Smashing Pumpkins - ADORE (1998) - their last masterpiece - the poll

ha I thought the thread bump would be for this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpS3g3BfZHc&app=desktop

i keep trying too what you guys see in this album and spending 73 unhappy minutes with it. really feel like Corgan's one of those artists who had his run and then everything after this point is just on a lower level. like i dunno if i even like this any more than Oceania or the Zwan record, and definitely not as much as Aeroplane or anything before it. i'll vote for "Perfect" i guess, that was a nice single.

As you are one of the most generally un-goth people I can think of, your conclusion is not surprising.

Sorry Ned, saw them twice on tour for this album, and I'd still say this is a dreadful album. Not as crushingly horrible as what came later, but Corban's talent (and voice) had soured beyond redemption by this point. Clumsy, awkward, half-baked, listless, cheap yet glossy, boring stuff.

I wonder how many votes "none of the above" would have garnered...

Admittedly, I can't take more than a handful of tracks from MCIS at this point. Still like some of the besides.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

As you are one of the most generally un-goth people I can think of, your conclusion is not surprising.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, December 31, 2013 1:36 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha thanks i guess? i like a good amount of Corgan's '80s "the core, the heart music" favorites, just not so much his twist on those influences.

Haha this album is basically the only Corgan related album I can tolerate, and I actually really like that (guess goth roots and love for all things Cure and DM help)

lmao "the core, the heart music" that will never get old

Prolly would've voted for "Ava Adore." It was one of my favorite songs when it was new, and I think it was a great choice for a first single. IIRC it continued to get played on the radio in my area years after they stopped playing "Perfect" - a song which always sounded unresolved and incomplete to me, and IMO it would have worked better as an album track.

cool to see appels + oranjes in the three way tie. astounded no one voted for the tale of dusty & pistol pete, that song is a total gem, should've voted for it...

and a single vote for to sheila?…. …. …. .. . ..

Blank Page got utterly robbed! Seem to remember to have voted for it, but it's been 5 months so who knows..?

Barf @ Perfect being tied for first

Bottom four are all awesome

i think i voted for "crestfallen"

behold! the night mare is equally amazing

i can't go on digging roses from your graves / to linger on beyond the beyond / where the willows weep / and the whirlpools sleep / you'll find me / the coarse tide reflects sky

adore has some of corgan's best singing for sure, even if he's mixed too high on certain songs ('crestfallen')

I always thought "Pug" was one of the fan favorites on this record but GUESS NOT

the arising version is so much better imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17mQBZkho0k

adore reissue is apparently 4 cds and a dvd

huh

Works for me! :-D

the only time i became the kind of person who downloads live bootlegs was for adore-era shows so i'm psyched for that dvd

Totally buying this

the only time I saw them live was touring for this album and the show was fucking massive

who was the drummer for those shows? Kenny Aronoff? was he actually a good fit?

yes and yeah actually he was. i was mostly attracted to how much they changed "tonight tonight" and "stumbleine" for that tour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyxb18ugWrE

He was fucking amazing IMO

also I'd forgotten which song "Pug" is and wtf how did it get zero votes

mike garson on piano too iirc

for the adore tour i mean

Yeah it's a wonderful lineup. Only 90s Pumpkins tour I missed fully, but they just played once in LA and I think I was out of town or something. They did an Atlanta live broadcast and that's been the bootleg that's circulated the most, great stuff. Been digging through my collection as part of a digital library cleanup and good heavens do I have a lot of demos from around then; I assume they'll be cherry picking that like mad for the reissue. (When it comes time for Machina in full that'll have to be...I dunno, something like 6 CDs at least?)

Anyway Brad do you have a press release for Adore or is this just reissue details rumor?

Classic Wikipedia LOLs, in that we get classic Corgan LOLs:

Corgan initially blamed fans for the failure, then himself, saying that he "made the mistake of telling people it was a techno record" and that if he "would have told everyone Adore was the Pumpkins' acoustic album we would have never had the problems that we had." By the end of 1998, Corgan, who would later call the making of Adore "one of the most painful experiences of my life", was already writing material for the band's next album, and Jimmy Chamberlin was readmitted into the band.

Can't wait for the liner notes for THIS one.

Anyway Brad do you have a press release for Adore or is this just reissue details rumor?

https://twitter.com/Billy/status/423328108393922560

(When it comes time for Machina in full that'll have to be...I dunno, something like 6 CDs at least?)

it's the one i'm most looking forward to if they go for it and do a hybridized tracklisting of 1 and 2

fyi I am relistening to this album right now and goddamn goddamn

/(When it comes time for Machina in full that'll have to be...I dunno, something like 6 CDs at least?)/

it's the one i'm most looking forward to if they go for it and do a hybridized tracklisting of 1 and 2

They better! And thanks for the Billy link.

i also wonder what machina 1/2 is going to sound like, since as far as i know they were recorded separately/differently. the only machina 2 songs that were released in full machina overproduction mode were "speed kills" and "here's to the atom bomb"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2H1y755PQk

for some reason it's killing me that Billy Corgan's Twitter is "@Billy"

I like your new screen name, al

Billy Corgan got the twitter handle @billy???

Probably paid someone good money for it.

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/216789/thumbs/s-BILLY-JOEL-HELMET-large.jpg

We finally have reissue tracklisting. And a Billy rant.

http://m.pitchfork.com/news/54960-billy-corgan-lashes-out-at-amazon-for-leaking-the-smashing-pumpkins-adore-reissue-tracklist/

mono edition !?

is this a SP thing where the albums are actually wanted by the fans in mono ?

maybe Billy or someone saw the reissues of Beatles and Stones albums that were actually originally released in mono and decided that that's what '90s albums bloated with overdubs needed after all

the lp of adore was mixed in mono, it's kind of neat