Smashing Pumpkins - Machina: The Machines of God
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Free Music Notes for Machina: The Machines of God
Free Music Review: Billy's out-done himself. . . again!
Hit: 5 Stars
I didn't know what to expect of this album. I thought that maybe it was going to be Siamese Dream or maybe a little like Adore. Well, what I got was an album like none of the others. It's a lot more poetic than the other albums, and it uses more riffs. It seems to me like a mix of Adore and Gish with a little extra something that makes it rock harder. Billy Corgan is a true poet and the lyrics on Machina are better than any other Pumpkin albums, although I've read that anything that sounds like it's what Billy's feeling, that's it's just a decoy (Billy said so himself) but I don't really care because the lyrics are outstanding, and sometimes creepy (i.e "Glass and the Ghost Children") and sometimes their lovely and beautiful (i.e "With Every Light"). While it's not the best Pumpkins album (that goes to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness) it's still one of the best, probably in second or third place, in my views.The album starts out with the explosive guitars in "The Everlasting Gaze" which is great fun to play on guitar (they're tuning in "C" tuning now, except on a couple of other songs when they use high "F" tuning and on 'Stand Inside your Love' they use "Eb" tuning.) Then it goes onto "Raindrops + Sunshowers" which is a very mellow like song. It's pretty good but not the best. "Stand Inside your Love" is a heavy love song. It's hard to do that but the Pumpkins put it all together. "I Of The Mourning" probably has the best lyrics, and it has a great climax. "The Sacred and Profane" is a nice song that has some of the best guitar riffs, especially the chourus. "Try, Try, Try" sounds like something off of Adore, and it's very catchy. "Heavy Metal Machine" is a nice change of pace in the album, it's quite a landmark. "This Time" is a pretty sad song, which proves Billy as a poet. "The Imploding Voice" is a very fun song. "Glass and the Ghost Children" is probably the best song on this album. It's very creepy, especially when Billy sings: "As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her". A nightmare for someone who has a spider phobia. "Wound" is a nice little acoustic song. "The Crying Tree of Mercury" is a different but nice song. It's neat how the guitars and keyboards play with each other which makes a very creepy like song. "With Every Light" is a very pretty song. "Blue Skies Bring Tears" is very different, but I like different stuff. "Age of Innocence" is a great song to end the album off with, one of the best.
I encourage anyone to buy this album-especially if they like the Smashing Pumpkins! It's one of their best!
Free Music Review: Epic
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm a huge fan of the smashing pumpkins, so this may be a bit of a biased review. Legions of fans were for some reason, disappointed when first getting their hands on this gem, and lost fast in the man who is oh so dear to our hearts, Billy Corgan. If you're a fan of the earier pumpkins stuff... specifically Gish and Siamese Dream (not so much pisces iscariot tho) I would imagine that you would not like Machina. However, those who are fans of The Aeroplane Flies High (Box Set), Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, AND Adore as well, you are in luck. A popular opinion about this album is that it's "not as personal". True, I honestly don't think that it is. However, Mr. Corgan made Machina with the intention of it being the last album, he wanted to say something. Poeple dwell upon the importance of the songs, their meanings, the stuff in the pocket... it's quite amazing. I think the reason why this album doesn't appeal to others is because its very produced... very crafted, symphonic even. This is not an album you listen to once, fore you may not like it the first, nor the second, nor the third, but if you listen to it enough, i assure you, it will always be in your head.There's much more of a new wave feel to this album than others, about equal to Adore in that respect. If there were one album I could compare it to, it would have to be The Cure's Disintegration, also another superb album. There's quite a mix, you have the heavier stuff like The Everlasting Gaze and Heavy Metal Machine, you have those songs that are so catchy you can never get them out of your head such Try Try Try, and The Age of Innosense, you have the Adore-ish songs (yknow, the really depressing ones, AND the happy ones?) such as Wound, The Crying Tree of Mercury, and With Every Light. But... it's the songs that truly shine are those who possess that epic quality that makes my heart implode. Stand Inside Your Love, This Time (possibly my favorite on Machina), Glass and The Ghost Children, and of course, the infamous Blue Skies Bring Tears. bottom line...
