Smashing Pumpkins: Adore
After Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Billy Corgan and James Iha announced that the band was taking a change in direction musically. Although this difference in sound was no doubt intended from the outset the overall feel of their follow-up, Adore, can also be attributed as much to the absence of Jimmy Chamberlin; at the time was fired from the band due to his problems with drug use. As a result, it is a very different album that lacks, among other things, the crisp and cutting drum beats of their earlier days. Instead, Adore is almost entirely a collection of slow, introspective ballads and synth-driven numbers that are a far cry from their previous alt-rock/borderline-metal offerings.
The tender opening tune, To Sheila, is a case in point: performed entirely by Billy on a nylon string acoustic guitar with a few overdubbed notes from a banjo, it almost feels like a ‘Pumpkins Unplugged’ recording but nevertheless is one of the band’s most beautiful and heartfelt songs of their career. They always were an outfit who could pull off a good acoustic number, of course, but no doubt fans would have been expecting the bombastic walls of fuzz and the trademark ‘Guitar Army’ sound; the second track, Ava Adore, is even more of a surprise with its loops and samples.
With Jimmy absent and guest drummers (including Matt Walker from Filter and Matt Cameron, fresh out of Soundgarden, among them) filling in occasionally it owes more to Depeche Mode or the Cure than Sabbath or Hendrix: because of Corgan’s penchant for processing and layering his guitar sounds it is hard to discern where the guitars end and the synths begin. The single Perfect and the delightful Appels + Oranjes are short bursts of brightness in an album that is overall quite a sober and sombre affair; piano lines mix in with the electronica to give a vague feeling of loss and regret. Perhaps this was brought on by the death of Corgan’s mother; or perhaps he was missing the drive and energy of his recently-dismissed bandmate.
Even with this taken into account it is unexpected when the likes of 1979 and Thirty-Three, initially thought of as experiments that strayed from the band’s rock formula, would turn out to be the guidelines that Corgan would follow in recording Adore. The distortion’s stripped away, the vocals are more relaxed and wistful and the lyrics are brought even further to the fore. The timeless, almost claustrophobic atmosphere is reflected in the muted, sepia-toned inlay booklet; as always, there’s a slight air of pretention in that the lyrics sound poetic yet don’t reveal their meaning too easily.
The only major downside to Adore, apart from the fact that it refuses to ‘rock’ hard in any way, is that it feels a tad overlong, clocking in at over seventy minutes. Again, the Pumpkins are notorious for their epic song arrangements, but the likes of For Martha and Blank Page stick firmly to a slow, unhurried pace that rarely changes its course; this makes some of the tracks on offer here drag out a bit, as soothing and thoughtful as they are.
In Summary
Adore is possibly the most underrated release of the Pumpkins back catalogue: its introspective and understated approach means that many listeners will overlook its more subtle charms. Although it outstays its welcome in the end, this is a beautiful record that unfairly never received the same level of acclaim as its more loud and proud predecessors.
Tracklisting
- To Sheila
- Ava Adore
- Perfect
- Daphne Descends
- Once Upon a Time
- Tear
- Crestfallen
- Appels + Oranjes
- Pug
- The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete
- Annie-Dog
- Shame
- Behold! The Nightmare
- For Martha
- Blank Page
- 17
Leave a Reply