![]() ![]() The Gish bonus disc contains a series of Gish-era recordings that may be familiar to longtime fans. ![]() Each album consists of three discs now: the album, a second disc of 18 mastered b-sides, unreleased demos and alternate takes, as well as a concert DVD. The reissues are great, but the real pleasure is in the extras. The remasters just work to emphasize a sound that is as groundbreaking today as it was 20 years ago with crystal clear reproduction. I fell in love with these records because they were so “BIG.” It always sounded like there was too much sound tearing through the stereo – like there was not enough speaker to handle the over-the-top, machine gun attack of Jimmy Chamberlin and the searing avalanche of Billy’s shoegaze meets 70’s rock wall of guitar. Sometimes a remastered release from the digital age seems pointless, but Corgan has put together some pretty sweet packages in the first two releases of their debut Gish and the seminal alt-rock masterpiece, Siamese Dream.īoth of these albums embodied Butch Vig’s relentless pursuit of perfection with Corgan’s relentless pursuit of rock glory. As far as debuts go, this one is a masterpiece.While the Smashing Pumpkins do a mini tour behind Oceania and release free music from their vast back catalog via the Smashing Pumpkins Record Club, Billy Corgan is remastering all of their previous albums. “Gish” went platinum 8 years after its release. I was trying to say a lot of things I couldn’t really say in kind of intangible, unspeakable ways, so I was capable of doing that with the music, but I don’t think I was capable of doing it with words. In a weird kind of way, Gish is almost like an instrumental album-it just happens to have singing on it, but the music overpowers the band in a lot of places. It’s not a political album, it’s a personal album. The album is about pain and spiritual ascension. Regarding the album’s thematic content, Corgan would later say, The album’s sessions, lasting 30 working days, were brisk by Pumpkins‘ standards, largely because of the group’s inexperience.The recording sessions put an intense strain on the band, with bassist D’arcy Wretzky later commenting that she did not know how the band survived it, and Corgan explaining he suffered a nervous breakdown ![]() Such musical moments like these, as well as the rushing “Siva” and the folky “Daydream,” which features D’Arcy on lead vocals, demonstrate the Smashing Pumpkins‘ potential, but the rest of Gish sometimes falls prey to undistinguished songwriting and showy instrumentation. Like Brian May and Jimmy Page, he knows how to layer guitars for maximum effect, whether it’s on the pounding, sub-Sabbath rush of “I Am One” or the shimmering, psychedelic dream pop surfaces of “Rhinoceros.” Though Corgan’s lyrics fall apart upon close analysis, there’s no denying his gift for arrangements. While Nirvana was a punk band, the Smashing Pumpkins and guitarist/vocalist Billy Corgan were arena rockers, co-opting their metallic riffs and epic art rock song structures with self-absorbed lyrical confessions. This was, of course, in May of ’91.Īrriving several months before Nirvana’s Nevermind, the Smashing Pumpkins‘ debut album, “Gish”, which was also produced by Butch Vig, was the first shot of the alternative revolution that transformed the rock & roll landscape of the ’90s. Upon its release, it was quite positively acclaimed. They had been an active band for the 3 years before the release of this album, playing small shows here and there in their hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Billy Co rgan performed nearly all of the guitar and bass parts on the record. On May 28th, 1991 The Smashing Pumpkins released their debut album ‘Gish’. ![]()
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