There is no doubt, right from the very first sprinkled distortions of ‘Lyric’, who’s responsible. Alright, maybe there’s just a little, it could easily be ‘mistakenly’ attributed to a particular US alt.rock phenomenon that just about made it from one end of the 90s to the other. But this really is, unmistakably, only the work of one Billy Corgan. Of course without him the Smashing Pumpkins would never have become that phenomenon anyway, one that may well have faded but still made music of worth up until their tragi-theatrical death. It was his songs that inspired and soothed, rocked and drifted, beat their chest with ridiculous bombast and then resigned to a whisper. It was his voice that sent shivers down the spine. And much the same is the case now.
No matter how A-list the ‘super-group’ around him might be, they ought to get used to being second in line now. Jimmy Chamberlain will brief them no doubt. After going through numerous shades of grey in the mostly angst-ridden incarnations of the ‘Pumpkins, this is Billy’s happy day; shutters down, lights up, kaleidoscope out. Essentially it’s ‘Siamese Dream’ with 14 takes on ‘Today’ (see especially ace single ‘Honestly’), along with a few other select delves into his past; ‘Come With Me’ passes a knowing wink at ‘1979’ and ‘Heartsong’ is ‘Disarm’ Part II. Right down to the female bassist there are a lot of similarities here.
But evidence of a marked shift away from the plains of depression does become apparent. He croaks “until I die, of a broken heart, of a broken heart” under an air of lazy sunkissed hope on ‘Of A Broken Heart’. And all without the heavens falling down around him. And then slowly it dawns on you, Billy has found God. He’s used pseudo religious and astrological imagery previously, but now it’s really thwacking you around the face. The song titles (‘Declarations of Faith’, ‘Jesus, I’), the lyrics (go back and listen to ‘Honestly’ again), the ritual happy-clappy bonding session in a darkened basement on the accompanying DVD. This ain’t a Spiritualized ‘God’ either. Billy Corgan appears to have left the dark side.
So we get the delusions of grandeur and pomposity, as before, but with an extra helping of earnestness? This can’t possibly be good for the long term? Well perhaps not, but they just about made it through this first album without dragging it out into a service of dire indulgence. The guitars cascade wonderfully, his orc-esque voice yearns for purity (hell, maybe finding it too) and melodies weave untapered. Though the title track could do with a few minutes shaved off. In fact, sort that, drop two of the fillers (‘Ride A Black Swan’ and ‘Endless Summer’ would do) and you’d have somewhere near a perfect pop record. A songwriter of a generation proving he’s still what you want him to be.