¤ jetless heights

makin’ tea in your underwear

+ Wed, February 23

10. Smashing Pumpkins – Set The Ray To Jerry

Sorry all, I plum forgot last night (plum!) to post a song.  So love, here you are.
 
The Pumpkins may be best known for their louder, more aggressive songs but what I enjoy them for the most are their more ruminative tracks.  Take “Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans” or “Galapogos” from Mellon Collie or “Mayonaise” off Siamese Dream, hell, even on Adore there’s an excellent example in “For Martha”.  Yeah the ’90s will remember this great band as a loud rocker band, and certainly they were, but I feel their prestige is most apparent when they took it slow and methodical.

Take “Set The Ray To Jerry” off the extended 1979 Single from the Aeroplane Flies High boxset.  Dig those pulsing drums and the low/high interplay of the guitar and xylophone.  How perfectly the calmness here goes with a snowy day.  With a secluded, independent feel and that brittle beauty of so much in winter, they go together so well.  I remember one day last winter, setting out onto North Campus as this came on the iPod how perfectly it all fit together.  Those big gobs of snowflakes you get when it’s not too cold seemed so native to the high guitar noodling you can hear towards the end of the track.

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