Last Splash
1993 studio album by the Breeders
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Last Splash is the second studio album by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released on August 30, 1993. Originally formed as a side project for Pixies bassist Kim Deal, the Breeders quickly became her primary recording outlet. Last Splash peaked at number 33 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and by June 1994, the album had been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments in excess of one million units.
- Coast Recorders, San Francisco
- Brilliant Studios, San Francisco
- Refraze, Dayton
| Last Splash | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 30, 1993 | |||
| Recorded | 1990–93 | |||
| Studios |
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| Genres | ||||
| Length | 39:38 | |||
| Label | 4AD/Elektra | |||
| Producers |
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| The Breeders chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Last Splash | ||||
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| Contemporary reviews | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Chicago Tribune |   [3] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A−[4] |
| Rolling Stone |  [5] |
| The Village Voice | A−[6] |
The title of the album is taken from a line in the lyric of its lead single, "Cannonball". The video for "Cannonball" was directed by Spike Jonze and Kim Gordon, and the video for the album's second single "Divine Hammer" was directed by Jonze, Gordon and Richard Kern. A looped guitar sample of "S.O.S." was used by the English electronic music band the Prodigy in their 1996 hit single "Firestarter". A sample from "I Just Wanna Get Along" was used in another track by the Prodigy called "World's on Fire" from the Invaders Must Die album.
In 2003, Pitchfork listed the album at number 64 on their list of the Top 100 Albums of the 1990s.[7] In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 293 in their revised list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (after not including it in the original 2003 list or the 2012 revision).[8] On May 13, 2013, 4AD released LSXX, a deluxe 20th anniversary version of the album,[9] and on September 22, 2023, 4AD released Last Splash (30th Anniversary Original Analog Edition),[10] with additional tracks "Go Man Go" and "Divine Mascis".
Recording
The album was recorded at Coast Recorders in San Francisco[11], with additional recording at Brilliant Studios in San Francisco and Refraze Recording Studios in Dayton, Ohio.[11] It was mixed at Record Plant in Sausalito, California.[11]
The Breeders recorded demos at Cro-Magnon Studios in Dayton, Ohio before traveling to San Francisco to record the album.[12] Riley Fitzgerald writes in Happy Mag: "Recorded primarily at Coast Recorders, songs were meticulously recorded, scrapped, revised and reworked. A three-week session turned into a grinding four months. Burgeoning hard drug habits were also at play, perhaps contributing to Kim attacking the recording sessions with manic creative energy and relentless perfectionism."[12]
Engineer and co-producer Mark Freegard recalled: "The project became one big edit, but no computer in sight. Kim wouldn’t have it."[13][12]
Kim Deal was somewhat dissatisfied with the small room and dry sound of Coast Recorders' recording space.[12] She recorded a lot of her vocals in the studio toilet, according to Freegard: "We actually recorded quite a lot of the vocals in this toilet at Coast Recorders in San Francisco. Kim Deal really loved it in there. Anyway, it had a really good sound."[14][12] Kelley Deal also used the toilet for her lead guitar sound on "Mad Lucas", running it through an Auratone speaker miked up in the toilet.[12]
The rhythm guitar parts were recorded with Kim Deal's Seagull acoustic guitar run through a 100-watt Marshall 900 series amplifier, doubled with a Les Paul 1958 Goldtop played through a Vox amp. Other equipment used included a Gibson hollowbody guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, a Roland JC-120 amplifier, and various Boss distortion and reverb pedals.[12] Kim told Guitar World in 1994: "It almost doesn’t matter what kind of acoustic guitar you use. All that matters is how the graphic EQ and electronics are."[12]
The sessions showed a spirit of experimentation. Kim Deal sang "Cannonball"'s backing vocal through a harmonica microphone.[12][15] Kelley Deal brought her Kenmore sewing machine to the studio, and spent downtime working on a quilt. Kim told Mojo in 2013: "So I’d listen to her sewing, and I thought, we should mike that up."[12] Kelley's sewing machine was recorded and run through a Marshall amplifier, appearing in the transition from the end of "Divine Hammer" to the start of "S.O.S.".[12] Bassist Josephine Wiggs is credited with playing drums on "Roi", as well as cello. For at least one song, Freegard was tasked with making the vocals sound like a "bad cassette".[12]
Kim Deal commented in 1996: "Usually, I tend to spend more time with the instruments. Last Splash had quite a few instrumentals and quite a few songs where I might say five words."[16] "Roi" and "Roi (reprise)" are mostly instrumental with one sung line, and "Flipside" and "S.O.S." are entirely instrumental.
