1.Gish (1991);
2.Siamese Dream (1993);
3.Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995);
4.Adore (1998);
5.Machina/The Machines of God (2000);
6.Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (2000);
7.Zeitgeist (2007);
8. Teargarden by Kaleidyscope (2009)
Gish
Released May 28, 1991, Length 45:45, Label Caroline/ Hut
1.I Am One 4:07
2.Siva 4:20
3.Rhinoceros 6:32
4.Bury Me 4:48
5.Crush 3:35
6.Suffer 5:11
7.Snail 5:11
8.Tristessa 3:33
9.Window Paine 5:51
10.Daydream 3:08
11.I’m Going Crazy (hidden track) 2:08
Gish is the debut album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released in May 1991 through Caroline Records. Frontman Billy Corgan described Gish as a "very spiritual album". Despite peaking at only number 195 on the Billboard 200 upon its release, Gish has been certified platinum (one million copies shipped) by the RIAA.
Recording
Gish was recorded from December 1990 to March 1991 in Butch Vig's Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin. Whereas many albums at the time used drum sampling and processing, Gish used unprocessed drum recordings, and an exacting, unique guitar sound. The album was recorded quickly by Pumpkins' standards, largely because of the group's inexperience. The recording sessions put an intense strain on the band, with bassist D'arcy Wretzky later commenting that she did not know how the band survived it, and Corgan explaining he suffered a nervous breakdown.The recording cost was $20,000.
"I Am One", "Rhinoceros", "Daydream", and "Bury Me" were previously recorded as demos by the band in 1989. All four songs were re-recorded for Gish.
The following songs were written and recorded for Gish but did not make the final cut:
- "Blue" (released on Lull and Pisces Iscariot)
- "Obscured" (released on Pisces Iscariot)
- "Slunk" (released on Lull)
- "Why Am I So Tired?" (released on Earphoria)
- "Jesus Loves His Babies" (Never officially released, appears on Mashed Potatoes bootleg, a five-disc set assembled by Billy Corgan and given to band and staff as a gift for Christmas 1994)
- "La Dolly Vita" (originally the B-side to "Tristessa", re-released on Pisces Iscariot)
Composition
Gish was recorded towards the end of Billy Corgan's psychedelic influence, while the band's post-punk roots had almost entirely evaporated. It introduced the hard rock sound and heavy dynamic shifts that would characterize later Pumpkins work. The inclusion of a massive production style reminiscent of ELO and Queen was unusual for an independent band at the time.
Corgan would later say,
"The album is about pain and spiritual ascension. People ask if it's a political album. It's not a political album, it's a personal album. In a weird kind of way, Gish is almost like an instrumental album - it just happens to have singing on it, but the music overpowers the band in a lot of places. I was trying to say a lot of things I couldn't really say in kind of intangible, unspeakable ways, so I was capable of doing that with the music, but I don't think I was capable of doing it with words".
Title
The album was named after silent film icon Lillian Gish. In an interview, Corgan said, "My grandmother used to tell me that one of the biggest things that ever happened was when Lillian Gish rode through town on a train, my grandmother lived in the middle of nowhere, so that was a big deal..." Later, Corgan jokingly asserted that the album was originally going to be called "Fish" but was changed to "Gish" to avoid comparisons to jam band Phish.
Reception
Gish spent one week on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 195; however, the album reached number one on the College Music Journal chart, which tracks airplay and popularity on college radio stations. It also had a six-week run on the New Zealand Albums Chart, peaking at number 40. Despite an inauspicious start, the album sold 100,000 copies in less than a year, far exceeding the expectations of indie label Caroline Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Records. The album was certified gold on March 14, 1994. Until the release of The Offspring album Smash in 1994, Gish was the highest-selling independently released album of all time. Gish would later be reissued under the Virgin label, and was certified platinum on February 5, 1999.
Gish was met with largely enthusiastic reviews. On the month of its release, Chris Heim of the Chicago Tribunecredited producer Butch Vig for helping the band achieve a "clearly defined" and "big, bold, punchy" sound for the album. Heim also indicated that the varied styles of the album would be a good addition to the alternative music culture of Chicago at the time—a culture that was sometimes perceived as inaccessible for new bands. Jon Pareles of The New York Times picked up on the eclectic mix of musical style on Gish as well, complementing its "pummeling hard rock", "gentle interludes", and "psychedelic crescendos". In an end-of-year recap of 1991 releases, Heim noted that the album constituted a "smashing local success story" for the Chicago area.Greg Kot, also of the Tribune, called Gish "perhaps the most audacious and accomplished" of all 1991 albums released by local bands; in an article later that year, Kot listed the album among the best of 1991. Rolling Stone called it "awe-inspiring" with "meticulously calculated chaos" and a "swirling energy".
Many substantive reviews of Gish emerged only with the 1993 release of Siamese Dream, when mainstream critics took their first look into the back-catalog of a band whose popularity was exploding. Derek Weiler of the Toronto Star noted that songs on Gish contained "either galloping riffs or trippy feedback hazes" and that the latter were especially effective and entertaining.
In 1992, Gish and The Smashing Pumpkins earned recognition at the Chicago Musician Awards, for which local music publication Illinois Entertainer polled readers and Chicago music industry figures such as critics, writers, and club owners. In separate polls, readers and industry figures chose Gish as the "best local album". Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha won individual honors for their performances on the album, and the band as a whole earned the "best hometown national act" award.
Release history
Siamese Dream
Released July 27, 1993, Length 62:17, Label Virgin
1.Cherub Rock 4:58
2.Quiet 3:41
2.Quiet 3:41
3.Today 3:19
4.Hummer 6:57
5.Rocket 4:06
6.Disarm 3:17
7.Soma 6:39
8.Geek U.S.A. 5:13
9.Mayonaise 5:49
10.Spaceboy 4:28
11.Silverfuck 8:43
12.Sweet Sweet 1:38
13.Luna 3:20
Siamese Dream is the second album by the American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 27, 1993 on Virgin Records. The album fused diverse influences such as shoegazing, dream pop, grunge, classic rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock.
Despite recording sessions fraught with difficulties and tensions, Siamese Dream debuted at number ten on the Billboard charts, sold over four million copies in the U.S. and over six million worldwide, cementing The Smashing Pumpkins as a major force in the alternative rock movement. Four hit singles were released in support of Siamese Dream: "Cherub Rock", "Today", "Disarm", and "Rocket". In the November 2003 Rolling Stone magazine issue of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", Siamese Dream was ranked number 360.
Background
The band's debut album Gish was released on Caroline Records in 1991 to unexpected success and acclaim. After the release of Nirvana's Nevermind later that year, The Smashing Pumpkins were hyped as "the next Nirvana". The band was signed to Caroline Records parent Virgin Records and began recording a follow-up album. Frontman Billy Corgan felt "this great pressure to make the next album set the world on fire". The immense pressure to succeed intensified an already problematic situation: drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was undergoing an increasingly severe addiction toheroin, guitarist James Iha and bassist D'arcy Wretzky had recently ended their romantic relationship, and Corgan, aside from battles with weight gain and suicidal depression, was suffering from his worst-ever bout of writer's block.
Recording and production
After he suffered a nervous breakdown, Corgan began visiting a therapist. Consequently his lyrics became more explicit about his troubled past and his insecurities. "Today" was the first song written by Corgan for Siamese Dream. He played the self-recorded demo to Vig, and received a positive reaction. Soon afterward, executives from Virgin Records came to observe the band after hearing about their problems, but were pleased with the demo and did not soon return to the studio. The reaction from the executives only served to put more stress on Corgan. Corgan worked overtime, practically living in the studio for the recording of Siamese Dream—he and Vig would sometimes work on a 45-second section of music for two days, working 16-hour days for weeks at a time to achieve the sound Corgan wanted.
