The World Is A Dracula - Three
A Smashing Pumpkins Album Review/Concert Research Series
Shiny And Oh So Bright
Sort of a kind of album and squeakquel with yet another (kinda, sorta) third part released as a bonus collection of seven inch vinyl singles included with the limited edition $500 signed vinyl box set (or unsigned $225 version for filthy casuals) of the ATUM triple album. Now, seeing as how I am not flush with cash that I can frivolously throw around without endangering my financial security, it goes without saying that I did not shell out for access to those songs1, so I will not be able to share my thoughts on those songs.
So what we’ve got here is a lean, just over 30 minute, eight track album and a 72 minute, twenty track double (vinyl, single CD) album. I will admit, this is starting to feel like a chore2. Real research and not a fun kind of fucking around enjoying myself but saying I’m doing “research.” I just gotta remember that most, if not all, of these songs have all but disappeared from contemporary setlists.
Volume One: No Past. No Future. No Sun.
Knights Of Malta - Woah, what a way to start. Bill Pumpkin coming straight out of the gate with something beyond left field. I almost feel like a joke is being played on me. I mean, what the fuck?
Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts) - Poppy “1979” vibes. And then those synths come in... Or maybe it’s all just guitar effects? Okay, I’m letting my guard back down a little.
Travels - There’s no sliver of this song that is outside of the Album Track circle of the Venn Diagram. This song has one gear and the cruise control set. The Platonic Ideal of “meh.”
Solara - Okay. Here we fucking go! This is why you don’t step to Jimmy Fucking Chamberlin, folks! Nonsense, rawk lyrics. Oh shit, dat bridge! I hope they bust this one out and melt everyone’s faces.
Alienation - It looks like this was in consideration for holding back for the ATUM album, and I can see the red yarn connecting to this song on the cork board. It’s sort of a prelude — the early days of Shiny in space.
Marchin’ On - Full on rawk, but it’s a bit dark in tone — not lyricly or thematically — but the guitars and production. It sounds dark. Muffled a little. Maybe it’s to give it a “Tales Of A Scorched Earth” vibe, but hide the fact that there aren’t layers and layers of guitar creating that cyber-metal crunch? Pretty brutal bridge, but the pre-chorus is just a touch too twee for me.
With Sympathy - This is sort of what I think of when I think about what the Pumpkins lane is now. The synth mix soft rock demi-ballad that they nail. It feels more authentic than the rawk songs where you can tell Bill is trying, and it is also more palatable than some of the songs where Bill’s ego runs buck wild.
Seek And You Shall Destroy - Is this another ATUM prelude track? An okay rawk track, but as the final track on the album, it’s a total momentum killer. It doesn’t feel like the album has wrapped up, it’s just run out of songs and stopped.
Volume Two: Cyr
The Colour Of Love - A new wave sounding synth wash. Pretty catchy, but it sounds more like something from TheFutureEmbrace than a Pumpkins song.
Confessions Of A Dopamine Addict - What is this, a Panic! At The Disco song, with that title? Yeah, this isn’t a Pumpkins song, either.
Cyr - The Pumpkins haven’t had a title track before. Oh, Bill produced this album by himself without anyone else to dilute his ego — no wonder it sounds like this.
Dulcet In E - This one has some potential, but it’s hard to see underneath all the production slopped on top.
Wrath - This album would lose absolutely NOTHING if this song were left off. Fifth song in, and this is just background music that will fade into the background if I don’t put my ear blinders(?) on.
Ramona - What the hell with that synth arpeggio “solo”? Lyrically, this album is very witchy/magick-with-a-”K”. I’m only noticing that because I am forcing myself to keep focus.
Anno Satana - The Year of Satan? This should rawk then, right? There’s some guitar poking out behind the synth wall. If this were just a rock song, it could have been a contender.
Birch Grove - Another song from Bill’s “More is More” theory of production.
Wyttch - Okay, a song with that title has to be pretty metal, right?...
Starrcraft - The title makes me think of the video game StarCraft (because I’m a dork), not the new age spiritual aspect of stars. Sci-fi not woo-woo. I’m sure you can guess which direction this song goes, right?
Purple Blood - Okay. This is interesting. Got to the chorus — spoke too soon. Has an “Eye” vibe. Another “More is More.”
Save Your Tears - I can get into this one. I don’t know if I’ve been beaten down by all the other songs up to this point that I’m grasping at anything that is remotely not a bland pile of oatmeal, but I think this is actually quality stuff.
Telegenix - Back on the stuggle bus.
Black Forest, Black Hills - There’s some sort of build here. Will this go somewhere?... NOPE!
Adrennalynne - A dancy sort of vibe complete with the cymbal hit on the upbeat. But then everything just sort of drops out at the chorus and becomes a wannabe epic stage musical moment, or something.
Haunted - This intro is like some Scooby-Doo sneaking around shit. If you traveled back in time and played this to a young Bill Pumpkin, Ghost Of Christmas Future style, I think Tiny Tim would still be with us.
The Hidden Sun - This is Bill trying to impress us with his lyrical references. But do we care, with this music behind it?
Schaudenfreud - Is it that Pumpkins records will sell more and get more attention than solo albums? Is that what this is about? Did you lose a bet, Bill?
Tyger, Tyger - Listening to too much of that Iggy Azalea song when writing the intro for this song, Bill? If these are the songs that were good enough for the album, what was left off?
Minerva - Last song! I made it! ABBA references, I guess. I don’t even know anymore...
Holy shit, that was rough. Hopefully you haven’t listened along with me, unless you’re into that kind of kink. I mean, some of these songs are almost okay, but they’re not Smashing Pumpkins. I’m all for experimenting and trying to expand your sound and exploring new avenues for your sound, but sometimes you just need to tie up your ego and lock it out of the studio and look the rest of your bandmates in the eyes and say: “I’m sorry. My bad. Either we toss this out and start from scratch, or we actually release this. I know we spent all that time recording and everything, but we all hear what this sounds like, right?”
Atum is up next. 33 tracks. I gotta have hope, or else all is lost.
-bcp
On his podcast for ATUM, Bill Pumpkin said that those songs would find their way to streaming services some time in 2024. But for those of us who don’t have the cash for a VPN to find a torrent, let alone those box sets, we’re still waiting.
I am just using listening to this era of Pumpkins that I (and probably 99% of everyone else that’s going to be at their concert in Reno) haven’t really spent that much time with as an excuse to write and post something. My Triforce missives take some time to cobble together, and I wanna make sure that you readers of mine are getting your money’s worth from subscribing to this.