Smashing Pumpkins: Fresh Fruit or Rotten Veg?

if they’re mixing it i’ll bet the machina reissue comes out. the more songs the better imo

rest of those projects sound like billy’s usual bullshit

hoping that someone accidentally lost the masters for "heavy metal machine"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NcVNOWjv1E

(this album's gonna be so weird, i don't really get where bc's going with any of it)

("wyttch" sounds kinda cool anyway)

I keep forgetting we still have another full month before this thing comes out. I am really excited for the Machina era stuff, less hopeful about another massive rock opera being any good.

oh shit, i just realized, "wyttch" is totally bc's attempt at writing a blue öyster cult song. pretty good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcMR8JXnYgw

this is probably the song from the new record that's easiest to ridicule, it's zwan-esque in mood, but i... fucking love it. my favorite song bc's written in ages. the chorus is perfect

the whole first half of the record is basically out now, and i'm finding myself... really liking it? ugh lmao being a smashing pumpkins fan in 2020 i clown myself

yeah i feel stupid about it but i totally love this legit followup to thefutureembrace

lmao i fucking love this record

chorus of "starrcraft" reminds me of the anniversary

holy shit "save your tears" is the best pumpkins song i've heard since machina

I think Weezer and SP might have similar post peak hit miss ratios

idk i think weezer's white album is actually pretty comparable to their peak material, while sp have never gotten that close to their own higher peak.

ugh lmao being a smashing pumpkins fan in 2020 i clown myself

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson)

i feel exactly the same. still have to hear the new one, is it any good? 'shiny and oh so bright' didn't win me over, but i really enjoyed corgan's cotillions, surprisingly.

its way too long, it needs jimmy drums, but its... pretty good

i thought jimmy was on this one

I like the background vox and harmonies on this one, surprisingly

i'm sure he's on it but you would never know.

jimmy played all the drums on the record

the record is def too long but i am so thrilled i don’t actively dislike any of these songs. they’re also all stuck in my head constantly :(

songwriting-wise i think it’s even stronger than oceania, and the production lacks depth but it comes super close to the adore sound anyway

I like the background vox and harmonies on this one, surprisingly

― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Friday, November 27, 2020 6:48 AM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

made me wonder if billy’s been listening to a lot of later leonard cohen records

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7rvQBrL5A8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Ht9_BA15M

these are my two faves

oh god i also really love "the hidden sun," the synth hook on that one is out of this world

Man, I wish I could share your enthusiasm Brad. There are indeed some big hooks and I was hoping for more out of a return to the Adore/FutureEmbrace sound, but I'm just not enthused after a first listen. The synth work feels really lazy (the really repetitive line in "Wrath" being one example that stood out), the backing vocals feel really out of place and I just cannot fathom bringing Jimmy back for him to imitate a drum machine for an entire album. It's not terrible, but it's not very good either, unfortunately.

lol listen, i already know that i'm alone here

i think the complaints about jimmy are silly though. as a drummer i think changing the emphasis of your playing to suit the texture of the song is... very difficult and admirable. also the moments where jimmy's regular pumpkins style breaks through really pop

I suppose that's fair, I guess I just really miss monster RAWK kit-bashing Jimmy. I guess we get some hints of that on say, "Wyttch", tho.

"Cyr" is growing on me -- just watched the Tonight Show clip and it isn't...so bad? Speaking of Jimmy, the guy looks like a million bucks these days.

He does look great, I'm really happy for him!

Listened to about half of this last night. I don't usually dip much of a toe into modern Pumpkins stuff, but I felt like I had to give it a try after reading an excerpt from Gerard Way's interview with Corgan in Alternative Press (you have to actually pick up a print copy of AP to read the whole thing, and I'm not certain where to even find it these days).

Anyway, I'm not floored by it, but still think it's pretty good. Really like Billy taking us back to the core, the heart music. I also think the background singers are great - reminds me of Leonard Cohen or something.

I do wish that it had more depth, more interesting little details. Everything seems to be very straightforward and immediately obvious. Also agree with those above who say that this may not have been the best use of a Jimmy Chamberlin. And when I took time to follow along with some of the lyrics it was like, what are you talking about?

I don't know - I'm definitely going to finish listening to it and will probably listen again. Makes excellent background music at least, and that's not a bad thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ascLZN2iyZg

i do hope he continues writing songs like this one in particular

(purple blood)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prI0dKB51Tw

haha whoa this is kinda rad!

Well that seemed really good to me, and I haven't vibed with anything Pumpkins since Adore.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-smashing-pumpkins-machina-ii-rework-is-finished-and-will-have-at-least-80-songs-says-billy-corgan-2867160

Really ready for this one!

Every one of those 80 songs is going to be a 20 minute compilation of the riffs from 80 completely different unreleased songs.

i'm wary of what, if any, newly-recorded old ideas are gonna appear on this, mostly bc unless billy brought flood in, it's not gonna sound good lol

still very psyched

not that machina or machina ii sound good either but they sound better than nu-pumpkins

yeah in my head his attempts to make all these songs cohere sonically will be....less than optimal

i would also like a cd transfer of the og machina ii recordings bc it's been vinyl rips for twenty years now, come on bc. according to this news though i don't think i'm getting that lol

Machina would have made a great instrumental album.

you know what song rules? “slow dawn”.

yes

Machina would have made a great instrumental album.

I would actually really like to hear the all SPs albums vocals-free

who wants (the) honey(ed vocals of william corgan)

So apparently “Eye” was Corgan trying to do a Dr. Dre type of beat for Shaquille O Neal to rap on top off in a collab with them.

I don’t know if that was a popular piece of trivia but yeah I can definitely hear the Dre influence and would have loved a SP rap collab in the 90’s.

So a new 33-song rock opera, titled Atum that is a sequel to Mellon Collie? There was a time when I would be excited about this, but uh... not now, particularly the "produced by Billy Corgan" part.

https://pitchfork.com/news/the-smashing-pumpkins-announce-new-album-atum-a-sequel-to-mellon-collie-and-machina/

As of now, only available in a $225 vinyl version, or a $499 autographed version, due out April 2023. Billy certainly knows he has diehards willing to drop cash at a moments notice.

I'll hold out for the streaming.

Gotta squeeze every last drop out of the fresh fruit