May 28, 1991 - The Smashing Pumpkins and Gish

Four weeks after my last release, another new band joins my library when The Smashing Pumpkins released their debut album "Gish" on May 28, 1991. But who are The Smashing Pumpkins? They began as a four-piece alternative rock band from Chicago, Illinois consisting of frontman Billy Corgan (lead vocals, guitar), James Iha (guitar), D'arcy Wretzky (bass) and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums). The Pumpkins sometimes sound like a grunge band, with heavy and quite rockin' parts, but they also have a softer and slightly psychedelic sound at other times. Let's check out another new band!

The album kicks off with "I Am One" and they do a great job of building up the main riff as Chamberlin starts things off with a nice drum beat by himself. Wretzky then joins with a catchy bass riff, followed by a cool rhythm guitar riff and finally some sweet lead guitar. All four members are not just playing cool stuff, but it all sounds great together and combines to form a pretty cool main riff. After nearly a minute Corgan finally comes in on vocals and he has a unique voice that sounds nice overtop this toe-tapping rock music. Corgan has this extra quality to his voice that makes him stand out and he does some nice loud singing as well as some nice softer singing in other parts. There are a couple cool short guitar solos in this song, but the longest one is especially interesting as both Corgan and Iha are soling different things at the same time! With headphones you can hear one guitarist soloing in one ear and the other guitarist soloing in the other ear and it sounds pretty sweet! They nicely drop everything but the bass as Wretzky plays a few bars solo, then the band comes thundering back in to nicely close out this pretty rockin' introduction to The Smashing Pumpkins. The next song is "Siva" and they jump right into this main riff led by some decent guitar and Corgan sings nicely along to the music. After the verse we hear a cool part with one guitarist almost soloing and the other one playing nicely off of him. I'm not sure which guitar is Corgan and which is Iha, but it doesn't really matter as both of them sound good. After another verse and cool part they quiet things right down and the next verse sounds like it's in the background as they lightly jam along. Out of this calm erupts a solo and it's not just the Dead guitar, bit everyone that explodes into some awesome stuff! They quiet things down again after the solo, but these quiet bits have an epic and almost ominous feel to them, and once again they explode out of the calm and quiet to finish the song off with some cool loud rock. They blend the quiet and the loud expertly in this song. Track 3 is "Rhinoceros" and it's the longest song on the album at six and a half minutes. It has an opening that keeps building and you think it might erupt at the finish, but instead they shift into a slow main riff. The bass, drums and rhythm guitar play a slow but good backing riff and the slightly faster lead guitar sounds cool fading in and out. It's almost psychedelic, but I think "dreamy" might be a more appropriate word; it's a dreamy riff that slowly flutters along and Corgan does a nice job of softly singing to match the mood. They move smoothly into a similarly slow chorus and nicely jam along. After another verse the next chorus is played much louder and more like the first two songs and they turn things up to another gear for the following solo. It's a pretty cool solo that fits the mood of the song very nicely and they continue to jam things out in the harder rock fashion until the song would seem to be over. Instead, we hear some trippy droning guitars for the final 40 seconds or so in a strange finish to an otherwise slow burner of a song. The next song is "Bury Me" and Wretzky plays another catchy and cool bass riff before some nice rockin' guitars join in ti complete another cool main riff. Corgan's vocals sound pretty epic overtop and once again everyone is not just playing good music, but it all combines to form great music. I'm not sure if the guitar solo is Corgan or Iha but whoever it is does a fantastic job with arguably the best guitar solo on the album yet! They slow things down and shift to a new riff and this becomes the backdrop for some more pretty sweet guitar as they nicely jam out until what seems like the end. The final 30 seconds or so is some strange, psychedelic guitar effects and while I'm not opposed to that style it does seem weird to just tack it on to the end of what was a pretty sweet rock song. Track 5 is "Crush" and it also has a very dreamy feel to things as Corgan and Iha play some light and slightly trippy guitars. Wretzky's bass sounds loud compared to the soft guitars but it mixes really nicely with the dreamy sound and Corgan does a nice job of adding to the atmosphere with some soft, dreamy vocals. We hear lots of mannerisms that will become known as typical Billy Corgan as he accents and holds some notes in strange but cool ways. While I don't like this as much as the headbangers earlier on the album, it's pretty trippy and cool for a slow song, even though Chamberlin is almost inaudible the whole song. Up next is "Suffer" and Chamberlin shows up already with a cool soft drum beat and everyone else plays a slow, droning riff and Corgan sounds very hushed as he softly sings along to this interesting main riff. It's back-to-back slow songs, but this one has a darker and grungier feel to it as Smashing Pumpkins show they can play all kinds of cool rock styles. They stay pretty quiet for this whole song but I still enjoyed the ebb and flow of things. Track 7 is called "Snail" and it begins very quietly with Corgan playing some soft but nice guitar and singing softly along. After the soft opening the song stays at a slow pace but things get much louder and we hear some cool music from everyone. They alternate between quiet and loud riffs nicely in this song, including some fast drums and guitar towards the end. The next song is "Tristessa" and they kick right into a solid hard rock main riff before Corgan sings a nice verse overtop with his unique edge to his voice. The lead guitar sounds pretty good and Chamberlin rips off a fast drum roll after the first chorus. They rock through another verse and chorus and then it seems like things are slowing down, but they fire off into a guitar solo that isn't all that flashy but it sounds plenty epic and cool. They then play a final verse and chorus to end this pretty cool song. Track 9 is the longest on the album at just under six minutes, titled "Window Paine" and Wretzky and Chamberlin set the background with some slow bass and slow cymbal hits while we hear some trippy guitars come in and out that sound very psychedelic. Corgan eventually comes in with some soft and almost creepy vocals and everything sounds very ominous despite it being pretty quiet. The guitars get louder in the next verse and by the second chorus the band is in full-blown rock mode and the guitars and drums sound loud and great. This all nicely builds into an epic solo that not only has some sweet guitar but Chamberlin's drums sound pretty awesome too. After a decently long and epic solo all the music stops and Corgan sings a chorus by himself that sounds cool before everyone comes thundering back in for a headbanger of a finale. It started very quiet and slow, but this ended up being another cool song! The final song on the album is "Daydream" and Wretzky sings lead vocals on this one. Her voice is pretty average: not amazing but not terrible; she sings in a medium-high voice that definitely seems like Corgan could've just sung it himself. She sings overtop some quiet acoustic guitar in a fairly unexciting riff that is joined by some strings for the last bit that make things a bit more interesting. "Daydream" ends around the 1:53 mark, and the final minute plus of this song is a hidden track called "I'm Going Crazy". It too is sung over some acoustic guitar but this time it's Corgan in a weird little way to end this album.

That is the end of "Gish" and I thought it was a pretty interesting debut album! The Smashing Pumpkins like to play slow sometimes and fast others, but either way they play some pretty cool rock music! Billy Corgan has a very distinctive voice and seems to be quite the songwriter with every song sounding a little different. I think this is a pretty good debut, but there's room to grow as well and I can't wait to see what these guys do next!