Review Summary: Smashing Pumpkins' excellent debut album features dynamic variations, mammoth guitar riffs and moments of startling beauty - paving the way for even better releases by the band.
It's indeed difficult to make amazing debut records; just take examples from Radiohead, Blur or Prince. The three artists went on to make some excellent records, but did not possess that excellence whilst crafting their first LPs. However, there are some artists who've created great to legendary debuts, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish falls somewhere between that starry range.
If you ask any teen if they know Smashing Pumpkins today, they'll scratch their head and or laugh at the surreal name of the Chicago-based act. The band just aren't too relevant anymore to today's music culture, and with their split in 2000, frontman Billy Corgan continued to release records, recruiting different lineups, the latest being "Oceania" and "Monuments to an Elegy". Although decent albums, they lacked any conviction or innovation that made the band so incredible in the 90's. The outfit are considered one of the pioneers of alternative rock music, with their sophomore effort "Siamese Dream" being #362 on Rolling Stone's All Time Greatest Albums list and their subsequent release "Mellon Collie.." being certified diamond.
However, Gish is the record that started their run of excellence, fusing dreamy melodies with razor-sharp distortion and fury. The production on the album (courtesy of then-unknown Butch Vig), while certainly not the best, certainly suits the record and gives it a raw old-school sound. The masterful basslines, relentless drum passages and indelible guitar tradeoffs between Billy Corgan and James Iha are all perfectly pronounced with a slight hazy, dreamlike tint. The record's shoegaze-y sound is unmistakably present, but that doesn't stop the band from incorporating furious textures of hard rock and alternative metal into their sound. However, the band also squeezes out softer offerings in the form of "Crush", "Suffer" and "Daydream", highlighting their knack for exploring different sounds and juxtaposing them with harsher ones.
The legendary lineup of Corgan, Iha, Chamberlin and Wretzky mash all of their talents together to create this heterogenous piece of art, and each song has its own special facet; be it the monstrous guitar jams of "I Am One" and "Siva", the psychedelic touch of "Rhinoceros" or the dreamy relent of "Crush". Standout track "Bury Me" encompasses all these features with sharp guitar interplays and a beautiful outro that marries the shoegaze and hard rock textures cohesively. Despite the band recalling that the album's recording sessions put an "intense" mental strain on them and their relationships amongst each other, there is an almost tangible chemistry the members share and utilize to reinforce their signature sound.
Although Corgan's shrieks and wails are an acquired taste, and his lyrics aren't anything spectacular or ingenious, he does a good job of providing stellar guitarwork and impressive vocals throughout the record. The album's stretch from "I Am One" to "Bury Me" is one of the band's strongest ever, and is a seriously impressive work of consistency. Other highlights include "Snail" and "Tristessa" - the former being a rueful, upbeat track that paved the way for future power ballads such as "Hummer" and "Soma" - while the latter is a pure rock anthem that sounds similar to "I Am One", with its excellent drumwork and infectious guitar rhythms.
However, the album ends on an admittedly weak note. "Window Paine" sounds like the younger, more impudent brother of "Rhinoceros", as it trudges along in its vast duration of 5:50 like a lazy giant without getting anywhere fast. Though its heavy climax is still pretty awesome, the following track "Daydream" does away with any lingering appeal as a filler track fronted by Darcy on vocals. It's an unfortunate album closer that could've been substituted by any of the better B-Sides of Gish. Even then, the debut record of Smashing Pumpkins proves to be a formidable entry into the 90's rock scene, competing with alt. rock giants such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam at the time. The album still proved to be successful as a debut, selling over 100,000 units in its first year - a stat that testifies the LP's accessibility, and lit the path for Smashing Pumpkins' future endeavors.
