1001 Albums Summary

Back in 1995, me and some friends would jam in an upstairs room. It was always some variation of a fast 12-bar blues, and one of us would latch on to some phrase and improvise lyrics. The difference is, we new the improv was bad and would throw it away. Not these guys, they actually committed their repetitive improv lyrics to vinyl over some variation of surf rock. Everything is at the same tempo (except for 2 songs that are at the same slow tempo) which makes it a very repetitive listen. "Roadrunner" is fun, but the fun wears off quickly. For good seminal proto-punk I'd rather listen to the MC5.

Heard most of the good stuff already on the radio.

"Extended free-form jazz excursion" - Spinal Tap

Dark, brooding, depressing....what am I missing?

Not their best work, but still gets played.

Smashing Pumpkins was never the same after they kicked Jimmy Chamberlin out. They lost the driving beat and high energy he provided. This album has strong songs and lavish production, the 90's alternative rock version of Tom Scholtz' studio perfectionism. Listening to the whole thing is, quite frankly, exhausting - needs to be sipped, not chugged. Worth a listen, but I'd still prefer to stream Siamese Dream.