MII still among the very weirdest "final" acts for a major band
― Simon H., Wednesday, 4 April 2018 15:07 (five years ago) link
It doesn't really work as an album at all but there's a lot of stuff I really like on it, especially Real Love, Home, and In My Body.
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 15:12 (five years ago) link
The production is very weird but I like it much more than Machina I's, especially the softer tracks which have a beautiful dream-goth-noise feeling.
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 15:16 (five years ago) link
I've only listened to Machina II in full twice, via crappy YouTube rip... I can do without the stuff on the EPs (apart from 'Vanity') but the album itself is OK.
― Gavin, Leeds, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 15:25 (five years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/9jxeIF8.jpg6. Machina/The Machines of God38 points, 9 votes
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 15:42 (five years ago) link
i voted for machina real high so i'm glad it got this far and beat machina ii
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 15:44 (five years ago) link
also i love that the 1979 ep technically placed twice
it's got "cherry" and "jerry" on it so it deserves it
Machina made my ballot at the last minute, it's definitely flawed but so much of it is great.
― Gavin, Leeds, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 15:46 (five years ago) link
definitely grew to appreciate Machina I more with this poll. there's easily a great album between the best of the two Machinas though it could really use a redone mix
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:02 (five years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/shNXrn1.jpg5. Gish126 points, 24 votes, 2 #1 votes
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:06 (five years ago) link
I should listen more to Gish. I never completely clicked with it as such, although I never disliked it and like a couple of songs a lot. It sometimes feels like Jane's Addiction worship to me. This version of "Bury Me" is pretty great, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW3f2k6zb7Y
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:11 (five years ago) link
That was minutes after D'arcy and James broke up.
― jmm, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:14 (five years ago) link
cumulative effect of gish is so great and captures them in a really interesting protean state (between their post-punky beginnings and the less psychedelic more candied sound of sd) where they were extremely focused on floral patterns and guitar solos and which they basically never revisited again except in brief flashes like "hummer" and "rocket"
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:15 (five years ago) link
it confused me a lot when i first heard it when i was 13. billy with long hair almost felt like a different band to me (and kinda still does)
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
I forgot that Wretzky and Iha ever dated.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:18 (five years ago) link
My favourite songs on it are Rhinoceros and Snail which are the closest to where they went on Siamese Dream. The rest feels very different in sensibility to anything else they did pretty much.
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:18 (five years ago) link
lmao the intro to that video sund4r posted
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:19 (five years ago) link
Long haired Jimmy is the weirdest
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:19 (five years ago) link
i like james' taste in dresses
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:20 (five years ago) link
If Adore is above Gish then it's too high.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:20 (five years ago) link
it is not
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:21 (five years ago) link
Billy making do with a broken low E string like a minute into the song
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:21 (five years ago) link
it....clearly is! xps
― Simon H., Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:22 (five years ago) link
this isn't the first time i'll say this itt but jimmy's a fucking monster
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:22 (five years ago) link
since i started learning drums a year ago i've begun to understand exactly what he's doing on each track and it's incomprehensible and humbling
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:24 (five years ago) link
he's also an extremely busy player but few of his parts ever feel busy which is remarkable
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:25 (five years ago) link
so breezy and musical yet so dense
Jimmy is probably my favourite rock drummer ever
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:25 (five years ago) link
Bury Me is so good. That wound up placing high on my ballot, even beating a certain other great Jimmy track. I never owned this on CD so I was less familiar with it before now. Bury Me, Snail, Rhinoceros, and Crush are the ones I love most.
― jmm, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:27 (five years ago) link
it was so frustrating seeing them in 94 & watching Billy keep getting ahead of Jimmy, trying to speed up the songs midway through. of course Jimmy was up to it but it felt like a dick move & it didn't make the songs better because they kept changing awkwardly.
― droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:28 (five years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/RLZ4J0N.jpg4. Pisces Iscariot140 points, 25 votes, 3 #1 votes
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:29 (five years ago) link
well i wasn't expecting adore to beat pisces with this crowd so i concede that my first favorite album of all time is prob too high for most
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:30 (five years ago) link
I rarely pull PI out but it really is the most cohesive outtakes record ever
― Simon H., Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:34 (five years ago) link
i more readily listen to pisces than sd these days. also i almost made "whir" no. 1 on my ballot
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:36 (five years ago) link
Same for me, and I've 'Whir' up there too.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:37 (five years ago) link
Pisces is very solid for an outtakes comp but most of it does feel like outtakes for a reason to me. The few tracks that don't though are incredible - Blew Away is James' best, Starla is great obviously, no idea how Obscured didn't make Gish. Whir is nice too but I wouldn't really trade anything on Siamese Dream for it.
