Alright, I admit it.
Yesterday's post kinda sucked, huh? No biggie, I was spent and I still stand by it, pointless though it may be. I still dig Hulu. Hope you're cool with it. Let's switch gears, shall we? To contrast the brevity and vapidity of yesterday's content, let's take an in-depth look at a strangely huge album from the 90s, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins. Being a double album, I'll take two posts to break it down a disc at a time. Today - disc one, Dawn To Dusk.
The Pumpkins were, at the time of recording this album, a huge force in alternative rock. Coincidentally (or perhaps not so coincidentally) Billy Corgan was known for being egomaniacal and...kind of a dick. He had Pavement kicked off Lollapalooza, for example, because of a (possibly imagined) feud. That ego-driven attitude was both a blessing and a curse for the band, as it gave rise to the most prolific and fruitful time of their career but also drove them to exhaustion and temporary ruin. In late 94/early 95, though, they were ascendant. Burning away countless hours in the studio, Corgan constructed what would be his magnum opus one obsessive layer at a time. Although he finally began to include the rest of the band in the process, what emerged is still unequivocally Corgan's work. The resulting concept album stands as some of their best work. Let's dig in and see what we find, eh?
The album opens with the eponymously titled piano piece, serving as a thematic forbearance and subtle indication of tone. While pleasant, there's not a lot to it, but I will touch back on it later in this examination. The album really wakes up and leaps to life with the epic and grand 'Tonight, Tonight'. It's a massive song, one that signaled that the band had grown and taken steps in new directions after the streamlined Siamese Dream. 'Tonight' feels vibrant and alive, even today, with its lush strings and urgent lyrics - a natural choice for a single. The video is still charming and fun to watch, as well. 'Jellybelly' feels a bit like a return to old habits, for better or worse. It's a juggernaut of a song, pummeling and hammering down with fuzzed out riffs but also wielding a soaring chorus that rides the momentum. It sounds like it could have been left over from their last album, but that's hardly a knock - it's just not that original for Corgan. 'Zero' does see the band change their sound in a subtle way. There's something sleek and metallic about this tune I can't quite put my finger on, but Corgan referred to it as 'cyber metal'. They would eventually come back to this sound during the Machina years, but that would be six years later.
'Here Is No Why' marries the new and old sound quite handily, and its here the theme of the album really emerges. A lurching, syncopated riff and some lyrics about teenage ideals and giving up show both Corgan's strength as a write and his stealth aim. He's claimed Mellon Collie to be about "mortal sorrow" and themes of life and death but if you listen closely on this song and the next, the debut single 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings', it becomes clear Corgan is actually writing about his own disillusionment with being a teenage icon, the Bishop of Generation X in the absence of King Cobain. His arrogance and egomania and relentless work ethic pushed them to the top, only to realize he was alone in his tower, looking out at a sea of youth that would eventually move on without him.
That's what I think Mellon Collie is about.
The theme continues on as the album plays. 'Bullet' is Corgan actually realizing the hollowness of his dream and being "still just a rat in a cage". 'To Forgive' is an abrupt shift to a sorrowful song of saudade and lost youth, which I think furthers my understanding of this album. There's hint of a great song here, but its buried under uninspired chord changes and dour mood. The next track, the nihilistic and inscrutable 'Ode To No One', seems to be Corgan firing off a nonsense-laden missive at the audience, almost as a kiss off. The defiant and bizarre lyrics paint a picture of his frustration in his role as teen spokesman. The fuzzed out, cracked and broken dirge 'Love' could be a time travelling cast off from Machina. Synthesizer emerge around the corners here, with Corgan toasting to his "mistakes of cowardice" and justification in the name of love. The flip-side to damaged, damaging 'Love' is the saccharine 'Cupid De Locke', almost insipid in its banal simplicity. To be honest, I've never really gotten this song.
