Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 2/5 Released: July 10, 2007 Reviewer: Nathan Atnikov |
Billy Corgan hasn’t changed. Even after the humbling experience that was TheFutureEmbrace, his 2005 solo album, and his book of poetry Blinking with Fists, Billy Corgan hasn’t changed. He approaches everything he does as a pop genius (which he is) and the saving grace of rock ‘n’ roll (which he isn’t).
Corgan’s “reuniting†of the Smashing Pumpkins brings up an interesting (and predictable) debate about the legitimacy of resurrecting a band name as a brand name – neither D’Arcy Wretzky nor James Iha play any role in Zeitgeist – but it’s clear that Corgan has made a cognitive effort to get back to the Pumpkins’ sound, which should be commended.
Zeitgeist, oddly, sounds both like the Pumpkins of the Gish era and of the sound they were drifting towards when the band dissolved in 2000, except that it is painfully lacking in the balance and diversity that made the band stand out from the pack in their prime. For every ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings,’ there used to be a ‘1979’ – a quieter, gentler side of Corgan that showed off his sneering falsetto and his ability for wistfulness. Zeitgeist is disappointingly simple.
Corgan complains of a “doomsday clock ticking in my heart†on the album’s opening track, which may be as good an explanation as any for why decided to revive his most famous project, but as could be predicted, he should have left well enough alone.
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