Album Rating: 2.0

this shit is getting ridiculous at this point

Album Rating: 1.5

I can’t believe I didn’t know this was out lol yikes

Album Rating: 1.5

I actually enjoy the reunion stuff up until Cyr

Album Rating: 2.0

Oceania is solid but I haven't really enjoyed anything in full since. There's a few great songs scattered amongst a bunch of mediocre ones imo

Album Rating: 1.5

Yeah, I think the Zeitgeist era as a whole is surprisingly strong looking back on it.



And then everything started going rapidly downhill.

ZG & Monuments are the most enjoyable post-"reunion" records to me by a longshot. who would have thought bringing back Iha & Chamberlin would somehow make this project incrementally worse?

For the past 2 or 3 records/shit heaps Corgan legitimately sounds like he was captured & replaced by a space alien. Jesus Christ I can't believe this is the same guy who at one point recorded stuff like "Obscured." Actually, I don't believe it. The alien thing is much more plausible

skimmed a few tracks of this and could be worse/sounds vaguely like a roger waters concept album, but billys voice isn't suited for it whatsoever.

Album Rating: 1.5

This is so embarrassing.

Album Rating: 1.5

Billy Corgan sounds like a jar of mayonnaise left at room temperature for three weeks.

Yeah... I hate to leave bad vibes since the Smashing Pumpkins is one of my favorite bands and I probably listen to them more than any other artist, but damn this album sounds dreadful so far. It sounds EXACTLY like more of that Cyr and that oh so shiny crap that was released. And that female background vocal which is added to like every song just makes me cringe every time. It's toooo cheesy! I can't believe this crap was marketed as the sequel to Mellon Collie and Machina, it's nowhere near the level of brilliance those two albums were. LIke what the hell. All of the songs sound the same and they all that same steady tempo which seems boring and repetitive. The lyrics are just TERRIBLE. It's almost as if Billy Corgan just wants to mass produce songs so that there can be a quantity to sell each one on iTunes or something. Oh and the music video for beguiled... equally cringy! Whoever directed that needs to get fired, please! Yikes! They should have put this music out under the Zwan band name, because that's what it sounds like but worse. Quantity over quality was never a good idea...

Album Rating: 1.5

i haven't even listened to this yet hahahahaha

Agree that Billy's vocals need to be mixed better. That's the biggest problem with SP the past decade +. It's not the song writing, it's the production.

Also (not that I care that much about the concept storyline of the album) I think the album does have a pretty clear storyline that Billy explains well on his recent podcast series.

Album Rating: 1.5

"I think the album does have a pretty clear storyline that Billy explains well on his recent podcast series."



I would love to see a fan try and pick up on even ten percent of that ridiculous story by listening to the record and reading the lyrics alone. I mean, if you really have the patience to listen to Billy spend ten minutes explaining what story he thinks the songs convey before every track, I suppose masochism is a human right. But there is absolutely no coherent story to be found within the record itself, which is a fundamental problem when you're making a "rock opera."

Album Rating: 2.0

Part of me does feel bad for reviewing this given it's technically a third of an album but I doubt Parts 2/3 will bump up the overall rating much.

Album Rating: 1.0

ATUM, Hooligan, and Steps in Time are really the only songs worth listening on this. Not because theyre great, but because they are the only things worth listening to. Corgan needs a producer with a bigger ego than him to tell him his last couple of albums are D-sides

The difference between Pumpkins now and Pumpkins of the 90s is not the songwriting. Sure, BC hasn't put a "1979" level hit out or anything, but that's a ridiculous expectation. The difference is that in the 90s he worked with producers like Butch Vig, Alan Moulder, and Flood. Literally a who's who of alt rock production and mixing. I'm not crediting them with the success of SP, but Corgan NEEDS someone else in the room to tell him something isn't good. That was also a role D'Arcy played in the band. She was a fine bass player, not the greatest musician in the world, BUT she had impeccable taste and would tell Corgan to his face if a song was not working or just bad. BC is writing good songs now, IMO, but the production is terrible. If someone would mix his songs and bury the vocals more, that would make a massive difference. He's not a normal singer, yet he refuses to bury his vocals in the mix since reforming the Pumpkins.

Album Rating: 1.5

Oh no



https://www.theprp.com/2022/12/21/news/the-smashing-pumpkins-have-begun-recording-the-follow-up-to-their-33-song-rock-opera/?fbclid=IwAR36OVobzqDzLktQJoMs1B_k_daM5HZG6cZzLYmCrsedJLZwbaliF120a4U

has anybody seen them live recently? do they play songs from these new albums and do people actually enjoy them?

when i saw green day in 2021 (god help me) they played one song from revolution radio and no songs from father of all mfs, it was basically a best-of / radio hits setlist. Feel like SP would need to do the same at this point

Album Rating: 1.5

Yeah, they play like two songs from their new revolutionary 33-song rock opera. I think they usually throw in the Cyr title track and Solara, and then it's 90s hits and a mediocre Talking Head cover for the rest of the night.