Firstly, the second half of "Doolittle" is just as awesome as the first. As far as I'm conerned it's one of the few records I could genuinely describe as flawless throughout - "No. 13" and "Hey" especially are just draw-dropping.

And secondly, as regards the Kim influence, I've thought about this point quite a lot. I don't think there's any getting away from the fact that Charles was the band's genius; his incredible songs and astonishing performances were the centre of everything they recorded. But I think the reason "Surfer..." and "Doolittle" especially work so well is the way the band as a whole reflected his vision. Kim brought that vocal sweetness and those almost naive basslines that perfectly enacted that particular side of the band's overall temprament. But it's not just her: try and imagine the Pixies at their best without Joey's guitars or Dave's drums (the latter is especially noticeable on "Doolittle", e.g. with "Debaser" or "Dead").

The reason "Trompe le Monde" doesn't succed on the same level (aside from the basic issue of consistency) is because it's been reduced to the lowest common denominator; tunes + guitars = decent enough rock music. The performances are nothing like as developed and the production is so dispicably clean and glossy. The thing is, the genius shines through sometimes - the fade-out of "Alec Eiffel", the title track, "Motorway to Roswell" and so on. It's just concrete proof that if it isn't properly nurtured, the raw brilliance of any music can be diminished so easily. Of course, fundamentally it's still a good record, but moments on "Trompe le Monde" just reek of suffocated potential.

Now for a sensible reply, how can this be the most over-rated albums ever when in mainstream media it rarely gets massively praised at all. Albums like Nevermind and The Stone Roses get much more coverage as "the greatest ever" and "life changing" when they are much more flawed than this masterpiece.