Grunge's Main Gish with Frozen Entrees

As amazing as this album gets, Gish was a victim of its own time. Luck was not on the Smashing Pumpkins' side. Nevermind, Nirvana's sophomore album and easily the best album of the 1990's, had just been released. Gish however, was not overshadowed by Nevermind's commercial success as much as it was by Nevermind's effect on the music scene. The year 1991 marks, in my opinion, the beginning of the Grunge years.

Grunge had been invented a few years before in Seattle but no band had produced the songs needed to popularize it. No artist had yet released a track that could bridge the Metal 80's with the Grunge 90's; until now. Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was it. There was the bridge, now, Gish, cross it! Smashing Pumpkins' debut album, a Grunge release entitled Gish, had considerable commercial success. Its success, however, could have been much more pronounced had Smashing Pumpkins' been more important pioneers of the Grunge scene.

Gish is a strange album, raw, full of energy and improvisation. Depending on the era in which you buy this album, your opinion will change. Buying Gish today, after having listened to "Stand Inside Your Love" off Machina/The Machines of God or "Perfect" off Adore, would leave your jaw hanging. Knowing the pumpkins only through Siamese Dream when buying this album would have you think "It's different, but I see where this is coming from".

The sound on Gish is by far the least original of all their 6 albums releases. They kept it simple, either because they lacked the funds to do anything about it, or because they didn't want to put too much into a sound that might not get them anywhere. All in all, except for a few particularities in Jimmy Chamberlain's drumming and Billy Corgan's singing, Gish sounds like many other albums. Only a few aspects stick out like sore thumbs: Jimmy Chamberlain proves that he is the best drummer in the world and Billy Corgan's voice is as nasal as any singer with a cold.

I mentioned earlier that I thought Gish was a strange album. I say that because it is really the first album in which I could clearly hear and see a colour theme. I then noticed that all Smashing Pumpkins albums have a sound that somehow always respects a very specific colour theme. Siamese Dream was a warm red, Pisces Iscariot was a warm green, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was a cold blue, Adore was a pale black or dark gray, Machina/The Machines of God was a yellowish brown and Gish was a dark purple. Basically, look at the covers of every album and tell me if I'm wrong.

Gish, it doesn't matter which way you look at it, sounds like a purple album. I'm not sure whether it has to do with the brightness of their sound and darkness of their lyrics or whether the simple highs and lows of the album which are vividly entwined create this effect but its presence is definitely felt.

Wondering about highs and lows, Gish has a wide variety of them. Want to know about the highs? You'll find them at the beginning mostly, but also in the middle and at the end of the record. The first track "I am One" will give you just that, a nice fast paced song complete with a few guitar solos and an awesome drum beat serving as the intro. "Siva" will follow and "Bury Me", the fourth track will play the same game. The next two songs will calm you down...somewhat. "Snail" and "Tristessa", respectively tracks seven and eight will come right back and up the tempo, thus, beginning the conclusion of Gish.

How about the lows? Gish is not a stash of your everyday slow songs. Although half the album could easily be considered slow paced, they're not acoustic Green Day "Good Riddance (Time of your life)" tripe-type songs. "Rhinoceros" (also spelled rhinocerous, and rinocerous on previous recordings and demo tapes), is a slow yet insanely heavy track. It will definitely be one of your favourites off the bat. "Crush" and "Suffer", however, are not crowd pleasers. To truly appreciate these tracks, one must enjoy deciphering guitar passages and bass lines. "Window Paine" takes time to get used to but is truly a great one. If you can get to the climax of the track, the "Do what you want to do, say what you want to say" Corgan A Cappella passage, without cringing, welcome to the big Pumpkins family!

D'arcy, the Smashing Pumpkins' bassist takes over on vocals for "Daydream", the final "listed" track of Gish and still today the only Smashing Pumpkins song (including all b-sides and unreleased tracks) that I detest. It's up to you to make your own opinion about it.

Letting your record play a little while longer after "Daydream" will reveal a secret track which Corgan has identified as "I'm Going Crazy". It's a funny little snippet, but not really worth going through "Daydream".

Gish is a strange album to say the least. All tracks are, essentially, talented pieces of music, but not all will suit your fancy at the same time. Some days, you'll love "Bury Me", some days you'll totally hate it. Same goes for the rest of the album. Personally I find that this is an awesome album, however not comparable to Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

It is an essential album to own if one wants to truly understand the pre-Siamese Dream, and Siamese Dream eras and the reason why the Pumpkins' best material was either written or recorded during these years. Expect the unexpected...