If you just listen to their music it probably isn’t too hard to understand why Billy Corgan and his gang have quite the reputation for being dour, Goth-rock sourpusses. However, if you go down to the woods today and plop this little disc in your player then you’re sure of a big surprise – for it seems the Smashing Pumpkins actually have quite the silly sense of humour. Originally released as a long-form video back in 1994, Vieuphoria is basically a visual accompaniment to the Pumpkins’ second album, Siamese Dream – the one that really put them on the roadmap to success after the rather patchy, but not without its beauty, Gish.

An intriguing mix of live recordings is on offer, ranging from TV appearances in places such as the UK, Germany and Japan to performances plucked directly from gigs. Rather than being straight, let’s-just-recreate-the-album-track run-throughs, we’re treated to such goodies as a decidedly edgy strings-stripped Disarm, a gorgeous MTV Unplugged performance of Cherub Rock and a seemingly never ending, ferocious live take on Gish track I Am One from the wilds of Barcelona – and all with that unique Billy Corgan vocal style which can ping-pong from nasal, granny-bashing whine-snarl to sweet-as-pie croon in a mere matter of syllables.

As well as this grab bag of tracks, we’re privy to that aforementioned silly side of the band via interludes of varying lengths, with such delightfully juvenile antics as D’Arcy playing with her dollies, the band in therapy, James walking his dog and little piggies dancing about in studio control rooms. All this shares time with interview footage featuring band and fans, the odd (literally) history lesson and a peek inside the recording process along with renowned producer-guy (and let us not forget star maker!) Butch Vig of Garbage – that’s the band by the way, not an indictment upon his production abilities.

Go on, just try and see these masters (and mistress!) of quiet/LOUD as po-faced grumblebums again after vieuing this...

For a feature made for cruddy old VHS and pushing ten years of age, this comes up surprisingly well. It’s not the sharpest or most glitch-free music disc you’ll ever see, but it’s not too bad either all things considered.

The programme’s age shows in the audio department, with a simple but effective 2.0 mix being all that’s supplied. It does its job in decent enough, workmanlike fashion – never pushing excitement levels to 11, however never sounding crap either.

The first bonus is an 11:13 featurette entitled The Unbearable Likeness of Manny, an extended session with one Manny Chevrolet interviewing the band and Butch in the midst of rehearsals for Siamese Dream, featuring some crossover with the main feature. That’s OK as a warm up, however the next extra is what will have fans drooling. Despite a severe lack of quality, the Lost ’94 Tapes serves up just under an hour of the Pumpkins doing eight examples of their thing live. It’s all got quite the air (and buzzes) of a bootleg about it, as explained in the intro by the calm-as-an-insanity pepper Horst Schlacter of the Psycho Acoustic Research Institute (yes, it’s more silliness...). Oh, those who are DVD ROM equipped may also wish to go all Play School with the Clag and safety scissors and stuff to make a t-shirt using the high-res copy of the DVD cover that’s included. Remember to ask your Mum for help with the iron now kiddies, won’t you?

Showing more dimensions to the Pumpkins than those less in the know would have suspected and with bonus stuff aplenty, Vieuphoria is an utter must for fans. If, however, you’re one of those who just think, “ooh, that 1979 song is kind of nice� you’d possibly be better off opting for the singles compilation that’s floating about out there. Now Billy, sit up straight!