The Smashing Pumpkins - "MACHINA/The Machines of God"

Rating: 6

You may know it as the notorious album that precipitated the Smashing Pumpkins' breakup. But is MACHINA/The Machines of God as terrible as its title would indicate? Perhaps I have my head so far up Billy Corgan's bald ass that I can't tell what good music is anymore, but I say no. But mediocre, most definitely!

For although Corgan's songwriting declined as we entered our third millennium, it hadn't completely gone to shit either. However, this album is filled with bad artistic decisions. Let's take a quick run-through of the decision-making of Mr. Corgan:

Wrote a set of spiritual, soaring mid-tempo ballads? Make sure that every song is produced with a deafening, buzzing wall of sound that makes Phil Spector want to kill again.

Need a lead single? Re-write "Zero" from Mellon Collie, give it a meaningless title ("The Everlasting Gaze") and make sure to include an a cappella section where you sing the line "But underneath the wheels lie the skulls of every cog" with a hard G so that everyone wonders if they just heard you scream 'skulls of every cock'.*

Find yourself with 25-30 minutes of top-notch material and no more? Make the album 73 minutes long and then release a companion album called MACHINA II with 90 minutes of OUTTAKES from the recording sessions.

Shit, I've almost convinced myself that I shouldn't give this album three stars which is what I'm going to do at the end of this review. But despite the flaws, I do think there is 25-30 minutes of top-notch material here, which is enough for a borderline positive rating. The stretch from "Stand Inside Your Love" through "This Time" is good enough that I can almost forgive the stretch of bad songs from the needlessly 10-minute "Glass and the Ghost Children" (solid at 3 minutes, bad at 10), through the tedious "Blue Skings Bring Tears." I wouldn't say there's a great album buried here, but there is a good album at 10 or 11 songs, especially with sparser production. And what pushes me over into positive territory is that "Stand Inside Your Love" is a truly great single, the one vestige of classic Pumpkins.

So if you're a Pumpkins fan, you should still listen to this album. If you aren't, don't. And no, there is no fucking way I am ever going to listen to MACHINA II.

Rating: *** out of *****

* There is one other example of this that I can think of in the annals of rock: Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light" where the singer clearly sings "Wrapped up like a douche" when the line is "Wrapped up like a deuce." I'm not sure I can say why, but both songs make my skin crawl.

The Smashing Pumpkins - "Pisces Iscariot" (1994)

Rating: 8

Sure, he brought it on himself, but I find it a shame that Billy Corgan is mostly known as a crackpot, or worse, the bald guy with the shitty voice. I don't think he is (or was) quite a genius, but perhaps the Smashing Pumpkins' relatively disappointing fade-out post Mellon Collie shouldn't have been such a surprise. Consider the lengths of their first three albums:

Gish: 45:45

Siamese Dream: 62:17

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: 121:39

Then throw in this album, an excellent 57-minute collection of B-sides and outtakes and you've got over 4 hours and 45 minutes of quality Pumpkins, or seven normal-length vinyl records. So where a non-fan might see the lukewarm reception to their fourth and fifth albums (and subsequent breakup) and think they were some flash in the pan, they were really just victims of hanging around too long and letting Corgan make an ass of himself in the media one too many times. His prime may have been relatively short, but he wrote 10 or 15 years worth of music for some bands in four years.

Oh yeah, Pisces Iscariot. It has the best reputation of the various compilations of the band's unreleased tracks (yes, there are several) but I was a bit skeptical that they really had another full album's worth of good material considering it only draws on the recording sessions for two albums (Gish and Siamese Dream). And yet, I find this better than Gish and their third-best 'album' overall. It has a surprisingly good flow for a compilation, alternating between typical Pumpkins rockers and lighter, more evocative material. Corgan not only doesn't embarrass himself covering "Landslide," he does almost as good a job as Fleetwood Mac!

What I find particularly refreshing is that it largely lacks the epic ambitions of their first three studio albums and instead most of the tracks clock in between 2.5 and 4 minutes. Though this ambition is what made the group great at their best, it could be their downfall as well, so the result is that Pisces Iscariot is much more consistent, if lacking the stunning high points of Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie. 

