The Breeders - Head to Toe EP

The last new Breeders studio recording for eight years -- their comeback effort, Title TK, wouldn't appear until 2002 -- the three-song "Head to Toe" 7" was produced by Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, also the subject of the set's Sebadoh cover, "The Freed Pig." According to legend, when the Breeders began playing Lou Barlow's poison-pen classic in the studio, Mascis didn't even recognize the song and insisted the band record it; Kim Deal's vocals lack the vitriol and pity of Barlow's original, but the Breeders' version is compact and explosive, and indeed all three songs here capture a punk-inspired aggression further explored on Deal's Amps project. "Head to Toe" is the sole original, a wonderfully primitive sonic whiplash; rounding out the single is a rendition of Guided by Voices' "Shocker in Gloomtown."