Crucify the Insincere: A Smashing Pumpkins Thread

[Ello Sailor]

The sequencing of Mellon Collie's original vinyl is so much better than the standard order that I'm used to.

Side one - Dawn
1. "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" 2:52
2. "Tonight, Tonight" 4:14
3. "Thirty-Three" 4:10
4. "In the Arms of Sleep" 4:12
5. "Take Me Down" Iha 2:52
Total length: 18:20

Side two – Tea Time
1. "Jellybelly" 3:01
2. "Bodies" 4:12
3. "To Forgive" 4:17
4. "Here Is No Why" 3:45
5. "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" 9:21
Total length: 24:36

Side three – Dusk
1. "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" 4:18
2. "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" 7:38
3. "Muzzle" 3:44
4. "Galapogos" 4:47
5. "Tales of a Scorched Earth" 3:46
Total length: 24:13

Side four – Twilight
1. "1979" 4:25
2. "Beautiful" 4:18
3. "Cupid de Locke" 2:50
4. "By Starlight" 4:48
5. "We Only Come Out at Night" 4:05
Total length: 20:26

Side five – Midnight
1. "Where Boys Fear to Tread" 4:22
2. "Zero" 2:41
3. "Fuck You (An Ode to No One)" 4:51
4. "Love" 4:21
5. "X.Y.U." 7:07
Total length: 23:22

Side six – Starlight
1. "Stumbleine" 2:54
2. "Lily (My One and Only)" 3:31
3. "Tonite Reprise" 2:40
4. "Farewell and Goodnight" Iha[26] 4:22
5. "Infinite Sadness"

Please excuse the lazy copy/paste.

[VinylGuy]

no, lets talk about Zeitgeist/Teargarden

[Ello Sailor]

Good albums only on this page pls

[Kevin Davis]

Interesting -- I knew the MCIS vinyl included "Infinite Sadness" at the end (which if memory serves is actually a Siamese Dream outtake), but I didn't realize it included "Tonite Reprise" as well. I like that tracklisting a lot -- it's arranged similar to the themed singles on the Aeroplane box -- though having "Take Me Down" so early in the running order feels kinda weird.

Man, what a collection of tunes.

[Ello Sailor]

I think both 'Thirty-Three' and 'Take Me Down' are fired off too early, but I like the vinyl order more overall.

[Ello Sailor]

Actually, 'Take Me Down' should've been shelved. Sorry James!

[liebzz]

Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 4 - Oceania

Next up in this long form project is an album within the larger project. In many ways, this is a natural progression from the other volumes, but it also has a set of song structures that harken to a mid-90s era Pumpkins, especially in the way the songs build and break - perhaps not as bombastically as those 90s albums, but this feels more in line with a pre-Adore Pumpkins without coming across as simply big dumb rock in the way Zeitgeist felt to me. It’s Billy Corgan in his natural space, even if the other members of the Pumpkins are not there. Near everything works here, with my preferred highlights being Quasar, Panopticon, The Celestials, Violet Rays, My Love is Winter, One Diamond One Heart (yes the first half of this record really hit me well), Oceania, and the Chimera. I mean, there’s no misstep for me on this one, and at least I didn’t notice much in the way of production failure other than feeling the drums a bit synthetic feeling compared to what I would expect if Jimmy Chamberlin were here.

[VinylGuy]

Oceania might be my least favorite Pumpkins album. I saw this incarnation of the band live, and they were cool...Linda Fiorentino was good, Jeff is a monster..Billy seemed fine...Mike did what he could. He wasnt bad.

But the album feels like a desperate attempt to go back to a sound thats not quite here. Again, the production feels lifelfess, the drums are horrible, the voice is so up in the mix, and Billy sings super bored, he attacks ever songs like its the same one.

The Celestials is a good song tough.

[surfndestroy]

Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 4 - Oceaniae

Happy to see that you enjoyed the album. I think it's a really strong album, especially as you noted the first half. By far my favorite post Adore album.

[liebzz]

Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 5 - Monuments to an Elegy

A much shorter album within the project, this comes 2 years after Oceania and is not quite as interesting to me as the former. Despite the shorter run time, the songs at the first third of the album sort of run together and things don’t really get cooking until Run2Me at least for me. The other songs are fine, but even the more interesting Anaise! And One and All just seems to be missing something for me. Drum + Fife and Monuments are two other highlights here, but I can’t see revisiting this too much. It’s fine.

[Ello Sailor]

'Tiberius' rules as an opener, and 'Run2Me' is perhaps the worst song Billy has ever put to tape. It's an up and down album, that.

[liebzz]

I think it could also be too much Pumpkins at once - it ends up melding together and is less memorable. The songs that end up sticking out are the ones that least sound like one another - I liked Tiberius, and then I immediately lost sight of it once the next song had a similar vibe.

[VinylGuy]

I hated it when it came out, i warmed up a bit with time. Also, i saw them on this tour too, super weird lineup, but they sounded super tight. Wilk was a monster...sometimes you needed something a bit more mellow, but it worked well.

The album sounds...pretty awful...again Corgan´s voice is so upfront and the guy sounds just bored. He doesnt sing. He is just there.

Tommy Lee was a weird choice for the drums.

[Ello Sailor]

'Tiberius' has a distinct sea shanty vibe and is completely unique in the context of the album. I have no idea where you're going with that take.

@Mr. Lie

[VinylGuy]

which take

corgan sounding awful? the production?

[Ello Sailor]

I wasn't replying to you, fella.

[liebzz]

Sea shanty vibe. I like that take.

[VinylGuy]

Im listening to both Oceania and Monuments today.

Maybe tomorrow.

[Ello Sailor]

Something just doesn't sound right with Oceania. And it can't be the lack of Jimmy, because Monuments doesn't suffer in quite the same way.

I think I just hate the way the vocals are mixed on the former, and the way it tries to be something that it's not. It's essentially a shallow attempt at hitting Siamese Dream 2.0, while Monuments is all over the place stylistically, for better or worse. The latter flows more like a b-sides collection to be honest.

Messy run of albums, gents. It wasn't easy going as a diehard fan. Dark days!

[VinylGuy]

I agree with your take on Oceania...it has this feeling of ¨this album is super important like SD¨ and its just not...the vocals are horrible.

While Monuments its more like a relaxed vibe, like ey, this are my new songs kinda thing