Doolittle | ||||
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Studio album by Pixies | ||||
Released | April 18, 1989 | |||
Recorded | October 31 – November 23, 1988 | |||
Studio | Downtown Recorders in Boston, Massachusetts and Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 38:38 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | Gil Norton | |||
Pixies chronology | ||||
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Singles from Doolittle | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Blender | |
Chicago Tribune | |
Los Angeles Times | |
NME | 10/10 |
Pitchfork Media | 10/10 |
Q | |
Rolling Stone | |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
The Village Voice | B+ |
Doolittle is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 1989 on 4AD. The album's offbeat and dark subject material, featuring references to surrealism, Biblical violence, torture and death, contrasts with the clean production sound achieved by the newly hired producer Gil Norton. Doolittle was the Pixies' first international release, with Elektra Records as the album's distributor in the United States and PolyGram in Canada.
Pixies released two singles from Doolittle, "Here Comes Your Man" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven", both of which were chart successes on the US chart for Modern Rock Tracks. The album itself reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart, an unexpected success for the band. In retrospect, album tracks such as "Debaser", "Wave of Mutilation", "Monkey Gone to Heaven", "Gouge Away", and "Hey" are highly acclaimed by critics, while the album, along with debut LP Surfer Rosa, is often seen as the band's strongest work.
Doolittle has continued to sell consistently well in the years since its release, and in 1995 was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album has been cited as inspirational by many alternative artists, while numerous music publications have ranked it as one of the most influential albums ever. A 2003 poll of NME writers ranked Doolittle as the second-greatest album of all time,Rolling Stone placed the album at 226 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and Pitchfork ranked it as the fourth best album of the 80s.