Review Summary: Corgan and his longtime partner Chamberlin show their chops with a strong, dynamic new effort.
The Smashing Pumpkins, consisting only of frontman Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, are back with a highly anticipated new release. Once one of the biggest names in American alternative rock, the Smashing Pumpkins disbanded after internal squabbling, drug overuse, and mediocre creative output sullied their reputation. But although this album marks the return of the band, it’s not quite, in the most traditional sense of the word, an “alternative” album. Rather, Corgan and Chamberlin, with the help of producers Roy Thomas Baker and Terry Date, have crafted a set of lean, mean hard rock songs.
Given Corgan’s work with Chamberlin in the Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan, and in each other’s solo projects, the artist name on the top of Zeitgeist’s album cover could have Smashing Pumpkins as easily as it could have said Zwan or Billy Corgan or some new band altogether. But once Zeitgeist gets going, it’s hard not to be reminded of Mellon Collie’s metal-inspired cuts or of that unmistakably driving sound that made, say, Siamese Dream so widely appealing. A surprise for some, patiently awaited by others, Zeitgeist rocks hard enough and well enough to warrant such a big return.
The band’s heavy songwriting, while superb, could be a bit of overcompensation, as Corgan may be trying to prove to naysayers that middle age and a forgotten solo album haven’t dulled his senses. The muscular, shuffle-grooved “Tarantula” certainly tears things up. Except for a rather beautiful moment late in the song, “Tarantula” never slows down, giving Corgan plenty of time to skillfully, tastefully, intelligently shred himself to death. “7 Shades of Black”, “Bleeding the Orchid”, “Bring the Light”, and “Come On (Let’s Go!) also surge forward with layers of distorted guitars, spacey leads, and pummeling drums. But most importantly, all these tunes carry enough melodic weight, emotional punch, and lyrical aptitude to assure us that these are fully-fleshed songs made by two musical veterans in top form. The only fault present is that these four songs, with their similar uptempo, distorted sound, should have been better arranged with a little more textural diversity. Each individual one of these is strong, however, and thankfully, Zeitgeist is not content to merely present us with the shell of a has-been band.
Which is why it’s surprising that opener “Doomsday Clock” fails. Aside from Chamberlin’s standout entrance, the song is more sonic attitude than good songwriting, and serves only to introduce the band’s return with little to offer artistically Except for the directionless “For God and Country”, the rest of the album succeeds. The high-point is “That’s the Way (My Love Is)”, whose melodic, atmospheric mood is carried by creative, nonstop drums and some well done vocal harmonies.
The ten-minute centerpiece of the album is “United States”, which seems politically charged but doesn’t really offer any sort of commentary. However, once you let go of your expectations (which may be hard, considering that the album IS called Zeitgeist) you will find what is perhaps the band’s most confident song. Jimmy Chamberlin, whose background in jazz lends itself well to heavy rock expressionism, delivers one of his finest, most energetic performances on this album, and his rolling tom licks in “United States” are pushed to the front of the mix as Corgan builds tension with ever-increasing layers of monstrous riffing. Cries of “Revolution! Revolution!” may baffle some listeners, as the Pumpkins have never really been political, but that and everything else about the song works. Perfectly timed vocal effects and interplay between Corgan and Chamberlin round off the song’s thrilling climax.
It’s about at this point that the album switches gears and allows a few lighter songs to breathe. “Neverlost” is driven by organ and marimbas, for example, while album closer “Pomp and Circumstances” provides a welcome dose of Mellon Collie-like oddness. Until Corgan’s over-the-top solo at the conclusion (I’m guessing Queen producer Baker let that slide) the song sounds like a slow-dance of sorts. While songs like these on the second half don’t feel out of place, it would have helped the band’s cause if a little more variety found its way in between the album’s heavy, distorted numbers.
Sadly, Zeitgeist might not outlive the shadow of its much-maligned distribution campaign. As everyone knows by now, about half a dozen versions of the album exist internationally, the differences being only in some extra artwork or a bonus track. Whether this was Corgan’s decision or a move of Reprise Records doesn’t really matter, because if you want to legally own every bit of Zeitgeist that you can, you have to buy the album six different times. This kind of marketing automatically yields moans and groans and reminds music fans of the greed and egoism that Billy Corgan is supposedly known for. It would be a shame for this controversy to leave a truly excellent record in the dust, as even the bonus tracks are worth hearing. “Stellar”, a dreamy rocker that should have replaced the boring “For God and Country” on the final tracklist, and the acoustic “Zeitgeist” are real winners and worth having (read: downloading). On the other hand, “Death From Above” is an electronics-driven piece that fails to go anywhere and is rightfully a b-side.
It’s hard to say if former members James Iha and D’Arcy Wretzky are missed. They were always under the bandleader’s direction, and were even known to have had their recorded contributions scrapped and replaced by Corgan’s own. Guitarist Jeff Schroeder and bassist Ginger Reyes, along with keyboardist Lisa Harriton, have replaced them onstage, and their roles in future songwriting might be similarly dominated. But honestly, it’s not really worth arguing. I’ve never been a Pumpkins fanboy, so their internal drama and frequently changing styles never bothered me. Zeitgeist isn’t perfect, and could definitely benefit from a stronger variety of tracks, but it simply works. Every depressed post-grunge wannabe rockstar or indie-pop bandwagoneer or obsessive naysayer could learn from that.
