SMASHING PUMPKINS Gish (1991) Vinyl LP

Before the stadium lights, before the shaved head on the cover of Zeitgeist, before any of it, there was Gish, a debut so strange and heavy and psychedelic that nobody quite knew what to do with it. Billy Corgan was already writing songs that sounded like they existed outside of time, and Butch Vig's production gave the whole thing a weight that alternative rock hadn't really felt before. It came out in 1991 and sounded like nothing else on the shelf.

This remastered reissue on 180 gram vinyl in a gatefold sleeve is the way Gish deserves to be heard. Tracks like Rhinoceros and Snail were practically built for a proper hi-fi setup, all that slow-burn sludge and amp hum spreading out across a room the way it always should have. Essential grunge and alt rock archaeology, and a record that holds up better than most of its era precisely because it never fully belonged to it.

Format: Full Length LP, remastered reissue. Pressing: 180 gram, gatefold sleeve. Origin: US. Genre: alt rock, grunge. Year of original release: 1991.

Fans of: Hum, Failure, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Pixies