'Galapagos' appears on the surface to be a love song, but close inspection shows its actually about Corgan's insecurity about growing older and irrelevant to his audience, singing literally "Too late to turn back now, I'm running out of sound. I'm changing". 'Muzzle', a loose, jangly alterna-rock anthem, is just as literal, with the opening lyrics "I fear that I am ordinary, just like everyone". It's a good song, not a great song, and a sign that even for someone as prolific as Corgan, a double album can be prone to serve indulgence. Fittingly, the penultimate track on Dawn To Dusk is the nine minute wanderer 'Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans', a drawn out number that seems to be about a variety of subjects. It's a gorgeous, sprawling song, a testament to what the Pumpkins were trying to accomplish on Mellon Collie - it just is a little vague. From the established themes it seems to suggest that Corgan finds relief in therapy and pharmacology. All I really know is that I love the near-two minute intro's guitar layers. They're sublimely played and structured. The final track on disc one is 'Take Me Down', a contribution from guitarist James Iha. Other than some lay-to-rest, sleep to dream elements, there's little relevance to the rest of the album. It's a nice song, but a bit sleepy. Maybe it's supposed to be a lullaby.
Dawn To Dusk, I feel, is just that. It opens at dawn with the soft piano piece. Day breaks and the band launches forth with 'Tonight, Tonight', singing of eventual plans and seizing the day. Weariness and disillusionment sets in, and as night comes we settle to bed after being tranquilized from anxiety and frustration. This is just my take on the first half. I'll post part two tomorrow and see if this holds up as strongly on Twilight To Starlight.
Stay tuned!
Yesterday's post kinda sucked, huh? No biggie, I was spent and I still stand by it, pointless though it may be. I still dig Hulu. Hope you're cool with it. Let's switch gears, shall we? To contrast the brevity and vapidity of yesterday's content, let's take an in-depth look at a strangely huge album from the 90s, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins. Being a double album, I'll take two posts to break it down a disc at a time. Today - disc one, Dawn To Dusk.
The Pumpkins were, at the time of recording this album, a huge force in alternative rock. Coincidentally (or perhaps not so coincidentally) Billy Corgan was known for being egomaniacal and...kind of a dick. He had Pavement kicked off Lollapalooza, for example, because of a (possibly imagined) feud. That ego-driven attitude was both a blessing and a curse for the band, as it gave rise to the most prolific and fruitful time of their career but also drove them to exhaustion and temporary ruin. In late 94/early 95, though, they were ascendant. Burning away countless hours in the studio, Corgan constructed what would be his magnum opus one obsessive layer at a time. Although he finally began to include the rest of the band in the process, what emerged is still unequivocally Corgan's work. The resulting concept album stands as some of their best work. Let's dig in and see what we find, eh?
That's what I think Mellon Collie is about.
The theme continues on as the album plays. 'Bullet' is Corgan actually realizing the hollowness of his dream and being "still just a rat in a cage". 'To Forgive' is an abrupt shift to a sorrowful song of saudade and lost youth, which I think furthers my understanding of this album. There's hint of a great song here, but its buried under uninspired chord changes and dour mood. The next track, the nihilistic and inscrutable 'Ode To No One', seems to be Corgan firing off a nonsense-laden missive at the audience, almost as a kiss off. The defiant and bizarre lyrics paint a picture of his frustration in his role as teen spokesman. The fuzzed out, cracked and broken dirge 'Love' could be a time travelling cast off from Machina. Synthesizer emerge around the corners here, with Corgan toasting to his "mistakes of cowardice" and justification in the name of love. The flip-side to damaged, damaging 'Love' is the saccharine 'Cupid De Locke', almost insipid in its banal simplicity. To be honest, I've never really gotten this song.
Dawn To Dusk, I feel, is just that. It opens at dawn with the soft piano piece. Day breaks and the band launches forth with 'Tonight, Tonight', singing of eventual plans and seizing the day. Weariness and disillusionment sets in, and as night comes we settle to bed after being tranquilized from anxiety and frustration. This is just my take on the first half. I'll post part two tomorrow and see if this holds up as strongly on Twilight To Starlight.
Stay tuned!
