Pixies
Doolittle

For some time now, it has been quite fashionable to delve into historical reminiscences, to revive glorious pasts, and renew them, with exercises that unfortunately do not always succeed.

In recent years, almost everyone has tried it, many for commercial reasons and to regain visibility, sometimes launching endless tours, exhausting for bodies that are no longer in their twenties. I recall The Stooges about 3-4 years ago, proudly displayed in Turin with an Iggy as ever unchanged, a true rock icon, never tired of embracing the role of the stage iguana, so animalistic that he is more so than the animals themselves, with the Asheton brothers weighed down by age and Mike Watt, generous, as happy as a child to accompany perhaps the most influential group of his youth. A wonderful evening. Then I saw Lou Reed with Berlin where, if not for a majestic Steve Hunter, he would have been sent back to September. The Sonic Youth with the live performance of Daydream Nation all in one breath. I missed some important comebacks from the Sex Pistols to The Police, but I certainly did not, in these cases, resort to self-flagellation or engage in corporal self-punishment with a cilice.

And now two wonderful pieces of news arrive for a junkie like me: the first, 2 weeks ago, discovering that the Jesus Lizard has reformed and will play 3 dates next September, and the second, the one I want to narrate, the return of Black Francis with his Pixies to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of "Doolittle".

I saw them in '91 during the Bossanova tour in Turin in what was perhaps one of the richest summer seasons in Turin: Primus, Living Colour, them, and much more in the beautiful Valentino park. I was floored by the energy of music that was mixing the narrative ability and pop of XTC with the Nirvanian grunge, the noise of Sonic Youth blended with certain musical themes of Wall of Voodoo, yes, those of Call of the West. They were the flagship group of 4AD, which was one of the most prolific and valued labels at the end of the '80s and early '90s, a label that had the honor of signing the Birthday Party of Nick Cave, Bauhaus in England, Lydia Lunch.

This is truly news! That chubby guy returns to the stage and seems to be in great shape (even if the vocal range doesn’t seem to be what it once was watching the YouTube videos) with Kim Deal still on bass after dedicating a long time to the Breeders, achieving deserved success with Pod. I check the tour dates... Italy is not on it... Dublin, London, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, not a single date in Italy, and I wonder how one can be so obtuse... but we had Madonna in playback, and there’s always Vasco to lift the craving for live emotions, so why risk it?

Let’s get back to Doolittle.

Why is this album fundamental? Because it is simply love at first listen! It's an album that gets inside you, that you don't need to savor slowly, it becomes a real eating disorder akin to bulimia, the more you listen, the more you want to hear it... it ends and you put it back on to re-hear the perfection of "Debaser" and then transition through "I Bleed" with Kim Deal’s counter singing and wait for the climax of "Gouge Away", passing first through Monkey Gone to Heaven. There isn't a second-tier song, you won't find it even if you feel like saying "La La Love You" with David Lovering's drum intro that seems stolen from "John the Fisherman" by Primus. But the Genius is always Joey Santiago, the one who weaves the melodies of all the songs, the one who puts the stamp of quality on everything. Listen to "Hey" and the concept is clear.

I don’t know if I'll manage to go, but I will certainly try, perhaps the Paris date.

To these old-timers, who are my contemporaries but have aged significantly worse by the looks of them, every merit must be given, first of all, for having written 4 albums in their career that are milestones without ever taking a misstep, from the first Surfer Rosa (which in the CD version also includes the mini album Come on Pilgrim) with the sharp production of Steve Albini to the last Trompe le Monde which marked a return to the origins after Doolittle and Bossanova. Much is owed to them by Nirvana, as well as Blonde Redhead and certainly PJ Harvey. I owe them a lot too. I grew up with their music and a lot of other music, but I recognize in them a unique brand of quality. Alternative rock certainly passed through Boston at the end of those splendid ‘80s that created everything that even today still sounds extremely interesting.