Pisces Iscariot

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The Smashing Pumpkins are a big rock band, molded by leader Billy Corgan after stadium and progressive rock giants from the Seventies. As such it's only fitting that after only two albums they would release a collection of B-sides. The result, Pisces Iscariot, is not only a good compendium to their other work, but it's a very good record in its own right. Most of the 14 tracks follow the Pumpkins' blueprint, traveling sonically from soft to loud and back again. Among the slew of originals previously available on singles and imports is a hauntingly beautiful cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide." Surprisingly there's less fat here than on 1995's bloated Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. --Greg Emmanuel --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Soothe
Frail And Bedazzled
Plume
Whir
Blew Away
Pissant
Hello Kitty Kat
Obscured
Landslide
Starla
Blue
Girl Named Sandoz
La Dolly Vita
Spaced

Amazon.com

The Smashing Pumpkins are a big rock band, molded by leader Billy Corgan after stadium and progressive rock giants from the Seventies. As such it's only fitting that after only two albums they would release a collection of B-sides. The result, Pisces Iscariot, is not only a good compendium to their other work, but it's a very good record in its own right. Most of the 14 tracks follow the Pumpkins' blueprint, traveling sonically from soft to loud and back again. Among the slew of originals previously available on singles and imports is a hauntingly beautiful cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide." Surprisingly there's less fat here than on 1995's bloated Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. --Greg Emmanuel

Customer Reviews:

Great leftovers!.......2007-05-30

I first heard the Smashing Pumpkins on the Singles Soundtrack, the song was called Drown and, even thought it didn't make it to a SP album, it is as good as the best the band has produced.
A collection of b-sides which are, mostly, the leftovers from the astounding Siamese Dream (which may be my favourite cd of all time), Pisces Iscariot shows the great moment billy was having as a songwriter (though he certainly didn't feel so). It opens, quietly, with the incredibly beautiful soothe (recorded in billy's apartment, or in a hotel room, i don't quite remember), and follows with the energetic Frail and Bedazzled. There, you get the impression that these songs didn't quite fit Siamese Dream (which is a very tight album). They are great, but not in the same mood, or maybe there were songs on SD that already fulfilled the purpose of these material.
Anyway, the rest of the cd is just first class material, I particularly love the nice guitar work of Whir, the tender and surprisingly enchanting interpretation of Landslide, the sonic bliss of Starla, and the slow builder, La Dolly Vita. This cd is one of the best samples of alternative rock, if such a thing ever existed. oh, don't forget to check out Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie and Adore, which are also great pumpkins cds (even better than this one)

Forget the rest.......2007-01-25

These B-sides sound better than 95% of the band's other output. Maybe it's because these songs don't suffer from the over-production of the band's other output (eg, "Melancholy..."??? Give me a break. What an over-blown, over-produced, snooze-fest). "Pisces Iscariot" is by far the best CD the band ever put out.

From the pummeling "Frail and Bedazzled" to the lilting "Obscured" to the majestic "Starla", there isn't a single weak moment on this CD. It's amazing these songs didn't make the cut for SP's prior CD's. The fact that "Starla" was a show-stopper whenever it was performed speaks for itself.

In fact, if you want a top-quality SP collection, buy this CD and download "Cherub Rock" (from Siamese Dream) and the full-length version of "Drown" from the "Singles" soundtrack (with complete feedback solo at the end). You can skip the rest and you won't miss much of anything.

Not the best, but it's still SP........2006-11-05

I'll just say it's not their best album, but it's still good, as it is still Smashing Pumpkins after all. However, any fan of SP should still get this album.

Songs besides "Landslide" should have been on the Greatest Hits.......2006-08-16

It's the truth...this album is amazing...I listened to The Greatest Hits first, and when I listened to Pisces Iscariot, I was somewhat surprised that great songs such as "Obscured" and "Starla" were not on the Greatest Hits. Those were two of my favorites on this album.

Anyway....I think Pisces Iscariot is not as heavy as the other Pumpkins albums. I got this feeling from songs like Soothe, Whir, Blew Away, Obscured, and La Dolly Vita. However, songs such as Frail & Bedazzled, Pissant, and Hello Kitty Kat are there to offer more variety besides the softness of most of the tracks.

Soothe and Frail & Bedazzled are great opening songs...Soothe is an amazing solo, and Frail & Bedazzled is a great song to bring the listener out of the daydream-like softness of Soothe. I think Plume is a great song because it describes a day full of boredom...and the tone of the guitars illustrates this too.

Now you're all probably wondering, "Why is Obscured your favorite song on the album?" I think it sounds great...I actually listen to Obscured when I'm tired...it's a great mellow song. And as for Starla, I love how it alternates between heavy and soft sounds over the course of 11 minutes. Girl Named Sandoz is actually a funny little story about a girl (named Sandoz, obviously...) that turns out to be a little too old...

Blue is another of those alternating songs (like Starla)...one thing I noticed about Spaced, however, was that it sounds exactly like a dream...an atmospheric background with ringing echoes...

Overall, the album was great. I highly recommend it.

Speaks to Billy Corgan's lack of priority.......2006-01-28

This, without a doubt, is one of the best alternative albums of the era, nevermind that it's a b-sides collection of sorts. All of the songs are good, and it's very listenable. billy corgan obviously doesn't know when he's written a good song.
lol.
hilights include - "frail & bedazzled," "whir," "hello kitty kat," and "starla," which is classic.

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