Smashing Pumpkins - Monuments to an Elegy

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Lunis

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,247
1,470
Out Dec 9th. Tommy Lee on drums.

Monuments_to_an_Elegy_album_cover_from_Smashing_Pumpkins.jpg



 

Whidon

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,880
2,906
Sad to see. Back in the early to mid 90s, he made some great music
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This.

Its just sad how his various antics and ego/insecurity are what people recall about Corgan.

At his peak SP came out with a ton of amazing music/ For some reason it get lumped in the grunge, but SP had a very unique sound. Incorporating Shoegaze, 70s rock, new wave, dream pop, ect.. Really brilliant stuff. Just listening again to stuff like 1979, mayonaise, tonight tonight... I wish modern artists would publish stuff so different, yet accessible, and high quality.

I would put Corgan at his Siamese Dream/Mellon Collie peak up there with Thom Yorke and Bjork as my favorite artists of the past 30 years.

Edit: I don't read Pitchfork much anymore, but their reviews of the recent pumpkins reissues are some of the best music writing I have seen in the past few years. Really hit the nail on the head of what made SP great, it's downfall and billys eccentricities.

The Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness | Album Reviews | Pitchfork

The Smashing Pumpkins: Gish [Deluxe Edition] / Siamese Dream [Deluxe Edition] | Album Reviews | Pitchfork

The Smashing Pumpkins: Adore | Album Reviews | Pitchfork
 

TheBeagle

JunkiesNetwork Donor
8,443
28,972
Ya Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie are my favorite albums ever, literally the sound track of my 20's. Saw the Pumpkins in 1992 in a fairly small venue and that remains the best show I've ever seen. Still pisses me off how quickly it went downhill after that.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
Butch Vig is incredible. He has to have made a goddamn mint as a producer. In the 90s he produced:

1991: The Smashing Pumpkins - Gish
1991: Nirvana - Nevermind
1992: Sonic Youth - Dirty
1992: L7 - Bricks Are Heavy
1993: The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
1994: Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
1994: Helmet - Betty
1995: Soul Asylum - Let Your Dim Light Shine
and then obviously all of his Garbage stuff

About the only producer/engineer that I might admire more from their 90s catalogue is Brendan O'Brien, who was responsible for:
1991: Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers (Engineer, Mixer, Organ, Mellotron, Marimba, working under Rick Rubin)
1992: The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion - The Black Crowes (Engineer)
1992: Core - Stone Temple Pilots (Producer)
1993: Vs. - Pearl Jam (Producer, Mixer)
1994: Superunknown - Soundgarden (Mixer)
1994: Purple - Stone Temple Pilots (Producer, Engineer, Mixer)
1994: Vitalogy - Pearl Jam (Producer, Engineer, Mixer, Organ on "Betterman")
1995: 100% Fun - Matthew Sweet (Producer, Mixer, Guitar, Piano, Electric Harp, Harpsichord, Clavinet, Mellotron)
1995: Mirror Ball - Neil Young (Producer, Mixer, Piano, Guitar, Background Vocals)
1996: Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop - Stone Temple Pilots (Producer, Handclapping, Clavinet, Organ, Piano, Percussion, Tambourine, Handclapping)
1996: Evil Empire - Rage Against the Machine (Producer)
1996: No Code - Pearl Jam (Producer, Mixer, Piano)
1998: Yield - Pearl Jam (Producer, Mixer)
1999: The Battle of Los Angeles - Rage Against the Machine (Producer, Mixer)

(We won't talk about his nu-metal production credits for Korn, Limp Bizkit, and all of that crap, though)
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
Rick Rubins diversity is what is most impressive about him, a lot of producers stick to one genre for the most part. Anyone that can produce great albums for RHCP, Beastie Boys, Slayer, AC/DC, Tom Petty, and Johnny Cash is pretty damn talented.
 

Whidon

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,880
2,906
Nevermind and particularly Siamese Dream are pretty much the pinnacle of analog rock production for me. It's amazing how good those albums sound after 20+ years.

Butch Vig did a Q/A on gearslutzQ A with Butch Vig - Gearslutz.comThere is a ton of stuff on Siamses Dream.
 

Whidon

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,880
2,906
I actually listened to a few songs from the new SP album, it's not bad. It reminds me of Weezer or the Foo fighters attempting to write the next "everlong" or "Blue album" for the millionth time.

They still write decent stuff, but it seems whatever resource that allowed those early songs to be special is dried up.
 

Lunis

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,247
1,470
No one can touch Rick Rubin. No one.
I find his production extremely bland, the only records that don't sound that way are a couple of the Slayer albums he did. He actually did produce one Pumpkins song back in 1998, they left it off the album because of it's blandness.

 
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Low (no) hopes for this but wouldn't mind being pleasantly surprised. Siamese and Gish are two of the best rock albums ever imho, but they lost me after Mellon Collie which I thought was kinda 50% filler.

Here's a cool documentary though:
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Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
That's what 20+ years of hardcore drug use does. Say no to drugs, kids, mmmmmmkay?