Thursday, August 9, 2007

Zeitgeist...The Other Side Of The Moon


a funny thing happened the other day in the while i was driving to see "Sunshine" for the third time...yeah third!

i gave the other songs on the latest Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist a good working through in my ears and directly my mind. something actually clicked and i have a new feeling towards the bitter review i gave to half the album the day it was released...a month ago today.

the other songs i didn't like stood out and blew me away, after i let go some initial negative feelings and reactions. this happens all the time...just ask my friends. the songs in question...as sadly as that is now, are as follows:

That's The Way (My Love Is)
Starz
Neverlost
Come On Let's Go
For God And Country
Pomp And Circumstances

that's half the album. and i loved to skip those songs since day 2. i would occasionally force myself to listen to them, but it just never worked. i hated them and thought that they ruined the, otherwise fantastic, album.

the album is so different than anything they have done before. they reinvented their sound a bit...bare with me...just try and think back when YOU first heard that distortion used in Chreub Rock when Kennedy debuted the music video on MTV back in...(before the internet was really useful) 1993.

well, that sound is far gone and the good thing i've realized is that Billy Corgan loves to NOT sound like Smashing Pumpkins. if they wanted, they could have released many Siamese Dream's. Corgan did write 40 songs for the "Siamese Dream" recording session, which is just a 13 song album. that's a lot of songs for an album session if ya ask me. so my point is that ya gotta get used to the newly reformed sound of the Pumpkins with every album. it's not always easy for me. case in point.

here are some of the lyrics from the other side of "Zeitgeist":


That's The Way (My Love Is)
They'll say you'll lose your nerve soon
To claim identity
Disgrace our sacred promise
With no belief
Oh, how I believe in you
That's the way my love is for you
That's the way my love is for you



Starz
The stars that shine,
stars that bleed
Silver seeking destiny
So follow please
This hurts so much, this knowing carries me
we want so bad, we forget we are free
Spirit smile on
Deep black diamonds, so rise the lost toys
Island of white noise
and purple haze
We are starz
What hurts so much
is knowing we are free!


Neverlost
All hands on deck
Setting sail to get wrecked off course
You make what you want of me
I will keep you anyway
Let's fill these hours and kill desire
Let's fill these hours and kill desire
I'm in touch with you
Let's kill these hours and fill desire


Come On Let's Go
Assimilate, it's all been staged
I've made mistakes, they penetrate
They're gonna take, it's all the same
They cannot wait, their love spells hate



For God And Country and Pomp And Circumstances
i still don't like these songs JUST yet...so no lyric samples now

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about their music growing on you. I think, sometimes, their (read that as Billy's) efforts to market the music add to the confusion. Ex. I wasn't ready for Adore when it came out. Add that Billy had gone to a weird place with his look that made me think of the Munsters..... or sporting a cowboy hat... and I was totally lost. 10 yrs later, I think the album is ready to be released to the masses. Seriously. That album would be completely mainstream now. So.. ahead of his time? Definitely. And going back through older stuff and hearing track after track, (including his Future Embrace stuff) I can hear the progression that is now Z album. (with a few throwbacks to hair metal bands tossed in for good measure) I have to chuckle at how there are moments of guitar that are obviously Billy saying "see I can shred... I really can...better than anyone! Listen.. I'll prove it!"

The one thing I miss from other SP albums, the harmonies...the backing vocals. The ones on this recording are just not quite up to my expectations. I have been told the other people in the band (now...post recording process) have great voices and add a lot to each song. Should be worth visiting a performance...maybe in Dallas on my bday.

Sam said...

yeah, Adore took me a bit too to really like...now i think it's a beautiful and perfect album better than Mellon Collie...putting it just behind Gish and Siamese Dream.

you're right about the loss of harmonies and things in their music. something has been missing from the music in a way. luckily they are getting so much better playing live.


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