via//chicago

"I wanna love you when you're sad"

Anyone who knows me knows just how big of a Smashing Pumpkins fan I am. Between the years of 1992 and 1998, I don't think any single other band even came close to spending as much time in my CD player as this band did. They are probably the band I've been the most obsessive over as well - tracking down unreleased demos, listening to hours of bootleg shows, simply devouring everything I could wrap my ears around. As with many hardcore Pumpkin fans, the hype of Zwan never came close to living up to the potential of Corgan's previous band. And the less said about his solo album the better. It was actually a not awful electro-pop album, but it just wasn't Corgan pantheon material.

Anyway... the big news of the past two years has been the reunion of the original Pumpkins. Half of them anyway - Corgan, drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, and... some studio dudes. Hmm. I'll agree that, as much as I loved D'arcy and Melissa, the bass player was pretty much expendable, but I think James Iha really added some nice texture to the band and he'll be missed. Word slowly leaked out over the past couple months about an album title (Zeitgeist), a release date (07.07.07, now 07.10.07), festival shows, and now residencies on the East and West Coast. It was enough to get even the most casual fan anxious to hear that Billy had up his sleeve.

Then, towards the end of last week, the bomb dropped. At first it was just a poor sounding 30-second clip, but there it was - the first single off the new album, "Tarantula". I refused to listen to a crappy sounding clip, preferring to hear the song in full. Turns out I didn't have to wait very long, days later the full song was flying across the web and being played by local alt-rock powerhouse Q101. I've been wanting to talk about this since I first heard the full thing Friday night, but I wanted to let it soak in a little and give it some time to float around my brain. And here's what I think:

The Good:

• Immediately noticeable - the drums. Chamberlain, always one of the '90s most dependable drummers, sounds as if he hasn't lost a step. From the opening count-in on, he attacks the skins with his usual brutal precision.
• The guitars. Billy's often been overlooked when people talk about great rock guitarists, but any fan lucky enough to watch him solo in concert knows just how great the man can be. This song is a testament to his skill, check out the monster verse riff and the solo about two and a half minutes in.
• The lyrics. While they are still deeply shrouded in Billy's usual mysterious angst, the lyrics here are miles ahead of the many awkward moments on the Zwan album. I just wasn't buying Billy the Optimist and it's great to have pissed-off Billy back.
• The structure. Even though the song clocks in at just under four minutes, "Tarantula" manages to still feel like a near-epic as the best Pumpkin songs did. The pacing is just perfect, building and releasing in all the right moments.

The Bad:

• The production. Simply put, this production on this thing is nearly atrocious. I'm hoping that things will get a little better with the official version, otherwise we may be in for a lot of disappointment. "Tarantula" sounds dry and thin, nothing really punches you as hard as it should. You can tell Jimmy is pounding the crap out of the drums, but you really can't feel it. And the guitars! Those should be a lot lower and fatter.
• The mix. Definitely tied in to the last point, but I think it needs to be called out specifically here as it almost singlehandedly ruined the Zwan album for me. Billy's vocals are too damn high in the mix! He needs to be down and dirty, swirling in the bottom end. Now it just sounds like he's floating above the music and not emotionally tied to it in the least.
  
• The chorus. As I said, the pacing on this track is excellent and the band perfectly sets things up for a trademarked monster Pumpkins chorus. Thing is, it never really comes and the brilliant setup is nearly wasted on a flaccid chorus.

The important thing is that I'm enjoying this much, much more than I expected to be. I was prepared for the worst, so even a so-so Pumpkins song was bound to be a pleasant surprise. And in the end, that's exactly what "Tarantula" is - a so-so Pumpkins song. But I'm still excited, since the lead single for every single album has ended up being one of my least favorite tracks. So there's a lot of promise out there and I can't wait to hear the rest of Zeitgeist in a couple months. Meanwhile, check out "Tarantula" for yourself and let me know what you think.

Smashing Pumpkins - "Tarantula" (taken from Zeitgeist)