As I unwrapped my copy of the new Smashing Pumpkins album Zeitgeist, I began to ponder a few things. The first was, how the hell do you say the name of this album? The second was more like a giant fear. There hadn\'t been a SP album in over 5 years, it wasn\'t the original lineup, as a matter of fact, only two of the five members of the band were in the original lineup. As I thumbed through the album art, I began thinking how times had changed, how I was setting myself up for a huge letdown. My palms began sweating as I put the CD into the tray. What seemed like, (and with my slow computer was) a half an hour later, iTunes loaded up, and I pressed play. Music flowed through my ears, and I sat back and said...”Hey, this song was in Transformers!”
And from there it was incredible. Zeitgeist isn\'t a ground breaking new album, it isn\'t an experiment into the depth of rock, it’s in the simplest of terms, another Smashing Pumpkins CD. The album blazes out of the gate with “Doomsday Clock,” a song which reminded mr of the Goth metal style that made me fall in love with SP in the first place. Fans of SP’s more hardcore songs from previous albums will adore (No SP pun Intended) tracks like “Bleeding the Orchid”, “7 Shades of Black” and “Tarantula".
Fans of their softer side might be a bit disappointed; they’ve changed a bit. Instead of strings and horns accompanying the tracks, its softer guitars and snare drums. Nonetheless, they\'ll find solace in tracks like "Starz", "Pomp And Circumstance" , "Neverlost", "For God and Country" and "Bring The Light."
SP faithful might be a little lost we it comes to tracks like “Come On, Lets Go” and “That’s the Way My Love Is” as they sound more pop rock than we’re used to hearing from the band, but they are decent to say the least.
Overall, the album is exactly what frontman Billy Corgan wanted. When he took out the full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune a few years back, he expressed his need to be a Pumpkin again. While there are people who protest saying the band isn’t the same without former members James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky, I feel this album more than proves that Billy and Jimmy were the band. Period. Zeitgeist isn’t going to create a new generation of Pumpkin Fans, but its enough to stimulate the current ones, and almost enough to make us forget Zwan. But that’s a whole other story in its self.
"Zeitgeist" is on sale July 6, 2007 from Reprise.
