Pod (The Breeders album)

Pod
Studio album by The Breeders
Released May 28, 1990
Recorded December 1989 at Palladium Studios, Edinburgh, Scotland
Genre Alternative rock
Length 30:35
Label 4AD/Elektra (U.S.)
4AD (UK)
Producer Steve Albini
The Breeders chronology
Pod
(1990)		 Safari (EP)
(1992)

Pod is the debut album by the American alternative rock band the Breeders, released on the independent record label 4AD in May 1990. Engineered by Steve Albini, Pod was recorded at Palladium Studios, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Steve Albini has stated that it is the one album on which he felt he got both the best sound for a band, and the best performance from a band. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain called it one of the most influential albums of his life.

Background and recording

In 1988, Kim Deal of the Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses became good friends when the two bands toured Europe together.[1] Deal and Donelly spent time together playing guitar and drinking beer,[2] and shared musical ideas with each other.[3] During the tour, and later in Boston, the two often went dancing together.[4] On one outing, at a Sugarcubes concert in Boston, dance music was playing between sets,[5] and the two drunkenly decided to write and record some dance music.[5][6] They envisioned an "organic dance band" that would consist of Deal on bass, Donelly on guitar, and two drummers;[2] they recorded Donelly's song "Rise" with Throwing Muses' David Narcizo,[6] and planned to do other originals, as well as a cover of Rufus and Chaka Khan's "Tell Me Something Good".[2] However, Deal and Donelly decided that their dance music concept was not working well, and did not pursue it.[4][5]

At some point, the two friends realized they could still use their songs for a non-dance project.[3] Due to professional and personal circumstances, it was eighteen months after their recording of "Rise" that they were able to work together again.[6] A factor that increased Deal's dedication to the project was Pixie co-member Black Francis's decision to do a solo tour; Deal decide that if he did activity outside of their group, she could too.[1]

Deal and Donelly recorded demo songs with violinist Carrie Bradley of Ed's Redeeming Qualities, bassist Ray Holiday, and four different drummers.[7] The demo had a country music feel.[1] Paul Kolderie engineered several of the demo songs, but Deal felt they sounded "too clean"; she asked Joe Harvard (of Fort Apache Studios[8]) to remix them to sound rougher.[9] Around this time, the group performed a concert at the Rat music venue in Boston; in the city's Phoenix newspaper, the band was described as a female supergroup.[10] Ivo Watts-Russell—the cofounder of 4AD, the record label of the Pixies and Throwing Muses—heard the demo, and was very enthusiastic about it.[1][10] Watts-Russell offered funding to rerecord the songs for an album release.[1][10] 4AD gave the band an $11,000 budget.[11] Deal called the band "the Breeders", a name that she and her sister Kelley had used when performing as teenagers;[4] this was a slang expression Deal found amusing that homosexuals used to refer to heterosexuals.[1]

Although Deal was the bassist of the Pixies, she wanted to play guitar for the Breeders, because it was easier to sing at the same time.[1][12] Deal recruited Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster to be the Breeders' bassist; the two knew each other from when Perfect Disaster had toured with the Pixies in Europe in 1989.[1][12] Deal wanted Steve Albini to record the album;[13] Deal had previously worked with him on the Pixies' Surfer Rosa album.[14] Deal hoped to have her sister Kelley be the Breeders' drummer, but the latter was not able to take time away from her program analyst job.[13] Albini suggested they use Britt Walford of the band Slint instead.[13][15] (Walford used the pseudonym Shannon Daughton, because he did not want his participation in the Breeders to overshadow his role in Slint.)[16] Before recording began, Deal, Wiggs, and Walford rehearsed at Wiggs' house in Bedfordshire, England for a week, and then joined Donelly in London to practice more.[12]

Watts-Russell suggested it would be enjoyable for the Breeders record at a studio in Scotland[17] called the Palladium.[8] It was a house that included a recording studio on the first floor, as well as bedrooms upstairs.[12] The band members sometimes recorded wearing their pajamas, and more than once went to a local pub without changing into regular clothes.[18] The studio was booked for two weeks, but the album itself only took one week to record; during the remaining time, the Breeders recorded a John Peel session, and a television crew filmed a video of the band.[19]
"Iris"
Sample of "Iris", the eighth track on Pod.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Cover

The album's cover was designed by Vaughan Oliver with photography by Kevin Westenberg.[8] Oliver attached a belt of dead eels over his underwear,[20] and performed a fertility dance while Westenberg took pictures using a long exposure.[21] Oliver's inspiration included the need for "a strong male response" (via the "phallic" eels) to the music of the mostly female Breeders.[22] Another motivation was his attempt to charm Kim Deal, and speak to her sense of humor, as he had become enamored with her.[21]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[23]
Blender[24]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[25]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[26]
NME9/10[27]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[28]
Select5/5[29]
Spin[30]

Pod was released on May 28, 1990 by 4AD in the UK. (In the USA, it was originally released on 4AD/Rough Trade, and then in 1992 by 4AD/Elektra Records.) Although the album did not chart in the U.S., it was a minor hit in the UK, peaking at #22 on the UK Albums Chart.[31]

The album did, nevertheless, receive much acclaim from mainstream critics; The New York Times' Karen Schoemer wrote: "The angular melodies, shattered tempos and screeching dynamics recall elements of each of the women's full-time bands, but Pod has a smart, innovative edge all its own."[32] Heather Phares of AllMusic hailed the album as "a vibrantly creative debut," and praised its "creative songwriting, immediate production...and clever arrangements." Phares compared Pod favorably to the Pixies' Bossanova and Throwing Muses' Hunkpapa; Deal and Donelly's respective bands' releases at that time.[23]

The praise, however, was not unequivocal; The Village Voice's Robert Christgau called the album an "art project" and implied that The Breeders did not "[sound] like a band";[33] he assigned it a "neither" rating, indicating an album that "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't."[33] In his book The Rough Guide to Rock, Peter Buckley downplays comparisons with the Pixies, suggesting the album is "far too plodding for that."[34] In The A to X of Alternative Music, Steve Taylor says, "Deal's songs [on Pod] are not of the same quality as her Pixies work."[35]

In a 1992 interview with Melody Maker, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain described his great admiration for Pod: "The way they structure [the songs is] totally unique, very atmospheric."[36] Subsequently, in August 1993, after the release of their second album Last Splash, the Breeders were invited to open for Nirvana at several venues in Europe.[37] In July 2007, in a chat forum interview, Pod's engineer Steve Albini revealed that he considered the album to be amongst his best works.[38] In 2003, Pitchfork Media listed the album at #81 on their list of the Top 100 Albums of the 1990s.[39]

Track listing

All tracks written by Kim Deal, except where noted. 

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Glorious"  Deal, R. Halliday 3:23
2. "Doe"  Deal, Halliday 2:06
3. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun"  Lennon–McCartney 2:46
4. "Oh!"    2:27
5. "Hellbound"    2:21
6. "When I Was a Painter"    3:24
7. "Fortunately Gone"    1:44
8. "Iris"    3:29
9. "Opened"    2:28
10. "Only in 3's"  Deal, Donelly 1:56
11. "Lime House"    1:45
12. "Metal Man"  Deal, Wiggs 2:46

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1990) Peak
position
Dutch Albums Chart[40] 73
UK Albums Chart[31] 22

Notes

References

External links

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