Smashing Pumpkins-Disarm Question

[JDN]

I was driving home tonight, heard "Disarm" which is an amazing pumpkins song.

Were the songs before you got involved really raw, like Billy and an acoustic, or more sussed out like Nevermind arrangement wise?

[ButchVig]

Originally Posted by JDN

I was driving home tonight, heard "Disarm" which is an amazing pumpkins song.

Were the songs before you got involved really raw, like Billy and an acoustic, or more sussed out like Nevermind arrangement wise?

Disarm was one of the hardest songs to figure out. When we were rehearsing with the band in Chicago, we worked on Disarm with a full rock arrangement...but were never very happy with the results.

I kept delaying the tracking of the song at Tryclps cuz i wasn't sure what to do. finally toward the end of recording we attempted to cut the song like we had rehearsed it, with full band..Jimmy trying different parts on toms, pulsing kick drums, etc...nothing was working, it all sounded like too much going on, no matter how much we stripped it back.
Finally, out of frustration Billy came into the control room and we talked about the song, he played it on acoustic guitar and sang in front of me, and I was struck by how intimate it sounded. So we (very quickly) recorded a take with his acoustic, and then Billy plugged in his keyboard, and we quickly mocked up an arrangement with strings, bells, percussion and feedback. And that became the template. We went back and recorded everything for real a couple days later.
I don't think I would have figured that song out if Billy hadn't played 3 feet in front of me, completely unplugged.

[jtafich]

I completely agree, Disarm is a great song with a beautiful arrangement.
Thanks Butch for taking the time to do this.

I'd like to know the production behind the strings. What treatment you used and whats the room that we here on the recording?

Thanks!

Jorge

[apadua]

Wow...

great question... and a great story...

love that song.. I remember them do it live one of the MTV music awards with a full the band and distored guitars.. That version rocked as well...

[fooman]

I saw them do it as a full band on some awards show years after the fact. It rocked hard.

I dunno if it'd have had the same impact as being THAT hard rocking if the album version wasn't what it was. I remember hearing it for the first time when I was pretty young and just getting into alt-rock and thinking "I love this music".

[audiogeek]

Originally Posted by ButchVig

Disarm was one of the hardest songs to figure out. When we were rehearsing with the band in Chicago, we worked on Disarm with a full rock arrangement...but were never very happy with the results.

I kept delaying the tracking of the song at Tryclps cuz i wasn't sure what to do. finally toward the end of recording we attempted to cut the song like we had rehearsed it, with full band..Jimmy trying different parts on toms, pulsing kick drums, etc...nothing was working, it all sounded like too much going on, no matter how much we stripped it back.
Finally, out of frustration Billy came into the control room and we talked about the song, he played it on acoustic guitar and sang in front of me, and I was struck by how intimate it sounded. So we (very quickly) recorded a take with his acoustic, and then Billy plugged in his keyboard, and we quickly mocked up an arrangement with strings, bells, percussion and feedback. And that became the template. We went back and recorded everything for real a couple days later.
I don't think I would have figured that song out if Billy hadn't played 3 feet in front of me, completely unplugged.

wow... it's stories like this that really make an album for me. like someone else mentioned on another post, i was waiting for my record store to open the day Siamese Dream came out, and am proud to be the first person in my area to own it. i've loved that album for 16 years now, and you just gave a great song a whole new dimension for me. now i get to go listen to it again with fresh ears... thank you BV!

i'd love to hear an electric version of that tune if released, even if it was deemed unworthy at the time... did you guys save the original basics, or did you just scrap it when you came upon the new arrangement?