October 4, 1994 - Pisces Iscariot

We have another double release day! On the same day as Dream Theater's "Awake" and just a little over a year since "Siamese Dream", The Smashing Pumpkins released a compilation album of B-sides and outtakes titled "Pisces Iscariot" on October 4, 1994. This album is not technically a studio album, but it's all new songs that were B-sides, outtakes and even a couple covers. Despite being a compilation album, it reached #4 on the charts and went platinum very quickly! Let's check out some new Pumpkins!

The album begins with "Soothe" and it opens with a decent light guitar riff by itself (not sure if it's James Iha or Billy Corgan) before Corgan starts to sing the verse in a high voice overtop. This pretty much sums up this whole song as we hear a few light verses and no bass or drums at all in this quiet but still alright opener. Up next is "Frail And Bedazzled" and this sounds more like a typical Pumpkins rock song with some cool guitar leading the way, Corgan singing a nice verse and D'Arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin providing a solid rhythm section. The chorus is pretty similar with some more cool guitar at the end and they nicely stop everything but the vocals for the start of the next verse before everyone snaps nicely back in. They play another pretty cool long verse and then everything stops again as Corgan alone sings a nice short verse and everyone snaps back in nicely again. After a final chorus they jam things out and end on a nice heavy note to complete this pretty cool song that I'm a bit surprised was a B-side. Track 3 is "Plume" and it's driven by a low and slow main riff that sounds solid and Corgan sings in short, high bursts. The chorus follows in a similar fashion and then it's solo time and whoever it is delivers a long guitar solo that sounds pretty epic. They play another slow verse and chorus and then it's solo time again and we're treated to another pretty sweet solo! The sing trails off in a bit of a weird way at the end, but this was another pretty good song for a B-side. The next song is "Whir" and we hear some acoustic guitars that drive this lighter song along with a soft rhythm section. Corgan sings in his high voice overtop and although this is definitely not a headbanger things still sound solid. They never really stray from this for over three minutes until they shift to a new riff that takes us to the end of this repetitive song. Track 5 is "Blew Away" and it's written and sung by James Iha. Corgan plays an acoustic rhythm guitar riff and Wretzky's light bass sounds good as well before Iha plays some electric guitar overtop and then starts to sing a high verse. He's obviously not as good a singer as Corgan is, but his light voice fits the mood of this song well. James leads a couple light verses that are alright but nothing too special until we finally reach a louder guitar solo. It's a simple solo but it sounds pretty good and it leads into a louder final verse to close things out. Up next is a short song called "Pissant" and they kick into a distorted and fairly heavy main riff that sounds pretty cool with e eryone sounding good. The music is stop-and-start in the verse while Corgan nicely sings in the breaks and the heavy opening turns out to be a pretty solid chorus riff as Corgan continues to sound solid overtop. They jam through another quick verse and chorus and then Corgan sings a new verse that sets the stage perfectly for a fast-paced and distorted solo. After the solo Chamberlin's drums are all that remains briefly and Corgan sings a couple lines before everyone snaps nicely back into the heavy riff to jam out a final chorus. I've quite liked the faster-paced songs so far! Track 7 is "Hello Kitty Kat" and it also kicks right into a pretty cool and fast-paced main riff driven by some nice guitars. Corgan sings another solid verse to match and it leads into a similarly solid chorus which is followed by a cool little guitar bit before they move on to the next verse. After this verse and another chorus Corgan nicely sets the stage once again for solo time and it's a pretty epic-sounding guitar solo. They then play a final chorus and someone proceeds to play some pretty excellent guitar at the end of this song as the final 30-40 seconds are pretty awesome. The next song is back to a softer, slower pace and is titled "Obscured". One guitarist plays a cool acoustic riff to keep the pace while the other guitarist adds some slow but high lead guitar overtop of this backing riff that seems to smoothly drift in and out, in and out. Corgan starts to sing a slow verse to match the mood and this becomes the rest of the song basically as they slowly jam out this riff for several verses. Considering the song is over five minutes long, I can see why this one was left to the B-side. It also has a long, droning ending that can be hard on the ears. Track 9 is "Landslide", a Fleetwood Mac cover that has no drums at all and yet despite it's