Rate the Albums
So.. here's a simple game. List the albums in order of favorite to least favorite. Albums only, no CD-singles, bootlegs, compilations or EP's. 1 - Siamese Dream - Need I say more? One of my favorite albums of all time, let alone just out of the Pumpkins. 2 - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - In terms of commercial success, this one kicks all the others' asses, but musically speaking this album speaks wonders to me. 3 - Machina, The Machines of God - As much as some don't like the electronic feel to this record, I adore it. Love songs like TEG and HMM. 4 - Pisces Iscariot - There's some great tracks on this CD, I love it. Landslide, Frail and Bedazzled and Hello Kitty Kat are among my fave SP songs ever. 5 - Machina II, Friends and Enemies of Modern Music - There's some great songs on here - TTT Alternate, Dross, Cash Car Star etc 6 - Adore - As much as I love the songs on this record, I don't like the way the record was executed. If they recorded the songs the way they would play them live, this record would be number 1. 7 - Gish - Meh.. I just never really had much of a love for this record. I like it, but not as much as the others.

1. Siamese Dream -- No con-*test*-('"). Hummer and Soma are two of my personal favorites, but everything on that album is done perfectly. The music itself, the production, the lyrics, everything. It's exactly as it should be. 2. MCIS -- I place this ahead of the rest because it is more consistent. The other albums excell in some one field over MCIS, but this album has the best of all worlds. It helps that it's a double album, so it has more good songs to its name. 3. Gish -- I love the sound of it, sometimes even more than that of Siamese Dream. And the songs are the most subtle of all, which tends to make them that much more rewarding for me (that is, when I "figure them out," it makes them more significant). Snail is in my top 10, songwise. I love Bury Me too. 4. Machina -- Lyrically and emotionally brilliant, but for me, it actually comes with too much associated baggage to be listened to very often. In short, it depresses me too much to listen to it, so I can only listen to it when I want to be depressed. This was the album that made me a huge Pumpkins fan, though... which is probably not the norm, by any means... 5. Pisces Iscariot -- It is at a disadvantage since it doesn't have the cohesion of the other albums, but it has some brilliant songs. Hello Kitty Kat and Starla are two of my favorites, though there isn't a bad track on the album. 6. Adore -- What TheImplodingVoice said... the live performances from this era are my favorite of any live perfomances (Tear live... oh man)... but on the album, they're substantially more lackluster. Behold! the Night Mare is obivously up there for me... hence the name. 7. Machina II -- Just never got that into it. A few songs I really like, but generally speaking, most of them don't do it for me (relative to other Pumpkins songs, that is).

This is too hard!

1. Mellon Collie and the Infinate Sadness: This album is just, JUST my number 1, it was hard to choose bwtween MCIS and SD, but this album just chilnches the vote because it has songs of a few different genres on there and pulls them all off spectacularly. This album provokes so much emotion that is probably my favourite album of all time, only let down by the fact that there are 2 discs - a good thing, but also a bad one cos there is the inevitable interruption in your listening experience. 2. Siamese Dream: What can I say?! This album FUCKING ROCKS! This is almost my number 1 because I can rock so hard to this cd and feel ecstatic aftwerwards. However this mainly hard rock driven album lacks in the softer songs that amde MCIS my number 1, sure they're good, but they arn't as diverse as the ones from MCIS. Soma and Mayonaise ROCK MY WORLD ! 3. Machina II/Friends andEnemies of Modern Music: Tough call for the last podium place but I gotta choose Machina II here, if this album had replaced MACHINA/The Machines of God then I'm sure the Pumpkins would have risen back to their former commercial success, however comercial success isn't what it's all about really. There are some bloody awesome tracks on this record, Dross is one of my very favourite, however I can't really stand the Spacey Version of Glass' Theme or Real Love. 4. Judas 0: What?! No one has chosen this yet? Still I suppose it's not really an album, but if Pisces Iscariot can be chosen so can this. This CD features such songs as TAFH, Rock On, marquis in Spades and Slow Dawn to carry out the hard, heavy side of things, however the latter half of this compelation really soothes the soul with Saturnine and Waiting, Blissed and Gone and Winterlong. Soot and Stars is a superb song. 5. Adore: Such a beautiful record I love this album, however it doesn't have the listen again factor that the others have, the songs evoke powerful emotions and it is a beautiful soft record, but not one that you can really enjoy yourself with infront of a mirror using a top range Air Guitar, good to listen to once in a while (no pun intended). 6. Pisces Iscariot: Some great tracks on here but unfortunately it just doesn't get listened to by myself, songs like Pissant and Hello kitty Kat surpass the quality of many album tracks but this CD as a whole doesn't have the quality that makes Judas 0 so excellent. Soothe is an astoundingly simple masterpiece. 7. MACHINA/The Machines of God: Here it is, last place, a terrific album just like all of SP releases, however I feel that this CD suffers from over-production and feels rather plastic to me. I really enjoy all of this album but it's got to be in last place. A real shame as I Love All of Smashing Pumpkins albums. EDIT: I forgot Gish because I don't like it so much. 8.Gish: A good album, but it doesn't stand out at all for me, some tracks are really good and show what is to come, but the only real highlights of this album come in the form of I Am One and Bury Me.