BUY IT! if...
-You liked Adore and The Aeroplane Flies High
-You like albums that are very produced. I think the secret to this album is the layers and layers of sound that are in pretty much every song.
Top 5 Songs on this album-
1.This Time (the pumpkins farewell song to the fan... breaks my heart)
2.Stand Inside Your Love (catchy, dramatic, singable, one of the best guitar solos ive heard in awhile due to James Iha's Ebow.)
3.The Crying Tree of Mercury (very dramatic song, very Adore)
4.Glass and the Ghost Children (gives me the chills, wonderful instrumental section)
5.With Every Light (Altho this is definatly a personal favorite, it's way too happy for some...)
Free Music Review: Long hard road
Hit: 5 Stars
Most people think "What a shame that the Pumpkins aren't the same Pumpkins from Gish or Siamese Dream." Could you imagine if they were? If they were putting out The same old alternative records over the last 12 years would we even buy it expecting something new? The Everlasting Gaze: One of the Best rock songs ever written The underlying message of the fight between Light and Dark, despire and redemption.
Sunshine and Raindrops: a great filler!
Stand inside your Love: The song explains "who wouldn't love you?" "Who couldn't fall in love with you?"
I of the morning: Probably the best Rock song on the album, which boils down to "You have gone through some very hard times and the world seemed to turn against you, you thought God was against you, through all that pain and lament you survived!"
The Sacred and the Profane: A beatiful song indeed.
Try, Try, Try: Lyrically one of the best songs from the Pumpkins, even though it has three versions this one is the best simply because it says "I love you no matter what."
Heavy Metal Machine: I utterly hated this song, it just dragged on WAY TOO LONG. The Machina II Remix makes it easier to swallow.
This Time: Another one of Corgan's emotions flowing into his work.
The Imploding Voice: This song seemed to be like Heavy Metal Machine in that I wanted it over, in fact I didn't even listen to it until much later because it never was a good song.
Glass and the Ghost Children: Even though this song was very long it was still a lyrical dynamo.
Wound: I loved this song it wasn't some overdrawn Pearl Jam sonnet or some Jewel folk rock it could easily stand out as a single on the album.
The Crying Tree Of Mercury: Release the Armageddon, so all the children can go to heaven. That is just a great line!
With Every Light: I loved the sincerity he had in his voice, in fact if I were dying in an old folks home and coherent enough to remember I would sing that song before I die.
Blue Skys Bring Tears: I liked the Machina II better than this one, it seemed to drag a bit as well.
Age of innocence: A great end to a great album, "To young to die, to rich to care, too f**ked to swear I was there" finished the song well.
Altogether this album proves the Pumpkins have grown up and out of the repeditive cycle some groups stay trapped in. If I were Corgan I would have put in "Let me give the world to you" before I releashed "Heavy Metal Machine" or from the Try,TryTry, UK single "Here's to the atom Bomb!" before "blue Skies Bring Tears".
If the Pumpkins hadn't changed, I wouldn't listen to them now, what would the point be? I could listen to Gish and not notice a difference!
Free Music Review: "For every chemical, you trade a piece of your soul - with no return."
Hit: 5 Stars
Contrary to popular belief, The Smashing Pumpkins have never (as of June 13th 2007 ;P) released a poor album. Even their three outtakes albums, Pisces Iscariot (1994), The Aeroplane Flies High (1996) and MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (2000) stand up favourably against most of their contemporaries' strongest work.
MACHINA however, is deemed by many to be their worst. Not so. The album's opening six tracks surpass even Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness' (1995) as both a demonstration of their versatility and a signal of intent.
From the incendiary opener 'The Everlasting Gaze' mad-genius singer/guitarist/songwriter Billy Corgan and incomparable skinsman Jimmy Chamberlin bulldoze their way through eight of MACHINA's fifteen tracks, dissecting affecting ballads ('Raindrops & Sunshowers' and the breathtaking 'Stand Inside Your Love'), existential threnodies ('Glass & the Ghost Children' and 'The Crying Tree of Mercury') and plaintive odes ('Try, Try, Try' and 'With Every Light').
