The Breeders
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 by Kim Deal of the Pixies and Throwing Muses’ Tanya Donelly. The band has experienced a number of line-up changes; the current line-up consists of Kim Deal (vocals and guitar), her twin sister Kelley Deal (guitar and vocals), Jose Medeles (drums and percussion) and Mando Lopez (bass guitar); Kim Deal has been the band’s sole continual member. Their first album, Pod (1990), received critical acclaim but was not commercially successful. The Breeders’ most successful album, 1993′s Last Splash, produced the hit single “Cannonball”.
Pod (1990)
Tracklist
1. “Glorious” (Deal/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/Donnelly) 1:56
11. “Lime House” 1:45
12. “Metal Man” (Deal/Wiggs) 2:46
Information
Pod was released on 28 May 1990 by 4AD and Elektra records in the U.S. and UK. 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.
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.” Heather Phares of All Music Guide 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 the Throwing Muses’ Hunkpapa; Deal and Donelly’s respective bands’ releases at that time. Rolling Stone magazine, in their profile of The Breeders, called the album “hazy and creepily erotic… just what college radio had been waiting for.”
The praise, however, was not uniequivocal; The Village Voice’s Robert Christgau derided the album, calling it an “art project”, implying that The Breeders didn’t ” like a band.” In his book The Rough Guide to Rock, Peter Buckley downplays comparisons with the Pixies, suggesting the album is “far too plodding for that.”In The A to X of Alternative Music, Steve Taylor says, “Deal’s songs are not of the same quality as her Pixies work.”
In an 1992 interview with Melody Maker, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain named Pod as one of the records that influenced his life: “Its an epic that will never let you forget your ex-girlfriend.”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. In July 1995, in their tenth anniversary issue,Alternative Press ranked Pod number 39 of the “Top 99 of ’85-’95″, a list of the best albums released during the magazine’s years in print. 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.
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