Smashing Pumpkins - Pisces Iscariot

Pisces Iscariot was a stopgap album that came at a time when Smashing Pumpkins could do no wrong. They had released Gish and Siamese Dream, but still had a stack of songs from this era that had not been released, so they stuck them all on Pisces Iscariot.

Pisces Iscariot, unsurprisingly, is not as cohesive an album as the Pumpkins' first two studio releases. It's an odds and ends compilation that contains a few really good songs (like the melancholy yet sweet "Blew Away" that hints at James Iha's eventual solo greatness) and a few that tell you everything you need to know about why they didn't make the cut on the first two albums. There's enough here to satisfy Pumpkins fans, but this is not an essential album for the casual listener.