So why is The Breeders’ Pod on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I’m pretty sure the first time I heard a song by The Breeders was by way of 120 Minutes, MTV’s great Sunday night alternative rock showcase hosted by Matt Pinfield back in the day. The song was the quirkily brilliant “Cannonball,” and it became part of the soundtrack of my wild and exceptionally fun senior year at Binghamton University.
Pod is a different kind of album than the more well known (and dazzling) Last Splash (which includes “Cannonball”). It’s got a spareness to it matched with an unusual alt rock sensibility that make many of the tracks feel like later era Pixies songs (which makes sense, of course, as Kim Deal is a member of both bands).
“When I Was A Painter” is the perfect example of this, and man I can never get enough of the tone on the electric guitar on this one. But really, “man I can never get enough of the tone on the electric guitar” is something that generally applies to all Breeders songs for yours truly.
“Fortunately Gone” is The Breeders in a sweeter sounding mode, and it’s simply gorgeous. The voices of Kim Deal and fellow bandmate (and Throwing Muses member) Tanya Donelly is heaven.
I love that The Breeders have the bravery* take on a Beatles song, and then it’s not just any Beatles song but the already wildly weird “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” off the White Album. I really dig what The Breeders did with it – like all great cover songs, they truly make the song their own.
* The Breeders are often quite brave and/or provocative in their lyrical content as well.
“Iris” guns up the volume and it’s pure alt rock power with a great soft-loud dynamic pioneered in part by Deal’s other band.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with The Breeders’ Pod
Matt Pinfield these days is one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter. He’s very open about some hard times that he’s gone through, and is generally a super positive and inspirational dude spreading the gospel about his enduring love and passion for music.
Some stats & info about The Breeders – Pod
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Pod released? 1990
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #506 out of 1,000
The Breeders’ Pod on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Breeders’ Pod that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Walking on his highways, we leave the land and float inside the dark, black water, robin flies again.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.