Saturday, February 23, 2008

Smashing Pumpkins-Zeitgeist



I reviewed this record right after it came out last summer on my livejournal and after re-reading it I would definitely say I like it more now. At the time I was just basically upset because it was a record i'd been waiting for seven years to see the light of day and there was no way it was ever going to meet my expectations no matter how great it was. Such is the price they pay for my uber-geekdom.

Listening to it now I'm still comfortable saying that it's not as amazing as my memories of first falling in love with the Pumpkins as a teenager are. Again, this is not Zeitgeist's fault. So let's talk about the actual record. This is probably the hardest rocking Pumpkins record so far. Gone for the most part are the Goth and Shoegaze influences that gave the Pumpkins such a unique sound in their hey-day. Tracks like Doomsday Clock and Tarantula rock and they rock hard. If anything, Zeitgeist brings out the the side of Billy Corgan who rocked out to Kiss and Iron Maiden records as a kid.

It's not all Detroit Rock City though. Death From Above rumbles by with big guitars AND some New Order-ish synths added to the mix. Bring The Light has a great intro but then just turns into another four-on-the-floor rocker. Throughout the entire record, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the only other original Pumpkin on board, is probably one of most underrated drummers of his generation. Whereas most bands of the last twenty years have drummers who stylistically do little to define their band's sound, Jimmy's drumming has always provided the much needed backbone to Billy's guitar heroics. Overall, I like Zeitgeist and am glad the Pumpkins are back making records. I just hope the next Pumpkins endeavor has a wider array of sounds and genres that made them such a fascinating band to begin with.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well said. i think a lot of reviewers need to revisit this album, as you did.