Smashing Pumpkins
MACHINA II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music
[Constantinople]
Rating: 7.7
I'd pretty much written the Smashing Pumpkins off after their severely
disappointing fifth (and assumed to be final) album, MACHINA/The
Machines of God. The laughable attempt at storyline, the terrible
songs, and the ungodly production flourishes glued the final sequin on
Billy Corgan's velvet-lined coffin.
Though I'd been a fan for many years, even through 1998's unfairly
maligned Adore, I didn't bat an eye when Corgan announced the
band's imminent breakup. Then comes this new, hastily issued "final
album." Rejected by their label, the band printed 25 copies (consisting
of three 10" EPs and a 2xLP set) on their own imprint, gave them to 25
people, and instructed them to distribute it digitally. This was their
best option to get the material out, since Virgin would have blocked any
attempt to release it on another label.
It would be extremely easy to dismiss this album as Billy simply taking
out the accumulated garbage of the past couple years. It would be easy,
that is, if it didn't almost redeem the Pumpkins. You certainly can't
accuse them of trying to make a buck, as they've probably lost at least
a couple hundred printing up the source copies of this Internet-distributed
release. And it's all the more frustrating that this album features an
abundance of tracks that throw the deficiencies of their previous record
into even sharper relief.
Within the first three songs, I'm immediately reminded of everything I
ever loved about the Smashing Pumpkins; perfect examples of the
dream-pop/arena-rock hybrid they forged back in 1993. The performances
are, for the most part, raw and mostly live sounding, with some tracks
actually recalling the glory days they spent in Butch Vig's basement.
Basically, you get the one thing missing on MACHINA I: the sound
of a band playing.
But there's plenty of filler in this set, too, and it's not really sequenced
to be played as a continuous album. Several songs are unnecessarily repeated.
And did we really need a "demo" version of the still-awful "Heavy Metal
Machine?" Probably not. But all these faults aside, within this collection
resides an album that would have been infinitely superior to The Machines
of God. The high points are high enough to erase any bad taste left by
that album.
Songs like "Dross" and "Glass' Theme" could have provided the "return to
rock" that MACHINA I failed to deliver. The long-standing live
favorite "Let Me Give the World to You" could have been the hit single
the group never managed to score. "Here's to the Atom Bomb" sounds like an
answer to "1979." "Vanity" and "Home" are simply gorgeous, songs only the
old Pumpkins could have made.
There isn't really any new ground broken here, but the band revisits nearly
every style they've adopted over the years. Throughout, they sound energized
and at a creative peak. Jimmy Chamberlin's muscular, fluid drumming provides
the backbeat missing from the Pumpkins' music for the last couple years.
James Iha has developed from a merely competent rhythm guitarist into a
creative lead player, providing a spacy ambience to Corgan's power-riffing.
And as easy as it's been to dismiss Corgan as a fame-hungry self-aggrandizing
egomaniac over the years, this set proves that he's also a songwriter of
considerable talent.
So ultimately, take this as a proper farewell to the Smashing Pumpkins--
it's a nice album to remember them by. Believe me, it's the last album I
expected to enjoy this year. But the thing that really puts the icing on:
it's free.
-D. Erik Kempke