MACHINA is also deeply conceptual, even when compared to previous albums, with the album's extraordinary artwork and prose conjuring a phantasmic, seemingly post-apocalyptic alternate reality that puts Nine Inch Nails' dystopian Year Zero (2007) concept to shame. The cryptic story of 'Glass and the Machines of God' is more difficult to engage with than Mellon Collie...'s upon cursory inspection, but further investigation into MACHINA's numerous ancilliary forms is rewarding for those keen to determine a fraction of Corgan's apparent psychosis.
The problem many fans have with MACHINA however, lies in its 'wall of sound' production, as opposed to the Pumpkins' infamous, painstaking multitracking of guitar parts. Nevertheless, as with Mellon Collie..., it was proved that the heavier the involvement of second guitarist James Iha in the recording process, the stronger the album sounds. Additionally, Iha also played many of MACHINA's bass parts, following the resignation toward the end of the sessions of original bassist D'arcy Wretzky after a series of confrontations with Corgan.
Whilst considered the Pumpkins' final studio album for close to five years, Corgan and Chamberlin have been hard at work for the past 18 months readying the band's sixth album, Zeitgeist, due for release on July 9th. Neither D'arcy, Iha (who Corgan publicly blamed for the band's original dissolution) nor Melissa auf der Maur (who took over bass duties for MACHINA's subsequent live dates) are involved in the new project, with newcomers Jeff Schroeder and Ginger Reyes taking on guitar and bass respectively for the Pumpkins' new live incarnation.
Free Music Review: PUMPKINS AIM FOR LONGEVITY
Hit: 5 Stars
Let me preface this review: I am more of a Pop/R&B/Hip Hop fan, HOWEVER, don't count me out just yet. Back in 1994, certain acts grabbed my attention because I found the music to be fresh and new. They included Candlebox, Live, Weezer, Soundgarden, Nirvana and of course, my `other' favorite, (besides Stone Temple Pilots), the Smashing Pumpkins.The album, `Siamese Dream' was ruling the airwaves and MTV with songs like "Disarm", "Today", "Rocket" and even "Mayonaise". I liked the whole album and declared it to be good music. Then came `Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness' and I was instantly attracted to two songs my first listen: "1979" and "Tonight, Tonight". Although Billy Corgan can scream with the rest of the rockers, I prefer his softer voice - it's a unique style of singing that blends well with the band - and I think that's what made `Siamese Dream' such an enjoyable listen.
But you want to know about `Machina: The Machines Of God'. Well after a few listens, I hereby declare this album a worthy buy. Is it a `Siamese Dream' in my opinion? No, but it demonstrates musical growth. The album opens up on a strong note with "Everlasting Gaze", a rock track not unlike "Bullet With Butterfly Wings". Lyrically, "Stand Inside Your Love", is the album's most intense statement with lines like `Who wouldn't be the one you love and live for, who wouldn't stand inside your love and die for?". Sonically, "I of the Mourning" makes for a great listen and so does "Try, Try, Try" and "This Time". The other great rock track on here is "Heavy Metal Machine" with its furious, stomping bass line. One of my favorite songs on this album is "Wound". It has a folk music influence you can really hear when Corgan sings, `Last night I turned around and thought I saw myself turning'...it's a melody that borrows heavily from Gordon Lightfoot's 1970 classic, "If You Could Read My Mind". Despite the similarity, I love the song. My other favorite is "Sacred and Profane" because it is musically, the closest track to `Siamese Dream'. Incidentally, the name of the Pumpkins' tour is `The Sacred and Profane' so it is probably going to be a single.
Lastly, some say the album is too long and yes, there are some tracks that probably did not need to be on here. In my opinion, `Machina' could have ended with "With Every Light". The album cover artwork is mind-boggling to say the least, and warrants further study. What Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins have achieved with this album is artistry to be respected. This isn't necessarily hit music. Rather, `Machina' is an artistic statement by a band, and an artistic statement that I can appreciate - how about you?