The Smashing Pumpkins
(ah, Billy the frontman... not blasphemous at all, right?)
Gish (1991)
1) I Am One, 2) Siva, 3) Rhinoceros, 4) Bury Me, 5) Crush, 6) Suffer, 7) Snail, 8) Tristessa, 9)Window Paine, 10) Daydream (hidden track: I'm Going Crazy)
The debut SP album, and to the horror of many hardcore fans, my least favorite of their releases. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad album and there are some awesome songs on it, but I just don't think the album as a whole can stand up to any of their other major projects. Still, though, whenever you get Billy, James, D'Arcy, and Jimmy together, something good will come out of it.
In terms of recording sound, Gish is a lot more raw than any of the other albums, which I think is chiefly a product of producer Butch Vig (now the drummer of Garbage). Also, I doubt the band was very popular on a national level at that point, so the recording equipment they used may not have been as good as what they had for their later albums (but who knows? I could be lying). "I Am One" is an interesting opening track, which features quite a bit of Billy's lead guitar, as well as a dual guitar solo (James could be playing along with that one, or Billy could have overdubbed two solos himself). Next up is my favorite track on the record, "Siva," which features a two-part riff played by both Billy and Jimmy; also, I think this track does a great job of establishing the amazing dynamics changes that are so prevalent in the Pumpkins' work. There are two separate soft-sounding middle-eights, both answered with charged lead guitar chorus sections. "Rhinoceros" is another good example of the Pumpkins' dynamics changes. The track opens with faded-in drums, bass, and chorused/phased guitar, as well as some mellow Billy lyrics. By about the 3-minute mark, the tone changes to overdriven guitars and a walking bass scale riff, which leads to yet another Billy guitar solo. Much of the rest of the album has this typical raw guitar/bass/drums sound.
Another of the Pumpkins' strong points is that their sound is quite versalite, which isn't nearly as evident on Gish as with the rest of the their albums. Compare a rock song like "Siva" to a smooth track like "Crush," which opens with a G-major bass scale, joined with some heavily chorused guitar strumming, and no drums. Another of the great soft songs is the closing track "Daydream," which was actually sang by D'Arcy (the only Pumpkins song of its kind, I think). The song is mostly marked with oddly tuned dual acoustic guitars, as well as a cello and violin.
Siamese Dream (1993)
1) Cherub Rock, 2) Quiet, 3) Today, 4) Hummer, 5) Rocket, 6) Disarm, 7) Soma, 8) Geek U.S.A., 9) Mayonaise, 10) Spaceboy, 11) Silverfuck, 12) Sweet Sweet, 13) Luna
Pisces Iscariot (1994)
1) Soothe, 2) Frazzled and Bedazzled, 3) Plume, 4) Whir, 5) Blew Away, 6) Pissant, 7) Hello Kitty Kat, 8) Obscured, 9) Landslide, 10) Starla, 11) Blue, 12) Girl Named Sandoz, 13) La Dolly Vita, 14) Spaced
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
Disc 1: 1) Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 2) Tonight, Tonight, 3) Jellybelly, 4) Zero, 5) Here Is No Why, 6) Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 7) To Forgive, 8) Fuck You (An Ode to No One), 9) Love, 10) Cupid de Locke, 11) Galapogos, 12) Muzzle, 13) Porcelina of the Vast Oceans, 14) Take Me Down
Disc 2: 1) Where Boys Fear to Tread, 2) Bodies, 3) Thirty-Three, 4) In the Arms of Sleep, 5) 1979, 6) Tales of a Scorched Earth, 7) Thru the Eyes of Ruby, 8) Stumbleine, 9) XYU, 10) We Only Come Out at Night, 11) Beautiful, 12) Lily (My One and Only), 13) By Starlight, 14) Farewell and Goodnight
The Aeroplane Flies High (boxset) (1996)
Disc 1: 1) Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 2) ...Said Sadly, 3) You're All I've Got Tonight, 4) Clones (We're All), 5) A Night Like This, 6) Destination (Unknown), 7) Dreaming
Disc 2: 1) 1979, 2) Ugly, 3) The Boy, 4) Cherry, 5) Believe, 6) Set the Ray to Jerry
Disc 3: 1) Zero, 2) God, 3) Mouth of Babes, 4) Tribute to Johnny, 5) Marquis In Spades, 6) Pennies, 7) Pastachio Medley
Disc 4: 1) Tonight, Tonight, 2) Meladori Magpie, 3) Rotten Apples, 4) Jupiter's Lament, 5) Medallia of the Gray Skies, 6) Blank, 7) Tonite Reprise
Disc 5: 1) Thirty-Three, 2) The Last Song, 3) The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right), 4) Transformer, 5) The Bells, 6) My Blue Heaven
Adore
1) To Sheila, 2) Ava Adore, 3) Perfect, 4) Daphne Descends, 5) Once Upon a Time, 6) Tear, 7) Crestfallen, 8) Appels + Oranges, 9) Pug, 10) Tale of Dusty, 11) Annie-Dog, 12) Shame, 13) Behold! The Nightmare
MACHINA/the machines of god (2000)
1) The Everlasting Gaze, 2) Raindrops + Sunshowers, 3) Stand Inside Your Love, 4) I of the Mourning, 5) The Sacred and Profane, 6) Try, Try, Try, 7) Heavy Metal Machine, 8) The Imploding Voice, 9) This Time, 10) Ghost and the Glass Children, 11) Wound, 12) The Crying Tree of Mercury, 13) With Every Light, 14) Blue Skies Bring Tears, 15) Age of Innocence
Machina II (2000)
LP: 1) Glass' Theme, 2) Cash Car Star, 3) Dross, 4) Real Love, 5) Go, 6) Let Me Give the World to You, 7) Innosence, 8) Home, 9) Blue Skies Bring Tears (heavy), 10) White Spyder, 11) In My Body, 12) If There Is a God (full band), 13) Le Deux Machina (synth), 14) Here's to the Atom Bomb
EP 1: 1) Slow Dawn, 2) Vanity, 3) Saturnine, 4) Glass' Theme (spacey version)
EP 2: 1) Soul Power (James Brown), 2) Cash Car Star (version 1), 3) Lucky 13, 4) Speed Kills
EP 3: 1) If There Is a God (piano/vox), 2) Try, Try, Try (alt. music/lyrics), 3) Heavy Metal Machine (version 1, alt. mix)
Rotten Apples: The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits/Judas 0 (2001)
Greatest Hits 1) Siva, 2) Rhinoceros, 3) Drown, 4) Cherub Rock, 5) Today, 6) Disarm, 7) Landslide, 8) Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 9) 1979, 10) Zero, 11) Tonight, Tonight, 12) Eye, 13) Ava Adore, 14) Perfect, 15) The Everlasting Gaze, 16) Stand Inside Your Love, 17) Real Love, 18) Untitled
Judas 0: 1) Lucky 13, 2) The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Let, Looks Right, 3) Because You Are, 4) Slow Dawn, 5) Believe, 6) My Mistake, 7) Marquis In Spades, 8) Here's to the Atom Bomb, 9) Sparrow, 10) Waiting, 11) Saturnine, 12) Rock On, 13) Set the Ray to Jerry, 14) Winterlong, 15) Soot and Stars, 16) Blissed and Gone