Composition
Last Splash has been categorized as alternative rock,[17] as well as indie rock,[18] noise pop[3][17] and "effervescent" pop rock.[19] It is also considered "wildly", "willingly" experimental,[7][20] sporting art rock textures, "pure", "twisted" pop, and Hawaiian surf music.[21][22] The latter genre is seen in the "tiki bar twang" of "No Aloha" and the "gonzo" surf rock of instrumental "Flipside".[21][23] "I Just Wanna Get Along" takes on "spiky" pop-punk,[24] while cover "Drivin' on 9" pulls in acoustic and country sounds.[19][23]
Legacy and impact
| Retrospective reviews | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | [24] |
| Blender | [25] |
| Drowned in Sound | 7/10[26] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [27] |
| The Great Rock Discography | 9/10[28] |
| MusicHound Rock | [29] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [30] |
| Spin | (2008)[31] 9/10 (2013)[19] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10[32] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+[33] |
| LSXX (20th anniversary edition) | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 86/100[34] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| American Songwriter | [35] |
| Louder Than War | 10/10[36] |
| Paste | 8.9/10[37] |
| Pitchfork | 9.0/10[17] |
| PopMatters | [38] |
| Record Collector | [39] |
| Rolling Stone | [40] |
| Uncut | [41] |
Dubbed one of the "most enduring masterpieces" of alternative rock,[17] Last Splash has been praised for "perfectly encapsulat[ing] all that was great and wonderful" about the genre's explosion in that era.[42] Nashville Scene's Sean L. Maloney saw Splash both "[distill] the zeitgeist into perfect alt-pop nuggets", but also serve as "the last gasp of alternative music as an actual alternative to the mainstream".[43] The Quietus' Emily Mackay considered it "a key album" for the genre's mainstream crossover.[44]
In a retrospective review of it 20 years on, Stereogum's Tom Breihan called it "a warm, homemade, deeply and consciously odd" record.[18]
Accolades
| Publication | Country | Type | List | Year | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States |
Decade-end |
Top 100 Favorite Records of the 1990s |
2003 |
64 |
||
The 50 Best Rock Albums of the '90s |
2021 |
46 |
||||
The 90 Greatest Albums Of The '90s |
39 |
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Treble |
91 Essential Alternative Rock Albums of the '90s |
2023 |
-- |
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All-time |
Top 101-200 Albums of All time |
2004 |
162 |
|||
Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time |
2012 |
49 |
||||
2020 |
293 |
|||||
United Kingdom |
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time |
2013 |
200 |
|||
United States |
The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women |
2017 |
144 |
|||
The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time |
2024 |
122 |
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| "--" indicates an unordered list. | ||||||
Track listing
Original 1993 release
All tracks are written by Kim Deal, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "New Year" | 1:56 | |
| 2. | "Cannonball" | 3:33 | |
| 3. | "Invisible Man" | 2:48 | |
| 4. | "No Aloha" | 2:07 | |
| 5. | "Roi" | 4:11 | |
| 6. | "Do You Love Me Now?" |
| 3:01 |
| 7. | "Flipside" | 1:59 | |
| 8. | "I Just Wanna Get Along" |
| 1:44 |
| 9. | "Mad Lucas" | 4:36 | |
| 10. | "Divine Hammer" | 2:41 | |
| 11. | "S.O.S." | 1:31 | |
| 12. | "Hag" | 2:55 | |
| 13. | "Saints" | 2:32 | |
| 14. | "Drivin' on 9" |
| 3:22 |
| 15. | "Roi (Reprise)" | 0:42 |
LSXX track listing
There are two versions of LSXX: a 3-CD package and a 7-disc vinyl set.[53] The CD and vinyl formats have the same track listings.
The vinyl set contains the following vinyl:
- Last Splash
- "The Stockholm Syndrome" (partially previously released as Live in Stockholm 1994)
- Demos, rare tracks & session versions
- Safari EP
- Cannonball EP
- Divine Hammer
- Head to Toe EP
The track listing below is for the 3-CD set. All songs are by Kim Deal except where noted.
