Pitchfork reviews Zeitgeist
Rob Mitchum’s Pitchfork review of the new Smashing Pumpkins record, Zeitgeist, aptly criticizes its one-dimensional sound:
I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit that it sounds big when compared to the relatively thin, wispy sound of the modern alt-rock competition. Songs like “Doomsday Clock” and “Tarantula” wave the flag of stoner rock like Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult without embarrassment, and could likely pass for Queens of the Stone Age if it wasn’t for that characteristic Corgan whine. On the other hand, this hard-rock approach only used to be one aspect of the Pumpkins persona, call it the “Zero” dimension. By focusing only on this portion of the group’s character, Corgan misremembers the versatility that launched his band to the A-list: not just guitar-god bludgeoning, but epic psychedelia like “Rhinoceros”, fragile pop like “Today,” wide-screen symphonics like “Tonight, Tonight”, and synth-loop ballads like “1979″.
[...]
Of course, nobody wants progression from the Smashing Pumpkins, that’s the whole point of manufacturing this reunion in the first place. In that sense, Zeitgeist is interesting as a demonstration that the artist himself is usually not be the best person to play historian for his own career. Given the chance to revisit the good old days, Corgan has unearthed only a portion of the Pumpkins character– and while that portion is meticulously revived, all the parts left behind remain sorely missed. In the end, it’s the one-dimensional approach, not the lack of half the original members, that leaves Smashing Pumpkins Mk. II a cardboard cutout of the real thing– not the empty ATM-reunion it could have been, but still a ghost of the old band.