Smashing Pumpkins - Gish
The debut full length by Smashing Pumpkins is a moody, fuzzy, aggressive affair. Simultaneously psychadelic and heavy, the band shines instrumentally here more than on almost any other release the band would offer in the following years. Guitarists James Iha and Billy Corgan interplay with one another is fantastic (in particular on the opening track, "I Am One" which is one of the only songs in the Smashing Pumpkins catalog that features a songwriting credit for both Iha and Corgan), while bassist D'Arcy Wretzky pounds away underneath and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain crushes his toms and cymbals with precision and power.
Corgan has called this album incredibly "personal" in recent interviews. The content of the songs was so close to him, that he named the album after an anecdote his grandmother often told him about a famous silent actress, Lillian Gish. "My grandmother used to tell me that one of the biggest things that ever happened was when Lillian Gish rode through town on a train, my grandmother lived in the middle of nowhere, so that was a big deal..." The theme of something seemingly large happening to ordinary people is certainly one that relates very well to Gish.
Gish was received well by critics (Rolling Stone raved that it was "meticulously calculated chaos"), and sales started off very strong, but a little album called Nevermind came along a few months later, and halted the Pumpkins' shot at superstardom for a few years.
Originally released on Caroline Records, the album eventually was re-issued by Virgin Records, the band's eventual major label home, after the following album, Siamese Dream proved to be a huge success. In 2008, there was rumors of a remastered boxed set edition of the album being released, including all the band's early demos and lost recordings, but as of now, nothing has surfaced.
Gish - 10 out of 10
Here is the video for "I Am One" which was not released officially until 2001.
Click to viewA personal favorite of mine, the video for "Siva"
And finally, the shimmery, acid-dripped "Rhinoceros", in all it's dark beauty.