OK, I know I have put some stuff above when the podcasts dropped. Listening in full now -
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Atum - Works quite well as an intro. Prog/classic rock stuff, punchy production, nice fuzzy sounds, and melodically interesting. Sounds like something inspired by A Clockwork Orange weirdly.
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Butterfly Suite - Sounds very much like something off Corgan’s solo LP. Nice and propulsive, a cut above Cyr, lacking the lyrical and melodic deftness of old, but it is definitely stronger than a lot of the post-reformation material.
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The Good In Goodbye - Decent production again, not sure about the song though. It sounds like something that wouldn’t make the cut on Oceania. Kinda meanders along without doing much.
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Embracer - You know what - I quite like this one. Best one on here I think. Lyrically beyond redemption at this stage, but sounds like one of the better mid-tempo Zwan tunes (I quite like Zwan). A really nice melody, one of the better things Corgan has done beyond Zeitgeist (which yes, is underrated).
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With Ado I Do - Very, very mid-tier stuff. Totally passed me by.
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Hooligan - He says “hooligan” a lot. Not sure it’s much good…there’s a definite hook here, and some interesting sounds, but as a song it isn’t for me.
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Steps In Time - A close second to Embracer as the best thing here. Not a million miles away from the better moments on Zeitgeist. Bet this works well live. If he could just nail some decent words, and the production wasn’t so shiny - we’d be talking something that may fit on Machina.
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Where Rain Must Fall - Not sure on this one. His voice just sounds totally gone here, and he seems to be aiming for something he isn’t totally convinced by himself (more on that below). Extended outro does it no favours either.
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Beyond The Vale - Weak stuff this one. Seems like he had that riff and just couldn’t be arsed to come up with anything else. Sounds like one of the weaker Oceania/MTAE tunes.
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Hooray- I understand why he’s done this (thematically), but whereas Pumpkins V1 weirdness (We Only Come Out At Night etc) at least had a quirky charm, this seems like a piss take. It should have just been an instrumental using the last 30 seconds or so.
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The Gold Mask - Totally forgettable synth pop dirge.
On the whole - it’s quiet disappointing, but not without its charm. The production is better than pretty much anything he’s done since Zeitgeist, and there are at least two decent songs here. If this carries through, we might even get one or two really good ones. I am holding out hope there may be something scattered across the other discs. It seems clear at this point, that lyrically he just does not have any kind of desire to connect any more though, which is the biggest disappointment for me. The concept is Coheed lite and doesn’t elevate the material as a result. The more extravagant elements feel like total misfires, and something done much more successfully on something like say, Diorama. Ah well - fingers crossed for a couple belters.
