The Breeders - Pod

 

The Breeders’ debut album Pod.  Or rather – the one without Cannonball.  Most certainly overshadowed by what came after, this 1990 album is a delight.  It starts off slowly and menacingly with the understated Glorious, Kim Deal singing over grinding guitars.  Doe kicks things into gear, Deal’s sweet vocals against a pounding beat and guitars that do as much as they have to do and little else. Which is a good thing!  They do a heavy cover version of the Beatles’ Happiness Is A Warm Gun, stomping all over it with ‘hobnail booted’ drums. Oh! is an odd but addictive slow burn, with an almost strangulated vocal from Deal.

The album is full of pacey guitar-driven songs such as Hellbound, Opened, Limehouse, the last of this being way better than the penultimate song on any album has any right to be.  There are highlights all over the album: When I Was A Painter with its thrilling stops and starts, Fortunately Gone’s exquisite vocal harmonies and the swaggering Only In 3’s.  Final track Metal Man provides a rare moment of quiet before a final blast of guitar.

A knotty awkward bastard of an album that just sits there and does its thing without any accessible tracks to draw you in.  But a highly addictive album.