Archives for January 2022

Certain Songs #2272: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Disarm”

January 21, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Siamese Dream
Year: 1993

. . .

The third single from Siamese Dream, after “Cherub Rock” and “Today,” “Disarm” showed that Billy Corgan had more on his mind than finding new and interesting guitar tones.

And after five songs where The Smashing Pumpkins brought the crunch, the acoustic guitar plus strings “Disarm” was exactly the kind of curveball Siamese Dream needed en route to becoming a classic record, as it somehow was both lighter than air and bigger than mountains.

Certain Songs #2271: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Hummer”

January 20, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Siamese Dream
Year: 1993

While Siamese Dream had a bunch of singles and radio songs, I also loved it because of some of the longer, artier cuts. Not all of them, of course: “Soma” is too somnambulant by half and I’ve always liked “Silverfuck,” it does shoots its wad a little bit early.

But “Hummer” is the shit: nearly 7 minutes of glorious noisy prog meandering, anchored by a riff thats splits the difference between “Today” and “Rocket,” only thicker and meatier than either.

Certain Songs #2270: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Today”

January 19, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Siamese Dream
Year: 1993

. . .

We’ll always have Siamese Dream.

Given the near-30 years of craziness that followed it, nowadays Siamese Dream seems even more like a miracle, practically dropping out of nowhere during the summer of 1993 to join Last Splash and Exile in Guyville in dominating the back half of that year for me.

Of course, there were the haters, who said that it was too polished, too metal, too proggy, and you know what? They were right! It was too polished, too metal, too proggy. That that was the point! One of the key reasons Siamese Dream was so great is that it sounded so great: Billy Corgan and genius producer Butch Vig somehow layered a million guitar parts without it ever getting thick and muddy.

Certain Songs #2269: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Drown”

January 18, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Singles – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Year: 1992

. . .

With the exception of 1979’s That Summer!, no motion picture soundtrack ever affected me as much as the soundtrack for 1992’s Singles. And unlike That Summer!, Singles was a film that people actually saw, especially as it came during that period where filmmaker Cameron Crowe could do no wrong, though I certainly didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Say Anything or Almost Famous.

Certain Songs #2268: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Rhinoceros”

January 17, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Gish
Year: 1991

. . .

For reasons I don’t remember, the debut album by The Smashing Pumpkins, Gish, totally didn’t make my radar when it was initially released in 1991. I wasn’t alone: it barely grazed the Billboard top 200 albums charts, stalling at 195.

Instead, I picked it up in late 1992 or early 1993, having become Pumpkins-curious based their track on the Singles soundtrack, “Drown,” about more which tomorrow.

Certain Songs #2267: Small Faces – “Lazy Sunday”

January 16, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake
Year: 1968

. . .

In a little over two years, Small Faces had gone from your typical English R&B snobs to psychedelic minstrels whose consensus best album was named after Liverpudlian tobacco, was released in a circular sleeve, and featured a second side that was song suite about a guy named Happiness Stan who sets out to find the missing half of the moon.

That’s just how great the drugs were in late-60s London.

Certain Songs #2266: Small Faces – “Itchycoo Park”

January 14, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: There Are But Four Small Faces
Year: 1967

. . .

As befits any self-respecting British Invasion band of the mid-1960s, the Small Faces discography is a bit of a hash. Actually, it’s a fucking brush fire. Their 1966 debut album, on Decca Records and their 1967 second album, on Immediate Records — as they were smart enough to get the fuck away from shitty-ass Decca as soon as possible — are both called Small Faces, because why not? I guess they beat Peter Gabriel to the punch in that way.

As revenge for splitting from Decca, a compilation of unissued tracks plus singles recorded while still under contract called From The Beginning was also released in 1967. There were also two posthumous compilations from Immediate, 1968’s half-live In Memoriam and 1969’s odds-and-sods The Autumn Stone.

Certain Songs #2265: Small Faces – “Sha-La-La-La-Lee”

January 13, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Small Faces
Year: 1966

. . .

Given what they would do with the rest of their careers, Small Faces almost seems like a supergroup in reverse. During their main incarnation, they consisted of Steve Marriott on guitar and vocals, Ronnie Lane on bass, Ian McLagan on keyboards and Kenney Jones on drums, all of whom — except for Marriott — have already been mentioned in this project.

And while, with one exception, which we’ll get to tomorrow, they weren’t all that popular here in the States, they were massive in the U.K., as their identification with the mods helped them score seven Top Ten hits between 1966-1968.

Certain Songs #2264: Sly & The Family Stone – “If You Want Me To Stay”

January 12, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Fresh
Year: 1973

. . .

And this is where I came, kinda sorta.

I started listening hardcore to the radio in the spring of 1973, meaning that I ended up hearing “If You Want Me To Stay” a zillion times on 1300 KYNO-AM, and probably taped it off the radio, as well. And so, like a lot of the songs from that era, I know every single bit of it, and yet — because I was listening to it through shitty transistor radio speakers — can still discover nuances in it.

Certain Songs #2263: Sly & The Family Stone – “Spaced Cowboy”

January 11, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: There’s A Riot Goin’ On
Year: 1971

. . .

You know how, with big budget films, there’s always some critic that says, “sure it cost a lot, but it’s all up there on the screen.” Well, it’s kinda like that with Sly & The Family Stone’s 1971 classic, There’s A Riot Goin’ On, only instead of money, it’s drugs. And nowhere are the drugs more prevalent that the glorified second side jam, “Spaced Cowboy,” which serves much the same purpose on There’s A Riot Goin’ On as “I Just Want to See His Face” does on Exile on Main Street.