Billy Corgan - The Future Embrace

Genre rock Publisher Reprise Records External Links Official Site Reprise Records

So Billy Corgan took out advertisements in a few newspapers today (June 21, 2005), the release date of his solo debut, The Future Embrace, touting both the album and the return of the Smashing Pumpkins. In the ad Corgan states: "For a year now I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive The Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams. In this desire, I feel I have come home again." Corgan goes on to say that, "The Future Embrace represents a new beginning, not an ending. It picks up the thread of the as-yet-unfinished work and charter of The Smashing Pumpkins."

What the hell? Each time I come to grip with what the man behind my favorite band of all time does, he insists on throwing yet another curve ball (to borrow an analogy from one of Corgan's favorite sports). I accepted the demise of the Pumpkins however reluctantly. I enjoyed Zwan and attended two of their very first shows, but wasn't all that disheartened by their breakup (more bewildered at its short life). Acceptance of a purely solo Corgan had been attained, but then came some interviews and the running "blog" on his website and I was incensed yet again by what I initially felt was his selfish lashing out. However, after reading a couple of more in-depth interviews and continuing to read through Corgan's "Confessions," I acquiesced once again. The "Good Will Tour" continued on unabated by the leaking of Corgan's debut turn The Future Embrace, a magnificent album from front to back.

But I want some firm ground already. Hell, I almost think I'm entitled to it. Silly as that may sound, but yes, I'm a fanboy. I admit it fully. The Smashing Pumpkins are still my favorite band of all time and their 1995 release, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness still sits atop my favorite albums of all time (four other Pumpkins albums find space in the other 99) ten years later. It hasn't been easy being a mega fan in the years since the band's demise, but I've remained steadfast. You would think this news would make me happy, but I just want some contentment at this point, goddamnitt!

Granted, I know I'll eventually be overwhelmed with happiness by this talk of the Pumpkins reforming. And I'll no doubt be there for a show or two (or three or four) when it does happen, but, because The Future Embrace is such a damn good record, I wanted to follow Corgan in his pursuit of his life free of the band's legacy.

The album finds Corgan simply abandoning the hard rock that the Pumpkins and, to some extent, Zwan excelled at for a sound reminiscent of what the Pumpkins were without Jimmy Chamberlin (both before his joining when they were a three piece and the one album they recorded without him, Adore). Corgan digs deep into his love of early 80s New Wave (Depeche Mode, New Order, The Cure) as well as the shoegazer movement of the late 80s-early 90s (My Bloody Valentine). Guitars are layered and filtered through effects pedals, thus getting away from what many perceive Corgan's guitar sound to be.

Corgan and co-producer Bjorn Thorsrud craft a moody, atmospheric and dreamy record that grows and deepens with repeat listens. There isn't any one song that sticks out, rather every track feeds into and off of the next and the previous ones. Like Adore, the songs are pieces of a puzzle that only make sense once it has been completed. Unlike that album, Corgan doesn't throw a mismatched piece into the mix like he did with "Ava Adore," which remains a sore thumb in an otherwise impeccable array of beautiful fingers.

Though free of the pseudo-Christian lyrical vibe of Zwan's one and only release, Corgan is still looking for the positive instead of wallowing in the negative. Case in point, "All Things Change," where he repeats "We can change the world," in a way that you can just visualize him smiling as he sings.

Ex-Pumpkins member Jimmy Chamberlin turns up on "DIA" to give the song his signature drum sound, though a bit more muted than in the Pumpkins' days. Robert Smith is the other big guest star, though I admit that I don't even notice his vocals on the cover of The Bee Gees' "To Love Sombeody." "Somebody" is awash in beautiful swaths of synthesizers and pretty noise, giving the song a sense of hallucinatory sleep.

"Walking Shade," the album's first single (but you'd never no that if you lived in Chicago, where "A100" is getting the most play), is a gritty, nastier side of Corgan, at least musically. The guitars are positively caustic, and Corgan's voice veers towards the defiant tone of the Pumpkins here.

In the end, Corgan can continue to pull the rug out from under my feet at every turn, just as long as the music he produces doesn't suffer. If I were to accept bad music along with his mercurial ways, I'd be just like one of those lunatics that showed up in front of the courthouse for Michael Jackson's recent trial. Those people haven't any clue that their hero has gone twenty years without providing them any reason for continuing their worship. I can honestly say that Corgan has rarely taken a bad step in that regard and for that I am eternally grateful.