Pod is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released by 4AD records on May 29, 1990. Engineered by Steve Albini, the album features band leader Kim Deal on vocals and guitar, Josephine Wiggs on bass, Britt Walford on drums, and Tanya Donelly on guitar. Albini's production prioritized sound over technical accomplishment; the final takes favor the band's spontaneous live "in studio" performances.
The Breeders formed in 1988 when Deal, bass player for Pixies, befriended Donelly of Throwing Muses during a European tour. They recorded a country-infused demo in 1989, leading to 4AD co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell funding an album, Pod, recorded that year at the Palladium studio in Edinburgh, Scotland. The cover art was designed by Vaughan Oliver and portrays a man performing a fertility dance while wearing a belt of eels.
Due in part to Deal's work with the Pixies, the album was widely anticipated, particularly in Europe. It became a critical and popular success, reaching number 22 in the UK. Critics praised its dark, sexualized lyrics, and compared it favorably to the Pixies. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain said it was one of his favorite records, and Pitchfork ranked it number 81 on its list of the best albums of the 1990s.
Background
thumb|alt=Kim Deal performing in 2008|Kim Deal performing in 2008
In 1988, Kim Deal of the Pixies became friends with Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses when their respective bands undertook a joint tour of Europe. Deal and Donelly spent time together playing guitar, drinking beer, and sharing musical ideas. They often went clubbing together in the bands' hometown of Boston. While attending a Sugarcubes concert, the two drunkenly decided to write and record dance songs. Their first attempt to work together was based around the idea of an "organic dance band" consisting of Deal on bass, Donelly on guitar, and two drummers.
Journalists have speculated that Deal felt motivated to start a new band because of her diminishing role and lack of creative input in the Pixies, which Deal has often denied. However, in one interview she complained angrily about Francis singing lead vocals in almost all of the band's songs and said that if she could not sing more in the Pixies, she would sing in another band instead. Pixies' guitarist Joey Santiago later recalled that Deal had a strong desire to contribute songs to the group to express her creativity, but eventually resigned herself and begrudgingly accepted Francis as the band's sole singer and songwriter. According to Francis, Deal had once offered several new songs to the group that were not accepted because they sounded too different from the band's repertoire; in Santiago's view, Francis’ own rejection of the songs reflected his attitude that the group "made pizzas, not cookies". As an alternative, Albini suggested they try Slint's Britt Walford, who used the pseudonym Shannon Doughton for Pod because he did not want his contribution to the album to overshadow his role in Slint. Deal, Wiggs, and Walford rehearsed for a week at Wiggs' house in Bedfordshire, England, before joining Donelly in London for further rehearsals. which had recording equipment on the first floor and bedrooms upstairs. Although 4AD booked the studio for two weeks, the band completed their recording in a single week. To use the remaining time, the label hired a television crew to film a music video, and the band recorded a session for John Peel's show on BBC Radio 1.—described his role as more technical than artistic, and preferred to be described as an engineer rather than producer. He had a preference for analogue recording techniques, and was noted for his careful placement of microphones in the studio to achieve a nuanced "roomy" sound. Further, in Albini's ethical approach to recording and to the mechanics of the music industry, he made a point of not attempting to influence the band's song arrangements. He was known for his vocal and dim view of the music industry,
Despite his reputation, Donelly recalls being especially comfortable working with Albini, whom she found "sweet". Wiggs and Donelly have both commented that although Albini often downplays his degree of influence on an album's quality, for Pod his contributions were considerable. Donelly has praised Albini for the input that he gave the band prior to recording. Albini saw Walford's drumming as an integral part of the band's sound. Music critic Colin Larkin likened the album to the Pixies for its threatening melodies and loud, resounding guitars. The New York Times Karen Schoemer also found similarities to the Pixies, citing Pods "angular melodies, shattered tempos and screeching dynamics", but felt the album nonetheless had its own identity distinct from Deal's previous band. Unlike the demo, the album does not have a country-influenced sound. and its "good-natured[ness]" (AllMusic's Heather Phares).|
filename2 = Happiness_Is_a_Warm_Gun_The_Breeders.ogg
|title2 = "Happiness Is a Warm Gun"
|description2 = For LeMay, the Breeders' version of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" is likewise representative of the entire album, in the song's "bipolar" extremes from "disarmingly gorgeous" to "punishingly gritty and violent". describes an adult who has vague but pleasant memories of being molested as a child by an aunt. "Oh!" has—according to writer Martin Aston—a slow tempo, restrained drumming, a sad violin performance by Carrie Bradley, and unexpectedly raw singing by Deal. Before recording, the other band members teased her about the line, but since she could not think of a better alternative, she kept the phrase but mumbled the line to make the words harder to understand. For Sasha Alcott, writing for the Boston Herald, the song contains elements of "fierce head-banging sing-a-long" as well as gentle whimsy. About "When I Was a Painter", the next track, Lamacq was struck by Deal's gruff vocals and praised its stop-start guitar riff. and Piers Clifton interpreted it as being about strange or otherwise unsatisfying sex.