While Chamberlin performed all drum parts on the album, he would disappear for days on drug benders that caused everyone to fear for his life. After one incident where the drummer had disappeared for two or three days, Corgan "put the hammer down", according to Vig, and had Chamberlin perform the drum part for "Cherub Rock" until his hands bled.Due to Corgan's urging, Chamberlin checked into a rehab clinic. Corgan told Spin later that year, "You know, I gave them a year and a half to prepare for this record... I'm surrounded by these people who I care about very much, yet they continue to keep failing me." Corgan explained that he began to take the actions of others personally; he said, "If you really think about it, of course, someone doesn't do the job because they're lazy, or they don't think it's important. But I took it as, 'You're not worth going home and working on the song.'"
Virgin began to grow impatient with the album's recording as it went over budget and became behind schedule. The band, however, would not let the company cut corners if it meant compromising the sound. By the time recording was completed, Corgan and Vig felt too emotionally exhausted to mix the record. Corgan suggested that engineer Alan Moulder mix the album, due to his work on Loveless by My Bloody Valentine. Moulder booked two weeks in a studio to mix the album; the mix ended up taking 36 days to complete. Eventually, the album was finished after four months and $250,000 over budget.
Music
The subjects of Corgan's lyrics on Siamese Dream varied. Corgan noted that most of his lyrics for the album were about his girlfriend and future wife Chris Fabian, with whom he had briefly broken up at the time he wrote the songs.Corgan occasionally wrote about other subjects. In "Cherub Rock", the album's opening track, Corgan attacked the American independent music scene. "Spaceboy" was written as a tribute to his half-brother, Jesse.
Release and reception
Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "B" rating; reviewer David Browne praised the band for living up to industry expectations of being the "next Nirvana" and compared Siamese Dream favorably to Nirvana's Nevermind. Browne concluded, "In aiming for more than just another alternative guitar record, Smashing Pumpkins may have stumbled upon a whole new stance: slackers with a vision." Critic Simon Reynolds disagreed; he wrote in his review for The New York Times that "fuzzed-up riffs and angst-wracked vocals are quite the norm these days, and Smashing Pumpkins lacks the zeitgeist-defining edge that made Nirvana's breakthrough so thrilling and resonant." Robert Christgau of the Village Voice gave the album a three star honorable mention, selecting "Geek U.S.A." and "Today" as highlights.
Siamese Dream earned The Smashing Pumpkins their first Grammy Award nominations. The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, and the group was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal at the Grammy Awards of 1994. The album is frequently included in lists of the best albums of the 1990s—the Alternative Press ranked it fourth, Pitchfork Media ranked it 18th, and Spin ranked it 23rd. In 2003, the album was ranked number 360 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Packaging
Shortly after the Pumpkins reformed in 2007, Corgan posted a message to the band's blog saying that they were "[l]ooking for girls from Siamese Dream album cover... As you all know, they were quite young when the photo was taken. They are not conjoined anymore, as far as we know." The band's intentions for the search were never made clear. In February, 2011 Billy Corgan announced via Twitter that not only had one of the girls been found, she was the current bassist for the Pumpkins, Nicole Fiorentino. According to Corgan, "Just found out the weirdest news: our bass player Nicole just admitted she is one of the girls on the cover of Siamese Dream." However, according to the assistant photographer for Siamese Dream, the cover photo was probably shot specifically for the album. Given Fiorentino's age at the time of the album, this would make her too old to be on the cover of the album. It was later confirmed that the information was false, and both girls has been located in 2008, though Corgan has not commented on this. Pictures exist of Billy standing with Ali Laenger, the girl on the right side of the photograph, but it is unknown if the girl on the left, identified only as LySandra R, met Billy like Laenger did.
The album was also released as a shaped wooden box set (aka Siamese Dream Collectors Edition) with metal hinges limited to only 1,000 copies which contains the UK HUT CD album housed in a recess with individually-numbered silver metal embossed plate at the side and a 20-page booklet housed in a similar recess in the lid. Though the CD itself and the booklet are official and genuine, the wooden box is not an official Virgin (US) or HUT (UK) release.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Released October 24, 1995, Length 121:39, Label Virgin
Disk 1 - Dawn to Dask
1.Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness 2:52
2.Tonight, Tonight 4:14
3.Jellybelly 3:01
4.Zero 2:41
5.Here Is No Why 3:45
6.Bullet with Butterfly Wings 4:18
7.To Forgive 4:17
8.An Ode to No One 4:51
9.Love 4:21
10.Cupid de Locke 2:50
11.Galapogos 4:47
12.Muzzle 3:44
13.Porcelina of the Vast Oceans 9:21
14.Take Me Down 2:52
1. Where Boys Fear to Tread 4:22
2. Bodies 4:12
3. Thirty-Three 4:10
4. In the Arms of Sleep 4:12
5. 1979 4:25
6. Tales of a Scorched Earth 3:46
7. Thru the Eyes of Ruby 7:38
8. Stumbleine 2:54
9. X.Y.U. 7:07
10. We Only Come Out at Night 4:05
11. Beautiful 4:18
12. Lily (My One and Only) 3:31
13. By Starlight 4:48
14. Farewell and Goodnight 4:22
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released October 24, 1995 on Virgin Records. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan with Flood and Alan Moulder, the twenty-eight-track album was released as a two-disc CD and triple LP. The album features a wide array of styles, as well as greater musical input from bassist D'arcy Wretzky and second guitarist James Iha.
Led by the single "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", the record debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, the first and only such occurrence for the group. The album spawned five more singles—"1979", "Zero", "Tonight, Tonight", the promotional "Muzzle", and "Thirty-Three"—over the course of 1996, and has been certified nine times platinum by the RIAA. Praised by critics for its ambition and scope, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness earned the band seven Grammy Award nominations in 1997. It is also widely considered one of the best albums of the 1990s.
Recording and production
After the thirteen-month tour in support of The Smashing Pumpkins' second album Siamese Dream (1993), Billy Corgan immediately began writing songs for the band's next record. From the outset, the band intended the new record to be a double album. Corgan said, "We almost had enough material to make Siamese Dream a double album. With this new album, I really liked the notion that we would create a wider scope in which to put other kinds of material we were writing." Corgan felt that the band's musical approach was running its course, and wanted the band to approach the album as if it were its last. Corgan described the album at the time to the music press as "The Wall for Generation X", a comparison with Pink Floyd's 1979 album, one of the highest selling and best known concept albums of all time.
The band decided to forgo working with Butch Vig, who had produced the group's previous albums, and selected Flood and Alan Moulder as co-producers. Corgan explained, "To be completely honest, I think it was a situation where we'd become so close to Butch that it started to work to our disadvantage... I just felt we had to force the situation, sonically, and take ourselves out of normal Pumpkin recording mode. I didn't want to repeat past Pumpkin work."
Flood immediately pushed the band to change its recording practices. Corgan later said, "Flood felt like the band he would see live wasn't really captured on record" and attempted to capture that sound on record. In April 1995, the band began recording in a rehearsal space, instead of entering the studio straight away. At these sessions, the band recorded rough rhythm tracks with Flood. Originally designed to create a rough draft for the record, the rehearsal space sessions ended up yielding much of the new album's rhythm section parts. Flood also insisted the band set aside time each day devoted to jamming or songwriting, practices the band had never engaged in before during recording sessions. Corgan said, "Working like that kept the whole process very interesting—kept it from becoming a grind."
