Active Member
Yes, the fact that they added "Vol. 1" to the name made it obvious that they planned to follow it up with another volume, but the news that they intend to have Vol. 2 out before the end of 2019 is the part that's newsworthy.Originally Posted by fillow
Throbbing Member
I doubt it will happen... Not really feeling Knights of Malta but I grew to somehow enjoy the other two tracks released so far so maybe I'll come around
Unintelligible Whispering
Few more listens in. It's a very strange track, like a more interesting Aeronaut. At first listen it was atrocious to my ears but then I imagine someone like Prince singing it, cheesy lyrics and all, and it doesn't seem so bad. Not any kind of grower or keeper for me, but I listened to this into Silvery and it's a fair way to start an album for what that's worth.
I've accepted Jimmy's drums are going to sound butchered for the entirety of the album at this point and that's the saddest thing for me.
Those woo-woo's have got to go, that's my other real major gripe.
Active Member
Video's comments are disabled and won't actually show the numbers of likes versus dislikes, so yeah NOT a good sign. Must be getting slammed.
Unintelligible Whispering
Combine that with the fact his latest IG post makes a specific point of saying "We know we won't always make music you'll like" means I think they saw a mixed response coming.
Banned
This "reunion" album looks like it may equal the Pixies "reunion" album in terms of suckage and embarrassment
Hairy Member
I hope you are talking that travesty Indie Cindy...Head Carrier is actually pretty great. And this Shiny nonsense seems to be a stinker. Billy's head is too far up his own ass. The magic's gone.
Banned
Indie Cindy was so fucking bad, I never checked out Head Carrier lol
Active Member
I liked Indie Cindy. Looking forward to reading Pitchfork's 1.5/10 review that's been ready to publish since this summer.
Active Member
Don't understand how other people find the other two songs (Solara and Silvery Sometimes) good...they pale in comparison to the material in Oceania. I think this may be the first SP album I don't buy (I got Monuments but I could had done without it to be honest).
Active Member
I really liked Silvery Sometimes (the song, not the video) and I'm hoping the rest of the album is good, but I also find myself hoping that this is them shaking the cobwebs off and getting comfortable writing together again. I'm sure they were rusty and half (most?) of these songs were likely leftovers from Billy's solo album or the Day for Night sessions like Solara. Hopefully Vol. 2 is where they find their footing again as a band. Time will tell...
Throbbing Member
Head Carrier is alright. Worth checking out....
I'm listening to this song again and it's almost Widow Wake My Mind levels of cringe....
Flaccid Member
The "wo wo wo wo wo wo" is horrible! Whoever agreed this sounded good was terribly wrong...
Active Member
I didn't think it was a bad song, but that part is definitely the weakest part of the song. It reminds me of how I felt when I first heard the weird "la la la la" part in APC's "People Are People," which is an otherwise great cover of the song.
Active Member
It's the "woo" parts that really hurt the song. Otherwise, it's not horrible.
Active Member
Should have been a nice lead guitar playing that woo woo melody. Sounds so bad with him singing it. When I played it for my girl, you should have seen her face. She ain't a hardcore Pumpkins fan or anything, but she hates this song and told me to turn it off.
But even swapping out that horrible woo woo vocal still wouldn't save this atrocious song. The woo woo is the least of its problems. I'm sorry, this is just not my type of music at all. I cringe at it. The only emotions I get from this song are 1) embarrassment in case anyone else around me hears me playing it and 2) disgust at how benign, bland, safe, boring, lifeless this song is. The production is especially terrible across all three songs.
Seriously, I never thought the day would come when I would actually long for the days of Monuments To An Elegy. But somehow Billy has done it again and made me realize, oh yes it could still get so much more worse. If this is where Billy is going, I am gone. This is just not my type of music.
Last edited by neorev; 11-09-2018 at 06:17 PM.
Unintelligible Whispering
Personally, I wouldn't call a Smashing Pumpkins song that features backup soul-style singing and backwards-ish guitar solos safe at all, but that's just me. This is an infinitely more interesting song, if not all that likeable, than anything off MTAE, which I'd call the definition of the above criteria.
People who have heard the record are saying Marchin' On is a rocker though. There's enough variation between this, Silvery and Solara for me to look at the album and guess it's going to be a pastiche of different styles.
Throbbing Member
You are probably right there, looks like this record will be a mixed bag trying to offer a little bit of everything. Not necessarily what people expect from a reunion album.
Stubby Member
That song made me sick
Ugh, this should be the worst song of 2018
Active Member
It finally leaked.
EDIT: I REALLY like Travels – definitely one of the more classic sounding songs they've put out for a while. Marchin' On was pretty unexpectedly heavy and showcases Jimmy's drumming. I think it would be GREAT live.
