Customer Reviews

Trompe Le Monde

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this album so much.... I am a new pixies fan so I never heard them in the normal order. This was the first one I heard and I loved it so I got Bossanova.. loved that one then I got Doolittle.. loved it.. so on down to Come on Pilgrim. Only now I relized I bought them in the opposite order :) But still overall I love this album the most. If you are lucky enough to see them on tour I highly recommend it.. they were amazing even though they only played 2 or 3 songs from TLM..

Are you squeamish? If one glance at the eyeballs on the cover of this record makes your stomach a bit nervous, then perhaps Trompe Le Monde isn't the safest place for you to swim.

The Pixies are perhaps best known for their excellent dance-punk-pop-grunge record Doolittle. The album's anthem, Debaser, and the poppier, happy-go-lucky-seeming Here Comes Your Man quickly win even the reluctant newcomers over. In terms of the Pixies' catalogue, Doolittle is easy listening. If Doolittle is the suburbs (which is a stretch, and no offense meant as I have only the most intense, burining respect for the Pixies cataloge as a whole) then Trompe Le Monde is just north of downtown, where most of the cars are pieced together with duct tape and nobody will walk at night. Things are just as messed up (well, perhaps a bit more messed up), but downtown they don't gloss it over. They don't cut their lawns, and uncollected newspapers rot in the bushes. Things are a little harder to look at here.

The first song, the title track, is very indicative of the record's sound and lyrics. On preliminary listens, the snippets of lyrics that can be easily discerned seem ridiculous ("go little record go/it is named by/some guy named joe). But what's ridiculous and what's not is entirely up to Black Francis in this case--after all, we take his screaming about french dogs seriously, don't we? Upon further investigation, the absurdity melts into a gorgeous, fractured imagery of the lost and the hunted.

Upon first listening to Trompe Le Monde, I was surprised at how reminescent it was of the Jesus and Mary Chain's Automatic--even without the cover of Head On, the two albums would have a lot in common. And this cover is one of the rare cases where, when returning to the original version, something seems missing--Joey Santiago's solo is far more melodic than the original version, and, I fear to say it, improves the song. And may I burn in hell for saying it, but I like the cover better. There, it's out. I can already see the mob in the distance, lighting their torches and gathering pitchforks.

Other highlights include U-Mass, with its awful, twisted dance beat and the only time I've heard words for the female genitalia shouted eloquently; Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons, where Kim Deal's bassline again proves her worth to the band (as if it were ever doubted); and the spectacular goth-night-club sprawl of a song, Subbacultcha, whose female protagonist is lauded as "looking like an erotic vulture". Honestly, though, I could count each of the tracks as a highlight in itself.

So, if you're brave enough, roll up your car windows and hide your wallet and go for it--Trompe Le Monde is something that needs to be seen, and is worth the trip.

Heck, it's one of my favorite albums, period. Hard to believe that after the first time I listened to this album ten years ago, I thought it was a joke. Honestly. It all just sounded so...wrong. It seriously crossed my mind that, knowing they were breaking up, decided to release an intentionally horrible, sonically stupid record, just to see if people would say they like it cuz it's the Pixies.

Well, like many incredible albums, this one took a while to grow on me. Today, it's one of my top 10. I can't understand how so many fans don't count this one as being in the same leauge as Surfer and Doolittle. Yes, Kim Deal seems to be less involved, and as much as I always thought her voice was their secret weapon, the songs are just too good to hold that against them.

I will agree that if you're new to the band, start with one of the earlier CDs first. This album is, to me, like a graduate course for Pixie fans. Once you've heard their other music (all great, mind you), you can handle this one. Perhaps I took the course too early, which accounted for my initial dislike.

I'll defy conventional wisdom right here by saying that each Pixies album was better than the one before. This, being the last, was the best in my opinion. For a band known for constant innovation, here they really pushed the boundaries of the rock song as far as they (or FB, if you really believe that this was "his" album) could. In a way, "Doolittle" was the pinnacle of the Pixies sound, so I can understand the praise heaped upon it. How could they possibly improve upon perfection? Well, they didn't- they just continued the progression of their sound. Things were toned down a bit for "Bossanova" (more subdued but equally enthralling) and then turned back up for this! On the first couple listens it might sound like endless screaming, and metallic guitar tones, chugging away in a thousand different directions. But underneath this abrasive surface, one will eventually notice sharp hooks around every corner, and extremely inventive and complex melodies. Highlights include "Alec Eiffel", "Palace Of the Brine" and "Subbacultcha" but really it's best listened to as a whole. The relentless pace of the album is frequently peppered with absolutely sublime moments, making it a unique and rewarding listening experience. Pehaps it's greatest achievement is it's unholy marriage of "riff-oriented" song structures that give way to more fluid and sprawling melodic refrains that get stuck in your head for.... well, forever. "Surfer Rosa" and "Doolittle" may be the undisputed masterpeices, but "Trompe Le Monde" stands alone as their most difficult and audacious creation.

