Music / Siamese Dream

Today is the greatest day I've ever known.
Can't live for tomorrow, tomorrow's much too long.

Siamese Dream is the second studio album by American Alternative Rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Released through Virgin Records on July 27, 1993, the album was a breakthrough success for the Pumpkins, catapulting them into the mainstream and solidifying them as one of the most essential bands in '90s Alternative Rock.

The band refined their sound with the album, distancing themselves from the straightforward grunge of their debut album Gish and increasing signs of influence from then-unfashionable genres like Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock, and Heavy Metal.

It also saw a significant growth in songwriting quality and in the confidence of the band's performances (although Corgan and Chamberlin are the only performers on much of the album; bassist D'arcy Wretzky said she didn't actually mind this much, as Corgan was able to record the bass parts faster than she would have).

On November 29, 2011 (December 5 in the U.K.), the album was reissued in remastered form with a bonus CD and a bonus DVD. This was actually rather tame by the band's standards; future reissues would have far more bonus content.

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Tracklist:

1. "Cherub Rock" (4:58)
2. "Quiet" (3:41)
3. "Today" (3:19)
4. "Hummer" (6:57)
5. "Rocket" (4:06)
6. "Disarm" (3:17)
7. "Soma" (6:39)
8. "Geek U.S.A." (5:13)
9. "Mayonaise" (5:30)
10. "Spaceboy" (5:50)
11. "Silverfuck" (8:43)
12. "Sweet Sweet" (1:28)
13. "Luna" (3:20)

Bonus discs from reissue

Disc 2 - Lollipop Fun Time

1. "Pissant (Siamese sessions rough mix)" (2:31)
2. "Siamese Dream (Broadway rehearsals demo)" (6:18)
3. "STP (rehearsal demo)" (3:28)
4. "Frail and Bedazzled (Soundworks demo)" (3:41)
5. "Luna (apartment demo)" (3:12)
6. "Quiet (BBC session/BC mix)" (3:36)
7. "Moleasskiss (Soundworks demo)" (3:59)
8. "Hello Kitty Kat (Soundworks demo)" (6:14)
9. "Today (Broadway rehearsal demo)" (3:20)
10. "Never Let Me Down Again (BBC session)" (4:03)
11. "Apathy's Last Kiss (Siamese sessions rough mix)" (2:39)
12. "Ache (Silverfuck rehearsal demo)" (6:57)
13. "U.S.A. (Soundworks demo)" (4:24)
14. "U.S.S.R. (Soundworks demo)" (1:34)
15. "Spaceboy (acoustic mix)" (3:57)
16. "Rocket (rehearsal demo)" (4:55)
17. "Disarm (acoustic mix)" (3:18)
18. "Soma (instrumental mix)" (6:39)

DVD - Live at the Metro, August 14, 1993

1. "Introduction" (0:48)
2. "Rocket" (4:19)
3. "Quiet" (3:39)
4. "Today" (3:39)
5. "Rhinoceros" (5:02)
6. "Geek U.S.A." (5:21)
7. "Soma" (7:21)
8. "I Am One" (4:47)
9. "Disarm" (3:55)
10. "Spaceboy" (4:48)
11. "Starla" (9:25)
12. "Cherub Rock" (5:01)
13. "Bury Me" (4:28)
14. "Hummer" (8:42)
15. "Siva" (8:35)
16. "Mayonaise" (10:29)
17. "Drown" (8:25)
18. "Silverfuck" (13:30)

Personnel:

• Billy Corgan: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, mellotron, strings
• James Iha: rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• D'arcy Wretzky: bass guitar, backing vocals
• Jimmy Chamberlin: drums
• Mike Mills: piano
• Eric Remschneider and David Ragsdale: string arrangements, violins

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In a dream... we are connected... siamese tropes... at the wrist...

• Album Title Drop: "Geek USA":
  In a dream we are connected
  Siamese twins, at the wrist
• Alliterative Title: "Sweet Sweet".
• all lowercase letters: The liner notes.
• Big Rock Ending: "Rocket" ends with the guitars rapidly intensifying in speed and tempo before exploding in a final burst of energy. It's just as cool as it sounds.
• Epic Rocking: "Hummer" (6:57), "Soma" (6:39), and "Silverfuck" (8:43) all count, and all have a Progressive Rock feel to them.
  • "Mayonaise" is a borderline example at five minutes and fifty seconds.
  • On the bonus CD, "Siamese Dream (Broadway rehearsals demo)" (6:18), "Hello Kitty Kat (Soundworks demo)" (6:14), "Ache (Silverfuck rehearsal demo)" (6:57), and "Soma (instrumental mix)" (6:39) all qualify. On the bonus DVD, we have "Soma" (7:21), "Starla" (9:25), "Hummer" (8:42), "Siva" (8:35), "Mayonaise" (10:29), "Drown" (8:25), and "Silverfuck" (13:30). Believe it or not, that's actually one of the shorter live versions of "Silverfuck".
• Face on the Cover: Two little girls. There has been lots of speculation as to who the girls are. Former Pumpkins bassist Nicole Fiorentino claimed she was one of the girls in 2011, although it was debunked.
• Fake-Out Fade-Out: Exactly 4 minutes into "Hummer", all of the instruments drop out except for the fizzling guitars, sounding as if the song's going to end, but then some drums sneak up behind it and launch the song back into motion.
• For Doom the Bell Tolls: "Disarm" has church bells as one of its main instruments.
• I Am the Band: Billy Corgan threw out many of Iha and Wretzky's parts on the album and re-recorded them himself. Wretzky doesn't actually seem to have been bothered by this, according to comments she has made since.
• Last Note Nightmare:
  • "Hummer" ends with a distorted noise swelling and intensifying violently before fizzling out quickly. It also has an inversion, starting with an unnerving heavily distorted loop of what can be considered a rhythm.
  • "Quiet" is also an example of an inversion, beginning with a swarm of hellish swooping guitars that is all but disturbing to listen to.
  • "Rocket" plays the trope straight, with the guitars violently and rapidly crescendoing in the ending.
• Line-of-Sight Name: According to Corgan, he got the title for "Mayonaise" from looking in his fridge.
• Miniscule Rocking: "Sweet Sweet" is only one-and-a-half minutes long.
• Non-Appearing Title: "Cherub Rock", "Rocket", "Soma", "Geek U.S.A." (half-averted; the song does mention the USA), "Mayonaise", "Silverfuck" (half-averted; the song does have a usage of "fuck"), and "Luna".
• One-Word Title: Apart from "Cherub Rock", "Geek U.S.A.", and "Sweet Sweet", all song titles consist of one word.
• Progressive Rock: The longer tracks on this album (see Epic Rocking above) definitely have influences of this, going through different movements, some calmer than others.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: According to Corgan, "Disarm" is based off of the shaky relationship he had with his parents growing up.
• Record Producer: Butch Vig.
• Song Style Shift: The final third of "Hummer" has a sudden change to a much more relaxed and quiet song, led by cleaner guitars that aren't nearly as distorted.
• Studio Chatter: One can clearly hear Corgan saying "This take, don't give a fuck" at the end of "Silverfuck". Surprisingly, this is the only occurrence of profanity in the entire song.
• Title Track: Averted on the original version of the album; the song "Siamese Dream" was held off the album. The reissue includes a demo of it on the second disc.
• Uncommon Time: "Quiet" uses bars of 7/4 here and there, in addition to 4/4 and 6/4.

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