Disc 1 – Last Splash
- The first disc contains the original release track listing.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Do You Love Me Now?" (previously released on "Safari" EP) | Kim Deal, Kelley Deal | |
| 2. | "Don't Call Home" (previously released on "Safari" EP) | Kim Deal, John Murphy | |
| 3. | "Safari" (previously released on "Safari" EP) | ||
| 4. | "So Sad About Us" (previously released on "Safari" EP) | Pete Townshend | |
| 5. | "Cro-Aloha" (previously released on the "Cannonball" single) | ||
| 6. | "Lord of the Thighs" (previously released on the "Cannonball" single) | Steven Tyler | |
| 7. | "900" (previously released on the "Cannonball" single) | Josephine Wiggs | |
| 8. | "Divine Hammer (Single Version)" (previously released on the "Divine Hammer" single) | ||
| 9. | "Hoverin'" (previously released on the "Divine Hammer" single) | Kim Deal, John Murphy | |
| 10. | "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" (previously released on the "Divine Hammer" single) | Hank Williams | |
| 11. | "Do You Love Me Now Jr?" (previously released on the "Divine Hammer" single) | Kim Deal, Kelley Deal | |
| 12. | "Head to Toe" (previously released on the "Head to Toe" EP) | Josephine Wiggs | |
| 13. | "Shocker in Gloomtown" (previously released on the "Head to Toe" EP) | Robert Pollard | |
| 14. | "Freed Pig" (Sebadoh cover previously released on the "Head to Toe" EP) | Lou Barlow | |
| 15. | "Saints (Head to Toe Version)" (Last Splash demo, November 1992) | ||
| 16. | "New Year" (Last Splash demo, November 1992) | 2:04 | |
| 17. | "Grunggae" (Last Splash demo, November 1992) | 2:34 | |
| 18. | "Invisible Man" (Last Splash demo, previously released on the "13 Year Itch" 4AD compilation CD) | 2:44 | |
| 19. | "No Aloha" (Last Splash demo, November 1992) | 2:34 | |
| 20. | "I Just Wanna Get Along" (Last Splash demo, November 1992) | Kim Deal, Kelley Deal | 1:41 |
| 21. | "Mad Lucas" (Last Splash demo, November 1992) | 2:29 | |
| 22. | "S.O.S." (Last Splash demo, November 1992) | 1:37 | |
| 23. | "Saints" (Last Splash demo, November 1992) | 2:10 | |
| 24. | "900" (Last Splash demo, November 1992) | Josephine Wiggs | 3:15 |
| 25. | "Iris (Live Version)" (previously released on the No Alternative compilation) | 3:44 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Shocker in Gloomtown" (Live in Stockholm) | Robert Pollard | 2:20 |
| 2. | "New Year" (Live in Stockholm) | 2:05 | |
| 3. | "Hellbound" (Live in Stockholm) | 2:24 | |
| 4. | "Saints" (Live in Stockholm) | 2:31 | |
| 5. | "Hag" (Live in Stockholm) | 3:44 | |
| 6. | "I Just Wanna Get Along" (Live in Stockholm) | Kim Deal, Kelley Deal | 1:52 |
| 7. | "S.O.S." (Live in Stockholm) | 1:44 | |
| 8. | "Roi" (Live in Stockholm) | 2:35 | |
| 9. | "Head to Toe" (Live in Stockholm) | Josephine Wiggs | 2:18 |
| 10. | "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" (Live in Stockholm) | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | 2:28 |
| 11. | "Cannonball" (Live in Stockholm) | 3:49 | |
| 12. | "Invisible Man" (Live in Stockholm) | 2:50 | |
| 13. | "Doe" (Live in Stockholm) | Kim Deal, Ray Halliday | 2:39 |
| 14. | "Drivin' on 9" (Live in Stockholm) | Dom Leone, Steve Hickoff | 3:55 |
| 15. | "Don't Call Home" (Live in Stockholm) | Kim Deal, John Murphy | 3:20 |
| 16. | "Limehouse" (Live in Stockholm) | 1:52 | |
| 17. | "No Aloha" (BBC Session) | 2:26 | |
| 18. | "Flipside" (BBC Session) | 1:58 | |
| 19. | "Divine Hammer" (BBC Session) | 2:36 | |
| 20. | "Hag" (BBC Session) | 2:33 |
Personnel
The Breeders
- Kim Deal – lead vocals, guitar, Moog, Casiotone
- Kelley Deal – guitar, Kenmore 12-stitch, lap steel, mandolin, vocals, lead vocals on "I Just Wanna Get Along"
- Jim MacPherson – drums
- Josephine Wiggs – bass guitar, double bass, vocals, cello, drums on "Roi"
Artwork
- Jason Love – photography
- Paul McMenamin – design assistant
- Vaughan Oliver – art direction, design
- Kevin Westenberg – portraits
Additional musicians
- Carrie Bradley – violin, additional vocals
Production
- Kim Deal – producer
- Mark Freegard – production, engineering
- Sean Leonard – assistant engineering
- Daniel Presley – engineering on "Divine Hammer"
- Andy Taub – assistant engineering
Chart positions
Singles
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Certifications
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