Corgan sought to eliminate the tension that permeated the Siamese Dream recording sessions. Corgan said regarding the problems with recording Siamese Dream, "[T]o me, the biggest offender was the insidious amounts of time that everyone spends waiting for guitar parts to be overdubbed. There were literally weeks where no one had anything to do but sit and wait." The band decided to counter idleness by using two recording rooms at the same time. This tactic allowed Corgan to work on vocals and song arrangements while recording was done in the other. During these sessions, Flood and Corgan would work in one room as Moulder, guitarist James Iha, and bassist D'arcy Wretzky worked in a second. Iha and Wretzky had a much greater role in the recording of the album, unlike the prior albums where Corgan was rumored to have recorded all the bass and guitar parts himself. James Iha commented about the recording sessions,
"The big change is that Billy is not being the big 'I do this-I do that'. It's much better. The band arranged a lot of songs for this record, and the song writing process was organic. The circumstances of the last record and the way that we worked was really bad".
Following the rehearsal space sessions, the band recorded overdubs at the Chicago Recording Company. Pro Tools was used for recording guitar overdubs as well as for post-production electronic looping and sampling. Wretzky also recorded numerous backup vocal parts, but all were cut except the one recorded for "Beautiful". When the recording sessions concluded, the band had 57 completed songs which were up for contention to be included on Mellon Collie. The album was going to have 32 songs, but this was cut back to 28 songs.
Music
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is a loose concept album, with the songs intended to hang together conceptually as a symbol of the cycle of life and death. Billy Corgan has said that the album is based on "the human condition of mortal sorrow". Corgan aimed the album's message at people aged 14 to 24 years, hoping "to sum up all the things I felt as a youth but was never able to voice articulately." He summed up by stating, "I'm waving goodbye to me in the rear view mirror, tying a knot around my youth and putting it under the bed."The sprawling nature of the album means that it utilizes several different diverse styles amongst the songs, contrasting what some critics felt was the "one dimensional flavor" of the previous two albums. A much wider variety of instrumentation is used, such as piano ("Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"), synthesizers and drum loops ("1979"), a live orchestra ("Tonight, Tonight"), and even salt shakers and scissors ("Cupid de Locke").
All guitars on the album were tuned down a half-step in order to "make the music a little lower", according to Corgan. On some songs, like "Jellybelly", the sixth string was tuned down an additional whole step to C# (referred to by Corgan as "the 'grunge tuning'"). There was a greater variety to the number of guitar overdubs utilized than on previous albums. Iha said, "[I]n the past, everything had to be overdubbed and layered—guitar overkill. That wasn't really the train of thought this time, although we did that too." "To Forgive" consists of only one live guitar take, while "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" contains approximately 70 guitar tracks. The various sections of "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” were recorded at various times, with different instruments and recording setups, and were digitally composited in Pro Tools. Corgan and Iha shared soloing duties; Iha estimated that the guitar solo duties were divided "half and half" on the record.
All but two songs on the album were written solely by Corgan. The closing track from the first disc, "Take Me Down", was written and sung by Iha, while the album's final track, "Farewell and Goodnight", was cowritten by Corgan and Iha, and features lead vocals by all four band members. Iha wrote additional songs during the making of the album, but they did not make the final cut. Corgan said in a 1995 Rolling Stone interview, "[T]here are some B sides that James did that are really good. They just don't fit in the context of the album. And part of me feels bad. But over the seven years we've been together, the least uptight part of the band has been the music."
Release and receptionMellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was released on October 24, 1995. The following week, Mellon Collie debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, an unusual feat for a double-disc album that cost over US$20. The RIAA has certified the album as having sold 9.8 million copies in the United States. The album received critical acclaim.
Christopher John Farley of Time called the album "the group's most ambitious and accomplished work yet". Farley wrote, "One gets the feeling that the band [. . .] charged ahead on gut instincts; the sheer scope of the album (28 songs) didn't allow for second-guessing or contrivance." Time selected Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness as the best album of the year in its year-end "Best of 1995" list. Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A rating; reviewer David Browne praised the group's ambition and wrote, "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is more than just the work of a tortured, finicky pop obsessive. Corgan presents himself as one of the last true believers: someone for whom spewing out this much music results in some sort of high art for the ages. He doesn't seem concerned with persistent alterna-rock questions of 'selling out', and good for him: He's aiming for something bigger and all-conquering." Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars. Reviewer Jim DeRogatis praised the album as "one of the rare epic rock releases whose bulk is justified in the grooves". The writer stated that the album's main flaw was Corgan's lyrics, describing the songwriter as "wallowing in his own misery and grousing about everyone and everything not meeting his expectations." While DeRogatis contended that Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness "may even match The Wall in its sonic accomplishments", he argued that Corgan's lyrics lacked in comparison. Mojo reviewer Ben Edmunds also praised the music while criticizing Corgan's lyrics. Edmunds wrote, "[Corgan's] lyrics appear to be the repository for the worst aspects of his most treasured influences. He writes with a heavy metal aptitude for wordplay and an inflated prog-rock conviction of its worth, a deadening combination. But there's a sliver of distance in his rage-mongering now that comments as well as expresses."
The album spawned five singles. While Corgan considered issuing "Jellybelly" as the album's first single, he told Chart it was passed over in favor of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" because "'Bullet's one of those songs where, you know, it's easy to sing along to and [he affects a drawl] ya gotta sell them records." "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" was The Smashing Pumpkins' first single to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 22. "1979", the album's second single, charted at number 12, becoming the band's highest-charting American hit. The "Zero" single was released as an EP with six b-sides. All three of these singles were certified gold by the RIAA. "Tonight, Tonight" and "Thirty-Three", the album's final singles, reached number 36 and number 39 on the Billboardcharts, respectively. While it was not commercially released as a single, the song "Muzzle" reached number eight on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and number ten on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness earned The Smashing Pumpkins nominations in seven categories at the 1997 Grammy Awards, the second-highest number of nominations that year. The group was nominated for Album of the Year, Record of the Year ("1979"), Best Alternative Music Performance, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("1979"), Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal ("Bullet with Butterfly Wings"), Best Pop Instrumental Performance("Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"), and Best Music Video, Short Form ("Tonight, Tonight") at the 1997 Grammy Awards. The band won a single award, for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal for "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"; it was the group's first. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness also ranked at number 14 on the 1995 Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll, and 487 on the Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
AdoreReleased June 2, 1998, Length 73:25, Label Virgin
Adore is the fourth album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released in June 1998 by Virgin Records. After the multi-platinum success of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and a subsequent yearlong world tour, follow-up Adore was considered "one of the most anticipated albums of 1998" by MTV. Recording the album proved to be a challenge as the band members struggled with lingering interpersonal problems and musical uncertainty in the wake of three increasingly successful rock albums and the departure of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Frontman Billy Corgan would later characterize Adore as "a band falling apart".
1. To Sheila 4:46
2. Ava Adore 4:21
3. Perfect 3:23
4. Daphne Descends 4:39
5. Once Upon a Time 4:06
6. Tear 5:53
7. Crestfallen 4:09
8. Appels + Oranjes 3:35
9. Pug 4:47
10. The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete 4:35
11. Annie-Dog 3:38
12. Shame" 6:40
13. Behold! The Night Mare 5:13
14. For Martha 8:18
15. Blank Page 4:58
16. 17 0:17
17. Once in a While 3:33
The result was a much more subdued and electronica-tinged sound that Greg Kot of Rolling Stone magazine called "a complete break with the past". The album divided the fan base and sold only a fraction of the previous two albums. However, the album was well received by critics, and became the third straight Pumpkins album to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. After a brief tour and promotional window, Chamberlin rejoined the band and work began on a new album, Machina/The Machines of God.
Background
The Smashing Pumpkins had cemented their place as a cultural force with the multi-platinum Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Already sensing the limits of their guitar-driven hard rock sound, the band had started to branch out during the making of Mellon Collie, and, after the chart-topping success of the electronic-leaning "1979", the band zeroed in on electronica.As the sprawling and massively successful Infinite Sadness tour wound down, Billy Corgan found himself facing many difficult issues, including musical burnout, the absence of his "best friend and musical soul mate in the band" Jimmy Chamberlin, the end of his marriage, and the death of his mother to cancer.
