※ [本文轉錄自 Daysleeper 信箱]
作者: Daysleeper.bbs@bbs.ntnu.edu.tw
標題: Re: MCIS--The Smashing Pumpkins
時間: Mon Jul 24 07:03:30 2000
發信人: wheel@elfBBS (南瓜弟), 信區: Alt_Music
標 題: Re: MCIS--The Smashing Pumpkins
發信站: 師大精靈之城 (Mon Jan 8 15:40:42 1996)
轉信站: elfBBS
A Sprawling, Ambitious Success
Smashing Pumpkins: Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
(Virgin)
Don't tell Smashing Pumpkins modern rock is a modest endeavor. The
Chicago quartet hit big with its 1993 sophomore album, Siamese Dream,
and now the band is thinking big. Real big. Melon Collie and the
Infinite Sadness is a sprawling, engaging 28-song album spread over two
CDs. Bruce Springsteen and Guns N' Roses have previously released
double compact discs, sort of: they opted for two separately sold CDs,
avoiding the high price tag of a combined set. But the specially priced
Melon Collie may single-handedly redefine the term "double album" for
the CD age.
Beyond commercial considerations, the sheer length of Melon Collie also
sets a new standard of expression. The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main
Street, arguably the best double album ever, fits comfortably on a
single CD. Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan and his mates indulge us with
over two hours of new music. Pretentious? To a degree, but Melon Collie
supports the Pumpkins' bold ambitions, taking the conventions of the
group's first two albums and nudging them in new directions. It isn't
exactly Exile, on which every song was a distinct sonic adventure, but
Melon Collie does make a case for Corgan and the Pumpkins' ability to
deliver an impressively large batch of winning songs. You want metal?
Melon Collie clocks in with the stomping "Here Is No Why," the
tempo-shifting "X.Y.U.," and the industrial-tinged "Love." Punk? Try
"Zero," "Fuck You (An Ode to No One)," or "Bodies." Pretty,
string-laden love songs? The Pumpkins give you "Thirty-Three," "Lily
(My One and Only)," and "To Forgive." Nine down, nineteen to go.
The songs that really soar are the ones that mix and match
those elements. The first single, "Bullet With Butterfly
Wings," flutters through moody, mid-tempo verses before rocking out in
the choruses. "Galapogos" counterpoints sweet strings with dramatic
bursts of guitar, while "1979" mines a surging, Sonic Youth-style
groove propelled by Jimmy Chamberlain's hiccuping high-hat. Then there
is the nine-minute opus, "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans," a
mood-swinging epic with light polyrhythms that evoke a kind of watery
atmosphere.
Speaking of moods, Corgan's fly around Melon Collie like random bits of
emotional shrapnel. On "Bodies," he laments that "Love is suicide"; one
song later, in "Thirty-Three," he counters that "love can last
forever." "In my mind I'm everyone," he declares in "Porcelina," but
these songs clearly reflect Corgan's personal angst; it's not called
The Infinite Sadness for nothing. Melon Collie does end on a happy
note: a pair of trippy, psychedelic love songs ("Beautiful" and "By
Starlight") and the sweet lullaby "Farewell and Goodnight." Nit-picking
Melon Collie doesn't yield much; the occasional stumbles barely make a
dent in its twenty-eight-song stride. Give the Pumpkins their due: they
shoot big, and on Melon Collie, they score. --Gary Graff
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