Album review: The Smashing Pumpkins, “Shiny and Oh So Bright — Vol. 1 / LP — No Past. No Future. No Sun.”
Remember when The Smashing Pumpkins had simple names for their albums, like “Gish” or “Adore”? Even “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” is almost pithy compared to the band’s latest, “Shiny and Oh So Bright — Vol. 1 / LP — No Past. No Future. No Sun.”
If you can get past the mouthful that masquerades as an album title, you’ll find the big news: James Iha is back! Jimmy Chamberlain is back! It’s the most The Smashing Pumpkins have looked like themselves since their 2000 breakup. No, D’arcy Wretzky didn’t join this reunion effort, but we’ll take it — especially since this is the most The Smashing Pumpkins have sounded like themselves in 18 years.
It’s probably foolish to hope that The Smashing Pumpkins will ever fully channel the same alt-rock majesty they embraced in the mid-‘90s with albums like “Siamese Dream” and the aforementioned double-LP, “Mellon Collie.” Even their 1998 quasi-electronic affair, “Adore,” was a bright spot in the band’s history — despite the notable absence of Chamberlain, who had been fired because of his problems with drug and alcohol addiction.
That was just the beginning of two decades of turbulence for frontman Billy Corgan’s band — a band for which he would be the sole consistent member. They officially broke up in 2000 after the “Machina” albums, but Corgan and Chamberlain were soon working together again on a new band, Zwan, while Iha joined A Perfect Circle and Wretzky all but disappeared.
Corgan and Chamberlain revived The Smashing Pumpkins, without Iha or Wretzky, in 2007 for “Zeitgeist,” which had a few promising tracks but was somewhat forgettable overall. The next couple of efforts found Corgan without any of his original bandmates, releasing “Oceania” and “Monuments to an Elegy” — both chapters in the band’s “Teargarden by Kaleidyscope” series — in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee joined the band for the 2014 album, but even with a famous name on the skins, both efforts lacked that signature Chamberlain punch, inflected with flourishes of jazz.
But 2018 would be different. When The Smashing Pumpkins announced tour dates, it was billed as a reunion tour, and Iha was confirmed to back with the band for the first time in 18 years. Chamberlain was there, too. And when they kicked off the tour in Glendale, Arizona, the focus was on the band’s first five albums. Their ‘90s music videos played behind the band (though Wretzky was noticeably absent from the footage) as they tore through hits like “Today,” “Disarm,” and “Zero.”
They also played a couple of new tracks, hinting at a new album. Sure enough, both songs appear on “Shiny and Oh So Bright.” And they’re not half-bad.
No, the album won’t stand up well alongside “Siamese Dream” or “Mellon Collie.” But it just might do OK when paired with “Machina.” That’s to say that this isn’t the band’s best work, but at least it sounds like The Smashing Pumpkins again.
“Solara,” one of the singles, goes for the heavy-hitting, grandiose rock of “The Everlasting Gaze,” but it comes up sounding more like “Doomsday Clock” or “Tarantula” — not quite fully formed but good enough for a headbang or two.
More successful are the more melodic tracks. It’s obvious that the band is striving for the unbridled nostalgia of “1979” and the epic grandiosity of “Tonight Tonight.” But we should be kind to ourselves and not expect the band to ever write another “1979.” After all, we aren’t sitting around and waiting for Paul McCartney to give us another “Yesterday,” but we’re happy with recent tracks like “Confidante.”
To that end, “Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)” and “Travels” are both close enough to The Smashing Pumpkins of 25 years ago to make us not only smile but actually tap our toes to their engaging tunes. In fact, “Silvery Sometimes” is the catchiest thing Corgan has written since his Zwan days.
At only eight songs, this latest Smashing Pumpkins album actually faces the opposite problem of its three previous predecessors, each of which failed to keep our attention for an entire album of songs. There just isn’t quite enough of what The Smashing Pumpkins are offering this time around. We actually find ourselves wanting a little more.
Corgan seems to have a bad habit of starting musical projects (typically with long, complex names — surprise, surprise) and never finishing them. Despite the unwieldy name, here’s hoping there’s a Vol. 2 to “Shiny and Oh So Bright.” And with Iha back, maybe it’s not too optimistic that they’ll make amends with a certain bass player and make it a complete reunion the next time around.
Believe.
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