In this period, the band released two new singles on movie soundtracks—"Eye" and "The End Is the Beginning Is the End". Both songs incorporated electronic elements, yet retained the hard rock elements of the band's previous material; one reviewer called the two singles "balls-out, full-energy chargers" and wrote off the Pumpkins' previous remarks that the upcoming album would "rock" less.
However, the new album material Corgan was writing consisted mainly of simple acoustic songs. Corgan, James Iha, D'arcy Wretzky, and Matt Walker spent a few days in the studio in February 1997 laying down demos mostly as live takes, and the band hoped to quickly record an entire album in such a manner. Corgan, hoping to maintain the band's progressive rock-inspired experimentation, soon had second thoughts about this approach and began envisioning a hybrid of folk rock and electronica that was at once "ancient" and "futuristic".
Recording
After playing several festival dates in summer 1997, the band began working at a variety of Chicago studios with producer Brad Wood—with whom Corgan previously had worked in the early 1990s. While Mellon Collie had mostly been recorded with the full participation of all of the band members, the band dynamics during the new sessions soon muddled as Corgan, uninspired by his bandmates, worked mostly alone. Wood, too, was leaving Corgan unsatisfied, so, after six weeks in Chicago, the band—minus Wood and Matt Walker—relocated to Los Angeles and started work at Sunset Sound, with Corgan now the de facto producer.At the behest of the band's management, Rick Rubin was brought in to produce one song, "Let Me Give the World to You", but the song was left off the album, later to be re-recorded for Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music. With around thirty songs recorded, Corgan began to see an end, and enlisted Mellon Collie co-producer Flood to help finish the recording, pull the album together, and mix the songs.The band rented a house, and hoped that living communally would foster good relations and a happier recording environment. According to Corgan, Iha refused to live in the house and rarely visited. The recording sessions continued to be slow-moving and heavily technical. In the absence of a drummer, the band used a drum machine as it had in its earliest incarnation. The band also enlisted Joey Waronker, of Beck's band, and Matt Cameron, of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, for a few songs each. Bon Harris of Nitzer Ebb contributed electronic sequencing and sounds to eight album tracks, with the band giving him mostly free reign.
Art direction for the album is credited to Frank Olinsky, Billy Corgan, and Corgan's then-girlfriend and frequent collaborator Yelena Yemchuk. The artwork for the album and its singles consisted almost entirely of black-and-white photographs shot by Yemchuk, many of which featured model Amy Wesson.
MusicCorgan was deliberately setting out to widen his band's sound and message, explaining that he was not "talking to teenagers anymore. I'm talking to everyone now. It's a wider dialogue. I'm talking to people who are older than me and younger than me, and our generation as well."
Distorted guitars and live drums, the previous hallmarks of the Pumpkins sound, took a back seat in a sonic palette that included much more synthesizers, drum programming, acoustic guitar, and piano. At least five songs on the album are driven chiefly by piano, while the track "Appels + Oranjes" contains only electronic instruments and Corgan's vocals.
"Tear" was written for the Lost Highway soundtrack, but was rejected by David Lynch in favor of "Eye". "Pug" was originally recorded as a "minor key blues death march" with drums by Matt Cameron, while the album version uses drum programming. The only song on the album to feature Cameron, "For Martha", is a tribute to Corgan's mother that was primarily recorded as one live take.
Apart from being the first album without Jimmy Chamberlin, Adore was the first album to not include writing contributions from James Iha, who was concurrently working on his solo album Let It Come Down. However, he did contribute the track "Summer" to the "Perfect" single.
Aside from "Let Me Give the World to You", the hard rock song "Cash Car Star" was left off the album, also later to surface on Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music.
Promotion and release
Adore was released on June 1, 1998 in most of the world, the same day the video for first single "Ava Adore" premiered. The album booklet and music video showed off the band's new gothic look. The second single, "Perfect", was also accompanied by a music video, which debuted on August 16.The lead-up to Adore was marked by conflicting statements as to the album’s sound—Corgan initially said the band was heading in the direction of the heavy-metal-guitar-and-electronic music-driven "The End is the Beginning is the End" in summer 1997, while the band's management reported the album would be all-acoustic. In early 1998, Corgan called the sound "arcane night music", elaborating, “The people that say it's acoustic will be wrong. The people that say it's electronic will be wrong. The people that say it's a Pumpkins record will be wrong. I will try to make something that is indescribable".
An Evening with The Smashing PumpkinsAfter the marathon Infinite Sadness tour, the band embarked on a scaled-back 36-date world tour entitled An Evening with The Smashing Pumpkins to support Adore. Abroad, the Pumpkins played at what had been called an "eclectic mix of interesting venues", among them the rooftop of a FNAC record store in Paris, France, at theCannes Film Festival, and at an International Shipping Harbor in Sydney, Australia. In the United States, the Pumpkins donated 100% of their ticket profits to local charities (yet one stop on the tour, Minneapolis, was a free concert and under estimated the attendance of the show). In the end, the Pumpkins, with the help of their fans, raised over $2.8 million in this manner.
The lineup was the most expansive yet, including former John Mellencamp and Melissa Etheridge drummer Kenny Aronoff, percussionists Dan Morris and Stephen Hodges, and David Bowie pianist Mike Garson. Violinist Lisa Germano was also set to appear, but did not ultimately appear in the touring line-up. The set was mainly Adore material, with only a handful of reworked Mellon Collie songs and no songs from prior to 1995, eliminating many of their radio hits and fan favorites.
Reception and aftermath
Critical reception to Adore was generally positive. Greg Kot of Rolling Stone magazine regarded Adore as "the most intimate album the Pumpkins have ever made and also the prettiest, a parade of swooning melodies and gentle, unfolding nocturnes." Ryan Schreiber of Pitchfork Media described the album as "the Pumpkins' best offering since Siamese Dream." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic described Adore as "a hushed, elegiac album that sounds curiously out of time," though he noted that the album "ultimately isn't a brave step forward." Most recently, Adore was considered one of "an inspiring range of 25 classic alternative American albums" by The Guardian. The lyrics received particular praise from critics—Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times, who in 1993 had criticized Corgan's lyrics as "too often sound[ing] like sophomoric poetry", said Corgan "took a big leap forward as a lyricist" starting with Adore.Schreiber, who criticized Mellon Collie as "lyrical rock-bottom", called Adore's lyrics "poetic", particularly singling out "To Sheila". Greg Kot emphasized the "oblique, private longings, and weighty, sometimes awkward conceits" in the lyrics, while David Browne of Entertainment Weekly called them "unsettled and unsettling." The contributions of Wretzky and Iha also received praise, with Kot noting that "Iha's quirky guitar accents and Wretzky's unflashy resolve [. . .] giveAdore a warmth and camaraderie no other Pumpkins album can match."Despite this, public reception to Adore was lukewarm. Adore entered the Billboard album charts at number two with 174,000 units of the album sold, and was certified platinum by the RIAA five weeks later, but the album soon departed the charts, leaving Adore far short of the sales figures of its predecessors. Two additional promotional singles, "Crestfallen" and "To Sheila", were released to radio stations but failed to gain traction and were never released as commercial singles. Promotion for Adore finished by the end of 1998, in contrast to the 2 year touring and promotion schedule for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
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.
As of May 2005, Adore has sold 1.1 million units in the U.S., and at least three times as many copies worldwide.
