though

I love Velouria. All Over The World with 0 votes is a bit odd, it's probably my 2nd favourite song on the album

This was my fave for the longest time.

I think I was the one vote for Stormy Weather, just to give it some love

This is such a good record but def the catalog oddball, I tend to think of it more as the bridge to Trompe Le Monde-Frank Black-TOTY

This is such a "greater than the sum of its parts" record for me - looking at the tracklist I'm not really blown away, but I know this has been one of my favorite Pixies listens at certain moments in time.

yeah, it does feel like the first Pixies record where the sequencing is critical, the one that would suffer most from shuffling

Which is ironic, since it literally starts with an instrumental surf cover and is immediately followed by a screamy noise goof, which you would think is the *wrong* way to start an album, except in this strange case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGEia3UgRao
Kind of shocked to see people on other threads say "All Over The World" is one of their worst songs, for me it's always been in my top5 Pixies songs, gorgeously atmospheric, totally mesmerized me when I was originally getting into it. Justice for this song! Totally underrated.

As much as I love it I genuinely can't remember if they played it when Kim was doing the reunion either time I saw them. I don't know if they played it much, there's quite a few 2024-25 live versions on youtube right now but here's one from 1990.

Underrated, this one. I also stan for "All Over the World".

A cool headphone record, too.

I probably wouldn't have voted for it, but I like "All Over The World" more than a bunch of other songs on this album

I love every single track, b-sides and all, from the OG Pixies run.

Same.

I'm glad "The Happening" made a respectable showing as well.

The Happening gets stuck in my head all the time.

This album rules, I like it much better than Doolittle (opinions 4 u)

Better call the rangerrr

I haven't really listened to the Pixies for decades apart from obligatory listens to each new album they put out just in case they somehow got that magic back but they are so imprinted on me. It's interesting talking to people 5+ years older than me where they weren't really a big deal. I spent a couple of years in the mid-90s being really annoying about them when Britpop was the thing and I was like indie music used to good this is all going wrong.

Would've voted for "Dig for Fire," but yes, love the album too. The OG Pixies run is indeed great from end-to-end, even the latter ones that get uncharitably criticized as the well running dry.

A cool headphone record, too.

Yes! I remember being a bit disappointed by this album on release but one day listening on my Walkman during the bus ride to school it totally snapped into focus and I loved it. It is def strange and misshapen follow-up to a aerodynamic and streamlined indie smash but that is actually what is good about it?

My friend group caught Pixies fever a year after they broke up, so all the music was out there and we swarmed on it. I found a bootleg CD called the B-Side file that rounded up almost all the extra stuff. Yeah, it's all good. "Winterlong." I might like Trompe a little more than Bossanova, but it's pretty close. I rate Come On Pilgrim least only because it's the shortest.

For all the "Ana" lovers out there, here's an insightful music theory blog describing why the song's structure and half-step modulations are so genius:

https://musictheorybridges.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/the-pixiess-obsession-ana/

^most of that went over my theory-dumb head but I was really pleased that they played "Ana" live when I saw them a few years ago.

Cool. It always *felt* like something interesting was going in "Ana". The slightly dreamier stuff like that and "Blown Away" might even be the most durable bits for me at this point. (Though the YT link in the article might be the closest I've come to actually listening to the longplayer in the 21st century.)

going *on* in "Ana", rather