That said, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there is one major exception here to the previous paragraph - the 11-minute "Starla" which definitely qualifies as a stunning high point in my book. As this album demonstrates quite well, there are two major components to the group's sound: loud, distorted alternative rock meets heavy metal and lush, dreamy soft pop. I find they are at their most compelling when they combine the two in the same song, and "Starla" is a great example of this. Beginning with a quiet arpeggiated opening, they bring in a gruff riff, slowly building the song to a crescendo before dropping to a quiet fadeout five minutes in, seemingly the end of the song. Not so! Instead, Corgan comes to the fore with nearly six minutes of Hendrix-esque guitar soloing as he scrapes every bit of unearthly noise he can get out of his instrument. It's ridiculous and should be terrible, and yet somehow, it's the best thing here. And that is the essence of the Smashing Pumpkins.

Bob Dylan - "New Morning" (1970)

Rating: 8

Although it is my opinion that Dylan would never again reach the astounding heights of Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde (and that includes Blood on the Tracks, which although it would probably make my purely hypothetical Hall of Fame Album Pyramid, wouldn't make the Pantheon), my recent listening to his immediate post-Blonde oeuvre certainly hasn't been unrewarding. Although I agree with the critical masses that his infamous Self-Portrait was a misfire, I also don't think it deserves infamy. Yet he released several good to great albums during this stretch, including John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, and New Morning, released just four months after Self-Portrait. My main criticism of him during this stretch is not that he lost his genius, but that his genius was unfocused, manifesting itself on a handful of songs per album only. This is somewhat the case on New Morning, but there is enough strong material to recommend it.

On this album, Bob largely ditches the guitar and focuses primarily on rambling piano ballads. Being Dylan, his piano-playing is unpolished, his vocals are abrasive at times, and especially due to the short length (35 minutes), it isn't hard to imagine it being knocked off in four months. Yet he is also more direct and heartfelt on this album than he had really ever been until this point, and he conveys a genuine warmth and sweetness. Although this is nowhere near as momentous a record as his earlier stuff and has too much filler for me to call it a masterpiece (witness the awful beatnik spoken-word "When Dogs Run Free"), the best songs here are also spiritually akin in that Dylan's humanity shines through like almost no other rock songwriter can manage.

For example, I was already familiar with the opening track "If Not For You," as covered by George Harrison on All Things Must Pass. After hearing Harrison's glorious Phil Spector-ized version with its wall of acoustic guitars, the much more low-key Dylan version with its significantly dinkier organ part and ramshackle feel passed me by on the first listen. And yet now, I am overwhelmed by the homely charm of the Dylan rendition and although the Harrison version is hard to beat, it's much closer than I ever would have thought.

The other major highlight for me is "Sign On the Window" which has the closing verse:

Built me a cabin in Utah

Marry me a wife, catch a rainbow trout

Have a bunch of kids who call me Pa

That must be what it's all about

Out of context, these lyrics seem almost embarrassingly naive. But in the context of the rest of the lyrics. ("Sign on a porch says, 'Three's a crowd'"), the tone is much more wistful. And in the context of the music, when you hear his rueful vocals in conjunction with his piano, it's deeply moving. Although Dylan is about the lyrics first and foremost (contrary to what the contrarians will have you believe), the way he sings the lyrics is just as important as how they are written down on paper, which is what nearly all the singer-songwriters who followed in his footsteps forgot. Keeper!

Big Star - "Third/Sister Lovers" (1978)

Rating: 7

Third/Sister Lovers was released well after Big Star had already dissolved, having been recorded four years earlier and then shelved, presumably for its weirdness. And it is a fascinating listen, as Alex Chilton seemingly intentionally subverted the glistening power-pop of their first two records, releasing a chaotic, uncommercial record. Maybe he just said "fuck it" after failing to reach commercial success with two albums that were lovingly crafted just for the radio. Perhaps there was some consolation in the critical acclaim that eventually followed.

