Disco de The Smashing Pumpkins: “Pisces Iscariot”

As a longtime fan of The Smashing Pumpkins, I was looking forward to this reissue nearly as much as I did the 'Siamese Dream' reissue, as 'Pisces Iscariot' has always held a special place in my heart. While not the flawless masterpiece that 'Siamese Dream' is, it really showcased the band's wide range of styles, much more so than their two studio albums, and with more of a raw, "live" sound overall. It could be argued that these outtakes and B-Sides are better than most of their alt-rock peers' grade-A material. I couldn't wait to hear these songs with cleaned-up sound, not to mention all the bonus material--the outtakes of the outtakes, if you will.

Within seconds of popping in the remastered first disc and playing "Plume," I thought maybe I had grabbed the bonus disc by mistake, as the vocals are entirely different from the original, sung in a lower register by Billy, with slightly different lyrics in spots. Nowhere in the liner notes does it mention the use of a different vocal take, so I'm wondering if this was accidental. Or did Billy not care for the original take, so he swapped it with another? Either way, I think this version should have been saved for the bonus disc, instead of going all George Lucas and altering things that were fine to begin with, but I didn't let this kill my buzz. However, during the next song I listened to, "Frail and Bedazzled," something didn't sound right to me again, but I couldn't quite figure it out, even after listening to the original version to compare. Eventually I decided to play both at the same time on separate players, and within 15 seconds they were out of sync with each other. The new one, while the same as far as the vocal and instrumental tracks, is actually slower, hence lower in pitch. While the original ends at 3:16, the new one ends at 3:21. Not a big deal, and maybe this was intended, but it does give it a "lower" sound.

Then I stopped obsessing over these things and just enjoyed it for what it is, 14 stellar songs by one of my favorite bands during (arguably) their peak years. The sound quality seemed about the same to me at first, though slightly louder, and with less noticable hiss on certain songs. Fortunately there's no clipping, at least on the first disc, an all too common side effect of the current "loudness wars." However, the next day, while listening on headphones, I noticed quite a few instances of digital noise and crackles in various songs, notably the beginning of "Pissant" and the end of "Blue." These glitches are not in the originals. While they aren't jarring, I was expecting better quality, especially considering the great job Corgan and Ludwig did with the 'Gish' and 'Siamese Dream' remasters.

Those issues didn't affect my enjoyment as much as the bonus disc's issues, and there are many. These songs were brickwalled (i.e. made louder, basically) to the point of digital clipping and distortion in many of the songs. At first I thought, "Well, these are outtakes and demos, so I shouldn't be too harsh, since the sound quality probably wasn't great to begin with." But, being a hardcore fan, I already own bootlegs of many of these songs and, while overall the sound quality here is clearer, there's less dynamic range, and there was no clipping in the bootleg versions. A large number of the songs contain digital noise as well, and the transition between "French Movie Theme" and "Purr Snickety" is off. The first few seconds of "Purr Snickety" are at the end of "French Movie Theme," so if you want to hear all of "Purr Snickety' you have to rewind to the end of the previous song. And when I ripped this disc to iTunes, a couple songs were not labeled properly, causing the tracks to be out of order. Again, not a huge deal, but considering the cost of this set, I expected more care to be put into it.

Fortunately the live DVD makes it all worth it in the end, as it's awesome to have these early performances from when SP were more of a Cure-esque goth/new wave band, as opposed to the psychedelic hard rock powerhouse they would become in the next couple years (as evidenced later in the DVD). The sound quality's good for a 1988 public access broadcast, and Jimmy's mullet is rocking the jam session as well, which is always a plus. Unfortunately, I no longer have a cassette player, so I haven't listened to the 1988 demo tape yet, though I do have a bootleg, and it's definitely worth hearing for those of you who haven't. It, along with the DVD, will give you a whole new perspective on the evolution of this great band, showing just how thoroughly they reinvented themselves in a few short years with 'Gish.'

So, despite all the problems, the set is still definitely worth getting for the hardcore fan, but you might want to wait and see if these glitches are fixed, as I've noticed other SP fans online complaining, wanting refunds, etc. Maybe this will cause Billy and co. to reissue the reissue, but I don't see that happening, at least for a while. Hopefully the upcoming 'Mellon Collie' remaster is handled with the same care as 'Gish' and 'Siamese Dream' were, as I have a feeling the complaints will be much louder than they are now if similar defects are noticed in that. Here's hoping...

Most bands with genuine rock creation going on end up with some B-sides, and the Smashing Pumpkins were no exception. While it has no internal cohesion, "Pisces Iscariot" is a solid album in its own right, with the mix of bombastic and balladic that the Pumpkins did so very, very well.