Last edited by sonic_discord; 11-11-2018 at 01:01 PM.
Stubby Member
...I'm pretty happy with this. The only thing that seem REALLY offputting on it is the vocal take on Alienation, and maybe the woo-woo's on KoM.
Silvery, With Sympathy, and Marchin' On are all really, really good.
Stubby Member
Does anyone else love the "She stabs the empty clock" line? Fuck, while I do think my opinion of "Marchin' On" will diminish after the new album excitement wears off ("With Sympathy" and "Silvery Sometimes" are the truly great songs here), I am really, really excited, and surprised, to hear Billy even try to pull off a song like that.
Active Member
I liked Marchin' On...
...
...
With Sympathy was tolerable, Seek And You Shall Destroy was not too bad, Travels was okay yet dragged.
Sadly, the rest I did not like and I couldn't make it through. The mix/production/master really kills a lot of the songs for me, especially putting Billy's vocals so out front. At least Billy had some edge on Marchin' On and that one gave me those old SP feels there. I gave it two listens and if I had to give it a rating out of 5 stars... I'll give it 2 1/2.
Personally Zeitgeist is still the best one out of the post original line up albums that felt like Billy's writing still had some urgency and edge, but another one where the mix/production/master really hurts it. I think this new album/EP/whatever would benefit with production that was less so shiny and oh so bright. The over polish-ness of it all just sucks a lot of the life out of the songs for me. Perhaps the lossless will sound better than this rip. Some of the lyrics are a bit cringy. I'll give Billy Marchin' On, best song hands down. Releasing Marchin' On as a preceding single would kinda be like releasing Ava Adore ahead of Adore or The Everlasting Gaze ahead of Machina. It's a song that feels out of place among the rest. Even with the greatness of Marchin' On, I can't imagine myself coming back and listening to this album again. I tend to listen to albums as a whole mainly rather than just a bunch of single tracks I like. So if you can't keep me invested throughout an album, and sure some albums may have a song here or there I may not love, but too many of those and I will most likely not go back to that album even if it has that 1 song that I truly love.
Last edited by neorev; 11-11-2018 at 04:27 PM.
Throbbing Member
This is exactly how I feel as of now. I can't even begin to fathom what happened to this band.
Unintelligible Whispering
Mixed in here and there are, I'd say, some of the best tracks out of BC in like twenty years. It's not perfect, but it's a major, major step in the right direction.
-Travels is an accomplishment and the one that really put a grin on my face. Standout track. Really captured the old dreamy SP vibe. The repetitive simplicity of the lyrics actually hits the 'Billy's poetry works' box, finally.
-Marchin' On is like they flipped an SP 1.0 switch as a 'fuck you all, we can rock as hard as we ever did and I can bring out the nasal voice anytime I want' short statement of intent. I'd love them to extend this live.
-With Sympathy (that's the Jimmy-penned track) is nice and catchy enough, very pretty.
-Alienation feels half-baked. Almost there but not quite.
-Seek And You Shall Destroy is this weird mishmash of styles that doesn't quite get there but is still listenable and attention-grabbing.
-Solara and KOM sound better with the rest of the album in context.
Initial impressions leave me really, really happy overall. Shame about Jimmy's drums sounding like dried poop half the time, the mastering is of course subpar, but that's not killing it for me. If they can keep up this vibe next time with the shoegazey direction BC mentioned and not have Rubin as a producer I'm looking forward to more.
Last edited by Shadaloo; 11-11-2018 at 06:19 PM.
House Always Wins
The last Pumpkins album I truly enjoyed and liked was Zeitgeist. Before that they've been churning out mediocre, barely digestible material since Machina.
Active Member
It's better than I was expecting. Enjoying the melody of Alienation. Marchin On turns it on. Still can't get into Knights of Malta.
Throbbing Member
With sympathy gives me a strong machina vibe.
Kind of a mixed bag otherwise, not bad but not great either I'm afraid, I'll need more listens.
Throbbing Member
It took me one full year to collect all the Zeitgeist variants and compile my own ultimate version of Zeitgeist. It was still missing Gossamer and American Gothic songs at the time.
Shiny is too short. Doesn't even feel like an album. There are good songs here and there, but they don't support each other at all. He probably left all the good songs off the album or saved it for his solo LP. We know that for a fact. Burnt Orange-Black, Red Dirt, Double R and Cardinal Rule. I'll gladly take TSP versions of Amarinthe and The Spaniards too. Where are the good songs?
I agree this is a step into the right direction. Marchin' On, Silvery and Travels are enjoyable. But this could've been much much better.
Throbbing Member
This needs more listens, but I'm digging it. The singles work better in the whole scheme of things.
I had "Alienation" in my head today.
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