I'd like to say that Third is the band's masterpiece, but I can't go that far. Over the course of the album the sound, at first thrilling, becomes somewhat monotonous, and the hooks begin to dwindle (of course, one could argue that's the point, but there are enough songs here that have hooks, albeit strange ones, that I find fault with the ones that don't). Still, the first half of the record is near-perfect and although it may sound jarring at first, further listens reveal that these songs do indeed possess the classic Big Star elements, just twisted and fucked up. "Jesus Christ" has a perverse, sped up carnival organ intro but although it sounds more raw, it still has a chiming riff and soaring chorus that would have fit on their earlier records if not for the lyrics ("Jesus Christ was born today, Jesus Christ was born"). Similarly, "Big Black Car" with a different arrangement could be "Thirteen" from #1 Record, but instead is slowed down to the point where it sounds like it belongs more on the Twin Peaks soundtrack than in the Big Star catalog. 

Whatever Chilton's intentions, Third/Sister Lovers solidified Big Star's critical reputation as a band that was willing to change their artistic identity without sacrificing, and indeed enhancing their emotional power. And that's a good reputation to have.

Big Star - "Radio City" (1974)

Radio City, along with its predecessor, #1 Record, is one of those albums that music enthusiasts and critics all rightly revere, citing its influential qualities, reveling in its blissful pop melodies, etc... Being an avid reader of online music reviews, I felt quite familiar with Big Star before ever listening to their music. Yet I was reminded when listening to the band in the car with my girlfriend that outside of us hardcore rock music buffs, very few people have heard of them. So while Big Star is no doubt overrated by some (isn't every band?), they still deserve to be heard by a wider audience, especially since despite their lack of commercial success, they were no doubt a commercially-oriented band, and thus really aren't that hard to get into compared to a lot of my other lesser-known favorites.

As for the music itself, it is filled with jangly guitars and big hooks, and is no doubt the forerunner for various indie-alternative-pop bands of the 80s and 90s. Lead singer/songwriter Alex Chilton was not just a great tunesmith, but sings with a strained vulnerability that adds an undercurrent of unrest to the songs even while the guitars chime brightly. As a result, the band excels at rocking out (the near 6-minute jam "O My Soul") yet the best song here, "September Gurls," and arguably the best of their career, is a sweet, unforgettable mid-tempo ballad. So if you haven't heard Big Star, get this album! I'm reviewing this one because I was already very familiar with their debut, #1 Record, which is even better, being more diverse and featuring more tear-jerking ballads. On CD, the two albums are commonly packaged together, which is so much the better, since they're basically the same album anyways.

U2 - "No Line on the Horizon" (2009)

Rating: 5

It had certainly seemed to me that although U2 is no doubt past their prime, that at least they had settled into being a veteran band that could pump out a decent album every four or five years. No Line on the Horizon, though, kind of sucks, and drawing from the authority of having listened to every single U2 studio album, I declare this to be the worst record they've ever released. Well, at least tied with Pop.

The album is split up into very distinct sections - the first five songs are in the same basic style as How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, if not quite as dynamic and somewhat overlong, but at least this section fulfills the basic prerequisites of good U2 music, anthemic choruses and thick, chiming Edge guitar riffs. The next two songs are basically weaker re-writes of "Vertigo" and "All Because of You" from the last album, and somehow, "Get On Your Boots" (also the lead single!) is just as irritating as "Vertigo." And finally, after that brief and unwelcoming interlude, the band finishes the album with four more songs in the same style as the first five - the difference being that none of these has anything resembling an interesting melody or guitar part, thus ensuring that my final impression of the album is one of utter boredom.

So although the first part of the album is solid, it doesn't even hit the high points of their last two albums, and certainly doesn't make up for six songs in a row that I don't care for at all. But don't listen to me, Rolling Stone gave it five stars, so it must be great! Blue bin all the way.

U2 - "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" (2004)

For once, U2 did themselves a disservice with their lead single. 8 years later, I still remember the annoying iPod commercials featuring "Vertigo" and cringe. And although probably every song ever is made much worse when edited and chopped into a 30 second product placement, I still think "Vertigo" is pretty terrible and much too reminiscent of their forced postures of the 90s, even if it doesn't have anything to with techno. I'm all for musical diversity, but time has proved that U2 isn't really good at anything besides epic rock songs that aim for nothing less than transcendence. 