With a few exceptions like Broken Social Scene, B-side albums usually have a few enchanting songs, surrounded by half-formed songs that might be good when they grow up. "Pisces Iscariot".... is not one such album. Virtually all of these songs are worthy of being A-sides.

The Pumpkins were one of those rare bands that did both quiet and loud songs equally well. There are mellower, beautiful songs like "Soothe," the beautiful cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," or the rather wispy "Whir." On the other hand, there is the rock side: frenetic "Frail and Bedazzled," steady "Plume" and jagged "Pissant." Then there's the center jewel of the album, the steadily built-up "Starla," which starts soft and turns into pure sonic insanity.

The instrumentation has a raw quality -- it doesn't sound unpolished, but it does have a lot of unbridled power and enthusiasm. Billy Corgan was in good form during each recorded track, including the one from his apartment, be it fuzz-rock, distorted jams or his acoustic guitar, with James Iha quietly and exceptionally backing him up. And as the finishing touch, there's outstanding drumming by Jimmy Chamberlin.

Corgan's voice is a bit off in "Landslide," but otherwise his high vocals fit in as well as always. James Iha also gets to shine in "Blew Away." And the songwriting is a bit more simplistic ("You hear a lot of visions/you can't even stop/can't see what you're missing/spinning like a top") than the usual Corgan fare, but still quite pretty to listen to.

"Pisces Iscariot" is a rare beast among B-side albums -- the B-side album that is better than many regular rock releases. And whether you're a Pumpkins fan or a newbie, it's a solid listen.

If you want a classic Pumpkins Album then get this! In my Opinion, it even tops Siamese Dream. Like every Pumpkins Record, this one has a very special feeling to all the songs, even if they are B-Sides and have nothing to do with one another. "Soothe" is one of my favorite Pumpkins Songs ever, it's so simple and perfect at once. Most songs on the Album are extremely mellow, like "Whir", "Obscured" or "La Dolly Vita". You also hear James Iha singing on "Blew Away". It's really hard to name the highlights of this album because every song is an enormous highlight for itself. Not one weak point in 14 songs, most other bands can only dream of this. You won't realize that this is a B-Sides sampler! It would be silly to compare the Pumpkins Albums, but I like this one better than Siamese Dream and Gish. It isn't as monumental as "Mellon Collie" and not as special as "Adore" or as big as "Machina", but I think it's the heart of the band's career. It is an essential piece of any nineties-Rock Collection.

This album benefits from not having been concieved as a whole. Every song seems to exist in its' own little world, and the result is one of the most moving collections of songs I've heard. There is not a clunker in the bunch. 'Plume', 'La Dolly Vita', 'Obscured', Corgan's cover of 'Landslide' deserve distinguished mentions, but the albums centerpiece is the magnum opus 'Starla' and it is quite simply my favorite Pumpkins song and one of my favorite rock songs ever. 'Starla' trumps its' obvious inspiration ( Clapton's 'Layla' ) and achieves true heartbreak in its' raging-against-the-void guitar outre. It has a similar affect on me as Wagner's 'Liebestod'.

Billy Corgan...was there a more prolific songwriter of the 90's? For a guy that wrote 300+ songs in a decade (yeah, it's true) it's hard to say no. Back early in the game with only two albums to their name the Pumpkins put out this excellent collection of B-sides in 1994 (and it wasn't even close to a complete collection, where's Purr Snickety or Glynis or ....?). And the scary thing? There really isn't much pure filler here. A lot of these could have been A-Sides. Hell, a lot of them SHOULD have been A-Sides. With B-side collections you usually get an album with two or three good songs and then about 10 half-baked ideas. That's not the case here. This album runs the course from moments of beauty (the opener 'Soothe', the cover of 'Landslide') to furious rockers (the excellent one-two punch of 'Pissant' and 'Hello Kitty Kat'). With this release you can tell that the band (young at that point in time) was really having fun in the studio (something they lacked on later releases). Tracks such as 'Frail and Bedazzled' seethe with youthful exhuburance and the attitude is contagious. Sure, there are some tunes that don't altogether work; their take on'Girl Named Sandoz' exchanges manic soloing for an actual tune while 'Whir' floats gently down the stream without ever really catching hold, but contained on the album are many excellent tracks as well as two absolute astonishing numbers. The first of these two is 'Obscured', a dream-like song that hovers around your ears without ever quite falling in. It's one of those wonderful 'shoulda made the album' type of songs that you'll want to put on repeat. The second of the two is 'Starla', an epic 10+ minute song that begins softly before building into a sonic freakout. The band rocks out here like they're fighting for something they believe in. Back in '94 they were a band with something to prove and with this song, they did.