Red Mosquito

Chamberlin is amazing.

Siamese Dream

Despite the fact that Gish is a very good album, Siamese Dream seems like an immediate and massive jump for them. The sound is just great, with Chamberlin’s drums pounding, the guitars climbing out of the speakers and enveloping you - the quiet/loud phase of rock music in one of its finest moments. The band builds tension and release masterfully throughout without ever letting you down. This with Corgan’s vocals give the album more generally this dramatic feel, and immediacy that captures their moment and made them one of the great bands of 1993. For me, this has always been THE album of theirs and it lives up to it’s billing here.

Cherub Rock sets the stage with a quick intro and those huge guitars. And this drama and sense of the moment carries them through the first half of the record - be it the louder moments in Quiet, Today, Hummer, and Rocket, or the more gigantic dramatic expressions in Disarm and Soma.

The second half doesn’t play as profoundly for me, but it certainly contains plenty of intrigue and drama, from the build in Mayonnaise, or the sudden switches from psychedelia to heavy metal in Silverfuck. Or the tender moments of Sweet Sweet and Luna. This all feels like Corgan got out everything he wanted to say because he didn’t know if he’d get to do it again. An album that orchestrates in moments like the latter day Beatles or in turn blows through you with the intensity of Badmotorfinger. That they pulled this off in a cohesive album is pretty genius.

SD is, perhaps, my favorite SP album, with Adore being close.
They are both very special to me because of how i got them (SD was a gift from my mom and i bought Adore with my own money)

I really think SD is perfect. It has everything, the noise, the rock, the melody...Billy sound great, his voice is perfect in the mix, and the band ( Jimmy) is a force.

Kevin Davis wrote:

VinylGuy wrote:i wouldn recommend you to dive into the deluxe editions because there so much stuff is going to be insane.

You should come back after you finish the whole ride.

If memory serves some of them were a little hard on the ears too; Pisces Iscariot especially was ear-piercingly loud. I made a homemade mix of my favorite deluxe edition tracks and the volume jumps on the ones from the Pisces release were almost painful.

There's a lot of buried treasure in there, though.

Yes, Pisces bonus disc is mastered horribly but the rest are fine, if a tiny bit loud. No idea what happened there.

VinylGuy wrote:and the band (Jimmy) is a force.

Jimmy is probably my fav. band.

VinylGuy wrote:I really think SD is perfect.

My only complaint about SD, PI and MC is they all run a touch long. Possibly the same for Adore but that's a much easier listen.

Pisces Iscariot

A year after the massive success of Siamese Dream, we get Pisces Iscariot, a collection of b-sides so high quality you could very easily just assume this was the new album. Moments here, like Whir, Obscures, the cover of Landslide, the epic Starla, and La Dolly Vita stand with their best work sonically and on their impact. Frail & Bedazzled, Plume, and Pissant are just as face melting as anything they had to this point. The bookends of the album psychedelia Pumpkins style. This is running quite close to Siamese Dream on this listen - and a big part of that, something we haven’t discussed yet - is sequencing. These guys are as talented at putting the songs in order as they are at making songs. As far as this one is concerned, easily makes my top 5 or so b-sides albums, and in big part on the strength of its flow due to masterful sequencing here.

It makes me happy that 'Obscured' stood out for you. Easily one of my favorites in their catalogue. And yes, the sequencing on both SD and PI is top notch. I don't think there's a better order for those songs!

surfndestroy wrote:

VinylGuy wrote:I really think SD is perfect.

My only complaint about SD, PI and MC is they all run a touch long. Possibly the same for Adore but that's a much easier listen.

He said perfect, bud. And he was spot on.

But seriously, which track(s) would you drop/substitute?

surfndestroy wrote:

VinylGuy wrote:I really think SD is perfect.

My only complaint about SD, PI and MC is they all run a touch long. Possibly the same for Adore but that's a much easier listen.

.you can pause sometimes

Man i love Starla so much. I remember being so surprised with Billy not putting that one on any other album...its a song it could and should have been a center piece on any of the other albums.

Also ¨Bye June¨, from the deluxe edition is such a sweet song, Billy´s voice is wonderful there, i miss him singing that way.
I would have loved a full band version from that era.

Starla fanclub, we out here. That song still absolutely slays me.

yeah, it has everything. And Corgan´s solo there...my god.

I love the version from the If All Goes Wrong dvd.

This one's great too:

Sick

I've not listened to Pisces Iscariot

Sounds like a you problem, shag.

knee tunes wrote:

surfndestroy wrote:

VinylGuy wrote:I really think SD is perfect.

My only complaint about SD, PI and MC is they all run a touch long. Possibly the same for Adore but that's a much easier listen.

.you can pause sometimes

That just goes to show we have never met in real life.

Rangi Guy wrote:I've not listened to Pisces Iscariot

ah, i see the trag method is getting some fans...