Smashing Pumpkins
"Zeitgeist"
Release date: July 10, 2007
Record label: Martha's Music
www.smashingpumpkins.com
Maybe it would have been better if the Smashing Pumpkins never put out another album at all.
At least it would save every hopeful fan or nostalgic 1990s listener somewhere around $12 and close to an hour of time. Oh, and keep the Smashing Pumpkins from becoming just another casualty along the road of trying to reclaim past glories.
"Zeitgeist," the first album the band has released since 1999, is a dismal offering for a band that just reunited two years ago.
Mysterious frontman Billy Corgan is one of only two original members of the Smashing Pumpkins still in the group. With only half of the original band, formed in 1988, coming back for the reunion, the Smashing Pumpkins are really only about half as good as they used to be - which is lackluster at best.
"Zeitgeist" is full of painful problems that anyone who enjoys alternative rock would hope a band with as much history as the Pumpkins could avoid. The songs are dull, sleepy and far too similar in construction.
For a good portion of the album, the songs meld into a depressing cymbal-heavy, minor-chord-laden dirge that just won't stop thumping long enough for a listener to recognize a new track has started. The stretch of tracks one through five seem as though they were just one horrifyingly boring 20-minute angst-ridden overture. But if you watch closely enough, the album is actually switching tracks.
For the most part, it's littered with a sound reminiscent of past Pumpkins offerings. The problem is Corgan, close to 20 years older than he was when they started, sounds old and tired of repeating the same grumpy lyrics of yesteryear.
Listeners should long for the passionate, biting scream that accompanied the lyrics, "Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage," or the melancholy emotion of "1979."
While the lyrics are interesting and strong, such as in the song "(Come on) Let's Go!" where Corgan sings "Tears were once my only way back home/ Someone weeps and instantly I'm thrown."
But the tired, discontent tone of his voice is too much a thing of the past to make the album effective. Maybe it's cynical to believe a man who probably earned tons of money off of earlier successes shouldn't be wallowing in his angst, but it has gotten to the point where the band needs to try something different instead of relying on the unhappy standby to sell a few CD's.
"Zeitgeist" is a disappointing effort from a band whose comeback was so anticipated by fans. With sleepy voices, boring and far-too-similar songs the only redeeming quality is the rather interesting lyrics. Unfortunately for this album, it isn't spoken word.
Daily Egyptian reporter Alicia Wade can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 275 or awade@siude.com.
