Pixies
Bossanova [2026 Remaster]
4AD
Let’s make a deal: I won’t devote real estate in this review to pillory the crap quality that saddled the cassette version of Bossanova upon its initial release in 1990, lest those who have jumped on the tape revival bandwagon be offended. Instead, the rest of the words will be devoted to feting the remaster-minds who polished off every morsel of sound on every one of this ersatz-divisive album’s tracks with such opulent perfection that it sounds like an entirely different listen than it did upon its original release in 1990.
There’s arguably no Pixies record that could have benefited more from a careful, masterfully executed manicure, which is so well-executed from start to finish that it’s impossible to forget that you’re not listening to the original version. “Rock Music,” which once sounded limp, now lives up to its name as a sub-two-minute banger. This time around, “Velouria” sounds like a fantastical space odyssey presaging the interstellar obsession that Frank Black lacquered over his solo works years later. The brilliance of Dave Lovering’s frenetic drum rolls are crystallized on “Allison” and “Is She Weird,” the latter of which also brings Joey Santiago’s guitar playing and Kim Deal’s bass into shiver-inducing focus.
Whereas Deal’s vocals lurked in the shadows on the original “Blown Away,” they take center stage in eye-popping form, much like how Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis rematerialized atop the dinner table in the original Beetlejuice. Meanwhile, “Ana,” “All Over the World,” and “The Happening” burst with more color and spirit than they ever did on the original release. The tryptic of songs at the end of side B—“Hangwire,” “Stormy Weather,” and “Havalina”—continue to handicap Bossnova as Pixies’ best effort, but they, too, sound much improved. The Deal-led unreleased song “Go Man Go” and a deafening version of “Dig for Fire” engineered by Steve Albini (both featured on the collection’s bonus 7-inch of “Dinked International Editions”) may be the heaviest Pixies song ever recorded, serving as lovely touches that further support the notion that the reissue-addicted 4AD really did this one up right.
No Pixies record would have benefitted from a re-polish as much as Bossanova. Pixies’ first release, 1987’s Come on Pilgrim EP, would lose its rugged, grisly charm; Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, which came out in the two subsequent years and continue to fuel the best debates over which classic indie-rock record is better, are too precious to fiddle with. Ergo, Bossanova is the greatest beneficiary of this impeccable remaster treatment. Pixies’ last studio effort from their classic era, Trompe le Monde, has undergone a similar makeover, but it’ll take some heavy lifting to raise that record above the Mendoza Line. And as for Pixies’ 21st century records: Hey, did I mention how sparkling this Bossanova remaster sounds?
