Album #126: Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Smashing Pumpkins

Siamese Dream (1993)

Few musicians in the last twenty years have divided public opinion quite like Billy Corgan. For every person who extols his guitar playing skills or his virtuosity as a songwriter, there are people who will point out that his whiny vocals are like nails on a blackboard, or that he's an utterly arrogant fuckwit whose head is so far up his own arse that he's able to watch himself digest his own lunch. With Corgan, the truth is that all of these things are correct - his desire for perfection has pissed off many a bandmate, his control freak ways have driven others to depart projects in a huff, but they've also produced some fine, fine musical works.

Given Corgan's twattish behaviour towards his bandmates, it's a wonder Siamese Dream was recorded at all. This becomes more obvious when you research the album's background - significantly overdue and overbudget, plagued by arguments and tension, and recorded while Corgan was seeing a therapist after a nervous breakdown (and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was bouncing in and out of a serious drug dependency).

That the album is actually pretty bloody good is nothing short of a modern music miracle.

The Album

I said when I reviewed Oasis' Be Here Now that too many overdubs can be a really, really bad thing, especially when it comes off as being self-indulgent bloated crap. It was remarked by a couple of good, also musically knowledgeable mates, that some albums can use a wall of guitar overdub sound for good, not evil, and that Siamese Dream was an example of this (the other example given, Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, will feature on a later edition).

I can confirm that yes indeed, Siamese Dream is an example of how you can overdub guitars to create a wall of buzzsaw distortion, but rather than being a testament to excess, it's gritty, it's necessary, it's heavy....it's good. Most of the album's tracks take the massive guitar sound approach, providing a cutting edge while the songs (for the most part) have radio-ready hooks. It's abrasive music that's ideally suited to rock radio without sacrificing a ballsy edge. 

Corgan's guitar playing is a standout, contributing a number of screeching, sizzling solos throughout, and he ended up playing most of the guitar and bass parts on the album anyway, meaning most of what you hear is him. However, I still cannot (and probably will never) handle that vocal, even if there are songs here where it's actually perfect, and (dare I say it) he does produce a few superb vocal performances. The underrated star of the album though is Chamberlin, who turns in some devastatingly powerful and whippy efforts, especially on Geek U.S.A and Silverfuck.

The album is loaded with some properly fantastic tunes. Opener Cherub Rock is essentially the album's blueprint song, with its buzzsaw guitars, constantly shifting dynamics in the vocals and a general production value that screams 'anthem'. It doesn't hurt that the riff sticks in your head and the song is crunchy and heavy (Corgan's squealy solo adds to its wickedness). Today also uses the shift from quiet to LOUD LOUD LOUD to great effect, and manages to incorporate a decent hook - it's easy to see why it continues to attract significant radio attention. Hummer, Mayonaise and Quiet also follow the major blueprint of buzzing wall of guitar sound tied to a mid-tempo plod.

For mine though, the album's true gems occur when they go more progressive than alternative. Disarm is a wonderfully emotional ballad, thanks largely to the atmospheric strings, timpani/bell percussion and a vocal performance that is straight-up the best thing Billy Corgan has ever done, end of argument, all you Pumpkins fans who are going to write to me saying OH BUT WHAT ABOUT SOME UNKNOWN TRACK OFF MACHINA LOL can save your effort because you are wrong. His tortured, painful cries suit the theme of the song, and the lyrics, perfectly, and there's enough emotion in those cries to fill a whole album. Soma is a supreme tune; half the track is very 'prog', with clean guitar, ride cymbals and a piano accompaniment played by REM's Mike Mills. The other half is a return to the buzzy alt-rock, but Corgan destroys everything with a scintillating solo, managing to squeeze in noise rock, shredding and slower 'feel' sections all in one. Its followup Geek U.S.A is no less brilliant, using (for the most part) a ballsy, energetic riff paired with the buzzsaw guitar sound; Chamberlin delivers a great drum performance also. Out of nowhere though the band smashes you in the balls with a change in dynamic - moody, plodding, gloomy clean guitar - before briefly returning to the original ballsy buzz. Then, there's a final change to a metal section that lays down a wicked groove.

Special mention must also be made of the beautifully touching Spaceboy - made more touching by the fact that it's about Corgan's mildly disabled brother Jesse - and Silverfuck, if only for Chamberlin's performance that is easily as good as anything produced by his bigger name contemporaries, because while the first few minutes are wonderfully cacophonous alt-rock, when the song goes all creepy and moody it loses you as a listener.

The Verdict

I might be twenty years late, but Siamese Dream is a rather fine album. Though I knew the band were more than just angsty rockers (they are still that, mind you) it's reaffirming to discover that they were capable of more than just ANGRY ALTERNATIVE RAGE ROCK.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

(Though Corgan's still a fucking cock.)

My rating: 8.7/10

Standout Tracks

Soma

Geek U.S.A.

Disarm

Cherub Rock