Evening, all.
Long day of typical Sunday stuff - errands, groceries, cleaning, sweeping, vacuuming, exercising and to counteract the exercise - a massive meal of the most delicious, and above all healthy, tacos I've ever had. So I write this in a bit of a dozing food coma, battling fatigue and the nods. Accordingly today's post will be a bit truncated, but fully formed regardless. I thought I'd expound a bit on my favorite album of all time, which is also a bit of a guilty pleasure. While I've already written about the Smashing Pumpkins, today we look at their exceptional offering, Siamese Dream.
Recorded in the early winter of 1993 in Georgia, the album marked a turning point for the band. Notoriously egocentric frontman and driving force Billy Corgan began writing from a much more personal perspective and, under the watchful eye of producer Butch Vig, started down one of the most prolific and high quality segments of his artistic career. An aside here - Vig is a known 'personality', i.e. a strong opinioned musician whose career has brought high praise as well as personal scorn, but his output, as well as involvement in the odd-ball band Garbage (another 90s favorite of mine), are fit for another day's post. To acknowledge his involvement in the album is to put it in another category, one that is also associated with interpersonal conflicts as well as incredible results.
Moving on.
The band struggled through the sessions, with varying results. Corgan's neurotic and obsessive work ethic resulted in amazing craftsmanship, but at the sacrifice of his relationships with his band mates. According to legend, he not only locked guitarist James Iha and bassist D'arcy Wretzky out of the recording booth, but ended up re-recording everything the pair had lain down by that point. Another well known factoid is that Corgan went crazy on the overdubs and 'aural construction' of the album by putting a whopping 70 overdubs on a single lick in the song 'Soma' just to create the proper tone. Despite the descent into blind ambition, the album turned out to be a master stroke, and was heralded (at the time) to be their best work.
While the band was and continues to be regarded in some circles as blatant careerists and corporate shills, the music on Siamese Dream speaks for itself. 14 songs, all in a row, show the massive jump the band had made from their debut album, Gish, to here. They (or Corgan, if you prefer the insinuations) had gone from psychedelic rock and flailing, jangly chords to streamlined, intensely rhythmic riff-age and stadium sized hooks. The songwriting quality was also leaps and bounds beyond what they had previously accomplished. The first single for the album, and my favorite song of my lifetime, the straight-ahead power-pop 'Today' was written after a bout of writers block. It's straightforward nature almost stands in defiance of the struggles that had prevented its creation. The sweeping, lush 'Disarm' served as a signature stamp of what the band's sound would be in their acoustic mode, moody and sorrowful. The album opener, 'Cherub Rock', is a signifier of the new sound, starting with a drum roll and building, octave chord riff that crescendos into an undeniably catchy song that stays with you long after it ends.
The band clearly came into their own with this album. By creating simple, accessible songs like the weeping and droningly beautiful 'Mayonnaise' or the brooding and powerful 'Soma' the band honed their distinctive sound that set them apart from the grunge sound-alikes of the era. While their peers and rivals focused on dirges and lo-fi indie rock, here was an album of polished and obsessively micromanaged prog rock. It was almost iconoclastic move, at this point in the music scene, to be so knowingly well-practiced when the easy money was on slouching, flannel driven grunge.
Rather than ramble on for another 500 words about how great this album is and why you should be listening to it, I'll let it speak for itself. Either it will move you or it won't. Good music stands the test of time and I keep coming back to this album, no matter how many times I've heard it. The craftsmanship and mood of the album just speak to me on a personal level. It may be due more to where I was in my life when I first heard it and how it affected me, but I feel today that the music does stand the test of time. Oddball or not, anal-retentiveness aside, I love Siamese Dream.
Long day of typical Sunday stuff - errands, groceries, cleaning, sweeping, vacuuming, exercising and to counteract the exercise - a massive meal of the most delicious, and above all healthy, tacos I've ever had. So I write this in a bit of a dozing food coma, battling fatigue and the nods. Accordingly today's post will be a bit truncated, but fully formed regardless. I thought I'd expound a bit on my favorite album of all time, which is also a bit of a guilty pleasure. While I've already written about the Smashing Pumpkins, today we look at their exceptional offering, Siamese Dream.
Recorded in the early winter of 1993 in Georgia, the album marked a turning point for the band. Notoriously egocentric frontman and driving force Billy Corgan began writing from a much more personal perspective and, under the watchful eye of producer Butch Vig, started down one of the most prolific and high quality segments of his artistic career. An aside here - Vig is a known 'personality', i.e. a strong opinioned musician whose career has brought high praise as well as personal scorn, but his output, as well as involvement in the odd-ball band Garbage (another 90s favorite of mine), are fit for another day's post. To acknowledge his involvement in the album is to put it in another category, one that is also associated with interpersonal conflicts as well as incredible results.
Moving on.
The band struggled through the sessions, with varying results. Corgan's neurotic and obsessive work ethic resulted in amazing craftsmanship, but at the sacrifice of his relationships with his band mates. According to legend, he not only locked guitarist James Iha and bassist D'arcy Wretzky out of the recording booth, but ended up re-recording everything the pair had lain down by that point. Another well known factoid is that Corgan went crazy on the overdubs and 'aural construction' of the album by putting a whopping 70 overdubs on a single lick in the song 'Soma' just to create the proper tone. Despite the descent into blind ambition, the album turned out to be a master stroke, and was heralded (at the time) to be their best work.
While the band was and continues to be regarded in some circles as blatant careerists and corporate shills, the music on Siamese Dream speaks for itself. 14 songs, all in a row, show the massive jump the band had made from their debut album, Gish, to here. They (or Corgan, if you prefer the insinuations) had gone from psychedelic rock and flailing, jangly chords to streamlined, intensely rhythmic riff-age and stadium sized hooks. The songwriting quality was also leaps and bounds beyond what they had previously accomplished. The first single for the album, and my favorite song of my lifetime, the straight-ahead power-pop 'Today' was written after a bout of writers block. It's straightforward nature almost stands in defiance of the struggles that had prevented its creation. The sweeping, lush 'Disarm' served as a signature stamp of what the band's sound would be in their acoustic mode, moody and sorrowful. The album opener, 'Cherub Rock', is a signifier of the new sound, starting with a drum roll and building, octave chord riff that crescendos into an undeniably catchy song that stays with you long after it ends.
The band clearly came into their own with this album. By creating simple, accessible songs like the weeping and droningly beautiful 'Mayonnaise' or the brooding and powerful 'Soma' the band honed their distinctive sound that set them apart from the grunge sound-alikes of the era. While their peers and rivals focused on dirges and lo-fi indie rock, here was an album of polished and obsessively micromanaged prog rock. It was almost iconoclastic move, at this point in the music scene, to be so knowingly well-practiced when the easy money was on slouching, flannel driven grunge.
Rather than ramble on for another 500 words about how great this album is and why you should be listening to it, I'll let it speak for itself. Either it will move you or it won't. Good music stands the test of time and I keep coming back to this album, no matter how many times I've heard it. The craftsmanship and mood of the album just speak to me on a personal level. It may be due more to where I was in my life when I first heard it and how it affected me, but I feel today that the music does stand the test of time. Oddball or not, anal-retentiveness aside, I love Siamese Dream.
