Melody Maker - Fall 1994
SMASHING PUMPKINS - Pisces Iscariot - Hut (14 tracks/57 mins)
Review by Dom Stud
(Sent to us by Tim Robinson - jarobins@rmplc.co.uk)
It's long been the custom for popular rock combos to release records in this country some time after they've appeared in other territories. It's often done as a generous gesture, purely to save fans from coughing up their life-blood for an import copy. "Pisces Iscariot" is just such an item. A collection of B-sides, covers, demos and cuts from a Peel session, it was previously available only in the US. Whether its general release in the UK constitutes a fan-friendly move on the part of the band, though, is very much open to question. Their fans have, after all, been tempted by import copies for a full two years. It would appear more likely that this is an inexpensive method of keeping th Pumpkins in the public eye while Billy Corgan plans his next attempt to usurp the Giger-designed throne of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The concept of milking the Christmas rush might also have sprung to the corporate mind.
Nevertheless, there will certainly be those among you who've remained unfleeced by this nation's purveyors of fine music, and you'll perhaps be wondering if this album is as abysmal as it looks on paper. The answer is: no. It's actually an impressive reintroduction to the good qualities of a band now bivouacked some way above Camp Four on Mount Megalomania. Even the Corgan-penned sleevenotes, a drunken rush of psychobabble and heartfelt memory that comes on like a less foul-mouthed and dangerously disturbed Internet volley from Courtney Love, are possessed of some degree and charm.
Musically, most of the Pumpkins' bases are covered here. "Frail And Bedazzled" and "Pissant" are a filthy punk roar, "Obscured" a sweet ambient lullaby, "Hello Kitty Kat" and "Starla" either are or become maelstroms of thunderous percussion and punishing semi-psychedelic guitar. Best though are the ballads, particularly the understated and yearning "Soothe" and "Blew Away", the latter written by guitarist James Iha and mercifully undamaged by Corgan. Their version of Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" doesn't fare so well, Corgan's vocal slipping into that grating whine that has many marking him down as the Violet Elizabeth of Grunge.
All in all, "Pisces Iscariot" is rough, often under-produced and much of the best of what Smashing Pumpkins were. Consequently, it's well worth storing between your copies of "Gish" and "Siamese Dream". But you can't help thinking the person who needs to hear it most is Billy Corgan himself. Get back down here, you whimpering moon-headed wally.