The Smashing Pumpkins, the band of that genius called Billy Corgan, an immortal icon of rock. Gifted with a highly varied voice. He manages to convey deep anger in certain songs, and infinite sweetness in others. The undisputed leader of the band, as well as an impeccable musician. From some of his statements, you can see how much he cares about what he does: ‘' I couldn't continue something if I see that it's truly not worth it. In that case, I would immediately stop doing what I was doing ‘'. These were his words at the moment when the band finally split.
The album, ‘' Siamese Dream ‘', was composed in addition to Billy, by James Iha on guitar and vocals, D'Arcy Wretzky on bass, and Jimmy Chamberlin on drums. There is also an excellent collaboration on the record, Mike Mills from R.E.M. playing the piano on ‘' Soma ‘'. All the songs on the album were written and arranged by Billy Corgan, except for ‘' Soma ‘' and ‘' Mayonaise ‘' which were written in collaboration with James Iha. During the recordings, Billy said multiple times that this new project they had been working on for so long was really exciting him, and he was enthusiastic about what was coming out. Also, the relationship with the other band members at that time was excellent. All of this contributed to the calm realization of the album.
The album was released on July 27, 1993, and was immediately a great success. In fact, this release marked the first major success for the Smashing Pumpkins on the world rock scene. An extraordinary success also thanks to the many singles within the album.
The album begins with ‘' Cherub Rock ‘', characterized by a brief drum intro that then unfolds into a hard yet melodic sound at the same time. ‘' Quiet ‘' and ‘' Today ‘' are similar to the first track, and in my opinion, there are few albums in the history of rock that have such an overwhelming and splendid start. These three tracks create an impenetrable sonic wall, with Billy Corgan's guitar as if it enters inside you and shakes you. Not to mention Jimmy Chamberlin, one of the best drummers of all time. It's unbelievable how the guitar and the drums have the same momentum. Jimmy with the drums follows every time change of the guitar, something unique and spectacular, and very difficult to execute. ‘' Hummer ‘' and ‘' Racket ‘' showcase the group's compositional skill. ‘' Soma ‘', an excellent piece with Mike Mills on the piano adding that extra touch that makes the song unique. ‘' Mayonaise ‘', one of the most beautiful songs on the album, a synthesis of power, sweetness, melody, feeling. In general, one of the best pieces of the band's entire career. The other tracks are very inspired, witnessing that there are no dead points in the album; the tracks are all on the same level, and the level is very high. The cover is very beautiful, featuring two smiling girls.
Even if this is only the band's second album, one can easily talk about a masterpiece. Over time, the group will release splendid records, with ‘' Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness ‘' above all, but this album definitively marked the group's worldwide affirmation. Every track remained in the charts around the world for a long time. If we take into consideration what Billy had said, that he would do something only if it was truly worth it, well, this time it was worth it. Years later, it still manages to move, thanks to a sound that is still profoundly original and innovative. A milestone of rock, immortal.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Cherub Rock (04:58)
Freak out and give in
Doesn't matter what you believe in
Stay cool
And be somebody's fool this year
'Cause they know who is righteous, what is bold
So I'm told...
Who wants honey
As long as theres some money
Who wants that honey?
Hipsters unite
Come align for the big fight to rock for you
But beware
All those angels with their wings glued on
'Cause deep down they are frightened and they're scared
If you don't stare
Who wants honey
As long as theres some money
Who wants that honey?
Let me out, Let me out
Let me out, Let me out
Tell me all of your secrets
Cannot help but believe this is true
Tell me all of your secrets
I know, I know, I know, should have listened when I was told
Who wants honey
As long as there is some money
Who wants that honey?
Let me out, Let me out
Let me out, Let me out
02 Quiet (03:41)
Quiet
I am sleeping
In here
We need a little hope
For years
I've been sleeping
Helpless
Couldn't tell a soul
Be ashamed
Of the mess you've made
My eyes never forget, you see
Behind me
Silent
Metal mercies
Castrate
Boys to the bone
Jesus
Are you listening?
Up there
To anyone at all
We are the fossils
The relics of our time
We mutilate the meanings
So they're easy to deny
Be ashamed
Of the mess you've made
My eyes never forget, you see
Behind me
Quiet
I am sleeping
Quiet
I am sleeping
Quiet
I don't trust you
I can't hear you
Be ashamed
Of the mess you've made
My eyes never forget, you see
Behind me
Behind me
The grace of falling snow
Cover up everything you know
Come save me from the awful sound
Of nothing
03 Today (03:19)
Today is the greatest day I've ever known.
Can't live for tomorrow, tomorrow's much too long.
I burn my eyes out before I get out.
I wanted more than life could ever grant me.