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:40 (five years ago) link
fwiw I rated Adore really high on albums but only picked 1 song for my ballot. maybe a lot of others did the same? it works the best as a regular album out of all of them imo
xp Obscured was recorded for SD
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:41 (five years ago) link
I did the same, flappy
― Fetchboy, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:41 (five years ago) link
oh good i'm glad someone else thinks this
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:42 (five years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/Ic8dhTa.jpg3. Adore 156 points, 22 votes, 6 #1 votes
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:51 (five years ago) link
SD is so cohesive, even monochromatic in its sound, and even though the songs on Adore can be pretty different in style or production (like Appels + Oranjes vs. Dusty + Pistol Pete vs. Ava Adore vs. To Sheila), the feeling of wandering and being lost runs through Adore in a really compelling way. and the way it begins so hopefully with To Sheila and ends on such a down note with Blank Page.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:52 (five years ago) link
I think SD would just edge out Adore as best to listen to as a whole for me these days. Adore is a little too long but I suppose that does add to the feeling of getting lost in it. Shame through to Blank Page is probably my favourite sequence on any of their albums.
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:56 (five years ago) link
just realized I still have my original CD copies of PI and MCIS, o happy day
― Simon H., Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:57 (five years ago) link
they're similar in the sense that they're both really desperate and reaching, big gamble records, where on SD they were determined not to make a dog of an album and go back to working in record stores and serving coffee, and on Adore they're searching like I said and trying to come to terms with losing Jimmy.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:58 (five years ago) link
and that's not even getting into the lyrics
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 16:59 (five years ago) link
I don't really know how to reconcile 'Adore is too long' with 'Eye should probably have been put on it somewhere' and the only thing I'd definitely cut is Annie-Dog
― ufo, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 17:00 (five years ago) link
Shame through to Blank Page is probably my favourite sequence on any of their albums
otm. hit after hit. the atmosphere they get out of a song as simple as "shame" is remarkable
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 17:02 (five years ago) link
Gish is sounding pretty nice now. "Snail" is really good. Maybe it just sounded too much like other things of the time in the 90s, idk? P sure Adore will never really be my thing but it was def a daring move for them.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 17:02 (five years ago) link
XP
That makes three of us!
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 4 April 2018 17:03 (five years ago) link
Just out there trying to find SP fun facts and found this interesting:
http://loudwire.com/billy-corgan-singles-soundtrack-slight-smashing-pumpkins-drown/
I very much remember hearing Drown once or twice on the radio and then mysteriously disappearing.
― how's life, Thursday, 12 April 2018 15:08 (five years ago) link
Has anyone other than Corgan backed up that version of events?
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 12 April 2018 15:20 (five years ago) link
Ha ha, good point. Dicey territory there.
― how's life, Thursday, 12 April 2018 15:21 (five years ago) link
my favorite ever live X.Y.U.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Sqglz1BaU
― flappy bird, Friday, 13 April 2018 05:23 (five years ago) link
very close to the phrasing and delivery on the album, also Billy's voice is uncharacteristically warm and gentle and not screechy, more so than on the take that's on the album
― flappy bird, Friday, 13 April 2018 05:24 (five years ago) link
I uh lost ttack at the end here. Prayers answered etc. Well done, folks. Great top 10. Thx ufo
Frail & BedazzledMayonaiseThru the Eyes of RubyRhinocerosHello Kitty KatStarlaDrownShameThirty-ThreeHummerObscuredBodiesQuietPlumeRocketCrushCherryMuzzleSet the Ray to JerryBlank PageGlynisGalapogosRotten ApplesMedellia of the Gray SkiesSiva
― bedraggled vorticist (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 13 April 2018 10:47 (five years ago) link
Is it just me or are the lyrics particularly execrable on BWBW?― startled macropod (MatthewK), Friday, April 6, 2018 5:44 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalinkidk i love them. they're fuckin dumb and greatas i said on the other thread when i first saw the video for this on mtv i thought it was the coolest thing i'd heard/saw. i also think it was the first song i ever heard where the title didn't appear at all in the lyrics― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, April 6, 2018 8:47 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― startled macropod (MatthewK), Friday, April 6, 2018 5:44 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
idk i love them. they're fuckin dumb and great
as i said on the other thread when i first saw the video for this on mtv i thought it was the coolest thing i'd heard/saw. i also think it was the first song i ever heard where the title didn't appear at all in the lyrics
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, April 6, 2018 8:47 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
This song was sort of the breaking point for me with SP back in the 1990s. I remember a friend pointing out that the local alt rock station kept playing it right when her clock radio went off, so she kept waking up to "the world is a vampire..." for a week or something. We all scoffed at how dumb the lyric was. But now I like how Brad puts it: "fuckin dumb and great".