And yet, the rest of the album much more resembles All That You Can't Leave Behind. If the 'unforgettable fire' they had in the 1980s is gone, and they at times feel like they're re-writing their best songs, they're also savvy veterans and they know they can't go wrong with a big Edge guitar part and a cathartically building Bono vocal. On songs like "Miracle Drug" and "Original of the Species," I feel that U2 magic all over again. This is also one of their more consistent albums, for once closing on a high note with "Original of the Species" and the stirring "Yahweh," plus nearly every song is memorable on some level. Weirdly, I think that "Vertigo" and the follow-up single "All Because of You" are actually the worst songs on the album, as they both attempt to rock out, which the band hasn't done well since 1984. But when they play to their strengths, which they do for most of the album, they prove that they can still do quality U2.

U2 - "All That You Can't Leave Behind" (2000)

A quintessential example of a 'comeback' album by a veteran band. On All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2 abandons their electronic experiments of the 90s and returns to the uplifting melodic balladry of albums like The Joshua Tree. And although I always prefer to be a contrarian, the result is undoubtedly their best since 1991's Achtung Baby. In fact, after the first five songs, I wondered if this might be (for me, anyways) U2's long-awaited masterpiece. 

The first four songs I was already familiar with from listening to alternative rock radio in 8th grade as my local DJs couldn't get enough of the fact that U2 had finally returned to their traditional sound. Although I enjoyed them fine at the time, I can now say confidently that these singles are indeed the shit. Though they lack the 'edge' of their 80s work and feel somewhat calculated, it all works. "Beautiful Day" is the best U2-by-numbers song I could conceive of, and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" and "Walk On" successfully showcase a sweeter side of the band. "Elevation" is probably the precursor of their dreaded iPod jingle "Vertigo" but has the benefit of actually being good. Throw in track #5 "Kite" (another anthemic ballad) and you have a first side that is 95% as good as the first side of Joshua Tree, for although it's not as powerful, this is as melodic as they've ever been.

Unfortunately, having moved past the innovative, fresh stage of their career, it was probably too much to expect that they might have finally found the cure for their notorious front-loading of albums. And in fact, this may be the most extreme example of bad album sequencing in the U2 catalog yet. Almost imperceptibly, the album slides into being pleasant rather than stirring, and then boring rather than pleasant. So I can't quite rank this one on the same level as their more famous albums. But it is definitely a keeper, and the first five songs come highly recommended.

U2 - "Pop" (1997)

Well, it's been a month since I wrote my last review on this blog. So much for putting 'one record a day' in the URL! But due to popular demand, I have decided to end my hiatus by reviewing U2's Pop, an album which I do not own on vinyl and thus can't exactly blue bin. Oh well. Since my blue bin is full anyways, I decided to invent a new conceit for this blog, which is to review the albums I listen to on my iPod on the way to and from work. But don't worry, I plan to continue to review vinyls too!

As for Pop, it continues the U2 trend of the 90s in dabbling with techno and electronica. Although I would strongly hesitate to call this good, I do have to give some credit to the group for not making total asses of themselves with albums like this one and Zooropa. My feeling, and I doubt I am alone in this, is that the strengths of U2 were always the righteous power of Bono and the Edge's thick, textured guitar playing. During their electronic period, these elements were basically gone or severely reduced. Still, whether it was their litany of hip producers of the time, or the Edge proving himself to be a versatile multi-instrumentalist, Pop features a lot of interesting guitar loops and samples and arrangements that frequently shift between moods and textures in a way that seemed beyond the band's grasp in the 80s.

So it's not the electronic music influences that make this a mediocre album, but rather, the fact that the busy arrangements ultimately can't mask what is Bono's weakest set of songs. Apart from the soaring, Joshua Tree throwback ballad "Staring at the Sun," there is little emotional power to be found here, and like even the best U2 albums, the melodies are mostly AWOL. The better songs are interesting mostly for their arrangements (like "MOFO" with its pumped-up bass line), and even some songs that do appear to have a lot going for them ("Discotheque") fail to gel into something cohesive. Still, it's all mostly mediocre to decent, apart from the truly wretched "Miami" (think Bono near-rapping over an industrial dance beat), so I can't get too angry about Pop. But if I could blue bin it, I would.