Machina/ The Machines of God
Released February 29, 2000, Length 73:23, Label Virgin
1.The Everlasting Gaze 4:00
2.Raindrops + Sunshowers 4:39
3.Stand Inside Your Love 4:14
4.I of the Mourning 4:37
5.The Sacred and Profane 4:22
6.Try, Try, Try 5:09
7.Heavy Metal Machine 5:52
8.This Time 4:43
9.The Imploding Voice 4:24
10.Glass and the Ghost Children 9:56
11.Wound 3:58
12.The Crying Tree of Mercury 3:43
13.With Every Light 3:56
14.Blue Skies Bring Tears 5:45
15.Age of Innocence 3:55
Machina/The Machines of God is the fifth album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on February 29, 2000 by Virgin Records. A concept album, it marked the return of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and was intended to be the band's final official LP release prior to their first breakup in 2000. A sequel album—Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music—was later released independently via the Internet.
As with its predecessor Adore, Machina represented a drastic image and sound change for the band that failed to reconnect the band with chart-topping success. However, after the relatively brief Adore tour, the new lineup featuring Chamberlin and former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur mounted longer international tours that returned the live incarnation of the band to guitar-driven hard rock territory.
Background and concept
After the Adore tour ended in the second semester of 1998, Billy Corgan immediately began to work on new material, debuting new songs as early as October of that year. That same month, the four original band members convened, and it was decided that Jimmy Chamberlin would rejoin the band, and that a final album and tour would be mounted before the group disbanded permanently. Corgan envisioned a lengthy concept album in conjunction with a musical theater approach to a tour, based around the idea of the band playing exaggerated versions of themselves, as the press and public seemed to view them. He later explained, "the band had become such cartoon characters at that point in the way we were portrayed in the media, the idea was that we would sort of go out and pretend we were the cartoon characters."Corgan started recording demos in late 1998, and the band entered the studio in early 1999.From there, a story was conceived revolving around a rock star named Zero (based on the public persona of Corgan) hearing the voice of God, renaming himself Glass, and renaming his band The Machines of God. Fans of the band were referred to as the "Ghost Children", which has now become a term for Pumpkins fans.
Recording
Much like previous albums, the songs were first tracked acoustically at Corgan's house in late 1998 before the band set to work on them at their practice space and the Chicago Recording Company. The recording was conducted with the team responsible for finishing Adore - co-producer Flood and engineers Howard Willing and Bjorn Thorsrud.The band took a break from recording in April 1999 to embark on the Arising! tour, which took the band to nine small clubs. After the tour's conclusion, D'arcy Wretzky left the band, leaving the rest of the band in a difficult position. Corgan later said, "This put a stress obviously on the full integrity of the project, because it was connected to the band not only bringing the music to fruition fully, but also the public component of being in character. I ended up in a broken band with a half-ass enthusiasm towards finishing a project already started."
Flood later remembered, "We decided that we were going to have to make a very different kind of record...we pretty much went back to the drawing board. Certain songs on the record are survivors from that first period, but it meant a shift in the ways songs had to be formed."
Corgan described the new recording process for Machina, now focusing more on the song development than on the concept:
| “ | We spent most of the time trying to take the songs as far as they could be taken down a particular avenue. So if it was gonna be proto cyber metal, we tried to make it very proto and very cyber. If it was acoustic, then we tried to not fall into the (typical) ballad-y kind of aspects. That's where we spent most of our time. The songs were probably written in about a day. | ” |
In the end, the theatrical qualities of the live performances and appearances were mostly abandoned, with the album itself veering away from being a pure concept album. Many of the songs on the album refer to love and relationships (both romantic and otherwise) ending, most of them obvious references to the band themselves. Corgan described "This Time" as "my love song to the band". According to Corgan, the album was structured so that the first eight tracks would be "more poppy", and the last five "more arty". Generally, Corgan appraised the sound of the album as "a rock 'n' roll approach with pop sensibility". After the demure Adore, Machina represented a return to the distorted guitar sound of prior albums, though synthesizers and acoustic guitars were still heavily used.
Marketing and release
Corgan presented Machina to Virgin Records as a double album, but the label was not interested after the disappointing sales of Adore. Machina was released as a single album on February 29, 2000, with a bonus disc, Still Becoming Apart, available at certain stores.On March 9, the band went on the Thursday edition of @MTV Week at Broadway Studios in New York City for a half hour live TV special. During the broadcast they performed "The Everlasting Gaze" as well as "I of the Mourning" after an online and call in voting competition between three songs off of Machina. The special also featured Carson Daly interviewing the band members and online chats with the band, and an interactive online video for "The Crying Tree of Mercury".A video was made for "Stand Inside Your Love", the planned first single, in late 1999, but at the last minute, "The Everlasting Gaze" was issued as the album's first promotional radio single in December 1999. "Stand Inside Your Love" was released as the first commercially available single on January 21, 2000. "I of the Mourning" was also released as a promotional single and received limited airplay. "Heavy Metal Machine" was issued as a promotional cassette but was not distributed to radio stations.
On May 23, Corgan announced on KROQ-FM that the band would be breaking up at the end of the year. The band reconvened in a studio to finish off the leftover Machina tracks, but Virgin remained uninterested, so the band released Machina II on their own in September, handing them off to fans to distribute free over the Internet.
The video for the final single, "Try, Try, Try", directed by Jonas Åkerlund, was released on September 11, 2000, but did not receive much airplay due to its explicit content and drug use.
Glass and The Machines of God
The booklet artwork, a series of paintings by Vasily Kafanov, loosely told the album's story while hinting at themes related to alchemy, chemistry, metallurgy, physics, medicine, astrology, semiotics, mysticism, spiritualism, and art. The album was nominated for a 2001 Grammy for Best Recording Package.Although the full extent of the original concept went unrealized, the storyline of Glass was tied to the album's release and marketing. A sequence of writings, by Corgan, were released under the name "Glass and the Machines of God" starting in the CD booklet and continuing over the Internet and elsewhere. Additional entries, under the name "Chards of Glass", were posted by the band while on tour. Corgan challenged fans to solve the "Machina mystery" hinted at through it all, and in December 2000 posted his favorite fan interpretations.
In June 2001, a viral marketing campaign written by Jim Evans was launched via the Smashing Pumpkins message board, encouraging users to seek out mysterious websites and video clips. This early example of an internet-based alternate reality game eventually unveiled the news of a new online animated series by Sony based on the Machinastory. Due in part to the changing circumstances surrounding the album's rollout, the series was shelved before any episodes were completed, though several portions have been leaked to YouTube. Corgan later said, "Yeah, I think you can find a few bits and pieces, but it never got finished unfortunately. That would've at least explained what the fuck I was trying to do [laughs]. I'm not even sure now what I was trying to do. But I was trying to do something."
Reception
Machina is the second lowest-selling commercially released Pumpkins album to date, with U.S. sales of 583,000 units as of 2005. Although it entered the U.S. charts at number 3, selling 165,000 copies in its first week, sales declined sixty percent the second week, and continued to slide. Regarding the disappointing sales, Jimmy Chamberlin commented, "It was like watching your kid flunking out of school after getting straight As for ten years." Billy Corgan, in 2008, summarized the failures of the album:
| “ | I think the combination of the band breaking up during that record, D'arcy leaving the band... Korn was huge at the time, Limp Bizkit was huge at the time, so the album wasn't heavy enough. It wasn't alternative enough, it was sort of caught between the cracks. And it was a concept record, which nobody understood. So the combination of those elements was a career-killer... Adore didn't alienate the audience, they were just sort of like, 'Oh, it's not the record I want.' [Machina] alienated people. | ” |
The album received mixed reviews - Brent DiCrescenzo of Pitchfork Media heavily criticized the album's length, "Wall of Sound" production style, and ponderous themes. Others contend that Machina brought together the rock sensibilities of Smashing Pumpkins' early albums with the atmospherics and lyrical maturity of 1998's Adore. Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times called Machina "an exceedingly impressive and hard-driving record".
