Review Summary: A solid, yet immature debut that sets the groundwork for future Pumpkins albums.
Debut albums usually showcase bands trying to find their sound, and perfect it while getting their name out to the public. While
Gish isn't excellent by any means; that's exactly what it did.
Gish is definately the foundation for
Siamese Dream because the songs on the album are loaded with the heavily-layered guitar work that made
Siamese Dream a classic. There's plenty of excellent drumming, and the James Iha/Billy Corgan guitar duo is as present as ever. While their sound was not perfected in anyway in any of these sections of their music,
Gish managed to be the perfect stepping stone for the band and future fans of the band.
Much to their dismay, the Pumpkins were rightly lumped in with the ever-budding grunge movement led by bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden. Their music was heavy on the guitars, Billy Corgan's vocals were as disjointed and noisy as ever; and there's plenty of Billy Corgan screaming on the record. The Pumpkins seemed just as a band that took the grunge sound and fine-tweaked it to make their music seem unique. But that was oh, so wrong as what the grunge bands lacked was the ability to feature prominent breakdowns in their songs and throw slower epics in their albums like
Rhinocerous. And as time would show it, the Pumpkins flew farther away from the grunge movements with their future releases.
And after a few listens to the album, what seems to stick out to me is the way the songs all use the same techniques and ideas to a point where some of the songs can't be told apart; but even with this minor problem,
Gish is still at its core pure Pumpkins and its plainly apparent with the opener to the album,
I Am One which starts out with a simple Jimmy Chamberlin drum beat that quickly picks up into the typical sounding Pumpkins guitar attack. Billy Corgan comes in singing with his typical whiny, screeching vocals into a very catchy chorus hook. This song was a true showcase of what was to come from this band with later releases. And, while
Siva is a good song, Billy Corgan's vocals are a bit too disjointed from the music and the song isn't very catchy. The typical Pumpkins charm is aplenty in this song, but the song feels like a typical grunge chart-topper. The best song on
Gish comes in at track number three, as
Rhinocerous is slower, but ever yet as powerful as a slower Pumpkins epic. Its in the class with
Drown and
Disarm. The song is especially atmospheric and the lyrics are deep and thought-provoking. The song is my favorite off of
Gish easily; if not my favorite Pumpkins song of the era.
But as the album clicks along, it loses a bit of its luster as
Bury Me is a bit bland, too hard, and the typical atmospheric charm that Smashing Pumpkins are known for is gone because the song doesn't really ever breakdown until the end; which is littered with feedback but manages to turn it into a great introduction into another slower Pumpkins ballad-type song called
Crush, which is actually pretty good; especially for the immaturity of the Pumpkins at this time. The acoustic guitar in this song mixed with the echoing electronic guitar twinges make this song another great one off of
Gish.
Suffer is mediocre at best as the song rehashes the same sounds and effects used on
Gish over and over; as the song sounds a lot like
Rhinocerous.
Snail is rather catchy, simple, and addicting. The guitar work is about as close to
Siamese Dream as the album gets while the music retains the typical
Gish charm.
Tristessa is another plain-out rocker that's a bit too familiar as it sounds a lot like
I Am One.
Window Paine begins like a mood-setting atmospheric track like
Rhinocerous but picks up into a darker, louder, and heavy climax.
Day Dream is like a psychedelic, ballad sung by D'Arcy Wretzky that manages to be mood-setting and epic because of her wonderfully soothing singing and the violins in the song. But by the end, the hidden song is a bit mediocre as Billy Corgan's voice is distorted a bit too much and the special keyboard/synthesizer effects are all too old and overused.
After listening to
Gish it is apparent that this the Pumpkins introducing themselves to the world; and its best to keep this in mind because
Gish isn't perfect by any stretch of imagination, but the groundwork for future classics. And while their sound isn't perfected, the atmosphere is still there and it still feels like a Pumpkins record. Songs like
I Am One,
Rhinocerous, and
Crush are all great. So, to all Pumpkins fans; this is a call to pick up the Pumpkins' debut record
Gish as soon as possible.
DOWNLOAD:
I Am One
Rhinocerous
Crush
Day Dream