Side 2 of the LP version starts with "Fortunately Gone", which Lamacq described as an appealing pop-flavored opening for the album's second half. In a 1990 interview, Deal said the song related to something "like a pea pod flowering and then getting ripe and stinky", and connected it to the Surrealists' "associat[ing] women with fish". The song concerns Sherlock Holmes spending long and comfortable hours in an opium den. Aston likened the melody to the Pixies' "Cactus". Watts-Russell planned the date to be not too close to the release of the Pixies' Bossanova two and a half months later, for more effective publicity of both albums. When this division of Rough Trade went bankrupt, Elektra assumed distribution of Pod in the US. Deal has noted that the Breeders did not receive any royalties from initial US sales because of Rough Trade's bankruptcy. It reached number 22 in the UK, where it was promoted by a full-page ad in Melody Maker, and number 73 in the Netherlands. Pod sold moderately well, which was certified platinum in the US and silver in the UK.
Deal took the idea for the album's title from a painting that she saw in Boston; He performed a fertility dance, while Westenberg took pictures of him using a long exposure to achieve blurring and other visual effects.
|rev3 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music
|rev3score =
| rev5 = NME
| rev5Score = 9/10
| rev9 = Spin
| rev9score =
| rev10 = Spin Alternative Record Guide
| rev10score = 6/10 Kandell and Sheffield mentioned tracks including "Fortunately Gone" as superior to songs by that group. Kandell noted Pod appealed to fans of the Pixies' "Gigantic", which was written and sung by Deal.
Some reviews found Pod under-developed or insubstantial. Jon Dolan in Blender likened it to a poorly constructed building. and Greg Sandow in Entertainment Weekly felt the lyrics were sometimes forced.]]
Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain often described Pod as one of his favorite albums. He listed it as his seventh and then third favorite album in his private journals, and said it was his number-one favorite album in a 1992 Melody Maker article, in which he said: "The way they structure [the songs is] totally unique, very atmospheric." Cobain's special admiration of Pod and Surfer Rosa—as well as his desire for a similar drum sound, a "natural, powerful sound produced with canny microphone placement rather than phony sounding effects boxes", that he found reminiscent of Aerosmith's Rocks—then led him to select Albini as the producer of Nirvana's third studio album, In Utero. Pod also influenced Courtney Love's songwriting on Live Through This, the second album by her band Hole. In 2018 critic Amanda Petrusich noted the enduring influence of Pod on contemporary indie rock musicians Courtney Barnett, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker.
In 2007, Albini said he felt Pod was among the best albums he had engineered; a 2015 article in Stereogum ranked it as Albini's eighth best album. Donelly described it as the "truest" of her albums and said that "it really feels exactly the way it was when we were doing it." In 2003 Pitchfork placed the album as the 81st best of the 1990s. Separate articles in both publications have ranked the Breeders' version of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" among the best cover versions of a Beatles song.
Track listing
Personnel
The Breeders
- Kim Deal – lead vocals, guitar
- Tanya Donelly – guitar, backing vocals
- Josephine Wiggs – bass guitar, backing vocals, Spanish guitar and lead vocals on "Metal Man"
- Britt Walford (credited as Shannon Doughton) – drums, backing vocals
- Carrie Bradley – violin
Additional personnel
- Steve Albini – engineer, spoken vocals
- Michael Allen – backing vocals on "Oh!"
- Vaughan Oliver/V23 – sleeve design
- Kevin Westenberg – photography
Charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
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!scope="col"|Chart (1990)
!scope="col"| Peak<br />position
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!scope="row"| Dutch Albums Chart