One of THOSE nineties albums

Author's Rating:

Pros: Excelent guitar/drum album. Emotional, subtle, well produced.

Cons: Not all will necessarily love the vocals. A couple of less good songs.

The Bottom Line: 
Very good nineties album. A must-hear for any self-respecting rock fan. A couple of less good songs but that dont deserve the loss of a star in the rating.

Author's Review
After Gish, Billy Corgan, as he would later repeat for his other albums, declared that if the Smashing Pumpkin's next record was not a success, he would dissolve the band. Fortunately for him and for us, this was not the case. Siamese Dream went several times platinum and marked the band's breakthrough. The album was the perfect nineties album, a troup of anti-rock hero young people jumping around while preaching the generation X teen angst and ripping it up on anything they could get their hands on that had a few strings on it. Siamese Dream is a brilliant collection of heavy grunge and power-pop defined by a masterful layering of fuzzy guitars upon fuzzy guitars over the airtight drumming of Jimi Chamberlin. The album contrasts the super-dynamic instrumental with Billy Corgan's half dreamy, half screachy/whiny vocals to create a memorable album.

The album opens with a small drum roll preceding a gradual, clean guitar build-up which then fires into the fuzzy guitar wall of sound that makes this album so special. The song hits the riff and presto, we are into "Cherub Rock". The vocals are casual on the verse until Billy fires up his loud voice and takes us into the chorus of a screeched "Who wants money?". A cool bridge later, the song fires into the first of many solos where Billy ripps into a series of sweet toned fills and guitar screams reminiscent of the Gish guitar play. A pretty solid rocking opener and single.

"Quiet" is less of a cool rocker and more of a grunge/metal steamroller. The opening guitar noises and agressive drum fill take us into a moderate paced unstoppable riff under the tortured vocals "Quiet, I am sleeping in here." A cool key change for the chorus and back into the verse. After the memorable line "castrate the boys to the bone" and an electro-rock bridge, back into the chorus and then into possibly the second coolest solo to ever have graced a Pumpkin studio album. Big bends, fast fingers, cool. The solo dies out into a final jam through the riff and chorus. The song plays as a fluid very cool, loud, sweetly distorted piece of capital "R" Rock.

"Today" is the song that Billy says got the creative juices flowing for Siamese Dream. A minimalist happy riff takes us into the now classic barage of guitars. A sweet verse ("today is he greatest day I've ever known"). The chorus slips into the huge guitars but keeping the bleak charm of the verses and punctuated with James Iha's signature guitar bend. The song follows on alternating between parts and keeping the same feel. A catchy, happy song, a good single also. So far so good.

"Hummer is the album's first multi-segmented effort (!). A peculiar arabic riff take us into another distinctive riff that then explodes into a crossfire of soloing guitars. Another quiet verse and into the first chorussy thing. Big powerful guitars under Billy's quiet vocals, powerful. Next chorus is introduced by Billy's scream "when I woke up from that sleep, I was Happier than I've ever been". The song then bridges into a solo similar to that of Cherub Rock. More guitar explosions with emotionally sung vocals. The song slows to an almost halt when the unstoppable drums of Jimi Chamberlin take us back into it all. After another chorus, the song dies out into a quiet mostly instrumental Jam where Billy exposes his quiet melodic soloing side. The song sweetly descends away to it's end and leaves the listener feeling very happy with himself. The song particuarly benefits from an elaborate structure.

"Rocket" is one of the less interesting songs off the album but nevertheless is pretty enjoyable. A fuzzy guitar intro announces the jolly mood of the song. Not Billy's most memorable melody on the verse. More rythmic elaborations and key changes to the chorus. A solid song but not necessarily the best choice for a single.

For Billy Corgan, "Disarm" was one of the more personal songs on the album. A chugging chord progression and dramatic bells announce the grandiose side of this deceptively minimalist song. The strings enter for an emotional chorus ("I used to be a little boy, so old in my shoes"). The song weaves it's way to a dramatic outro but nearly goes overboard on the strings. A very good listen.

"Soma" is quite possibly the best thing that Billy Corgan has ever musically assembled. Co-written by James Iha, soma is the album's second multi-segmented piece. A beautifully written quiet intro segment of dreamy guitars and supremely subtle drums with charming little guitar riffs and piano decorations. A short but quiet bridge leads to a peculiar solo. At this point one is wondering where the song is going when it seems to finish on a quiet arpeggio.
Then the absolutely incredible guitars really lay in for the first time on the album. A complete wall of sound erupts onto the album. The creamy thick-as-butter distortion completely washes away anything in a five mile radius. Billy picks up the vocals again for a dramatic "didn't want to lose you once again." The chorus is a powerful angst cry of "Im all by myself". Then we hit Billys finest ever solo. Intricate impossible fills punctuate epic soaring bends. The solo continues through another chorus in loud mode with some seriously good fills. The song then fades out back into the quiet intro mood. The best song off the album hands down and one of if not the best Pumpkin song.
“Geek USA” is the second completely mad rocker on the album. This is what I think of as the “RIFF” song seeing as at no point is the song not built on an insanely cool guitar part. The song opens on a drum roll with fuzzy distorted guitars that don’t take long to start screaming the high notes. Big riff for the verse under Billy’s mad vocals. The chorus is a lesson in senseless rock. “Shot full of diamonds” he screams before a big guitar fill. One also can’t help but notice how very very very good the drums are on this album. And I mean good, Jimi sets a standard that he seldom reproduces in the Smashing Pumpkins but does when he needs to. A washed away space rock chorus before an all out super-fast solo. More big riffs with sick fills and a big slow moving riffy ending. Breath-takingly exciting.

”Mayonaise” is the popular song off the album. It’s the sort of song that EVERBODY relates to. A quiet little melodic intro leads to the second strongest distorted impact point of the album. Big sweeping washed away guitars and plaintive vocals. The song continues much in this style with a short acoustic break and pleasant solo. Not much to say, it just has to be heard. One of the album’s finest.

After Mayonaise is where many people tend to say the album trails off. This may or may not be the case. “Spaceboy” is an acoustic string accompanied ballad written by Billy for his handicapped brother Jessy. A nice but somewhat forgettable song.

”Silverf*ck is the albums last breath of excitement. Another sick fast distorted riff, this completes the quiet, geek usa, Silverf*ck trilogy of hard rock. The song fades in and out of dynamic pyromaniac super rock and tribal quiet verses. A pretty cool first part but then about three minutes of relatively uninteresting super quiet verse kept in place by the “heartbeat” bass drum work of Jimi Chamberlin. Back into the first segment and the song then fades out for about a minute and a half. A good song but really, a bit too long.

”Sweet sweet” is probably the worst song off the album, A bit giddy, a peculiar guitar tuning and jovial chords support a somewhat irritating melody. Not too bad but not too good. The album could have survived without it.

”Luna” is a nice ending. A quiet song based on quiet guitars and little melodies punctuated with little sitar like fills. The song fades out on the repeated line “I’m in love with you”. A nice closer, one does not regret it’s presence despite the strong contrast with the more quiet then loud theme to the rest of the album.

In short, Siamese dream is an incredible album. A couple of mildly less good songs take nothing away from the sheer genius of the majority of the rest of them. Great guitars, fabulous drums, strong angst lyrics. Very well crafted and a very cool production that really fits the genre. The sort of Album that you’d imagine a whole legion of would-be suicidal teens wanting played at their burials.