The Smashing Pumpkins-what do you think ?

awhir

hey guys just listend to sesime dream a few times and i must say that i loved it, found the album moving :eek:

what other albums would ya reccomend ?

also what do you think of the sp ?

JæKæ

I used to like them a lot back a few years. Mellon Collie has a lot of great songs and a lot of shiite. Siamese is probably the best.

I saw them a few months ago in Vancouver. Played all the classics so I was happy. They're only half the original band now, and the last album was cat. I found it strange that he replaced the old female blonde bassist with another female blonde bassist. And the same with the asian male guitarist, he got a doppelganger to replace James Iha.

I rememember a good few years back seeing them play on RTE, Darcy was wearing a crackin see through top.

Mushy

JæKæ wrote: »

I used to like them a lot back a few years. Mellon Collie has a lot of great songs and a lot of shiite. Siamese is probably the best.

I saw them a few months ago in Vancouver. Played all the classics so I was happy. They're only half the original band now, and the last album was cat. I found it strange that he replaced the old female blonde bassist with another female blonde bassist. And the same with the asian male guitarist, he got a doppelganger to replace James Iha.

I rememember a good few years back seeing them play on RTE, Darcy was wearing a crackin see through top.

Ah now the last album isnt that bad. Some very good tunes on it, such as (Come On) Lets Go, Doomsday Clock and 7 Shades of Black. Yes not their best, but still decent.

Melon Collie does be very good, has all sorts, huge double album. You prob have the best one already(Siamese Dream), but give 'em all a listen. The worst was prob when Jimmy was replaced, they need him in that band, he has it all going for him. I'd ob recommend MC&tIS, or maybe Earphoria even.

cornbb

I was once a massive Pumpkins fan. They've made a large number of top-quality albums, Simese Dream is a good place to start and is probably still my favourite. Mellon Collie, Gish, Adore and Machina are also great albums, can't go wrong really. Although I wasn't a fan of the last one (Zeitgeist).

Dudess

Gish is quality. I remember when they first arrived on the scene in 1991 and being blown away by them - they were pretty pioneering at the time. Fanning used to play Rhinoceros on a loop and rave about it each time - it's a truly magical song. Starts off fairly unremarkable but from the point where the guitars kick in at the second verse the only way is up.

Captain Darling

Gish, Pisces Iscariot, Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie all superb. Any other albums not great IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d93Yvmz4vuQ

Xavi6

Songs like Today, Disarm and Tonight, Tonight are just amazing. A really excellent band.

dead air

Have to say, 33 from MCIS is my favourite song of all time. I'm a big Smashing Pumpkins fan. I saw them a couple of times this year in Vienna and Dublin, 2.5 hours both times and great sets with a good mix of old and new.

OP, glad to hear you like Siamese Dream, that album was a particular musical revelation in my life. You should check out the b-sides album for SD, called Pisces Iscariot, some great tracks on that too.

But Mellon Collie (~1995) is the next album I'd recommend you should get. I suppose its regarded as their grandest moment and Smashing Pumpkins were huge when this album came out. It's a sort of concept album in a way, 2CDs: Dawn to Dusk and Twilight to Starlight. It's epic After that I'd get Adore (~1997). It's a more stripped down, altogether quieter, affair. Recommended for those late nights with your headphones.

All pumpkins albums have moments of brilliance on them, and they're all worth investigating tbh.

Smashing Pumpkins are one of the few bands these days that freely encourage people to tape and trade their live shows, so if you really get into the band, you could try to get your hands on some live shows from their different album tours. You can download some here: http://www.archive.org/details/SmashingPumpkins

Good luck!

Aspiration

Siamese and Mellon Collie are my 2 favourite albums. Saw them in the RDS in Feb and thought they were amazing. 2.5 hour set, played most of their earlier stuff and they just rocked the place out. Unbelievable!

But even though I think Billy Corgan is a genius and unreal, he's one obnoxious f**ker! But that's a different story... I do love the Smashing Pumpkins though.

Jimmy Chamberlain is an animal!!

Tabnabs

Like others on here, I used to be a massive SP fan, I had a double sided tape with all of Gish and most of Siamese Dream on it and used to play it on continuous loop for about three years. I was at their first gig in Ireland in the SFX, right up the front. Got a boot in the head from some clown crowd surfing, James Iha saw this and asked people to calm down at the front Their live stuff is simply stunning eg;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMkjOIROR4w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl4sJTlkpQE

TBH, for me, Mellon Collie was the start of their decline. They became mainstream and artsy and Corrgan finally and inevitably disappeared up his own hole.

