A Pumpkins smash: Smashing Pumpkins, originally a Limited Potential band, recently achieved a milestone when "Gish" (Caroline) became the first independent-label record to top the CMJ album chart since fIREHOSE`s "If`n" was No. 1 in February 1988. "Gish" also cracked Billboard`s top-200 album chart for one week, a feat that new albums by Squeeze, Marshall Crenshaw and Richard Thompson have yet to match.
They, not she: Catherine-a band, not a person-will mark the release of its new Limited Potential single, "Charmed"/"Sparkle," with a show Friday night at the Avalon. Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins produced the single.
In contrast, the Pumpkins were typically sour as they took the stage early Tuesday morning.
"We don`t do requests," singer Billy Corgan curtly informed the crowd as several fans shouted for their favorites.
But the quartet`s utter humorlessness only enhanced the aggression implied in their music.
Corgan was a charismatic presence, his round, cherubic face framed by flowing curls as he attacked every song with what seemed to be a deep-seated hostility.
Frequently, the music would fall to a near hush, guided only by an a cappella voice or a solitary baseline, then surge back with tidal-wave fury. At various times it aspired to the insinuating sensuality of T. Rex, the psychedelic wallop of Jimi Hendrix and the mind-blowing bombast of Led Zeppelin.
Despite the enveloping presence of Corgan, the Pumpkins functioned as a band rather than a star vehicle. Bassist D`Arcy outfitted in black lingerie, played with eyes closed in solemn concentration while complementing the swirling, nearly jazzlike drumming of Jimmy Chamberlin.
The guitars of Corgan and James Iha blended softer lyrical passages with groaning distortion and churning rhythms that ignited an orgy of slam-dancing during such tunes as "I am One"-a refreshing display of audience participation and enthusiasm in a seminar notable for the jadedness of many of its participants.
As the Pumpkins exited, Corgan held his guitar aloft like the sword Excalibur, then turned up the amplifier so that ear-splitting feedback rained down on the exhausted, cheering crowd.
It was a fitting, final gesture from a band that has become expert at assaulting, and occasionally altering, the senses.