Machina II/ The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music
Released September 5, 2000, Length 94:23, Label Constantinople
EP one (CR-01)Machina II/ The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music
Released September 5, 2000, Length 94:23, Label Constantinople
1.Slow Dawn 3:14
2.Vanity 4:08
2.Vanity 4:08
3.Saturnine 4:11
4.Glass 2:55
EP two (CR-02)
1.Soul Power 3:02
EP two (CR-02)
1.Soul Power 3:02
2.Cash Car Star 3:41
3.Lucky 13 3:05
4.Speed Kills 4:51
EP three (CR-03)
EP three (CR-03)
1. If There Is a God 2:34
2. Try 4:23
2. Try 4:23
3. Heavy Metal Machine 6:47
Two-LP set (CR-04)1.Glass 1:54
2.Cash Car Star 3:18
2.Cash Car Star 3:18
3,Dross 3:26
4.Real Love 4:16
5.Go 3:47
6.Let Me Give the World to You 4:10
7.Innosense 2:33
8.Home 4:29
9.Blue Skies Bring Tears 3:18
10.White Spyder 3:37
11.In My Body 6:50
12.If There Is a God 2:08
13.Le Deux Machina 1:54
14.Atom Bomb 3:51
Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music is the sixth album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was released for free on the Internet on September 5, 2000. Plans for a standard physical release, bundled with the first part Machina/The Machines of God, was revealed to happen sometime in 2013.
The album itself, a double LP, was packaged with three EPs full of B-sides and alternate versions. Both Machinaalbums are loose concept albums telling the story of "a rock star gone mad". Machina II was the last Smashing Pumpkins studio album until the band reformed in 2007.
History
Near the conclusion of the Machina sessions, it was Billy Corgan's wish to release a double album of material, but Virgin Records was unwilling to do that following the disappointing sales of Adore. After the release and poor sales of the single-disc Machina/The Machines of God, Corgan then wanted to release a second Machina album separately, but Virgin declined to do this as well. The band nonetheless returned to the Chicago Recording Company in July 2000 to finish what would become Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, which was subsequently released on Corgan's own label Constantinople Records. Only twenty-five copies were made, and were given mostly to friends of the band. A few of the 25 copies were purposely shipped to prominent fans in the online community, with instructions to immediately redistribute it on the Internet free of charge.Promotion
The Pumpkins performed a track from the album ("Cash Car Star") on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which also ended up being the band's final television appearance until their 2007 revival. The performance was a rarity as "Cash Car Star" was not a single in any way, and Machina II was unavailable for purchase. (Leno even held up an actual vinyl hard copy of the album in true talk show performance tradition, with the comment "You can download it on the Internet") A previous live performance of the song had been broadcast as a portion of Kiss' 1998 Psycho Circus Halloween special, where The Smashing Pumpkins served as the opening act.
The album
Machina II picks up the loose story of Glass and The Machines of God started in Machina/The Machines of God. Songs like "Glass' Theme", "Cash Car Star", "Home", and the B-side "Speed Kills" are indisputably related to Corgan's story (see corresponding flowchart to the left). The first three songs, considerably more intense than much of the Pumpkins' other releases, are a hearkening to the earlier, famous Smashing Pumpkins sound, blending dream pop with arena rock, while "Let Me Give the World to You" has a melodic, radio-friendly sound. "Real Love", which would later appear on the band's Rotten Apples, has a sound reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine. "Home" has been called "simply gorgeous" and compared to U2. The album's closing track, "Here's to the Atom Bomb", has been compared favorably to the Pumpkins' biggest hit, "1979".
Zeitgeist
Released July 6, 2007, Length 52:22, Label Reprise
1.Doomsday Clock 3:34
2.7 Shades of Black 3:17
3.Bleeding the Orchid 4:03
4.That's the Way (My Love Is) 3:48
5.Tarantula 3:51
6.Starz 3:43
7.United States 9:52
8.Neverlost 4:20
9.Bring the Light 3:40
10.(Come On) Let's Go! 3:19
11.For God and Country 4:24
12.Pomp and Circumstances 4:21Zeitgeist is the seventh album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 10, 2007 in the United States and Canada. It was the first album The Smashing Pumpkins released after their 2000 disbandment and 2005 reunion. The album was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, and Terry Date. The album would be Chamberlin's last with the band before his departure in 2009. The album was met with mixed reviews and a strong debut, but gradually slid down the charts. It was certified Gold in the United States on February 1, 2008.
Background
After The Smashing Pumpkins disbanded in 2000, Corgan and Chamberlin reunited for the short-lived supergroup Zwan, also featuring members of Slint, Chavez, and A Perfect Circle. The group released one album, Mary Star of the Sea, before dissolving in 2003. Chamberlin then formed Jimmy Chamberlin Complex, while Corgan would focus on a solo album. On June 21, 2005, the day of the release of his album TheFutureEmbrace, Corgan took out full-page advertisements in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times to announce that he had "made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins." Chamberlin soon announced that he would be rejoining the band, and the two began living together in north Scottsdale, Arizona in November 2005, writing and rehearsing new songs. Within three weeks of practicing, the pair decided they had recaptured the sound of the band and prepared to record a new album.
On April 20, 2006, the band's website confirmed that the band had reunited and started work on a new album. The website later announced that the new album would be produced by Roy Thomas Baker. Chamberlin and Corgan were verified as participants in the reunion, but there was question as to whether other former members of the band would participate. In April 2007, James Iha and Melissa Auf der Maur separately confirmed that they were not taking part in the reunion.
Recording
With the other band members absent, Chamberlin and Corgan decided to record the album alone, which Corgan claims is not a serious departure from how previous Pumpkins albums were made. After the songs were finalized, Chamberlin laid down all of the drum tracks. Notably, the drums for the ten-minute track "United States" were recorded in one live take. After the drums were completed, Chamberlin began the process of interviewing prospective touring band members, while Corgan went about recording the guitar, bass, keyboard, and vocal parts. Chamberlin described the recording sessions as a "long laborious process to greatness". For the first time on a Smashing Pumpkins record, Chamberlin served as one of the producers, and was present and influential through much more of the recording process than he typically has been.The band's insistence on recording live to tape, without click tracks or editing, was met with distaste by most producers they spoke to. One executive at Reprise suggested using American Idiot producer Rob Cavallo, in the name of commercial success. The band held out until they met someone willing to record analog, and with the right energy and philosophy, eventually choosing producer Roy Thomas Baker, who they considered "a real soul mate." Terry Date also contributed, and, according to Corgan, Date's production style helped the songs "resonate on a physical level". The album was largely recorded in the home studio of former Catherine drummer (and D'arcy Wretzky's ex-husband) Kerry Brown, on the same 24-track tape recorder that 1995's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was recorded on—in fact, no computers were used for the recording of the album. As with the other Smashing Pumpkins albums, Zeitgeist was recorded in twelve-hour days, six or seven days a week, until it was finished. The mixing process also differed from previous albums'. According to Baker, "everything had sort of an on/off switch. So instead of having various degrees of volumes, we'd have the approach of, 'It's either on or it's not'".
Style
Chamberlin explained the Pumpkins' goals for the album:| “ | The mindset of the record was to put our best foot forward and not get too artsy. We wanted to try to create a body of work that was concentrated enough to bring back a fan base and invigorate a new fan base. We kept it pretty close to the chest, and we didn't branch out too deep into art zone while we were writing the record. | ” |
Corgan's mantra for the album's rhythm parts was "Shuffle!", which Jimmy Chamberlin resisted, but which eventually resulted in two songs on the albums with shuffle beats.
The album is among the heavier releases by Smashing Pumpkins. Corgan attributes this to his perception that "people wanted to hear some energy, that they didn't want us rolling over and crying in our milk". He compared the mindset of the record to that of Gish, which was to make a statement "without trying to make the next The Wall." Regarding the aggressive drumming on the album, Chamberlin observes that "the world is ready for something with some balls behind it."