I even have some of their early stuff on vinyl, great sound off it. They also had a video with some great live stuff on it.

Ah yes, great days indeed!

Their greatest track IMHO doesn't appear on any of their albums, but on a soundtrack - Singles OST. Drown contains some of the most amazing noise ever to be made by a guitar :cool:

Bugg

Love this band, have a mountain of CDs(Well over 30 anyway) Siamese Dream is a great album, definitely their best work. I like ALL their albums but get Gish or Mellon Collie next.

Some great stuuf to download freely from them here: http://www.thepumpkins.net/content/category/8/20/47/ and http://www.rspaa.org/rspaa/

Was very surprised to see a bootleg of the tragic show in Dublin 12 years ago appear on the official site: http://smashingpumpkins.com/audio_upload/audio/1996-05-22_dublin_ireland/ I thought it was a bit in bad taste for it to be up on the official site. Much respect to Billy for trying to ease the situation as best he could.

Captain Darling

Dyflin wrote: »

Like others on here, I used to be a massive SP fan, I had a double sided tape with all of Gish and most of Siamese Dream on it and used to play it on continuous loop for about three years. I was at their first gig in Ireland in the SFX, right up the front. Got a boot in the head from some clown crowd surfing, James Iha saw this and asked people to calm

I was there too, i remember some big guy did a stage dive and the crowd parted and he fell flat on his face. Great gig. Long time ago now. That was before crowd surfing and moshing was banned outright, which was mainly due to the sad circumstances surrounding their next visit here.

Hope i dont get hit with the big stick for mentioning this gig.

Tabnabs

You can't not mention it I think. I was at that one too. They kept asking people to calm down and then launch into another heavy fast tune.

There was an ugly atmosphere at the gig though, Darcy was giving out to the crowd and they just kept shouting "get your t*ts out", classy!

KnifeWRENCH

Smashing Pumpkins are my favourite band of all time, so I hope you'll excuse this indulgent rabble

Aswell as amazing singles (which you'll find on their Best Of album) they had so many amazing B-sides it's unreal.

My personal favourite album is Adore: an absolutely phenomenal record imo. They took a completely new direction with that album and unfortunately it didn't get the recognition and respect it deserved.
"Ava Adore", "Perfect", "Tear", "Crestfallen", "Pug", "For Martha" - these are just a few highlights from it. Billy Corgan is renowned as an arrogant bastard but on this album he really shows his emotional side ("For Martha" is about the death of his mother)

Of the other albums Mellon Collieis, of course, a classic.

Siamese Dream you already know about.

Pisces Iscariot is surely one of the best B-Sides albums of all time ("Starla" is one of the greatest songs you will ever here.)

Gish isn't their best but is a solid debut. It took a while to grow on me, but there's still some brilliant songs there ("Crush" and "Daydream" are so simple yet so gorgeous)

Zeitgeist isn't half as bad as reviews would have you believe - songs like "Tarantula", "Starz" and "Bring The Light" can easily stand up to earlier material imo.

Machina is their weakest imo but still a good album. "Stand Inside Your Love" is simply brilliant with a really weird video.

BTW awhir, there's loads of other Pumpkins stuff out there other than the albums.
e.g. "Machina II" (which can be downloaded (legally) from a number of websites.) and "The Aeroplane Flies High" boxset (which you should be able to find on E-Bay or somewhere like that)

So, um, that's it. Sorry for rambling - if it was any other band I wouldn't have written so much. But The Pumpkins are my favourite band ever so I like talking about them to anyone who'll listen :D

aidan24326

Dyflin wrote: »

TBH, for me, Mellon Collie was the start of their decline. They became mainstream and artsy and Corrgan finally and inevitably disappeared up his own hole.

Nonsense, Mellon Collie is a bloody masterpiece! Though Corgan has indeed disappeared up his own hole at this stage. Don't like the new stuff at all, and the latest incarnation of the pumpkins is basically just Zwan with a namechange.

bottlerocket

Billy Corgan is surely the whiniest single contribution to recorded music.

That said, Mellon Collie and bits of Adore are simply outstanding.

IanCurtis

awhir wrote: »

hey guys just listend to sesime dream a few times and i must say that i loved it, found the album moving :eek:

what other albums would ya reccomend ?

also what do you think of the sp ?

sesime dream?

"sesime"?

"SESIME"?????

:eek:

daycent

IanCurtis wrote: »

sesime dream?

"sesime"?

"SESIME"?????

