Smashing Pumpkins (free album download - Machina II)

Any fans of the Pumpkins here?

Yesterday I stumbled across a link on Billy Corgan's (lead singer of The Smashing Pumpkins, for the uninitiated ) webpage where you could download an entire albums worth of songs recorded at the same time as their last album, Machina, under the title 'Machina II: The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music'.

http://www.billy-corgan.com/index.php?page=mp3s

320kbps MP3, so pretty decent quality for downloaded tracks, and some great tracks in there - I especially like Dross, Cash Car Star, Soul Power, Satur9 and Slow Down.

I really like the Smashing Pumpkins earlier albums (Gish, Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness) but of the newer releases I haven't been so keen from the little I've heard. The free album here I prefer to the album they released, Machina.

I hear they are reforming as well, and working on a new album to be released in the Autumn? I'm hoping it brings the music back towards the earlier stuff and not Billy Corgan's solo work.

 

I really liked the three albums you mention too. And like you, didn't really get into the little I heard of what followed.

Thanks for the link, I'll download these and see what I think.

 

Thanks for the link.

Does anyone know if the soundtrack to the movie 'Spun' is available, either to buy or download? It features some excellent Corgan tunes (particularly his version of Iron Maiden's 'Number Of The Beast'), as well as a load of other great stuff, but I've never been able to find it.

 

According to this site (http://www.myspace.com/spunsoundtrack) there is no official soundtrack. Can't imagine them not cashing on it though

There's a version of number of the beast on there too, but it doesn't sound like Corgan to me....

 

Hmmm...

A bit of googling and it seems the version is by Corgans band Zwan, which he apparantly does vocal and guitars for. That doesn't sound like Corgan to me

Anyhoo, it's featured as a B-Side to the single here... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000084HC0/104-2012812-6388703?v=glance&n=5174

What's SPun like btw?

 

Its sung by Matt Sweeney. Corgan has turned into a right tw@ lately imo, zwan were utter garbage, he hasn't had much worth outputting in years, so he decided taking valium was going to help. Can't believe Pajo, Sweeney etc. would have anything to do with it
Spun is pretty good, reminded me of Requiem... a lot, I think you need to know about crystal meth before watching the film though, it doesn't really tell you anything much about it- perhaps better for american audiences atm as they actually recognise what a terrible thing it is. Read some stuff on it then watch.

 

I really liked 'Spun' a lot, although I cried at the bit with Bruce Willis and ben Affleck on the asteroid in 'Armageddon', so my opinion probably doesn't count for much. It's quite funny at times, and I think Mickey Rourke was excellent as The Cook.

If you go to the link here:

http://www.spunthemovie.com/spun/main.html

click on 'The Valley', and then click again on the cd that appears at the bottom of the screen, you'll get a full track list for the soundtrack - there is some brilliant stuff on there, and the only reason I can think of that it was never released is that there's too much stuff and it'd cost too much to buy the rights to it all. Shame, though, as the soundtrack suits the pace of the film really well and would make a good listen in it's own right. I may think about buying the cd single with 'Number...' as the b-side when I'm a bit more plush.

 

You can download from the myspace link. For some reason it saves as an unknown file type on my pc tell it to open with a media player and it plays fine though. 192K and sounds alright to me.

 

Funnily enough I put Adore on the car stereo for this morning's trip to work. as I hadn't played it for some time. Must say I like it more now than when it first came out. Favourite album has to be Mellon Collie though. 'Tonight' and '1979' are brilliant. So glad they're getting back together. Will check out the downloads. Thunderbird2007

 

wow, you are right!

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1523078/20060202/story.jhtml


only the drummer and billy corgan so far though. Can we have the pumpkins without D'arcy and Iha?

I also hope they stay off the drugs and give their re-union the time it needs to bring out some quality material... we don't need more B-sides!

 

anyone got any more news on this?


the thought of another 'siamese dream' or 'mellon collie' is enough for me to wet my pants...

 

"For a year now I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams. In this desire I feel I have come home again." - BILLY CORGAN



bless his cottons!!