The album has prominent vocal overdubs - nearly every song has multiple layers of Corgan's voice, a decision brought about by Baker's operatic production style as well as the knowledge that the new touring members would be able to sing harmonies.
The song "Bleeding the Orchid," about the commercial exploitation of the early-90s alternative rock movement, was deliberately styled after the music of Alice in Chains, a band that Corgan now greatly admires. "Pomp and Circumstances" was set to have string arrangements by Danny Elfman, but when he amicably withdrew from the project, the band decided to create its own synthesized orchestration.
Development and promotion
"Tarantula" was announced and released as the album's first single on May 23, 2007. The track "Doomsday Clock" appeared on the soundtrack of the film Transformers. On June 19, 2007, the track was released to iTunes. On July 2, 2007, the entire album was posted on Muchmusic for free streaming.Tour
Finishing their debut leg in Europe in June 2007, the band would continue touring, repeatedly jump between Europe and North America. The band returned stateside for an American leg of their tour kicked off with a sold-out, nine-day residency at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina, on June 23, 2007. A similar residency at The Fillmore was chronicled for the DVD If All Goes Wrong. The tour would also include an appearance at Al Gore's Live Earth festival on July 7, 2007, three days before the North American release of the album. Europe would see the band return on another European leg on August 12, 2007, in Stockholm, Sweden and when the band headlined Reading and Leeds Festivals on the August bank holiday weekend of 2007 in England. The Pumpkins returned in September 2007 to play shows in North America, and continued until mid-November. On January 28, 2008, the band returned to Europe to play shows in the Czech Republic and Austria and playing their first Belfast performance in February. They later went on to perform at London's O2 Arena in England, each show attracted a sell out crowd with the London concert attracting over 20,000 people to the O2. Apart from Europe, the band co-headlined the 2008 V Festival in Australia, and played three gigs in New Zealand.Prior to the album's release, the reunited Smashing Pumpkins made their debut performing live for the first time on May 22, 2007 in Paris, France. There, the band unveiled new members Jeff Schroeder and Ginger Reyes, who took over rhythm guitar and bass duties, respectively. Lisa Harriton completed the line-up on keyboards and vocals.
Release and reception
Zeitgeist debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, selling 145,000 copies in its first week. It also reached the top spots onBillboard's Internet Albums and Rock Albums charts in its first week, and hit the top 10 in Canada (#1), New Zealand (#1), the United Kingdom (#4), Germany (#7), Australia (#7), and other countries. The album was certified gold by the RIAA with 500,000 copies shipped as of February 1, 2008. Regarding the album's sales in 2010, Corgan stated that the album "went gold. But people didn't listen to it. I could tell that people weren't listening to the album. In the past if you put out an album, people at least knew the first song. We would go out and play "Doomsday Clock" and I could tell that they hadn't even listened to it. I don't view it as a gross disappointment. It's disappointing to me that what I was trying to communicate didn't get the chance to be communicated."Zeitgeist has received mixed reviews, indicated by a score of 59/100 on Metacritic. Some negative criticism of the album stemmed from the absence of half of the original lineup, with Pitchfork Media's Rob Mitchum suggesting the name was revived for "cash or attention or both." Q's Paul Rees commented that "at least half of Zeitgeist is made up of grinding songs that amount to riffs, pummelling and little else," and that Zeitgeist's emotional range is "limited and wearing", but praised Chamberlin's drumming, stating that he "remains one of the most powerful drummers in rock."In addition, Modern Drummer proclaimed that the album contains "Chamberlin's greatest drumming ever put to CD."However, the album has garnered higher marks from other sources, including ratings of 4/5 from Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and Uncut. Positive reviews have downplayed the personnel changes, pointing out Corgan's dominance over songwriting and music throughout the band's history.The album was praised by April Long of Uncutfor its energy and retention of Smashing Pumpkins' "signature goth-metal-shoegaze sound." This album was #43 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.
The album divided the Pumpkins' fanbase. Corgan would later admit, "I know a lot of our fans are puzzled by Zeitgeist. I think they wanted this massive, grandiose work, but you don't just roll out of bed after seven years without a functioning band and go back to doing that".
Artwork
On May 6, 2007, four photographs of the album booklet artwork were leaked on Netphoria, a Smashing Pumpkins fan message board. The band management soon released a statement to the media stating the photos are "stolen goods" that should not be posted on the Internet. Later in the week, the alleged thieves were identified as Joshua Kuhl and Simon Brown, both 21. The Chicago Police announced that 39 photographs and three guitar picks were stolen, although only four to six of those photographs were leaked online. The two were held on $100,000 bond. Asked about the band's predicament, a Chicago police officer commented, "They were pissed." The pair were arrested /and charged with felony burglary after other tenants of the building provided a description that led police to the suspects.On May 16, 2007, the band's official website published an official album cover made by Obey Giant graphic designer and illustrator Shepard Fairey: a red, black and white illustration of a drowning Statue of Liberty, positioned in front of the sun that is rising. Fairey, whose credits include creating anti-war posters and the poster art for the feature film Walk the Line, commented on the album cover:
"I think global warming is an issue that is currently relevant, time sensitive, and a symptom of the shortsightedness of the U.S. As a broader metaphor, the drowning Statue of Liberty, a revered icon of the U.S., symbolizes the eminent demise of many of the ideals upon which the nation was founded. Civil liberties, freedom of speech, privacy, etc. have been decreasing since 9/11. The sun in the image could either be setting or rising and this ambiguity shows that there is still hope to turn things around... The U.S. is the dominant global force. When things are going wrong in the U.S. they are probably going wrong around the world. I think this image conveys both the U.S. situation and its larger global implications."
Corgan commented, "Like a great artist can do, Shepard had summed up very simply a lot of complex themes. He also used the type font from our very first single, and I asked him about it and he had no idea. He was just on point." Fairey also remarked "I use red frequently because it is a visually powerful, emotionally potent color. Red gets people's attention. In this case there is the added possibility that the red liquid could be blood, giving it an even more sinister sense of foreboding." The red color of the artwork was changed for most of the special edition releases. The Best Buy reissue features a black-and-white version of the original artwork.
Teargarden by KaleidyscopeReleased December 7, 2009, Label Martha's Music/ Rocket Science
Vol. 1: Songs for a Sailor
1.A Song for a Son 6:03
2.Astral Planes 4:06
3.Widow Wake My Mind 4:59
4.A Stitch in Time 3:28
5.Teargarden Theme 2:55
Vol. 2: The Solstice Bare1.The Fellowship 3:53
2.Freak 3:54
3.Tom Tom 4:04
4.Spangled 2:32
5.Cottonwood Symphony † 3:05
Vol. 3Lightning Strikes 3:56
Owata 3:39
Teargarden by Kaleidyscope is the eighth album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. A series of 44 individual songs, it is being released one track at a time through free MP3 downloads over the course of several years. As of May 2011, ten songs have been made available for free download and two physical, limited-edition EPs, each containing four of the songs, have been released.
Announced by the band's frontman Billy Corgan on September 16, 2009, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope is a concept album inspired by the Tarot, and in Corgan's words, "a new kind of album [...] you can hear as it's being made." It is currently being released over the Internet, from the band's official website for free, one song at a time. Each time a set of four tracks is made available for download, it is later made available for purchase as an EP box set. Once each of the planned eleven four-song sets have been released, the entire album will reportedly be released as a box set with entirely new packaging and exclusive content.
