Just listened to this and revising my gut 4 up to a 7. I think I’d genuinely forgotten that the my were a decent band because nearly all my reference points on them have been replaced over time by their ubiquity on these forums as a recurring joke.
There’s just an amazing open heartedness and youthful optimism in it’s sound (lyrics aside); the moments of gorgeous sweeping chorus clean tone guitars that are completely devoid of any cynicism, the huge squealing euphoric lead guitar textures, billy’s voice.
I don’t think it’s perfect, I find Quiet pretty boring and there’s a few too many heavy and generic riffs in the mix but in it’s best moments I’ve not found another album that can hit me on a childlike level. There’s something about the big layered guitars and the thin vocals, drumming that is grounded but just interesting enough to feel like it is flowing and adapting organically to the songs that I haven’t heard replicated by anyone else. Feels like a bigger, more honest and lasting achievement than anything Radiohead have done.
Straight 10. One of my all-time favourite albums, and the door that opened up a whole lot of other music for me. I may diss the Pumpkins these days, but this is still peerless stuff.