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So I thought it could be cool to collect some SP articles from across the world on one place.
I have some articles I’ve saved for some years being an obsessive SP-fan from my early teens.
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Hope the pictures aren’t way too big?[/quote:1ugmeunp]
Awesome topic, really! My compliments, Opiate! But max size is 800 pixels wide, please…And of course the smaller ones can be made bigger by you, as some are hard to read (Pumpar pa fint)!
Can we put these in the SPfreaks Collection also, after you did some resizing here and there?
Again, awesome, to see all these articles (you might want to help a bit with translations though…
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Translation to \"Where is Corgan heading\" :
\"The balloon that cracked! It’s true Billy Corgan has said that the band will hit new roads after ‘MC&IS’…
A great thought since that album was SP’s crown of creation, and the crescendo the band had achieved through albums such as \"Gish\" and \"Siamese Dream\". But however much you try to like \"Adore\" however much you turn it around you only find a handful of songs that is durable – and maybe only for a summer.
The beginning with \"To Sheila\", Cure-smelling \"Perfect\", and the strong \"Tear\", and beautiful \"For Martha\" is really the only songs that sticks to your head. The rest of the twelve songs are missing that special nerve that’s before been so outstanding. Nowadays, Billy is mostly standing scraping with his foot in the ground, unsure which direction to go. Where he is going and why only god knows. A question that finds no answer is which sense it made firing Jimmy Chamberlin. He may have brought a lot of negative issues to the band, but still he is one of the worlds best drummers. To face that loss with computer processed beats is a deeply great loss. James Iha’s solodebut released this spring feels ten times more interesting than \"Adore\" that is unfortunately a great big disappointment.\"—My oh my….
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Sure, no problem Opiate, I’ll resize them. But we keep the forum pics max 800 wide, as on some screens the board will be ripped apart when the pics are bigger. Do you have all the scans, including the smallest, in bigger (readable) size? If so, please send to spfreaks at gmail dot com, ok?[/quote:3o9ejt32]
Yup! I’ll mail it to you!
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Translation to \"Pumping nicely\" :
\"Billy Corgan looks a bit like Klaus Kinski in Werner Hertzog’s Dracula movie \"Nosferatu\", but without the rat teeth. He has got something demonic in his chlidish face that makes people uncomfortable and unsecure. He is simply exciting. And horribly talented. During their career he and the Pumpkins have achieved masterpieces such as \"MC&IS\" from -96, and two albums shortly following that masterpiece, \"Siamese Dream\" and \"Adore\". This is something that could be very inhibitant. Something that doesn’t get better by the fact that SP in magazines gladly get mocked by critics.
A band with that caliber only have to expose themselves the smallest bit to be hit by unscrupulous critics big sledge. \"Machina\" has in some ways done that. Totally undeserved. SP is still an interesting band.
And \"Machina\" is a great album even compared to the band’s earlier achievments. You just have to let the songs sink in. Since with the Pumpkins you always seem to find more that it first appears.
Corgan’s squeezed voice and a homogenic soundscape – this time really striking again – darkens the fact that the songs separate pretty much.
\"Machina\" is usually like an SP album, lots of melancholy and filled with angst, this time embedded in rumbling guitar riffs. Songs like \"Glass And The Ghost Children\" a wonderful paraphrase of old guitar rock in the spirit of Link Wray through Sonic Youth’s beautiful noise sculptures indicates the fact that it’s a matter of rock again for the Pumpkins.
In the same way they experimented with other various genres. \"With Every Light\" is essentially not that far from the original soft folk-pop-ballades the bands other guitarist James Iha was doing on his solo album. Here we also find really bright lyrics to the extensive love of Jimmy Chamberlin’s jazz-like drumming.
It’s an atmospheric, beautiful expanding song that behind pleasure is showing off some melancholy.\"Machina\" isn’t an album for a personwhois looking for hooks, handles and radio friendly refrains – an art that Corgan also control. \"Machina\" is an album to get lost and disappear into.
The one that takes time listening shall be greatly rewarded. -
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Translation to \"A funny band\" :
\"With last weeks reviews of SP’s Stockholm and Copenhagen gig you could only fear the worst.
Here all the fuzz was about an uninspired, pompous, boring band that drags the songs into eternity. The last album \"MC&IS\" was an eternal adventure on two cd’s. Here Billy’s and Jame’s guitars werestrongly reduced and instead the music got a symphonic feel to it. Many are those that hold that album as truly one of the 90’s best album and the follow-up must have been very hard on the band.
How could you do an album like \"MC&IS\" withouth hitting the wall?
Instead they’ve changed their style and when you hear \"Adore\" it’s hard to imagine that SP once started as a grunge band (
) in the wake of Nirvana. The tempo is reduced and there ain’t no mean, nasty guitars here. Several songs are all about Billy Corgan’s voice and an occasional instrument comp. It’s easy to see why this didn’t turn out good live, especially with a lot of people in the crowds wanting a more powerful set. Slowly increasing feelings demands more of the listener, especially since the lyrics are more sad than usual due to the depart of Billy Corgans mother. But still in a lot of ways \"Adore\" is so much easier than it’s precurser. The soundscape is wider and more organic, with the exception of some sampled rythms and drum machines. \"For Martha\" that is mainly intended to his deceased mother is a tender song with a simple piano comp and a sorrowful Corgan singing.
Due to the cliché-filled lyrics it’s a miracle that the song doesn’t get pathetic. But then again, Corgan is one of todays greatest and biggest songwriters. With \"Perfect\" it’s the opposite.
Here it comes down to pure pop in the New Order spirit, with an uptempo beat and melody loops on the bass. Melancholic and floating. This must be a hit. The funny things about bands like SP is that you never know what will happen next, and they always surprise you. More and more reminding of that rock is slowly dying out. And when it comes to SP it’s the apparently less motivated moments the price you have to pay for the greatly brilliant moments.[/i] -
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Translation on the James Iha story:
Headline: \"World celebrity robbed at stay in Sweden\"
Robbed and threatened to death (
). That happened to Niklas Frisk and James Iha, former member of Smashing Pumpkins, in Stockholm. -An experience I could have been without, says Niklas.
Niklas Frisk and James Iha had been to the Kvarnen pub at Sodermalm, Stockholm the night before monday. When they had finished eating around 2 am and were walking to Niklas car on Hogbergsgatan they were assaulted from behind by two men. One of the men grabbed James Iha’s jacket and threatened him with a bottle. The other one had a revolver looking object in his pocket and stepped forward to Niklas Frisk and said that he would shoot him and James Iha if they didn’t leave all their money over.
– Of course sometime you’ve got to be robbed too, an experience to add to the act. I lose 1000 kronor. It was over within a minute. We weren’t physically hurt, says Niklas
James Iha lost 300 dollars, two credit cards and his driving license. He currently lives in New York and saw the ironic with the whole situation.
– Yeah, he said he missed the safety on Manhattan, says Niklas.
James Iha was one of the original members in Smashing Pumpkins, a band formed in Chicago in 1988 that achieved world success with albums such as \"Siamese Dream\" and \"MC&IS\" before dissolved two years ago. Niclas Frisk broke through in 1993 as a guitar player for Atomic Swing and have after that became a well-known and respected producer and songwriter. He was the man behind most of the music from Nina Perssons A Camp album. Something that James Iha amongst others noticed.
– He really liked A Camp and that’s how it goes. Today we see each other as friend and have some projects together. We’re writing songs and working with a girl from New York called Karen. It’s mainly James project but I also contribute with music.
James Iha and Niklas Frisk are also working with a french debutant named Vanessa. That project also features Lou Reed.
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