Originally released in 1994, Pisces Iscariot is a collection of b-sides and odds and ends from the Gish and Siamese Dream era and rereleased this past Tuesday as a deluxe edition. It's a wonderful collection of songs and a testament to the Smashing Pumpkins, where even their non-album tracks are great. Landslide (their cover of the Fleetwood Mac classic) even went to #3 on the Modern Rock Charts. As with the recent Gish and Siamese Dream reissues, Pisces Iscariot is a collection of unreleased tracks, videos, live performances, etc...
Included is the original album, a 2nd cd full of demos, unreleased tracks, covers, alternate versions of songs, etc..., also included is a DVD of Chicago's Pulse: Basement Jam cable access program from 1988, where you can see the Smashing Pumpkins at their earliest, this is by far one of the most interesting of their DVDs which came with the deluxe editions of their albums. and included also is a casette tape of their first demo tape from 1988, just be sure you have a cassette player on hand!
The album itself has a soft spot in my heart. I remember first hearing it my freshmen year in high school, wondering those scary halls, facing the world and leaving middle school behind. The song Obscured just captures all these scary, sad moments like few songs do. I also have always liked James Iha songs from this era. Blew Away is a mellow, somewhat silly song that I have always loved. Their version of Landslide is still unmatched by any other. Frail and Bedazzled is just a kickass song that was even covered on the Gothic/industrial tribute by Godbox. The bonus disk has some pretty good covers such as Neil Young's Cinammon Girl and the Velvet Underground's Venus In Furs. One of my favorite songs from this era is Glynis which was originally from the compilation No Alternative (which had some great bands like Nirvana, Matthew Sweet, Bob Mould, Soundgarden and Sonic Youth). This is one of the few bsides collections to go platinum and leave me wanting more. I cannot wait for the upcoming Mellon Collie and Aeroplane Flies High box sets coming out soon! This is how I want to remember this great band!
Obscured:
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