light feel things sound pretty epic. We hear some cool lead acoustic guitar with some solid rhythm guitar and bass as well and Corgan sings a great high verse that matches the mood of the song perfectly. He's doing a pretty good job singing Stevie Nicks' parts and his guitar is good as well as he carries this light but cool cover. I love when he strains his voice a bit in the chorus, showing some real emotion and after a couple light verses and choruses Iha delivers a light but decent guitar solo that ties perfectly back into the main riff for a final verse and chorus before they softly finish things off. For a lighter song, this was a better one for sure. Up next is "Starla", the longest song on the album by far at 11 minutes, and it opens slowly and quietly with one guitarist keeping the pace with a nice rhythm riff while the other guitarist adds some high and offbeat guitar as things sound like they are very, very slowly building up. After almost a minute Corgan begins a soft verse overtop and he sounds pretty good singing in a light, high voice. Chamberlin finally joins in with a light drumbeat after the first verse and then it's on to another verse. After another verse things shift to a louder and more rock version of this same riff and Corgan leads a solid louder verse and chorus. Almost five minutes in things take a turn to a new riff that sounds interesting and Corgan starts up a new verse. This is short-lived though as they return to the main riff and we hear a pretty cool guitar solo overtop with lots of cool distorted stuff. This distorted solo is quite long and it carries into a new slow headbanger of a riff and whoever is soloing continues to do a fantastic job! Like there is a lot of cool guitar in the second half of this long song! This solo lasts for many minutes (with lots of great stuff throughout) and takes us all the way inside the final minute of the song! Things then go distorted briefly before they very softly finish out the end of the song. It took a while to ramp up but once it was in full swing this was a pretty sweet song! Track 11 is "Blue" and after what sounds like some wind chimes in the opening Wretzky starts up a pretty cool bass riff and the rest of the band builds nicely around it for another solid main riff. Corgan sings a solid verse to match the mood and they slow things down briefly at the end of the verse before nicely returning to the main riff. After another verse they shift gears permanently to a slower new verse that takes us to the end of the song. This closing part wasn't bad by any means, but it was a little bland compared to the solid rest of the song. Up next is another cover, this time of The Animals and it's called "A Girl Named Sandoz". They kick right into the interesting main riff with some groovy bass from Wretzky and some matching guitars and Corgan comes in to sing a nice verse overtop. The chorus is short but hits hard and is nice and loud and they roll right into another verse and short chorus before it's solo time. Whoever it is delivers a lengthy and pretty cool guitar solo with flashes of fast stuff but mostly just some cool regular guitar. After this long solo they play a final verse and a couple loud choruses before ending the song with a lot of distortion and ear-piercing feedback. Track 13 is "La Dolly Vita" and it's driven by a slow main riff that is pretty chill with electric and acoustic guitar as Corgan sings a light and high verse to perfectly match the mood. They lightly jam through a couple verses before things briefly get really quiet, but then it's just right back to the main riff for another verse. After this verse they crank up the volume to close things out with some much louder guitar and Chamberlin playing some great drums. The final song on this compilation album is "Spaced" and it's "driven" (more like lightly paced) by a simple guitar riff that continues in the background of this short song while the other guitarist plays some trippy stuff that sounds cool. We hear some voices overtop the interesting music and this makes for a strange and slightly trippy song that is an odd choice to close the album out on. It sounds like Corgan talking into a megaphone with an echo effect and it sounds pretty trippy as he rambles on, dropping in a few f-bombs on the way, and that pretty much covers it. 

That is the end of "Pisces Iscariot" and I thought it was a decent little album that had some ups and downs but was still for the most part a solid album. "Starla" was probably my favourite track but "Frail And Bedazzled" and "Pissant" were solid as well. There were also a few quieter songs that seemed like they belonged as B-sides, but considering they only had two albums out so far, this is basically a new album and some of it's songs were more than good enough to make the cut. I don't think it's as good as either of their studio albums so far, but this was still a cool addition to the library. I look forward to hearing some brand new Smashing Pumpkins soon!