Some artists hit the big time right away.  Others toil in musical purgatory before finally making.  For the Chicago-based alt-rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, the truth is somewhere in between.  It wasn’t until their sophomore effort, 1993’s Siamese Dream and its 1995 follow-up Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness that the band catapulted into rock stardom.  Beyond being the peak of the band’s career in terms of recognition, sales, and acclaim, this era would mark the band’s creative zenith, culminating in much of the band’s best material.  However, the Pumpkins’ 1991 debut Gish was, by no means, a flop.  Nor is the material from this era bad.  That said, this era of the band’s career seems to be the least visible, possibly the least appreciated by mainstream radio.  Even though the material Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness dominates the Pumpkins’ portion of the airwaves, you can still hear a song from Adore, Machina, or Zeitgeist every now and then. 

So, let’s take a look at some of the band’s output from the period where they were just starting out.  One of the products of this era was Lull.  Officially, Lull is a four-track EP.  In actuality, though, it’s a single for “Rhinoceros,” a track from Gish.  The EP/single begins with Rhinoceros.  Technically, this isn’t the same version as the one that appears on Gish, lacking a few seconds of the buzzing at the end, but it’s close enough.  “Rhinoceros” is kind of like a time bomb.  The first half is slow and subdued, plodding along with a slow, steady drumbeat accentuated with emphatic cymbal crashes, a deliberate bass, soft electric chords, and vocals that are across between spoken-word and a spoken whisper.   It’s mellow and wonderfully hypnotic.  At the halfway point, it explodes in a crunching cascade of buzzing wah-wah effects from the rhythm guitar interlaced with a fiery guitar solo, both of which eventually giving way to swirling, buzzing guitars and a lethargic (in a good way), bouncy beat.  The lyrics being kind of random and frivolous in places (e.g., “Ice cream snow / See you in June.”), but there seems to be some meaning in there, and they do help add to the hypnotic feel.  At any rate, the vocals and instrumentation are more than enough to make up for it.

“Could have known / I would reveal / Should have known / I would conceal your way.”
 
Like “Rhinoceros” and many other Pumpkins songs, Blue refuses to stay in the same place, eschewing a typical verse-chorus-verse format.  It opens with wind-swept chimes, giving way to a deep, funky bass solo from D’Arcy Wretzky.  This in turn moves to the background behind an energetic, up-tempo rhythm and beat and Billy Corgan’s catchy vocals.  It’s still not done yet;  then it goes into ballad territory with dreamy, layered guitars, a soft beat, and Corgan’s slightly moaned vocals.  The lyrics are sweet and sentimental in a rambunctious way, an open letter of sorts to a friend or lover who’s had it rough:
 
“Hey Blue, where'd you run to now? / Hey Blue, miss you since they found you out. / I've been waiting such a long time, / For your smile.”
 
Slunk is an in-your-face rocker.  Unfortunately, you’ll want it out of your face.  About the only thing it has going for it is the reverberating rhythm, something of which would later appear in “Quiet” or “Geek U.S.A.” from Siamese Dream, both of which are far better songs.  Other than that, it doesn’t really go anywhere.  Aside from the line “Daddy’s not coming home,” a line I like for some reason, the lyrics are terrible (“She loves me like a lover”? I think I’d rather listen to Corgan sing about ice cream snows.)

The EP closes with Bye June, a song that has the makings of a potentially good song but ultimately fails in the end.  This one is just Billy Corgan with no backing from the rest of the band.  It features a lively acoustic guitar that resonates slightly that gel nicely with Corgan’s somewhat catchy, slightly airy vocals.
What ends up doing “Bye June” in are its lyrics, which are sparse, very repetitive, and inane: “Bye June / I'm going to the moon / It better be by June / 'Cause I'm going to the moon / So June / You'd better make it soon / I hope you make it June / 'Cause I'm going to the moon / Bye June.”  That, by the way, is literally half of the song right there.

So, there you have it.  Lull has two good songs (one really good) out of four.  Normally, that would probably be enough to warrant a recommend for me, but these aren’t normal circumstances.  The problem is that both of the good songs are also available on other albums, albums that you should buy anyways.  “Blue” is also available on Pisces Iscariot and, as I said previously, “Rhinoceros” can be found on Gish.  Not only are both of these albums much easier to find, but they also come with several other essential Smashing Pumpkins tracks.  With Gish, you also get such awesome Pumpkins songs as “I Am One,” “Suffer,” and “Tristessa” while Pisces Iscariot also comes with “Plume,” “Whir,” “Starla,” and “Hello Kitty Kat.”  There is little about “Bye June” or “Slunk” to warrant buying Lull. 

Tracks
Rhinoceros *****
Blue ****.25
Slunk *.25
Bye June **

MY SMASHING PUMPKINS REVIEWS
1979 (single) | Adore | American Gothic [EP] | Ava Adore (single) | Greatest Hits | MACHINA: The Machines of God | Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness | Siamese Dream | Thirty-Three (single) | Untitled (single) | Zeitgeist | Zero (single)

Recommended: No