:eek:

Yes, that was a pretty poor attempt in fairness:D

Okay, time for my own rambling trip down memory lane:D. Here goes;

I first got into the Pumpkins when Bullet with Butterfly Wings came out. I would have been about 14. I was completely and utterly blown away, I didn't know what the **** to make of it, an epiphany of sorts (over the top or what:D) I just thought it was the coolest thing I ever heard. I remember been fascinated with the cassette sleeve even. And I loved the video. Of course, I hadn't listened to much rock music before this so it was all new to me. It probably just overshadowed Teen Spirit for me at the time.
It took me about 2 years to fully appreciate Mellon Collie, huge variety on that album. It would still be my favourite album of any band. Cheating possibly with the 28 songs! Favourite song is a tough choice, but i'd have to go with 1979, especially if the video is taken into consideration.

Getting into the Pumpkins started off my appreciation of music. I also started playing guitar around then, and have been in bands ever since, including moving to England last year to pursue it (didn't work out:() Billy would definitely be my biggest influence, guitar wise.

Siamese Dream was the next album I got. Definitely a classic, reached new levels of perfection in the production department. Favourite song for a long time was Mayonaise. I was obsessed with it, used to play it over and over. Ah those teenage years!! Favourite now would be Cherub Rock, great riff, I love playing it.

Next I think I got Gish. It was the first ever CD I bought! Good album, a lot of people say it is their best, not sure why, trying to sound cool perhaps?? ("I prefer the early stuff" :rolleyes:) . Billy's lyrics and singing weren't the best. I think they were only finding their feet on this record. Huge jump in songwriting for Billy on Siamese Dream imo.

Pisces Iscariot is an unusually good B-sides album. I could be wrong, but I think it won Best Rock Album one year in that Irish awards thing, whatever the Meteors used to be called. I recall the acceptance video and the band looking all bemused (i may have dreamed this...)

The Aeroplane Flies High is another great boxset if you can get your hands on it. It's crazy how many songs Billy wrote for Mellon Collie.

Next up was Adore. Hugely underrated album imo. It is my favourite "going to sleep" album, in a good way. Some beautiful songs. I urge you to check it out if you haven't already. No "heavy" songs but great nonetheless. I think it really shows off Billy's songwriting. He's one of the few songwriters I know who can seem to totally change his songwriting style (if you know what I mean.... all electronic and dat;))

Machina isn't one of my favourites. It seems to be kind of all over the place. Some great songs though, Stand Inside Your Love is one of their best. And of course the Everlasting Gaze.

I saw them play in the Olympia in what was (supposed) to be their last ever European show. I had waited to see them so long, I was going to enjoy it no matter what! It probably wasn't one of their best shows ever. We weren't allowed stand up either (balcony). They were taking no chances after that Point show.

Didn't think much of Zwan (neither did Billy)

I saw Billy's solo show in the Ambassador a few years back. Horrendous.

I was of course looking forward to Zeitgeist. Very disappointed though, it sounds to me like a collection of B-sides, although far inferior to the ones I've mentioned. It seemed to take them ages too, what were they doing?! Billy could have knocked an album like that out in a week back in the day!

I went to see them a few months back in Manchester. Sad to say I was disappointed again. It didn't bother me massively that it was just Billy and Jimmy, they were always the main two. Weird set, some great oldies, some very drawn out versions of plain bad songs from Zeitgeist. They kind of went through the motions I thought. Practically a spoken version of Bullet! No encore. How times change...

Anyway, pointless ramble over. Wonder what the future will bring (if they stay together) Hopefully a better album.

Sorry for the negative ending...

tech77

Yeah big into the Smashing Pumpkins back in the day- lost interest after the Mellon Collie.. album though.
Some great tracks on it and Siamese Dream.
Today,
the instrumental opener and closer (IIRC) on MCATIS.
Tonight, tonight etc.

1979 is a classic with a classic video- beautiful, evocative depiction of youthful hi-jinks.

Royale with Cheese

Gish, Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie all very good albums

Adore is really good if you give it a chance but I'm sick of hearing radiohead fans talk about how great Kid A etc. is so I wouldn't hold it against people if they're not into it.

Machina has 3 of my favourite Pumpkins songs on it, but also a lot of shít. Worth it for Stand Inside Your Love though.

The new one is patchy but better than Machina imo. Some decent songs on it. Listened to it a fair bit when it came out.

People are always going to have a go for only having half the original members and still calling themselves Smashing Pumpkins, whereas they could just as easily call themselves Zwan, or just Billy Corgan. I personally don't really care. The new album had its moments but all sounded too similar. Not much variety on it. Still, I'm glad to have them back.

the_follwer

best band of all time me thinks!!!
i love there new album, died and went to heaven when they announced they were making a new album touring etc.
i personally like their greatest hits album and turantula kicks butt