Originally intended to be the final Smashing Pumpkins album, MACHINA / The Machines of God finds frontman Billy Corgan and his crew aiming high with a collection of songs that seems to have baffled critics and alienated the remains of their post-Adore audience.
I'll be honest: This is not the best Pumpkins album in their catalog. But there is some good news to start us off -- original drummer Jimmy Chamberlain kicked his heroin habit and got his old job back prior to recording the album. However, original bassist D'arcy Wretzky picked up a crack cocaine habit and lost her job with the band -- slightly bad news. And then there is the singer Billy Corgan -- the indomitable whiny dictator asshole who strangled the band into obscurity, or the brilliantly talented yet oh so alternatively troubled misanthrope who catapulted the band to mega rock stardom, depending on whose side you're on. As the band lumbered into this phase of its career (and MACHINA was not their final album, by the way), the Smashing Pumpkins = Billy Corgan equation rang as true as ever in a way that ultimately produced some interesting, yet misguided results.
Early in the recording phase, Corgan crafted MACHINA to be a concept album in which the album's narrator hears the voice of God and undergoes some deep personal changes filtered through themes of loneliness, peace, love, epiphany, and loss. Wretzky's departure forced the scale of the concept to be all but abandoned, but 'Glass and the Ghost Children' still contains probably the biggest batch of hints about the true essence of MACHINA's intended soul. Further, tendrils of the concept can be found elsewhere in MACHINA -- especially the themes of love ('If you want love, you must be love') and God...lots of God ('Here you are, as you always were, in bathing light, and naked blur, you're a part of me Eternal One').
Where the album worked best for me was through another significant theme -- references to the rise and fall of the band itself ('Let me die for rock n roll'...and 'Dispatch the last alarms, Hand out the last few charms'). I truly grew to love and appreciate these references, and not because I took any joy in the demise of the Smashing Pumpkins. The Smashing Pumpkins were at one point time HUGE, and to own their nadir with unvarnished honesty is a powerful statement by the band (Billy). At times like these, the album felt like what it was meant to be, a final act, and MACHINA, at times, expertly harnessed the bittersweet timbre of the band's farewell to its audience.
Where the album faltered for me was in its sheer length (a breezy 73 minutes and change), which is a long time to spend with Billy, his melancholy, and his infinite sadness. And the aborted yet present concept was distracting for me. Enough was there for me to realize it, but it was undercooked enough to feel a bit like, well, aural blue balls. Also, given how much I loved the 'swan song' vibe of MACHINA, my biggest regret is that the reformation of the Pumpkins post-MACHINA ultimately undercut the best parts about the album and rendered it a minor blip in the grand scheme of the band's discography.
Don't get me wrong, for Pumpkins fans, this album has a few gems ('Raindrops + Sunshowers' and 'Try, Try, Try'), and even with its glaring flaws (the embarrassing 'Heavy Metal Machine'), I'm glad that I checked it out, and I would recommend it to even the biggest Siamese Dream or Gish (the good albums) fan. See for yourself, but take faith in the fact that there is probably something for you to enjoy here.
Oh, and one more thing, and this is just my opinion: Billy Corgan is about a 65% shitty singer. There. I said it.
Have fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment