Urban Hat€monger ?

Authors note ...
About a year & a half ago I wrote this reveiw of this album and posted it in several places online.I actually took it down from them all a couple of months later due to the sheer amount of hatemail I was getting from Smashing Pumpkins fans
Anyway a friend of mine emailed me this reveiw a couple of days ago asking me 'Do you remember when you wrote this?' And how we laughed remembering the bile directed at me from all of Billy Corgans little groupies.So anyway I figuered it was worth posting here , just for a laugh really. and to see if it gets the same sort of reaction......Enjoy


Let`s get one thing out of the way.When this came out i HATED it.The pumpkins were one of my favorite bands around the early 90s & then THIS came out.At first I was excited at the thought of getting a double album of one of my favorite bands.I heard the first single off it (Bullet with Butterfly Wings) & thought it was pretty OK but nothing reallt THAT special .However the album itself once I had heard it made my face drop. I couldn`t beleive how this good band had basically made a double album of mostly fillers. I put it on the shelf & there it has stayed fall that time. Until now , I had seeing it`s now the 10th anniversary of it`s release I`ve decided that it`s time for a re-evaluation & that with the band long since gone & with my greater range of musical tastes & the stigma of them being one of my favorite band long gone I felt I could listen to it again with a totally open mind , so here goes ......


1. Mellon Collie and the infinite sadness
Long drawn out intro , I thought I was listening to a Genesis album or something *shudder*

2. Tonight tonight
It`s OK, reminds me of the Manic Street Preachers with the big orchestral string section

3. Jellybelly
Not bad,Average rock song that could ultimately be a B side off a single from the Gish album
Nothing special though

4. Zero
Easy choice of single , bit predictable though

5. Here is no why
Dire stadium rock ballad that ultimatly put me off this band,sadly for me this is basically the direction they took after this album

6. Bullet with butterfly wings
Good choice of first single off the album , liked it when it came out still think it`s OK now

7. To forgive
Another dull ballad

8. F*ck you (an ode to no one)
Reasonable rock song but ultimatly nowhere near as good as anything off the first 2 albums

9. Love
Awful distorted vocals as if Corgans voice isn`t irritating enough already,horrible horrible song

10. Cupid De Locke
Sounds like a decent tune for a short interlude, unfortunatly they decided to make a full length song over it. Boring

11. Galapogos
Another boring ballad , Jesus this is the band that wrote ****ing Soma & Mayonaise ...what the hell happened

12. Muzzle
Not a bad song although if they had written in for Siamese Dream it would be lucky to be a B side for a single

13. Porcelina of the vast oceans
Long intro that goes nowhere,turns out to be a pretty decent song but the computerised distorted guitars just become intrusive & annoying which is a shame coz it had potential to be a good song.Also loses points for having a wanky song title

14. Take me down
Acoustic country style ballad that goes pretty much nowhere & gets boring after a short while

15. Where boys fear to tread
Starts of ripping off Sonic Youth then they get bored & rip off Nirvana, has to be said Corgan`s vocals on this song are atrocious.And the guitars are out of tune

16. Bodies
Corgan rewrites Soundgardens Jesus Christ Pose with out of tune guitars again,stick with the original

17. Thirty three
Yet another dull ballad

18. In the arms of sleep
And ANOTHER ballad , at least Corgans found his vocals at last

19. 1979
Highlight of the album , shame there`s so much rubbish to wade through to get to it

20. Tales of a scorched earth
Corgan tries death metal ... absolutly hilarious

21. Thru the eyes of Ruby
Pretty good song very reminicent of the stuff on Siamese dream & this could have even made it onto that album too, a thumbs up for a change.

22. Stumbleine
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ acoustic ballad ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

23. XYU
Decent enough rocker, could have been taken off the Gish album , but still distinctly average.

24. We only come out at night
Awful Awful Awful , Sounds like they tried to write their very own Yellow Submarine & yes it`s really that bad

25. Beautiful
Very Trip Hop sounding ,However play this directly after a Massive Attack song & see Corgans musical limitations to the full and laugh at it ...go on i did

26. Lily (my one and only)
Yep another dull ballad

27. By starlight
And here

28. Farewell and goodnight
And here ... thank god thats it

To sum up ...

I still maintain this NOWHERE near the great album like people seem to think this is , It`s blatently obvious to me Siamese Dream is far far superior to this.Most of the songs are just fillers , Corgan`s vocals on some of them is awful & it`s far too over produced & long winded.Even if this was trimmed down to a single album it STILL wouldn`t be as good as Siamese Dream & in fact i`d say Gish might even top it.I wish people could see this album for what it was , Billy Corgan flexing his ego & his ego falling flat on his backside showing his musical limitations.I wanted to like this album, i tried to like this album but at the end of the day it doesn`t warrant being a double album.Think of it as a single album with a free disc of outakes ... you`ll feel better for it, but not THAT much better......Horrible.

Verdict 1.5/10

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