IN REVIEW: Smashing Pumpkins - "Monuments to an Elegy"

There aren't too many artists as restlessly, relentlessly artistic as Billy Corgan; even in Smashing Pumpkins' infancy, plenty of great songs ended up cast aside due to time and/or space restraints. Corgan's prolific tendencies were running at their peak in the mid-nineties; he recorded enough quality tunes during the Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness sessions to fill five CDs before paring it down to a manageable two.

A incredible run of songs such as that couldn't possibly be, and has never been, matched; even if we factor this newest album in as part of his ongoing Teargarden by Kaleidyscope series, we're only up to about 35 songs, and that's over the course of half a decade. Besides, few would accuse Corgan of continuing to offer the same quality as he was twenty years ago; to be fair, though, how could he? It's only natural for artists to evolve, and to move away from the perceived sweet spot of creativity that so many expect them to stay nuzzled in for all eternity.

That said, it's worth noting that Monuments to an Elegy (the Pumpkins' ninth album overall by default, and second in the Teargarden series behind a pair of EPs and 2012's Oceania) works beautifully as a standalone record. It's arguably Corgan's most cohesive and consistent batch of songs since Siamese Dream, if not ever; then again, with a mere nine songs and under 33 minutes run time, it's also the Pumpkins' shortest record by 13 minutes (making debut album Gish runner-up).

Such a compact presentation isn't what we're used to from Corgan, and yet here we have it: a quick, painless Pumpkins record that doesn't indulge itself in too many sonic detours, coming and going in easily digestible four minute chunks. In a way, it acts as the ideal entry point for would-be new fans and re-entry for old fans who have strayed over the years; it's as low risk a sample of what Smashing Pumpkins is as you could ask for, free of most of the clutter and bombast that have (by times clumsily) marked the majority of Corgan's output for two decades now.

The most refreshing aspect of Monuments to an Elegy is that, rather than go off on wild tangents or take away from anyone's idea of what a Pumpkins album is supposed to sound like, it's all right there on the surface; nine pretty damn good synth-pop songs with enough of Corgan's trademark guitar muscle to let you know who's responsible. Some are above average (especially Drum + Fife and One and All), some come ever so close but miss the mark slightly (Run2me, Dorian), most hit the middle ground between "meh" and "wow". The album also houses perhaps Corgan's most unashamed pop song in fifteen years in closer Anti-Hero, a crunchy ditty with a bubblegum centre that could have positively smashed as the lead single on Machina.

Overall, Monuments to an Elegy won't take people back to the "glory days" of Mellon Collie or make them forget Zeitgeist exists, so as to say it isn't Corgan's grandest statement or greatest blunder; it's simply a good, straight ahead record with minimal missteps that none but the harshest cynics could find too much fault in. I suspect that, for a lot of fans, that's vindication enough for a career that's been ruthlessly criticized for the better part of the last decade.

December 9, 2014 • Martha's Music

Highlights Drum + Fife • One and All • Anti-Hero