promoted by a full-page ad in Melody Maker, and number 73 in the Netherlands. Pod sold moderately well, although Deal has noted it "never sold [anything]" compared to their next album, Last Splash (1993), which was certified platinum in the US and silver in the UK. Deal took the idea for the album's title from a painting that she saw in Boston; for her, the word "pod" evoked a uterus, which Wiggs has noted relates to the theme of fertility and the group's name. The cover art was designed by longtime 4AD album designer Vaughan Oliver and employs photography by Kevin Westenberg. Oliver, in an attempt to seduce Deal, who he believed would appreciate the humor, attached a belt of dead eels over his underwear, which he intended as phallic symbols. He performed a fertility dance, while Westenberg took pictures of him using a long exposure to achieve blurring and other visual effects. Reception The album was generally well received. Several music critics favorably compared the album to Deal's work with the Pixies, among which were William Van Meter, Rob Sheffield, and Steve Kandell of Spin. Kandell and Sheffield mentioned tracks including "Fortunately Gone" as superior to songs by that group. Kandell noted Pod appealed to fans of the Pixies' "Gigantic", which was written and sung by Deal. In AllMusic, Heather Phares described Pod as a "vibrantly creative debut" that was better than the Pixies' 1990 album Bossanova, and argued that the Pixies should have recorded more of Deal's compositions. The Rough Guide to Rocks Piers Clifton and Melody Makers Simon Reynolds viewed Pod as lacking energy in comparison to the Pixies' work. To Clifton, it was "plodding", while Reynolds felt it sounded "inhibited, moribund, stilted" and "never [let] it rip like the Pixies". Reynolds added that "Whenever a song gathers momentum or thrust, [the Breeders] throw in a weird bit, a gear change or an abrupt stop. They seem unhappy with the idea of simple rock exuberance." Steve Taylor of The A to X of Alternative Music also found Pod inferior to music of the Pixies, but was impressed with Deal's ability to move from bass to guitar. Some reviews found Pod under-developed or insubstantial. Jon Dolan in Blender likened it to a poorly-constructed building. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice described it unfavorably as more "art project" than the work of a band, and Greg Sandow in Entertainment