The Smashing Pumpkins just announced plans to re-release all of their classic albums, rarities collections, and an
entire album's worth of new material starting in the fall. This includes their 1991 indie
debut Gish. As far as our ears can
tell, drummer Jimmy Chamberlain is playing two to three drumsets at once on
each song. Billy Corgan's unique voice is evident in the songwriting, but this
record is more about hiding the vocals under the big, fat tougher-than-metal riffs. As far as bonus tracks for Gish, maybe they'll throw Sub Pop's "Tristessa"
EP in.
The follow-up, Siamese
Dream, quickly got lumped into the "grunge" pile. The hit singles proved that
this band was more than riffs and feedback. Check the sweet and sour pop of "Today"
and the glorious acoustic hit "Disarm," church bells and all. It's one of the
richest rock records of the 20th century -- some songs have over a
hundred guitar tracks.
I remember the day after they played a distortion heavy
version of "Disarm" on the 1994 MTV Awards, my classmate and the future Mr. Perez Hilton was going
off about how amazing their performance was. Up until that point, I thought he
only listened to Gloria Estefan and Madonna. If we still had rock radio in
South Florida, songs from this album would be played all day.
Mellon Collie
and the Infinite Sadness has it all. Dark rock songs, new wave type songs
and elaborate orchestral arrangements galore. It surpassed their breakthrough
in many respects, and pretty much assured their place as rock 'n' roll royalty.
The next three albums,
Adore, Machina/The Machines Of God and Machina II/The Friends &
Enemies of Modern Music, came out and totally changed my opinion of the band.
What was a respectable group of rockers became a band of Uncle Festers and porcelain
dolls playing chamber music for Beetlejuice. Experimentation gone wrong. Seriously, who wants to buy reissues of those
things? Sorry, I'll hate on those later -- there's plenty of time, the Smashing Pumpkins as Nine Inch Nails deluxe
editions won't come out until 2013. Whoever bought those albums and liked them, still owns them. Those who bought them and 'lost' them just threw those things away, or
sold them to CD Solution.
Hopefully, when the latest lineup of Smashing Pumpkins enter the studio next month to work on their
new record Oceania, they'll make something that will erase those weird three from our memories. Oceania
is part of their ongoing Teargarden
By Kaleidyscope mega-album, which upon completion will have 44 songs total.
Hopefully the 'album within an album' will offer more than the beast that bears
it. So far, TBK's songs have been
forgettable.
By the way, I haven't forgotten about 2007's Zeitgeist -- I just forgot what it sounds
like.
Follow County Grind on Facebook and Twitter: @CountyGrind.
