Smashing Pumpkins - Gish

I needed to do an alternative review today to keep my genre reviews even - and what a coincidence, the Smashing Pumpkins just announced a show coming to Milwaukee in October! It got me thinking. B Side, how much Pumpkins do you really love? I mean, enough to pay probably an outrageous amount to go to a show? And honestly, my love is really only with two albums - and I've reviewed them already; 'Siamese Dream' and 'Mellon Collie'. Now, it isn't that I don't care for the rest of their albums, in a ot of cases, I simply haven't listened to all of the albums. Now, I landed on not going to the show because frankly, I don't care for much of their new stuff. But the old stuff, I do enjoy - and I wanted to highlight another oldie but goodie for the band. 'Gish' came out in 1991 and was the Pumpkins first album release. It's platinum in the states, which you'd think would be an amazing feat - but their next two records are 4x and 9x respectively. Lead man Billy Corgan says this is a very "spiritual" album - which I guess I never thought about. Fun fact, this is another album that was recording in my backyard - in Madison, Wisconsin by Butch Vig. The recording was intense, with Corgan suffering a nervous breakdown and the bassist saying she didn't fathom how the band withstood the pressure. The album itself isn't polished up, and what you hear is what was recorded. The album is named after Lillian Gish, an old school actress. This is what I consider to be the Pumpkins signature sound. Kind of that grunge/punk hybrid, that made them awesome. Heavy guitars, but Corgan's angelic voice that makes a hard song turn into a ballad. This is the band I fell in love with. If the show would be albums 1-3, I'd be there in a heartbeat. And this album is that good - so listen to it!

TRACK LISTING:
1. I Am One
2. Siva
3. Rhinoceros
4. Bury Me
5. Crush
6. Suffer
7. Snail
8. Tristessa
9. Window Paine
10. Daydream

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Rhinoceros
2. I Am One
3. Siva

FINAL RATING:
4.25 out of 5 stars