Smashing Pumpkins - Gish

Artist: Smashing Pumpkins
Title: Gish
Label: Virgin Records Us
UPC: 724383966325
Price: $17.98

Smashing Pumpkins - Gish Track Listing

1 - I Am One
2 - Siva
3 - Rhinoceros
4 - Bury Me
5 - Crush
6 - Suffer
7 - Snail
8 - Tristessa
9 - Window Paine
10 - Daydream

About Smashing Pumpkins - Gish

Upon the release of Gish--the group's debut--in the summer of 1991, more than one rock aficionado hailed the Smashing Pumpkins as the best band to come out of Chicago since Ministry. A bold statement, yes, but one backed up by Billy Corgan's Hendrix-like riffs and searing signature guitar tone. Intriguing songwriting is evidenced from the start as well, with the driving, amped-up rock of "I Am One," "Siva," and "Tristessa" contrasted with the soothingly eerie psychedelic flavor of "Rhinoceros" and "Window Paine." Gish predates the band's movement toward the loop-based electronic sounds heard in their late-'90s works, yet the seeds for this transition are definitely apparent. Electro guru Tricky even sampled the backbeat from "Suffer" in the tributary "Pumpkin" on his sex-soaked Maxinquaye. Butch Vig shows off his chops as producer and cultivates signature dramatic moods on Gish, which helped put the Smashing Pumpkins on the map as one of the most important alt-rock bands of the '90s--much to the delight of the decade's disenfranchised youth. --Brad Zinser

Smashing Pumpkins - Gish Reviews

Average Rating: 4.5

Rating: 5
As of 2010, I am 48. I had the privilege of listening to Dark Side of the Moon when it first came out, vinyl disk spinning, headphones on my head.

Two other albums have approached Dark Side, in my mind. Nothing's Shocking by Jane's Addiction and Gish by Smashing Pumpkins.

Good stuff. Great for work-out or running, too.

Rating: 4
Until recently, I've had a fair amount of trouble listening all the way through "Gish". Now I've come to embrace it as a great straightforward psychedelic rock album.

I suspect that the initial problem I had with "Gish" was my expectations of it. I had come to love Smashing Pumpkins as a psycholgically dramatic band that specialized in angst. In my mind, they were an excellent band for highly emotional and sometimes melancholic people like myself. My first encounter with them, after all, was "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness". So when I first listened to "Gish", I was quite confused. What is this? Hippie music from Smashing Pumpkins? I knew I was missing some kind of point.

Today I know what that point is. "Gish" bares very little resemblance to the alternative rock that defined the 90s. Instead it sounds more like Led Zeppelin or perhaps Cream with more nasally vocals. That goes for the quieter songs as well as the drum-heavy rockers.

"Gish" is not music for sitting on the edge of your bed, swinging your head around wildly and thinking about all the things that piss you off or make you depressed. Instead, when you listen to it, try to enjoy the moment, relax, and feel those good loving vibrations like it's 1968.

Rating: 5
I notice from these reviews that there are very few people who can interpret and therefore appreciate this album to it's very depth, and the reason is because we are Westerners instead of Easterners. Were the lyrics translated and heard in India or other places in Asia, there would be very little mystery. This album is about Spiritual Enlightenment (Salvation, Nirvana, Liberation) which is the topic of topics; the goal of goals. Corgan directly says that this is a "very spiritual album" and even mentions that it's about spiritual ascension, the songs Siva (Shiva) and Suffer being giveaways. Recently in an interview, he mentioned that in his past albums he was "intellectualizing the divine." This album comes from Corgans own suffering and his efforts to understand and walk the road to the divine. This is easily the most profound SP album due to it's complexity, depth and relevance, making it one of the most significant albums of all time.

I believe Corgan was reading I Am That by Nisargadatta during the time. He is an Indian liberated man, a concept which few people in the West are familiar with. In the song Siva, Corgan writes: "All this pain smothers me, like a bomb that you can't see. Tell me, tell me what you're after. I just want to get there faster." In the book, Nisargadatta is talking to a visitor who tells him, "Basically, man is afraid. He is afraid of himself most. I feel I am like a man who is carrying a bomb that is going to explode. He cannot defuse it, he cannot throw it away. He is terribly frightened and is searching frantically for a solution, which he cannot find. To me liberation is getting rid of this bomb. I do not know much about the bomb. I only know that it comes from early childhood. I feel like the frightened child protesting passionately against not being loved. The child is craving for love and because he does not get it, he is afraid and angry. Sometimes I feel like killing somebody or myself. This desire is so strong that I am constantly afraid. And I do not know how to get free from fear." Billy Corgan had a very unloving and hard family life, so it's no wonder this part would stand out for him. Billy knows the ultimate solution to all problems, and "God" asks him "Tell me tell me what you're after," And Billy replies, "I just want to get there faster." As in he wants to merge into the divine as fast as possible.

The song Suffer also clues us into Nisargadatta. Billy asks God twice, "will you wait?" And God quickly and compassionately replies twice: "Yes I will, I will wait for you." But there are conditions. One must cleans his life before liberation, so God tells Billy, "To cleanse your life takes more than time," because there will be obstacles --there will be challenges. But then God entices Billy into taking divinity here and now without going through all the trouble of struggles, challenges and more suffering and says, "Take what you want. Take all of it." In other words, take divinity and all of creation. Say yes to the present moment. Everything is yours because there is no you and me, everything is One and only God is. Were these lyrics inspired by Nisargadatta? He writes:

Q: Can you give us the taste of the experience of self-realisation?
M: Take the whole of it! It is here for the asking. But you do not ask. Even when you ask, you do
not take. Find out what prevents you from taking.
Q: I know what prevents -- my ego.
M: Then get busy with your ego -- leave me alone. As long as you are locked up within your mind,
my state is beyond your grasp.

Rating: 4
This is a good CD, short compared to some other Smashing Pumpkins albums at 45 minutes. It has a number of alternative radio hits, "I Am One," "Siva," "Rhinoceros," and the rockin' "Tristessa" None of the hits are nearly as good or notable as any of Smashing Pumpkins other top songs. Mostly because the lyrics don't stand out, but the grungy music sure does stand out.

This album is noise pop at its best and I mean that in a good way. It's all the drums, good chaotic guitar riffs, and singer Billy Corgan's vocals pale in comparison. Aside from the noise pop, there are some really good, mellow, dreamy songs like "Rhinoceros," "Crush," and "Suffer." The dreamy, slow side of the album is a great way to balance everything out. Even the mellow songs have their unique qualities, like "Window Paine" builds nicely from a slow start and "Rhinoceros" has a guitar solo in the middle and at the end that make the song very radio friendly. A lot of the songs feel very good to relax at the end of a day and chill out.

If you're looking to relive the 90s or have the "pre-success pumpkins," then please pick up this album. If you're just a casual fan looking for pumpkins, then try "Siamese Dream" or "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness."

Rating: 4
Not my favorite album, but definitely worth purchasing. It sounds more like Siamese Dream than any of their other stuff, but even still no two Pumpkins albums are the same. It was great to hear what their debut album sounds like to see the progression of their music over time, not to say that they wouldn't have been fin sounding like this for awhile.