Just writing to disagree w/ a previous reviewer who stated that Kim Deal & Joey Santiago's contributions to this album are almost nonexistant. I will agree w/ you that Kim Deal has almost no participation on this recording. Joey Santiago, on the other hand, makes this album. His guitar work on songs like "Alec Eiffel", "Planet of Sound", "Trompe le Monde", "Subbacultcha" and well, pretty much every other song on this cd made me want to learn how to play guitar. It's nearly chaotic and aside from Dinosaur jr & Radiohead one of my favorite "guitar" albums of the nineties.

Another great thing about this album is that Frank Black's songwriting really started to expand on this album. Bossa Nova was the first change in the Pixies' sound, but this album has so much more going on in it's songs than all of their previous recordings. Along with the arrangement of the album makes this one of my favorite albums to listen to from beginning to end.

If you like off-kilter pop songs w/ some aggression & some great hooks then buy this album.

It's hard for me to tell you about the Pixies. They rock. They combine the Clash with the Sex Pistols with someone you don't know, their own flavor that is very special.

I think this album is the Pixies' best compilation, with Doolittle a close second. If you like an original flavor in your rock and roll, then this is a good pick. I love this collection of songs. Hard rock, nice guitar, strange lyrics... but it keeps your head moving up and down. (Lyrics are actually humorous if you pay attention.) Good CD.

I just saw "Gouge," which was a terrific little documentary about the Pixies, but at the end it made me very sad because the interviewees characterized this album as the Pixies' worst. Frank Black even criticized his own songwriting on it. Well suffice it to say I could not disagree more. I absolutely love this album. Black's lyrics are at their most playful and poignant and laugh-out-loud funny. The entire album is hooky and wacky and tight; nearly every song WILL get stuck in your head if you listen to it twice. Some have said this album lacks the energy of their earlier, rawer stuff, but I think that's unfair. You might say it's _richer_, that it has more different _colors_ than some of their earlier albums. But "UMass", "Planet of Sound," "Distance Equals Rate Times Time," etc. are wonderful harsh Frank Black screaming songs that rival any of their early stuff for sheer punk energy. I also love the more melodic, melancholy stuff like "Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons," and "Subbacultcha" is hilarious: "I was lookin' handsome! She was looking like an ee-rot-ic vultcha!" Yeah baby! There's not a bit of filler on _Trompe le Monde_, which is more than I can say for some of their other CDs (all of which are nevertheless fantastic). This is right up there with _Doolittle_ as one of the best rock albums ever, and makes me wish the Pixies had never broken up.

While I've always been fond of the Pixies, I've never been a student. I have my well-worn copies of Dolittle and Surfer Rosa. I love Frank Black as a song writer. I'm excited to see them reuniting. But with all due respect to Pixies fanatics, I have to say this isn't my favotite of their albums.

Lacking the energy, vitality, and emotional intimacy of the Pixies' earlier works, Trompe le Monde seems to me to be a little less engaging. The lyrics still showcase Frank Black's delightful wit, and it's clear that the band you're listening to is still the Pixies, but two culprits combine to make the album a little less mindblowing than their earlier efforts: overproduction and the near disappearance of Kim Deal and lead guitarist Joey Santiago. Frank Black's songwriting is solid as always, and accompanied by David Lovering's pulsing bass, the heart of the Pixies is intact. But with weak to nonexistent contributions from Deal and Santiago, the soul is not entirely present. In true Pixies fashion, most of the album's songs are simultaneously catchy and ugly, but they lack the range of highs and lows evident in earlier albums.

If your love for Pixies is endless or you're intersted in having little, bald Frank Black babies, Trompe le Monde is unquestionably up your alley. If not, enroll in Pixies Appreciation 101 by checking out Dolittle or Surfer Rosa, and come back to this one once you've developed the taste.

This is a great album. It's too bad they broke up. And, nothing that Frank Black has done since even comes close.

I've been listening to the Pixies since I was 12. They'll always be one of the best rock bands ever. Yes, "Come on Pilgrim" is the first release, and the rawest. Yes, "Doolittle" is probably considered the best Pixies album to date. "Bossanova" just rocks. Then, we have the final act.

"Trompe Le Monde" is a venture into a more produced, more "sci-fi" sound (Frank also took the sci-fi with him for his first 2 solo releases). It is frankly, for me, the best Pixies, or Frank Black writing ever released.

This album is worth the money alone for the track "Letter to Memphis". If you've only got one Pixies album so far, this should be the next.