Smashing Pumpkins -- Siamese Dream

Here's my first Amazon.com recommendation. Jeff Bezos and I finally worked out a contract. We were up all night.

We were deadlocked until five in the morning. Then he suggested we break the stalemate by arm-wrestling for it. Which I foolishly accepted. Because a combination of a couple of different factors came into play. One, I bumped my arm on a door the other day, hit it in the dark. And, two, I'd been lifting cups of coffee during our negotiations all the way from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., and my arm was tired.

We locked hands and Jeff had me down in about 15 minutes. So now I'm an Amazon.com affiliate -- a partner, I should say -- like it or not.

OK, there it is ... go ahead and buy a download of "Siamese Dream" by Smashing Pumpkins.

You know, that's quite a name for a group. A guy I know brought me over this year 10 pumpkins. I had them setting out on my step, hoping no kids would come along and smash them, and no one did. Then I found an orange out in the yard -- must have fallen out of a kid's lunchbox -- and I set the orange in among the pumpkins. It was like integration, except of course it was orange like the pumpkins. But it was smaller, like the runt of the litter.

Funny though, kids pass by here everyday, and no one stopped to smash one. And no one stole the orange.

And here's something equally funny. The squirrels only chewed a tiny piece of one of the pumpkins. That was it. But then after Fall, I threw the pumpkins over on the east side of the house, and the squirrels went crazy on them, chewing them down to the rind. Plus others disappeared whole! Like they took them up their tree, I don't know. Or maybe kids took them, but I doubt it.

Anyway, about this album -- the download by Smashing Pumpkins -- what do I know about it? Why am I recommending it? I've never actually heard it, except for about 30 seconds of the opening track. Do I have it myself? Yes, I do. I got it -- true story -- yesterday at Goodwill for a buck. Along with another Smashing Pumpkins CD, "MACHINA/The Machines of God." These to go along with my collection, including whatever that double set is called, "Melon Collie" and "Adore." So I have four CDs by them. I keep thinking I'm going to like them, but I haven't given them enough of a chance. It sounds a little more BAM-BAM than I like. But honestly I need to listen some more.

I looked up this particular album, "Siamese Dream," at All Music and it's reportedly a classic, a Five Star album. So you can't go wrong there! I definitely will listen to it. Most things that I end up liking I didn't like the first time through.