Bored by the chore of saving face.
Today is the greatest day I have ever known.
Can't wait for tomorrow, I might not have that long.
I'll tear my heart out before I get out.
Pink ribbon scars that never forget.
I tried so hard to cleanse these regrets.
My angel wings were bruised and restrained.
My belly stings.
Today is, today is, today is the greatest day that I have ever known.
I want to turn you on.
I want to turn you round.
I want to turn you on.
I want to turn you.
Today is the greatest,
Today is the greatest day,
Today is the greatest day that I have ever known.
04 Hummer (06:57)
Faith lies in the ways of sin
I chased the charmed but I don't want them anymore
And in their eyes I was alive, a fool's disguise
Take me away from you
Shame my tongue, fat with promise all along
When I woke up from that sleep, I was happier than I'd ever been
When you decide that your life is a prize
Renew and revive, It's alright honey
It's alright, yeah...
Happiness will make you wonder
Will I feel OK?
It scares the disenchanted
Far away...
Yeah I want something new
But what am I supposed to do about you
Yeah I love you, it's true...
Life's a bummer, when you're a hummer
Life's a drag...
{x2} Ask yourself a question, anyone but me
I ain't free
Do you feel... Love is real?
05 Rocket (04:06)
Bleed in your own light, dream of your own life.
I miss me, I miss everything I'll never be, and on, and on.
I torch my soul to show the world that I am pure.
Deep inside my heart, no more lies.
A crown of horns, an image formed deformed,
The mark I've born, a mark of scorn to you.
Consume my love, devour my hate, only powers my escape.
The moon is out, the stars invite, I think I'll leave tonight.
Soon I'll find myself alone to relax and fade away.
Do you know what's coming down, do you know I couldn't stay free?
I shall be free, I shall be free, I shall be free,
I shall be free, free, free of those voices inside me.
I shall be free.
I shall be free.
06 Disarm (03:17)
Disarm you with a smile
And cut you like you want me to
Cut that little child
Inside of me and such a part of you
Ooh, the years burn
Ooh, the years burn
I used to be a little boy
So old in my shoes
And what I choose is my choice
What's a boy supposed to do?
The killer in me is the killer in you
My love
I send this smile over to you
Disarm you with a smile
And leave you like they left me here
To wither in denial
The bitterness of one who's left alone
Ooh, the years burn
Ooh, the years burn, burn, burn
I used to be a little boy
So old in my shoes
And what I choose is my voice
What's a boy supposed to do?
The killer in me is the killer in you
My love
I send this smile over to you
The killer in me is the killer in you
Send this smile over to you
The killer in me is the killer in you
Send this smile over to you
The killer in me is the killer in you
Send this smile over to you
07 Soma (06:39)
Nothing left to say,
And all I've left to do is run away from you
And she led me on, down with secrets I can't keep
Close your eyes and sleep, don't wait up for me
Hush now don't you speak... to me
Wrap my hurt in you
And took my shelter in that pain
The opiate of blame is you broken heart, heart, your heart
So now I'm all by myself as I've always felt
I'll betray my tears to anyone caught in our ruse of fools
One last kiss for me, yeah
One last kiss good night...
Didn't want to lose you once again, didn't want to be your friend
Fulfill a promise made of tin and crawled back to you
Now I'm all by myself as I've always felt
And I'll betray myself to anyone, lost, anyone but you...
So let the sadness come again
On that you can depend on me, yeah
Until the bitter, bitter end of the world, yeah
When god sleeps in bliss
And I'm all by myself, as I've always felt
And I'll betray myself to anyone...
08 Geek U.S.A. (05:13)
Lover, lover, let's pretend we're born as innocents,
Cast into the world with apple eyes.
To wish, wish dangerous, my dear delirious,
To try and leave the rest of us behind.
Shot full of diamonds and a million years,
The disappointed disappear as if they were never here.
Kiss, kiss all of this, the hiss that we had missed,
And understand what can't be understood.
Sear those thoughts of me, alone and unhappy.
I never liked me anyway.
If by chance or circumstance, we should fall, don't be too sad.
Shot full of diamonds and a million years,
The disappointed disappear like they were never here.
In a dream, we are connected.
Siamese twins at the wrist.
That's when I knew we had been forsaken, expelled from paradise.
I can't believe them when they say it's all right.
Words can't define what I feel inside.
Who needs them?
Caught with this virus of my mind,
I give in to my disease of my needs,
To my disease of my needs.
She really loves to break, her dad says it's okay.
She really loves to break, and give it all away.
Her mom says she's a flake, what more can she be?
She really needs to break, and give us all away.
She gave it all away,
She gave it all away,
She gave it all away,
We really love the U.S.A.
