The Smashing Pumpkins are not a band I’ve paid a lot of attention to, well not as much attention as I should have, until recently. Of course, former lead singer/songwriter Billy Corgan has a new band out now, Zwan (who are fabulous by the way) and the quality of that album made me pop in Siamese Dream for another listen, an album I had neglected for a long time. How stupid was I? I would say this has to be one of the greatest albums of all time, at least in the top 10.

This was the album that sort of launched the Smashing Pumpkins to super stardom after their debut, Gish. Billy Corgan took over this album, writing and recording just about all of it by himself. Hey, if you want something done right, do it yourself eh? And he certainly got it right in this one. There are very few moments of below average music here, and no bad moments whatsoever! The mix of styles is superb, and the changes in mood from song to song are superb. It rocks, then it doesn’t, but always works extremely well no matter what.

Listening to this album again after initially shrugging it off gives me a deeper appreciation of it, and makes me furious that I discovered the Pumpkins so late, after they had split up no less! I am now on the lookout for Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness thanks to this little piece of magic known as Siamese Dream.

The Smashing Pumpkins are Billy Corgan (vocals, guitar), James Iha (guitar), D’Arcy Wretzky (bass) and Jimmy Chamberlain (drums).*

*Although Corgan and Chamberlain are really the only ones to take part in the recording of this one.

Track Listing

1. Cherub Rock
2. Quiet
3. Today
4. Hummer
5. Rocket
6. Disarm
7. Soma
8. Geek USA
9. Mayonaise
10.Spaceboy
11.Silverf*ck
12.Sweet Sweet
13.Luna

The album begins with a Chamberlain drum roll, then there is an insistent guitar chord repeated until it all bursts out into the monstrous distorted riff of Cherub Rock. The drums roll into action, pounding away perfectly in the background as the bass booms in at the end of each line. Corgan keeps calm when singing some lines of the verse, and screeches at other times, but he definitely doesn’t hold back in the excellent chorus, and neither do the guitars. The song eventually builds up to a massive crescendo with drums and guitars going into overdrive before an excellent screaming solo bursts out. Corgan starts repeating the line ”Let me out” a lot as the song comes to an end with a whirling drum burst and powerful distorted chords.

Who wants honey
As long as there is some money

Quiet is next, and begins with some distant sounding guitars, before the drums really kick everything into gear. A mean ascending riff comes in, this song is all round a lot more aggressive than the opener, and just a tad darker. The drums build up nicely to the chorus, which is superb, carried along by another excellent riff. The guitars again build up to a crescendo and another excellent screaming solo akin to Cherub Rock enters, eventually soloing along to the tune of the song. The squealing guitars come in at points afterwards, especially at the end of the song which fades out on heavy distortion.

Silent, mental mercies
Castrate, boys to the bone

Today begins with an excellent acoustic melody which plays quietly in the verses as Corgan keeps his voice innocent and holds back. The acoustic guitar gets drowned in a powerful distorted riff in the chorus, with screeching guitars. The chorus removes the optimistic, playful feel of the verses immediately, turning them into something more intimidating but just as excellent. The drums are simple and just plod along with the song here, not standing out particularly but doing enough to drive the song along.

I wanted more
Than life could ever grant
Bored by the chore
Of saving face

Hummer begins with a fuzzy sounding riff, and soon a cool, droning bass part comes in, and the drums softly enter. Everything builds up into a squealing riff, then the bass line dominates in the verses, and the choruses are of course powerful and distorted. Then there is a solo section, which stays subdued as Corgan sings, then finally turns into a really impressive, dominating solo. The last section of the song is more mellow as the distorted guitars fade away and sweet melodic and acoustic guitars take precedence, with the bass still remaining fairly noticeable, thundering away. There is a beautiful little melodic, sweet guitar solo here contrasting with the earlier distorted one. I much prefer this quieter section of the song, and that is the way it ends.

Faith lies in
The ways of sin

Rocket brings back the distortion again, with an addictive bass line. I love the way the guitars sort of ascend into the chorus of this one. This is a pretty standard rock song, featuring some atmospheric effects and weird noises in the background at points. There is a nice quieter guitar that you only really notice at some points throughout, but it is pretty good. The drums and bass disappear at one point, then everything builds back up again, and the song ends with what sounds like a rocket taking off. Surprise, surprise!

