The Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream (2LP) [VIRGIN]

Why you'll love it

Siamese Dream went seven times platinum in the US and sold over six million copies worldwide, with "Cherub Rock," "Today" and "Disarm" turning the Pumpkins into stars. This 2LP pressing gives Butch Vig's layered production plenty of room.

This edition

• 2LP set, 13 tracks
• Virgin pressing
• Produced by Butch Vig and Billy Corgan

About the album

By all reports, Siamese Dream was an absolute nightmare to make. The Smashing Pumpkins themselves were a mess, internally speaking, but frontman/guitarist Billy Corgan and producer Butch Vig were holding the new album to such high standards that record-label deadlines kept whizzing past and studio fees wound up going some $250,000 over budget. The finished product was far from a disaster, though.

The Pumpkins' bruising, slightly psychedelic brand of supercharged guitar rock sounded towering and crystalline and totally amazing and completely unlike most of the other "alternative" rock going around during the grunge era. And the public was on board with the salivating music press, turning singles like "Today," "Cherub Rock" and "Disarm" into outlier pop hits and pushing Siamese Dream to seven-times-platinum status in the US. The Smashing Pumpkins would continue to be a fractious bunch for some time to come, but at least now they were proper rock stars.

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

Tracklist

Listen

On Virgin, a reissue of the 1993 album.