The Smashing Pumpkins: Gish (35th anniversary edition, gray with pink and purple splatter vinyl, indie exclusive) [VIRGIN]

Why you'll love it

This indie-store exclusive 35th anniversary edition is pressed on 180g gray vinyl splattered with pink and purple, remastered at A&R Records. Gish went platinum in the US and has been ranked among the best rock albums of the 1990s by several publications.

This edition

• 35th anniversary edition
• Gray with pink and purple splatter vinyl
• Indie exclusive
• 180g vinyl
• Remastered
• Printed inner sleeve
• Stereo mix

About the album

Before the arenas and the multi-platinum double albums, the Smashing Pumpkins were a Chicago band on the indie label Caroline with a singer who wanted his debut to sound enormous. Billy Corgan got his wish. He and co-producer Butch Vig spent from December 1990 to March 1991 at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, on a budget generous by indie standards.

The idea was a band that could be beautiful, pretty and psychedelic, then flip a switch and turn heavy. James Iha co-wrote the opener "I Am One," "Siva" swings a wrecking-ball riff, and "Rhinoceros" builds from a dreamy haze into a towering guitar solo. "Crush" and "Snail" slow everything down to a woozy crawl, "Tristessa" and "Window Paine" pick the pace back up, and "Daydream" closes the album on a gentle note. Musically it pulls from hard rock, grunge, stoner rock and art rock all at once.

Gish laid the groundwork for Siamese Dream two years later and everything that followed. The inner sleeve still credits Smart Studios in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin, and we see no reason to argue with a liner note.

Also at Kops: more The Smashing Pumpkins on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Virgin / Caroline, a reissue of the 1991 album.