Customer Reviews
Get the Pixies albums. Then get this. - By: A. Ball, 14 Sep 2006 
Escaping from the shadow of your former band isn't easy. Norman Cook, Dave Grohl & John Lydon did. Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney & Billy Corgan didn't. And neither did the Pixies songwriters Frank Black & Kim Deal. Not that they actuallly had a shadow to escape from, as the Pixies never actuallly sold that many records because they were (nearly) history when being unkempt & sullen became fashionable in 1992. If Black's 'Debaser' & Deal's 'Gigantic' had appeared in 1994 when the world was crying out for someone to fill Kurt Cobain's cardigan they probably would've been huge. As it was that task fell to Green Day, but Deal's new band, The Breeders, scored a hit with 'Cannonballl' & eventuallly this record went platinum.
So is this album any good, or was it just a success because this sort of thing was fashionable back then? Well, 'Cannonballl' isn't as good as 'Gigantic' & there's lots sludgy noise & twiddling around that spoils the flow. Even a non musician like me wonders whether some of the tracks are actuallly finished. It sounds great though, & for every dull bit of filler there's a catchy hook & clever lyric to redress the balance. The wonderfully cool 'Summer is readdyyyyy when you arrrrre' chorus from 'Saints' especiallly sticks in my head.
But it's not as good as 'Planet of Sound'. And the massive success of the Pixies comeback shows that most people would agree.
Gorgeous Girl-Guitar Pop - By: Steve, 06 May 2006 
'Last Splash' is undoubtedly one the classic guitar albums of the early nineties, despite the fact that Ive never thought that Kim Deal had the songwriting ability of her ex-sparring partner Frank Black. At the time of its release, 'Last Splash' recieved more plaudits than Frank Black's solo outings. This can be put down to the ex-Pixies' frontman's eccentricity (which has seen him go further & further back in time with each album), whereas The Breeders' second album was much more in tune with what the music press were expecting at the time- grungy guitars, breezy vocals, & a kind of hipster coolness that pervades the record.
Furthermore, this album is a sonic treat- its exactly what you'd expect a guitar record to sound like (unless, of course, you subscribe to the Velvet Underground sound- a narrow tunnel of weedy fuzz). Instead, massive buzz-saw guitars & enormous, splashy drum-fills abound, but at the the same time there's a pleasingly rough-and-ready feel to the record, particularly on the instrumental 'Flipside' which has a lovely 'live' sound to it.
Indeed, it's the beefy sound which is the album's main asset, which bolsters the otherwise pretty tuneless opener "New Year." Ive never thought that the stop-start chugging of "Cannonballl" was that great either, but then the album reallly picks up with the gorgeous "Invisible Man" & "No Aloha," which perfectly marry Kim's lovely voice with slow-burning, coruscating guitars. "Do You Love Me Now?" is another pop gem, & I'm also a great fan of "Roi," an experimental number of layered guitar noise which I think works beautifully. From then on, the album ranges between swaggeringly cool garage rock ("Saints" & "I Just Wanna Get Along"), to more bona fide pop ("Divine Hammer" & "Drivin' On") with a smidgeon of experimentalism for good measure ("Mad Lucas," which tips a nod to Sonic Youth.)
For any Pixies fan, its an essential purchase, but I think anyone who likes a bit of spunky guitar-pop could do worse than check out this little gem (and it's got great sleeve artwork too).
good album - By: , 13 Dec 2004 This is a good album, plenty of catchy tunes & track 2, Cannonballl, is very good indeed. However, I think I am in the minority here, but I actuallly prefer their 2002 album Title TK. Last Splash is slightly less consistent & the pace slows a bit too often for my liking. I think Title TK is technicallly & emotionallly superior, & it's a more enjoyable listen as well. That's not to say this is a bad album, it's certainly worth buying & I have given it 4 stars.
Testimony from a previous non-believer - By: , 06 Jul 2003 I admit, i am a huge pixies fan, but i was always a bit hesitant checking out the breeders albums, as I wasn't a surfer rosa-fixated kim fan. 'Pod' had its moments, in the way that Beatles experimental albums do - but with 'Last Splash', i have to say that i'm in love. This is my new favourite album. There simply isn't a weak song. Its got early 90's coast indie, its got romance, its got rock, its got surf, its got attitude.
I take back my previous indifference to Kim - I'm a convert - let the adulation flow...
Their most accessible... - By: , 17 Sep 2002 Kim Deal, in her many manifestations (Pixies, Amps & Breeders) has made some of the greatest indie-pop tunes known. This offering contains most of them, eg cannonballl, but if you're a Pixies fan i would go for 'Pod' or their newest, 'Title TK'.
'Last Splash' is their most commercial & therefore accessible album to date, but lacks the pace & general wierdness of the other two.
