Smashing Pumpkins - 'Zeitgeist'
(Reprise, 2007)
Rating: 8.5

The term “suspension of disbelief” is normally reserved for literary and cinematic endeavors, but I’m afraid I may well need to invoke it when I assert the following: Smashing Pumpkins have made a pretty fucking killer rock record. Everyone’s favorite Zero is back, and though he only brought one original fellow Pumpkin with him, Billy Corgan has pulled off the damn near impossible in making the record he should have made after Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. After abortive solo projects, side projects, and even a brief flirtation with poetry as a fulltime gig, Corgan has jumped back into the fray in 2007 with an album that somehow manages to seem at once distinctly fresh and a logical extension of the Pumpkins’ finest moment (we’re talking a decade plus here) when they held the mythical title of the world’s biggest band.

With Zeitgeist, Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain have breathed life back into the moribund Pumpkins brand, displaying a vitality that was lacking from previous productions (although the Machina albums and Adore certainly had their moments). For nostalgia’s sake, it does kind of suck that James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky are AWOL, but the Pumpkins have always been about their leader (who famously recorded everything on Siamese Dream except the drums) and the jazz-inflected drumming of Chamberlain. Chamberlain still has the beat (the opening drum hits of album lead-in “Doomsday Clock” will immediately transport you to classic Pumpkinsland), and Billy Pumpkin can still rip shit up on the guitar. Known for his uniquely (admittedly borderline annoying) nasal delivery, Corgan is first and foremost a killer axeman and songwriter. Unlike many of his early peers, Corgan could have played those 80s guitar leads and solos if he wanted to, and it’s nice to see him put that gift on full display once more with Zeitgeist. The first single off of the album, “Tarantula”, is a panoramic shot of guitar-distilled euphoria that seems to crescendo repeatedly as Corgan declares “Everything I want is in your eyes.” Though Corgan is also known for his overt romanticism and willingness for mid-tempo operatics, he does an excellent job of choking back on the filler while baring his fangs in producing a taut, focused rock record that evokes the Pumpkins’ former glory. The Pumpkins may never reclaim that mythical crown again, but this record proves once again how powerful they can be when Corgan rightly makes his guitar the foremost object of his affection.

-Brant Miles