Billy Corgan

In contemplating the crazy decade of alternative rock music that was the 1990s; a few key names obviously come to mind, Billy Corgan being one of them. At one time, Corgan was perhaps the biggest rock star in the world as frontman for alt rock giants the Smashing Pumpkins. Since the breakup of the Pumpkins in 2000 and the very fast birth and death of Zwan, Corgan has maintained a low profile. Now after a couple of years in seclusion, Corgan has returned with his solo debut TheFutureEmbrace. While TheFutureEmbrace does not come close to recapturing the magic that Corgan achieved with the Pumpkins in the mid 1990s, he has produced an incredibly personal record that includes at least a few respectable songs.

TheFutureEmbrace gets underway with one of the more commercially viable songs on the album, “All Things Change.” It only takes a few seconds into the song to realize that this isn’t going to be an album of old Pumpkins knockoffs and throwaways. The song starts the album off nicely as it features an electronic drum machine beat which ends up becoming a consistent theme through most of the rest of the record. “All Things Change” has an optimistic tone to it as Corgan utters the words “we can change the world” over and over again, a direct contrast to his “despite all my rage” days with the Pumpkins. We get more of the electronica influence on “Mina Loy (M.O.H.),” another decent song a bit reminiscent of the Pumpkins’ Adore album. On “The CameraEye,” Corgan addresses the issue of dealing with his fear of aging over a soft, Depeche Mode sounding beat. The song is ok, but at this point it becomes a bit disappointingly evident that Corgan will not be breaking out any guitars on this record. Perhaps TheFutureEmbrace’s two best songs are grouped together at tracks four and five. The Cure’s Robert Smith guest stars on back up vocals on a remake of a Bee Gee’s song called “To Love Somebody.” The song comes across as a nice love song without being sappy as Corgan sings the chorus with great emotion in his voice. The hardest song on the disc comes next as “A100” features a pounding electronic beat. It is probably the most commercially viable song on the album with its very cool and catchy beat, but it surprisingly was not chosen as the single. Track six “DIA” features more innovative instrumentation, but at this point, Corgan’s vocals become a bit repetitive.

While the first half of TheFutureEmbrace is quite respectable, the same cannot be said about the second half. Many of the latter six songs are flat out boring. “Now (And Then)” and “I’m Ready” lull along without ever really picking up or going anywhere. The single off the disc “Walking Shade” is really the lone bright spot among the last half of the album. The song features a catchy hook and chorus, something seldom heard in this twelve track collection. After your first listen of the last three songs on TheFutureEmbrace it is quite doubtful that you will ever want to listen to them again. “Sorrows (in blue)” is just plain boring while “Pretty, Pretty STAR” sounds like Corgan’s reinterpretation of a children’s lullaby. It is difficult to come up with anything positive to say about the disc’s closer “Strayz” as the song is so quiet that it requires you to turn your speakers up very loud to make out any sound. The song features no melody and no chorus as Corgan whispers his way through this absolute bore.

Overall, TheFutureEmbrace is an up and down kind of record. The album is not easily accessible at first, but after a few listens several of the songs, mostly within the first six, began to grow on me. The last half of the disc is almost a complete write off (with the exception of “Walking Shade”). But, despite the fact that the album is no masterpiece, Corgan deserves lots of credit for creating an innovative and personal record and not simply recreating his past with a Smashing Pumpkins rip-off.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. All Things Change
02. Mina Loy (M.O.H.)
03. The Camera Eye
04. To Love Somebody
05. A100
06. DIA
07. Now (And Then)
08. I’m Ready
09. Walking Shade
10. Sorrows (in blue)
11. Pretty, pretty STAR
12. Strayz

Run Time: 45:21