For me, my love of Gish came when I "got it" on a thematic and album-istic level. I think you have to imagine Gish with Blue and Drown on it to fully appreciate the essence of the album... or rather, of that time period. It helps put the other songs in context, IMO, and makes them that much stronger.

I think Gish is great, but I do have to say that if that was the first time I had heard the Pumpkins, as if i had heard them when it was 91, I probly would have thought it was good, but not good enogh to go and get unless it was cheap. But I do love it.

hmm it really depends on the time of the day for me, changes all the time

Pisces Iscariot is a free radical because it's a b-sides album, a collection of songs that didn't make other albums and outtakes from those eras, so I really don't think it should be classified with the others. And even though the band went into the studio to work on Machina 2 further, it still sounds unfinished, so its really unfair to compare it to the others. I think some of you probably already know what I am going to say, as I have mentioned my opinion in other posts. 1. Machina 2. Adore 3. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness 4. Siamese Dream 5. Gish I personally think they got better with every album. I don't there is an album that is lackluster, there are just some lackluster songs on each. I think they each deserve at least 7.5/10, but let's be honest, none of them tops 9/10. I don't think any album can be a perfect 10, there is always going to be songs you don't like, or arrangments of songs your don't like (eg. Crying Tree of Mercury is good live, but kind of boring on the cd. Wound is a great song, in any form, but the arrangement on the album took out some of its teeth-the driving drum beat). For Adore, I know Jimmy doesn't play on it, and there is drum machines, but I really liked the feel of this album. I embraced the electronic elements, and even if there are few songs that I like better live, I still thoroughly enjoy them, and think they are great songs on the album (eg. Daphne Descends and Tear, which I think have live versions better than the originals, but for those songs, the live versions are just icing on the cake for me). Gish is a pretty good album. Some great songs on their most notably \"I Am One\", \"Bury Me\", \"Tristessa\" and \"Daydream\". Even when you think you are going to get lulled to sleep with a song like \"Window Paine\", the song explodes after the bridge. The album has a bit of psychedlic feel, something I don't normally look for an album, It lacks the raw energy of Siamese Dream, the epic nature of MCIS, the beauty of Adore (where songs can breathe without a wall of sound), or the fusion of hard rock and electronic elements with Machina, all which I love more than the last. And that's why it is last on my list. Not because I don't like it, but because it has my least favorite sound of them all.

hmm it really depends on the time of the day for me, changes all the time I know exactly what you mean. I've always had this theory that different times of the day or different atmospheres or types of wheather makes certain songs better. It's kinda hard to explain. Maybe I'll go away and have a think.

Re-listening to Gish and Machina, I Love them both!

Pisces Iscariot: i love this album, not a bad song and hello kitty kat, frail and bedazzled, plume, la dolla vita and whir are some of my favourite songs i adore them! MCIS: first album i listened too and a monster album, its just amazing and has so much on it, got some truly amazing songs like muzzle, BWBW, Zero etc. Siamese Dream: Its also a brilliant album, its a beutiful well constructed peice of alternate/prog rock, probably their classiest album but not my favourite, still its only just 3rd... Adore: Really like the techno vibes and stuff, its pretty cool although its shelf life isnt great, AVA ADORE! its like the best song released by the pumpkins and no matter what anyoen says its perfect, the way they made it couldnt be improved Machina: Not bad but not brilliant IMO, it has its moments but i get bored of it and probably can't even listen all the way through Machina 2: meh, most are unfinished which is a disadvantage but still im nto a fan, i hardly listen at all these days I DON\"T OWN GISH!!!!!!!!! :cry: :cry: :cry:

SD The grea-*test*-('") album ever! :D Heavy, distorted, great guitar solos and amazing songs such as Soma and Mayonaise. MCIS Epic and gloomy. I also like the variety of the songs in it! When aman is tired of MCIS, he's tired of life! Adore Although it's not heavy, it's one of the most beautiful albums I've ever listened to. Ava Adore, Pug, Shame and For Martha are breathtaking. Pisces Iscariot Happy and sad, dark and cute. Machina It has some great songs (Raindrops + Sunshowers, I of the Mouring, SIYL, This Time, Wound, Age of Innocence). Gish I don't really like it. However, Rhinoceros, Crush, Snail, and the ending of Bury Me are just amazing.