― how's life, Friday, 13 April 2018 12:38 (five years ago) link
Ha, I think that's three or four of us who m/l went off the band when this single came out the first time around. (I partly came around on it too.)
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Friday, 13 April 2018 13:30 (five years ago) link
My breaking point was Everlasting Gaze which was such a complete DNW that I dont even think I realized for a while that I had gone off them completely
― bedraggled vorticist (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 13 April 2018 17:27 (five years ago) link
cool, haven't seen this in a while, just uploaded by Apathy Video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_nRoNBKVUc
― flappy bird, Saturday, 14 April 2018 04:06 (five years ago) link
not much live footage of Billy playing piano on the Adore tour (or at all really, until his solo record & tour last year)
― flappy bird, Saturday, 14 April 2018 04:07 (five years ago) link
― bedraggled vorticist (Drugs A. Money), Friday, April 13, 2018 1:27 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
And so many in here saying BWBW was the immediate buzzkill, and maybe not itt but certainly elsewhere that goes for Ava Adore, too. I wonder what would've happened if Billy got his way and actually released Jellybelly as the lead single from MCIS. No doubt it would've been less successful - I mean what was he thinking? BWBW second single??
― flappy bird, Saturday, 14 April 2018 04:23 (five years ago) link
the flow of the singles from MCIS is really cool, must've been weird to live through them. BWBW into 1979 into Zero into Tonight, Tonight into Thirty-three. Like what if Jonathan survived and the original lineup stuck together and put out Muzzle as planned for the fifth single? and Zero wasn't really a hit right? The video rules but that one is definitely less known than the videos for the rest of the record, including Thirty-three. But it's still one of their iconic songs.
― flappy bird, Saturday, 14 April 2018 04:25 (five years ago) link
I didn’t vote for “Silverfuck” but I should have. It’s like an Underworld track only played on rock instruments.
― Tim F, Sunday, 15 April 2018 11:20 (five years ago) link
What is a good Underworld epic with OTT dynamics?
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 15 April 2018 11:45 (five years ago) link
"moaner"
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 15 April 2018 15:22 (five years ago) link
― flappy bird, Friday, April 13, 2018 9:07 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i saw that fashion awards performance on tv when it happened! it's probably why "crestfallen" is one of my favorite songs
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 15 April 2018 15:25 (five years ago) link
I can't believe only DAM & I voted for Rotten Apples
― flappy bird, Saturday, 21 April 2018 00:23 (five years ago) link
btw don't think i ever posted this summer 1993 performance of Hummer from Fruit Bat Salad... it's sooo much slower than almost all of the SD-era shows, really it's one of the few existing recordings (and only video afaik) of them playing it at the same speed as it is on SD. anyway it's a sweet video, they're playing at the Unicorn a year later, July 1993, band has already way outgrown the club they're in, it's bizarre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E_C6L2D_pY
― flappy bird, Saturday, 21 April 2018 00:30 (five years ago) link
like for context this was the same club only a year before. they all sing jimmy happy birthday at the beginning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wEEkb4zBwU
― flappy bird, Saturday, 21 April 2018 00:33 (five years ago) link
https://www.reddit.com/r/smashingpumpkins/comments/8eefplWhaddaya think? I think we did this.
― how's life, Monday, 23 April 2018 20:23 (five years ago) link
definitely ILM, and also SP doing a tour to promote this thread
― Karl Malone, Monday, 23 April 2018 20:24 (five years ago) link
that is only about 20k plays per poster, and I certainly did my part
― Tapes 'n Tapes of Osho (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 23 April 2018 20:50 (five years ago) link
I didn't use Spotify at all but I will take partial credit for this bump
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 24 April 2018 01:18 (five years ago) link
Really regret not voting for Drown. Essential. The road is long...
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 03:14 (five years ago) link
bought tickets to see them play live for my first time. setlists from last year are pretty good, so I'm cautiously optimistic for a good show. probably should listen to Cyr to prepare.
― Bixby in a Samsung I know it's Siri-esque (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 28 February 2022 18:50 (two years ago) link