Why Billy Corgan insists on using the Smashing Pumpkins name is beyond me, but I guess it’s because it sells records and recalls a certain sound, kind of like Robert Fripp calling three different bands King Crimson. Since the name was resurrected in 2007, Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin were the only two original members, with new guitarist Jeff Schroeder joining up, but Jimmy left and the hired hands that filled in for the Teargaden By Kaleidyscope project and the dull 2012 disc Oceania have since left as well, leaving only Corgan, Schroede, and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee as the trio behind Monuments To An Elegy.
Sidebar: That last clause seems a bit odd, since one of the keystones of the alt-rock movement was to be an actual alternative to the slick, overproduced, shallow soundalike hair metal that ruled the radio and MTV in the late 1980s. Two leading lights of two separate (and dated) music scenes now working together just feels off in theory, but in practice, Corgan’s over-the-top approach and Lee’s style mesh quite well.
Anyway, the point is that anything Corgan has released under the Pumpkins name since 2000’s MACHINA should be considered essentially a solo album (or The Billy Corgan Band, as one blogger put it), since it has little to do with the great ‘90s band. For those paying attention, this is the second of three albums in the Teargarden project, not counting the first 10 singles released on the band’s Web site and on three EPs).
Oh, and it’s the best “Pumpkins” music since at least Zeitgeist, if not MACHINA. First, it’s nine songs at half an hour, and only one of the titles sounds like a Dungeons & Dragons game. Second, while Corgan still favors layers of noise, there is economy in the songwriting, with only one song creeping over four minutes and the melodies and rhythm section being allowed to shine through. It’s not quite pop (except maybe for “Run2Me,” but simply loud, guitar-driven alternative rock, drawing on both the well of classic Pumpkins songs and the noisy sonic sculptures of the last two albums.
The best tunes are the explosive, dual-guitar-led “One And All” and the strident march and romantic sentiment of “Anaise!,” which is only weakened by the cheesy ‘80s synth and video game fills). Both “Drum + Fife” and “Anti-Hero” are propulsive and powerful and “Tiberius,” “Being Beige” and “Anti-Hero” are simply solid Corgan rock pieces that don’t bullshit around; the latter in particular is tight, intense and hooky. If the lyrics aren’t as fantastical or moving this time around, it’s only in keeping with the theme of the record.
Really, there isn’t a weak song here, although a few of them don’t rise to the level of the competition and the wall of noise can still overpower any sentiment or emotional attachment at times. But at 47 and in 2014, Corgan isn’t (and has never been) interested in churning out variations on his 1995 sound; he prefers to push forward, and working with a new drummer and a scaled-back, economical approach (for Corgan, anyway) seems to have rejuvenated his musical spirit, especially the hooky pop side that hasn’t been seen for some time.
