Siamese Dream

Artist: The Smashing Pumpkins

Album: Siamese Dream

Release Year: 1993

 

1) Cherub Rock, 2) Quiet, 3) Today, 4) Hummer, 5) Rocket, 6) Disarm, 7) Soma, 8) Geek U.S.A, 9) Mayonaise, 10) Spaceboy, 11) Silverfuck, 12) Sweet Sweet, 13) Luna.

DIMMEL

Best Song: Disarm

Good: Cherub Rock

           Today

           Disarm

           Geek U.S.A.

           Mayonaise

Bad:  Silverfuck

Review:

Siamese Dream is the quintessential Smashing Pumpkins album, this is where they started writing good songs, and sadly where they peaked (yes I know that Mellon Collie was released after Siamese Dream).  That being said, this album is not without its flaws.  Billy Corgan does not have the strongest voice and it really does tend to get lost in a lot of songs.  When I listen to Geek U.S.A, obviously the focus is the guitar/drums interplay; Corgan’s voice has to take a back seat and is extremely forgettable.  On the flip side his voice is absolutely perfect for songs like Disarm and Today.  The quiet, downtrodden voice of Corgan just brings out the emotion in these.  The other major flaw is that Siamese Dream is really one dimensional.  They stick to that soft singing chorus and heavy verse pattern pretty much the entire album.  Overall, I think the album is too long for the level of diversity.  I tend to get bored by the end of Soma, Geek U.S.A. brings it back a little but everything after Mayonaise just drones on. In the end though, the flaws are minor and the album is great.

8/10

On a side note, I hate that Soma is after Disarm, I really think that Siamese Dream would have benefited from a heavier song after Disarm but I don’t think that should affect the overall score.

JAKE

Best Song:  Cherub Rock or Today

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) Silverfuck; 12) Sweet Sweet; 13) Luna.

Good:  Cherub Rock

            Today

            Mayonaise

Bad:  N/A

Well, well...only two albums in, and already we're reviewing one of the hallowed classics.  I must admit that I've never been an avid Pumpkins listener, apart from hearing "1979" and "Today" on the radio about a million and a half times, so maybe I haven't given the album the requisite time to grow on me.  On the other hand, this album did immediately strike a chord with a lot of Nineties fans without needing time to percolate, so maybe it's not completely off the wall for me to say that this album is, as a whole, boring.

Sorry, but a lot of what drives this album for its excessive 63-minute runtime is Billy Corgan's confessional tone, and he just doesn't move me much.  Alternating between "cynical Nineties sneer" and "awed reverence at the tragic beauty of life" gets played out early on here, so that element means nothing to me.  Though I guess you can blame that one on my nigh-inescapable tendency to hold this kind of music at arm's length, identifying all the tropes and conventions, and say "oh yeah, there's the whole 'where the hell do I fit in the world' sentiment that was all the rage back then.'  

And why the hell is this album considered so revolutionary?  Most of the elements presented here can be heard (albeit in other forms) from earlier bands.  The "dreamy" vocals juxtaposed with aggressive guitar?  Catherine Wheel.  The young, lost, desperate vibe in alternative rock?  The Cure (well, kinda).  Electronic accents to spice up accessible rock songs?  T. Rex.  This album does combine those elements in ways not many artists were doing at the time, but I'm not convinced that that's attributable to anything other than commercial success.

But.  The songs themselves are mostly great.  "Cherub Rock," "Rocket," and "Mayonaise" (sic) drive ahead with some nice edgy riffs; and as much as I hate to say it, "Today" is quite memorable melodically, so that's a winner too.  Hell, none of these songs are unlistenable.  Most are downright infectious.  I could play any of these songs at random, any day of the week, and thoroughly enjoy it.  But there's the thing: I could enjoy any song, not the album as a whole.  I could get into the trance-inducing groove of "Hummer" or the spastic rhythm of "Geek U.S.A." or whatever, but listening to all 13 of these in a row completely removes any distinctions between the songs, to the point of reminding me of listening to a muffled argument in the other room.  Accompanied by some sweet fuzzy guitar riffs, of course.

Hey, at least the glowing atmosphere of these songs makes them all work as standalones.  They're all enjoyable while they last, even if none of them stick with me.  And at least Corgan is a consistent songwriter--that's more than anyone could ever say about Kurt Cobain.

7/10