Record Breaker: Last Splash by The Breeders

RECORD BREAKER SERIES:

Just about 15 years ago, a fun independent rock album named Last Splash hit store shelves. Pixies fans (left high and dry after their band broke up - for the first time - five years earlier) grabbed it up in number. It was actually the second album released by The Breeders but was superior in at least one sense- it was important to the independent rock scene.

The Year is 1993. The Breeders release the important "Last Splash album.
Today we look back at this record & measure its relevance.


The Breeders line-up in 1993:
Jim, Josephine, Kim, and Kelley (cw from top-left)

The music on Last Splash was different. It wasn't mainstream but it reached out to its audiences with open, hungry tendrils. With the single "Cannonball" reaching #2 on the Billboard charts - independent music demonstrated that it wasn't going away any time soon. The album would go platinum - and is worthy of your collection today. With the success of Last Splash, the "Pixies Sound" endured.

RELEVANT WORDS from Wikipedia:

The Breeders are an American rock band, formed in 1988 as a side project for Kim Deal of Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses. After those original bands became less active, The Breeders became more important to both artists. A tape recording of their original demos with drummer Mickey Bones and violinist Carrie Bradley was sent to Ivo Watts-Russell, who immediately signed the band to his 4AD Records label in 1989. Their debut album, Pod, was recorded by Steve Albini in Edinburgh, and was released on 4AD in 1990. Deal's influence is obvious, but bassist Josephine Wiggs and Slint drummer Britt Walford (credited here as Shannon Doughton) add to the ensemble sound.

By the release of four-song EP Safari in 1992, Deal was done with Pixies and had enlisted her twin sister Kelley to play guitar for the Breeders. Donelly exited the band to form Belly, and drummer Jim MacPherson joined in time for Last Splash in 1993. The album spawned the hit "Cannonball." Cannonball hit #2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts, and the album "Last Splash" was certified Platinum thereafter.

Released Aug 31, 1993:

TRACK LISTING:

New Year
Cannonball
Invisible Man
No Aloha
Roi
Do You Love Me Now?
Flipside

Mad Lucas
S.O.S.
Saints
Drivin' on 9
Roi (Reprise)

The Breeders have reunited:
Breeders myspace

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