09 Mayonaise (05:49)
Fool enough to almost be it
Cool enough to not quite see it, doomed
Pick your pockets full of sorrow
And run away with me tomorrow, June
We'll try and ease the pain
But somehow we'll feel the same
Well, no one knows where our secrets go
I'll send my heart to all my dearies
When your life is so, so dreary, dream
I'm rumored to the the straight and narrow
While the harlots of my perils scream
And I fail, but when I can, I will
Try to understand that when I can, I will...
Mother weep the years I'm missing
All our time can't be given back
Shut my mouth and strike the demons
That cursed you and your reasons
Out of hand and out of season
Out of love and out of feeling ...so bad
But when I can, I will
Words defy the plans, but when I can I will
Fool enough to almost be it, cool enough to not quite see it
And old enough to always feel this, always old, I always feel this
No more promise, no more sorrow, no longer will I follow
Can anybody hear you me? I just want to be... me
When I can, I will
Try to understand that when I can, I will
10 Spaceboy (04:28)
Feel it
Break your bones
Mr. Jones
Taste me
As I bleed
Taste my need
And spaceboy I've missed you
Spinning round my head
And any way you choose me
You'll break instead
Watch me
Death defy
Defile my life
I don't need
I don't care
Please
I want to go home
I want to go home
I want to go home
I want to go home
'cause when a lover aches
That's when a lover breaks
I want to go home
I want to go home
And spaceboy they'll kill me
Before I'm dead and gone
And any way you choose me
It won't be wrong
And any way you choose me
We won't belong
We won't belong
We won't belong
We won't belong
We won't belong
We won't belong
11 Silverfuck (08:43)
I hear your winter, I hear your rain.
I've failed your summer ways, and I feel no pain.
I hear what you want, and I feel that way.
I hear what you want, and I feel that way.
I hear you fade away, and I hear you crawl.
I gave my life away, and I feel no pain.
And I feel no pain, and I feel no pain,
And I feel your pain.
And she was my lover so sweet, and she was my angel.
And what I've recovered of me, I put into a box underneath my bed.
When you lie in your bed, and you lie to yourself.
When you lie in your bed, and you lie to yourself.
Lie, lie.
Bang bang, you're dead, hole in your head.
Bang bang, you're dead, hole in your head.
Bang bang, you're dead, hole in your head.
Bang bang, you're dead, hole in your head.
I hear what you want, and I feel that way.
I hear what you want, and I feel that way.
This take, don't give a fuck.
12 Sweet Sweet (01:38)
Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet little agony
I don't know just where you've been
But I'll take, take, take all that you have for me
In sin, Where are we going?
And they all want you to change X2
And the sad, sad, sad, all the sad faces drown
In this town, where are we going?
And they all want you to change
Where are we going?
And they all want you to change
Where are we going?
13 Luna (03:20)
What moonsongs
Do you sing your babies?
What sunshine do you bring?
Who belongs?
Who decides who's crazy?
Who rights wrongs where others cling?
I'll sing for you
If you want me to
I'll give to you
And it's a chance I'll have to take
And it's a chance I'll have to break
I go along
Just because I'm lazy
I go along to be with you
And those moonsongs
That you sing your babies
Will be the songs to see you through
I'll hear your song
If you want me to
I'll sing along
And it's a chance I'll have to take
And it's a chance I'll have to break
I'm in love with you
I'm in love with you
I'm in love with you
I'm in love with you
So in love
I'm in love with you
With you
I'm in love with you
I'm in love with you
So in love
I'm in love with you
I'm
I'm so in love
I'm in love with you
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Other reviews
By Asjklf
Simply magnificent, even after ten years it still manages to move me when I listen to it.
With this album the pumpkins invented a genre: their own genre.
By stargazer
"Siamese Dream is the zenith of Smashing Pumpkins' career, far from the exaggerated grandiosity of Mellon Collie, but more sincere and humble."
"Melody and noise alternate fluidly and incredibly satisfyingly in 13 perfect tracks."
By BIG-MUFF
Tons of boredom, lyrics ripped from any 12-year-old girl’s diary... really dumb stuff... guitars that don’t even scratch tissue paper.
A definitely mediocre band... They started as yet another tacky Hard-Rock band and didn’t sell much at all.
By silvershadow
After the excellent debut album...the band led by Mr. Billy releases the album that, without a doubt, changed my idea of music.
The big single arrives, melodic and melancholic, that no one knows how many times it has soothed the troubled moods of a teenager in crisis.
By trev
Here we face one of the most heartfelt and visceral works ever produced, and this undoubtedly comes before the musical part.
Siamese Dream best embodies the mood of the angry and in-love youth of the decade, and offers the listener not answers, but rather an angry plea for meaning.