I torch my soul to show
The world that I am pure

Disarm is a superb song dominated by acoustic guitars and bells at points, and the choruses are washed with a heart-wrenching dose of strings. Along with Corgan’s angst-filled whine, you can’t help but feel something when listening to this one. This has to be one of the songs that uses a string arrangement to its best effect, the way they almost block out the guitar at points means this song drips with emotion. The guitar is really nice when heard on its own, it is nice to get a break from the distortion. A beautiful song.

The killer in me is the killer in you

Soma continues the acoustic feel, with a quiet first half of its near seven minute length. Corgan is almost whispering, and the guitar melody is beautiful, as the bass booms out in the background. There is even a piano line appearing. Just as you are about ready to go to sleep, as this section is so relaxing, it bursts out with a heavy burst of distorted guitars that seem even louder due to the quietness of the track so far. The choruses become even more angst-filled in the louder section, as Corgan can really stretch his vocal chords and whine to his greatest potential. There is a superb squealing solo as well, one of the best solos on the album. The way this song builds up is just tremendous; this is one of the finest on the album for sure. It ends in a more relaxing tone though, going back to the feel of the start.

So now I’m all by myself
As I’ve always felt

Geek USA begins with another drum roll similar to Cherub Rock, but the guitars begin to power in and solo wildly over the top straight away here. This is a fast-paced, almost punk effort for a while, what with the punchy drumming and harsh soloing guitars. Then it all calms down, and slows down, with a dull thudding bass line, and dense pounding drums, before wailing guitars enter. It regathers the pace of the first couple of minutes with an excellent speedy solo right after this section that goes on for quite a while. Then it goes back to the dirge again, with droning distorted guitars, and this is what it leaves us on. The song never really gets a chance to gather momentum with all the pace changes throughout, I obviously prefer the quicker parts and believe the dirge-like sections bring the song down a level after a very promising start.

In a dream
We are connected
Siamese twins
At the wrist

Mayonaise starts with quiet melodic guitar again, quite a beautiful starting part, but soon the distorted guitars come steaming in. This is a slower one though, and there are little distorted bursts all over the place here, especially in the choruses. The song powers up into a solo, quite a mean sounding one actually, that gets gradually more positive before transitioning into a brief acoustic section. This is a nice little break, but the song goes back to the distorted section until the end, where the acoustic guitars make a return until the song fades out.

Fool enough to almost be it
Cool enough to not quite see it

Spaceboy is another slow number, stop start at first. It is probably the least standout track on here, and contains strings in the background once again. The acoustic guitars give it an atmospheric, spacey feel, and it is a nice enough song, not skippable in any way, just enough to keep the album ticking over until the next track.

Cause when a lover aches
That’s when a lover breaks

Silverf*ck a very harsh, hard rocking song, when it gets going that is. It starts off with all the power in the world, with a simple, mean sounding riff that slowly build up through feedback and distant drums to become extremely powerful. The verses are extremely quiet though, containing an intimidating bass line and Corgan’s spooky voice. Everything bursts out in the chorus, an explosion of aggression. There is an extremely lengthy quiet bass dominated section in the middle of this song that goes on maybe a bit too long for my liking. You can almost feel the pretension oozing out of this track as it closes in on the eight minute mark. It ends much the same way as it started, explosive noise, and takes a long time in eventually fading away, ending on a series of extremely distorted chords then much feedback.

Bang bang you’re dead
Hole in your head

Sweet Sweet is a exactly what the title says. A sweet little melodic song, lacking any real percussion, and only lasting just over a minute. It has a lovely tune to it though, the choruses are excellent, and maybe if they had chopped three minutes or so off Silverf*ck and tacked them onto developing this song a bit it would have been excellent.

Sweet sweet sweet sweet
Little agony
I don’t know just where you’ve been

Luna is another ballad like song, slightly better than Sweet Sweet, as it is more developed. The strings don’t take too long to make an appearance on this one though. Not much else I can say about this final track, other than it is a nice way to end the album after the aggression that preceded it. It brings the listener down to earth perfectly.

I’ll hear your song
If you want me to
I’ll sing along

As I may have already implied, this is one of my favourite albums. I always enjoy nearly every minute of it, and though there are moments of pretension (Silverf*ck) and some songs that don’t stand out as much as the rest (Spaceboy), it is absolutely breathtaking. Some may be annoyed by Corgan’s nasal whine, but I believe it compliments the music excellently. If you don’t have this yet, what are you waiting for?

Excellent: Cherub Rock, Quiet, Today, Disarm, Soma
Good: Hummer, Rocket, Geek USA, Mayonaise, Sweet Sweet, Luna
Average: Spaceboy, Silverf*ck
Weak: NONE

Final Rating: 19/20



Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends