Review Summary: An atmospheric work of art that is right up there with the rest of Pumpkins classics; hard to digest at first, but is great once you actually feel it. And, plus, it's free.
A long time ago, I remember watching Jay Leno; and watching the Smashing Pumpkins play live on his show. I also remember Jay Leno telling everyone "you can download this online. Free.". Being the Pumpkins geek that I am, I immediately ran to my computer and downloaded Machina II free of charge. A lot of songs I must say, and in the morning I burned all of the songs onto a CD sat in my room with my Walkman and listened to this album. The first time I heard it, I thought this as a pitiful final attempt for the Smashing Pumpkins to throw more lost tracks at us. My band which I worshipped was now making pitiful, self-indulgent albums a lot like Pearl Jam. I continued to wallow in self-pity until I decided to listen to the songs again. This time, I fell in love with a few different songs; as it seems I finally felt the 'vibe' of the songs; 'Slow Dawn', 'Dross', 'Blue Skies Bring Tears', and 'In My Body' stuck with me.
But even then I felt as if the lost attempt for a double-record Machina II was just outtakes, B-sides as you wish. From Cash Car Star's "yeah, we're an american band", to the corny synthesizer tones in "Here's to the Atom Bomb", Machina II was self-indulgent crap.
This was 2001. The last time I listened to Machina II was in 2001. Now it's 2007, I'm a whole lot older, smarter, and much, much more musically intelligent. Suddenly songs that I remember despising like 'Speed Kills', 'Real Love', and 'Home' stuck with me; as I actually felt the songs and the sorrow that echoed from Billy Corgan's mouth as his infamous band fell apart in his hands. Why, now, I'm six years older, and a whole lot more musically intelligent; as now I view Machina II as a misunderstood masterpiece that was a bit self-indulgent, but an amazing piece of musical work, nonetheless. I could name off countless bands that would love to have an album of this calibur.
Songs like the spacy, atmospheric lo-fi ballad 'Slow Dawn' are just classic and just send electricity through my body every time I listen to them. Or there's the harder and catchy 'Vanity' which is still more atmospheric than most bands could ever get anywhere close to. 'Glass' is the jamfest which is the theme of the album, with it's odd lyrics to the casual listener; but the song is actually about a rocker named Glass; which shines light on the lyric, "I'm shattering fast, I'm glass, I'm glass!". 'Cash Car Star' was originally the single for Machina II, and a worthy one at that. Echoing sounds, themes and the feel of the song 'The Everlasting Gaze', the song was a great 'rock' anthem, and while 'Real Love' was another spacy, atmospheric, ballad, it was much more deep and meaningful than the rest. 'Dross' is another loud 'rocker' featuring some crazy riffs and Billy singing at the top of his voice.
'Home' is a good song that just makes me want to fade off with it's light noises and riffs, and it's deep lyrics. But what about 'White Spyder', the headphone bleeding rocker that manages to blow out the most expensive speakers; or the epic of Machina II, 'In My Body' which makes me just want to float off into space with it's guitar riffs. While being simple lyrically and a bit repetitve, it's still a perfect epic that captures the feel of Machina II perfectly; or how about the weird instrumental parts in 'Here's To The Atom Bomb'?. This album is truly a unique, atmospheric experience.
This album could have been better though; with better production, the lo-fi sound gone, and with some of the more forgettable songs gone. Still, there's some classics on Machina II that I'd put up there with my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs of all time. Machina II just creates an atmosphere that other bands can't duplicate. Give it a chance; it's free to download; and even if you don't like it, let it grow on you; hey. it took me six years to fully 'feel' Machina II.