Background
The Smashing Pumpkins reformed in 2006, after a six-year hiatus, releasing the studio album Zeitgeist in 2007. Although Zeitgeist went gold, which Billy Corgan considered an achievement given the state of the music industry, Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin decided in 2008 that they would not make another traditional studio album, citing changing listener habits.In March 2009, Chamberlin left the band. Corgan held tryouts to find a replacement, eventually deciding on 19-year-old Mike Byrne. In April, Corgan laid out his vision for the new album:
| “ | I don't think I'm going to make albums in the old-fashioned way, meaning 12-15 songs, etc. in one small package. My desire at this point would be to release one song at a time, over a period of 2-3 years, with it all adding up to a box set/album of sorts that would also include an art movie of the album... My thinking is that if I focus on one song at a time I would approach them as beautiful, distinct paintings that would each require the attention they deserve. This would also mean I would choose what I am recording quite carefully as there would be tremendous internal pressure to get it just right, and that is the kind of pressure I like, which is to make the most beautiful thing possible. | ” |
Corgan spent much of summer 2009 in ex-Catherine member and "Superchrist" producer Kerry Brown's home studio, where Zeitgeist was recorded, recording demos for about fifty songs. In July, Corgan formed the band Spirits in the Sky to play a tribute concert to the late Sky Saxon of The Seeds. He then toured with the band, comprising Brown, Electric Prunes bassist Mark Tulin, Strawberry Alarm Clock keyboardist Mark Weitz, frequent Corgan collaborator Linda Strawberry, flautist Kevin Dippold, "Superchrist" violinist Ysanne Spevack, new Pumpkins drummer Mike Byrne, and Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, playing covers and some of the new Pumpkins songs at several clubs in California.
Concept and sound
Billy Corgan has said that he was inspired to write a story based on the four phases of 'The Fool's Journey' version of the Tarot - the Child, the Fool, the Skeptic, and the Mystic. Corgan has explained his interpretation of this view: "There's childlike innocence when you just don't really know anything in the world and it all seems sort of big and magical...the teen, aware but not really liking what's going on...the third person that's cynical, where you get kind of bitter because you feel so small and there's all these things that are sort of happening and there's not much you can do about it...the fourth stage out of that would be finding a sort of spiritual place within yourself where you can live in reality, you can see it for what it is, but maybe you can find a deeper source of inspiration and peace." In other words, the album finds Corgan "looking past, present and future all at the same time and trying to have that perspective".
Corgan says he considers the sound a return to the Pumpkins' "psychedelic roots", and describes it as "atmospheric, melodic, heavy, and pretty". His stated goal for the entire album is to create "a whole new exciting Smashing Pumpkins sound that is compatible with the old sound but is wholly different". Corgan feels an "affinity" between the new material and the first few Smashing Pumpkins albums, not because of a conscious effort, but because he is again enjoying that style. He is envisioning an "acoustic" period and an "experimental" period later in the album's creation. He acknowledged a Donovan influence on the sitar-tinged "A Stitch in Time".
Recording
The band is recording using a combination of analog tape and Pro Tools in Corgan's home studio in Chicago, with production duties handled primarily by Corgan with Kerry Brown and Bjorn Thorsrud, both veterans of earlier Pumpkins recordings.Co-producer Kerry Brown explained the mindset going into the recording:
| “ | The goal is to treat each song sonically different to best present its palette... Billy writes a song, we record a demo, listen back and find the feeling that the song evokes and then visualize the picture that it paints. | ” |
On the first two EPs, Billy Corgan handled the bulk of the guitar and keyboards, with Mike Byrne on drums and Mark Tulin handling much of the bass playing. Kerry Brown played congas on "Astral Planes", and Ysanne Spevack, Linda Strawberry, and Lisa Harriton have all mentioned contributing. In these sessions, Corgan consciously focused on finding the rhythmic "groove" in the music, as opposed to focusing more heavily on elaborate production or songwriting.
Starting with the third EP, the entire current lineup of the band is featured, including Jeff Schroeder on guitar and Nicole Fiorentino on bass. Recording for the third EP commenced in October 2010 and is ongoing.
Release
This is the second Smashing Pumpkins album released for free over the Internet, the first being 2000's Machina II: The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music.Teargarden is seeing such a release due to Corgan's reported hope that people hear the album before dismissing it, on top of his interest in "subverting a system that works against holistic thinking when it comes to how art is made and delivered to those who might want to hear it."All of the songs are planned to be released for free as 192-kbps, DRM-free MP3 files, available from direct links on the band's website. Meanwhile, the songs will be released as eleven four-song limited edition CD EP box sets.
The first physical EP, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope Vol. 1: Songs for a Sailor, consisting of a wooden box with the 4-song CD, a 7" vinyl record with one additional song, and a hand-carved stone obelisk, was released May 25 by Rocket Science Music. The second, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, Vol. 2: The Solstice Bare, was released on November 23, 2010 in the form of a cardboard box with the 4-song CD in a letterpressed sleeve and a 12" vinyl picture disc with all four EP tracks and a b-side.
Finally, the complete forty-four song album will be released as a complete box set, accompanied by an art film and a making-of documentary entitled The Making of Teargarden. Corgan says he is also considering a single-CD compilation of the best of the forty-four tracks.
On April 26, 2011, Corgan announced a change in the release method. Still under the Teargarden by Kaleidyscope name, the band now plans on releasing a full-length album titled Oceania in "late 2011." A physical release will be made available in early 2012. The new album was described by Billy Corgan as "an album within an album." In effect, Corgan says that Volume 3 of the EP releases will be put on hold until after the release of Oceania.
Promotion
To promote Record Store Day in 2010, the band performed live at Amoeba Records, offered free blacklight posters to those who pre-ordered the first EP from their local record stores, and released two limited edition 7" singles containing the album's first four songs. "Widow Wake My Mind" was promoted as a radio single, with Corgan appearing on WKQX in Chicago and several major-market stations adding it to rotation. On April 20, 2010, the band performed the song live with an Up with People choir on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.While "Widow Wake My Mind" failed to chart, the follow-up single, "Freak" was released on July 20, 2010, and reached #27 on the Billboard Alternative chart and #34 on the Rock Songs chart. Also in July, the band launched an American tour, and went on to tour several continents throughout 2010, playing songs from the new album and promoting the free downloads.
On October 12, 2010, "The Fellowship" was released on the television soundtrack for The Vampire Diaries. The free download was made available via the band's website on January 12, 2011. On March 17, 2011, "Lightning Strikes" was made available for free streaming on Rolling Stone's website. The song was made available for download the following day on March 18, 2011, on the band's website.
On May 3, 2011 the band released "Owata" for streaming on LA Weekly.com. A music video for the single was directed by Robby Starbuck, and will be first released as a 12-minute film on Yahoo! Music, June 29, 2011 at 9:00 PM Pacific. It is the first video to use a Red Epic-M camera.
Reception
The songs of Teargarden by Kaleidyscope have received mostly positive reviews thus far. Rolling Stone wrote: "Nothing in Corgan’s prolific recording history could have prepared us for the over five minutes of classic rock that is “A Song for a Son,” which starts off with a “Stairway to Heaven”-esque riff before exploding into the rest of ZoSo’s touchstones." Spin's review of "Widow Wake My Mind" was positive, naming the song "a very pleasant surprise." Rolling Stone included it in their "hot list", calling it "[Corgan's] sweetest pop melody since Kennedy left MTV."Nokia's Inside Music review lauded the free download scheme that Billy Corgan has implemented: "I'm completely stunned that tunes of this quality are up for grabs free for the anticipated 5 year duration of this project." The review continued, praising the maturing drumming of Mike Byrne: "It's worth pointing out that 19–20 year old drummer Mike Byrne is beginning to show signs that he may well be capable of filling the horrific void of Jimmy Chamberlin’s departure".
Jon Stone of the American Songwriter reacted positively to the second EP, "The Solstice Bare", stating that "The songs are not mind blowing, but for once, Billy doesn't seem like he is trying to prove his relevance to both old and new fans on every track. Respect is given to the song, rather than just the hook—quite an accomplishment from one of the most prolific and talented of hook writers."
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