Not usually a fan of these signature series guitars. Mascis & Moore/Ranaldo’s seemed gimicky at best.. but Johnny Marr has gone above and beyond, with mods to just about every area of the guitar from the point of view of someone who has true mastery of the jaguars strengths and weaknesses.
Some Jags are Better than Others..
One of the stranger ‘it’s a small world’ stories, Samuel Beckett used to drive Andre the Giant to school.
Master of the reverse reverb wah distortion Brad Laner, has updated his YouTube & posted some higher quality Medicine videos and some rare rehearsal footage of the band in their rehearsal spacein 1992. Pretty incredible stuff.
The band runs through some random jams, along with tracks like 5ive & Aruca.
Came across an excellent Podcast called iATP care of When The Sun Hits. Features some amazing interviews or rather ‘career narrations’ from a number of amazing musicians, including Mark Gardner of Ride, Dean Garcia of Cruve, Pete Fijalkowski of the almighty Adorable, Polak and an upcoming project with the House of Love’s Terry Bickers, amongst others!
Pete’s is highly recommended, a full trip through the history of Adorable’s college formation and eventual breakup and everything since, complete with rough early demo versions of his best songs.
website: http://www.iatpaltitudes.com/
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/flights/id408522266
Further proof Randians and Scientologists are brainwashed cult members with nothing better to do than troll vote their bullshit tomes at every opportunity.
Great article at theparisreview about a 1960′s high school student questioning the ‘symbolism’ his english teacher seemed to find in everything. He decided to survey 150 renowned authors on the usage of symbolism and the subconscious in their works.
Offers a very rare snapshot of some incredible authors such as Ray Bradbury, Ralph Ellison, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer, John Updike and some terrible authors like Ayn Rand. During a much different time when authors were often the last people to be asked about the intended meaning of their material.
Predictably pompous responses from the likes of Kerouac and Rand and unsurprisingly wise & insightful responses from true geniuses like Bradbury.
On a related note, my favourite anti-rand quote from Paul Krugman:
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”
I try to ignore Smashing Pumpkins output post Machina II and breakup, it seems the only way to not taint the great memories I have of them during my formative musical years. From having my mind blown on the cusp of teenhood after seeing them in 1992 and many subsequent times, through to them calling it quits just after the turn of the century.
For the most of this year and especially the last few weeks Corgan has been gearing up for the remastered versions of Gish & Siamese Dream and they’re finally here, including a “hi-def” 24-bit 96khz remaster for the exacting audiophile.
Most remasters seem like cynical exercises these days, throw in a brighter mix with the volume ceiling raised at the expense of dynamics, some token additions and presto. If a band has great unreleased material I’ll usually bite, but this is is a rare case where the remaster is truly something to behold AND the band has better extras than any other in existance. These are probably the best remastering and “deluxe-ification” jobs that I have ever heard.
I’ve listened to both of these albums countless times since their release and I am still hearing things I had never fully noticed before, a lot. The definition and clarity of the instruments, especially the bass and the multiple guitar tracks is so perfect it feels as though you could carve a knife inbetween them. The mix gives the perfect amount of space to everything, it surrounds and drowns you in it’s aural bliss.
Corgan’s vocals sit with so much clarity in a few tracks that it practically transforms the entire song. Which is a good and bad thing, but almost 20 years on theres no need to contest such things. It is simply incredible to hear new life breathed into such a classic album, especially with Siamese Dream whose production value still remains incredibly fresh and current today.
Whilst hardcore fans will have heard 99% of the bonus material, the tracks also been given the remastering treatment and sound fantastic. There are also some neat/subtle changes such as alternate takes of guitar solos, or vocals etc. The combination serves as an incredible document of easily the most creative band of the 90′s if not any generation, at the peak of their power and experimentation. Their acid dealer must have been well fed during this period.
Last but not least and as Corgan’s way of outdoing everyone else, each remaster includes a live video DVD of a show at the Chicago Metro, one taken before Siamese dream and one post which highly the bands transformation into an absolute crushing powerhouse.
Also, Billy has done a few in-depth interviews regarding the albums and the band during this time, which offer some great insights. The best is with Matt Pinfield which is on SoundCloud but theres also Zane Lowe’s ‘MasterPieces’ program and a SP retrospective special on JBTV.com which features videos from the live disc.
Matt Pinfield intrvw: http://soundcloud.com/fmqb-productions/billycorgan-mattpinfield-seg1
Zane Lowe’s MasterPieces: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/zanelowe/masterpieces.shtml
JBTV live special: http://www.jbtvonline.com/episodes/smashing-pumpkins-jbtv-special
SP Crushing it at various points:
Smashing Pumpkins – an early version of “JellyBelly” which is a reworked version of “STP”
Siva at Reading 1992, complete with the ‘Kill Your Parents’ jam intro.
Beautiful cover of one of Slowdive’s best songs Alison. The slightly off pitch piano works perfectly for their sound.