Is it? He didn't produce Come On Pilgrim, which has the same "pre-Dolittle" sound. I don't know that the "in the room with the band playing live" effect jumps out at me about Surfer Rosa --- also my favorite Pixies album.

Pod or Rid of Me would be my Albini production picks, if only for how different they each are to their immediate successor albums. If I can't pick an actual Albini album, that is (my pick would be At Action Park).

I agree with you, but I'm also a die hard fan of Pixies. First time I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit my first impression was "wow... that sounds like Nirvana trying to sound like Pixies", which later on Kurt Kobain also said[0].

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smells_Like_Teen_Spirit#Writin...