Comments on: I Can’t Protect You

By: lexdexter

lexdexter — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 06:50:04 +0000

call me crazy, but i pine for the many, many abandoned Zwan tunes that did, indeed, rock the house. not for nothing, but it seems like Billy couldn’t handle being in a band with other people who could write songs.

then again, i have it on pretty good authority that a coupla Zwans couldn’t handle being in a band with Billy, just for different reasons.

By: Cherub Angel

Cherub Angel — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:44:27 +0000

Makes some sense, but I don’t agree. The production is narrow, the personality/feel in the songs is not. Corgan centered Adore around a theme (”love” as he said in an interview) and you get that which each song whether it’s a bit dark, simple, sappy, nice, pensive, or sad. That’s where you get the mix-tape effect. What you’re looking for, Matt, is an album of pensive SP songs like “No Surrender”, “Glynis”, et. al.

By: Matthew Perpetua

Matthew Perpetua — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:15:46 +0000

Sorta, not quite. Though there is variation in Adore, it’s very much a narrow continuum, but all the songs are coming from the same place more or less, and fit together as this romantic quasi-goth album. The songs don’t all have to be the same for a record to have a particular vibe. Like, if you look at the Pumpkins records that have a more consistent vibe — ie, Adore, Gish, Zeitgeist — you can probably pick out a song or two that is at the center of the scale emotionally and musically, and all the other tracks are a bit more or less from where that song is. So with with Adore, it’s probably “Shame,” and with Gish, probably “Siva,” and with Zeitgeist, probably “Bring The Light.” If you do it for Siamese Dream, maybe the baseline song is “Geek USA.” So you know, it’d be kinda nice if he was to do a record where that baseline was more like “No Surrender.” Does that make more sense?

By: Cherub Angel

Cherub Angel — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:29:55 +0000

You’re talking about production aesthetic in a topic about song style. “Ava Adore” is not like “Shame”. Same production value, but the feel of those songs are completely different.

By: Matthew Perpetua

Matthew Perpetua — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:42:42 +0000

That is very true, but I’m thinking more of something like Adore, which has a more consistent aesthetic.

By: Cherub Angel

Cherub Angel — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:44:28 +0000

but then we’d have the same type of songs. What I like is that Pumpkins albums have a borderline mixtape feel. Even if you distilled Mellon Collie to one CD of “the best” songs you’ll get many different styles. “33″ is nothing like “Zero” and “Porcelina” is not like “1979″ and it’s not like “Tonight Tonight” or “Thru the Eyes of Ruby” or “Galapagos” or “Muzzle” or “Jellybelly” or Here is no why”. Think about it. All of those songs are on the same album and they are all very distinctive. You would lose that if he made an album with one complete vibe.

By: Matthew Perpetua

Matthew Perpetua — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:17:42 +0000

Yeah, it definitely fits in with that general strain, and those are all very good songs. “Shame,” that kinda fits in too. I’d love for him to focus on that sort of thing — just imagine an entire record with that sort of vibe!

By: Cherub Angel

Cherub Angel — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:26:43 +0000

I’d argue that this song is in the “Glynis” canon of SP songs along with “Set the ray..” or “Cherry” or “Annie Dog” or “Never Lost” or “La Dolly Vita” or “Crush” or “Wound”. They are the type of songs that don’t really belong to a certain era of the band, but to a certain strain in Corgan’s songwriting.

By: Evan

Evan — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:04:42 +0000

It actually kind of sounds like Yo La Tengo!

By: Christian

Christian — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 05:56:54 +0000

thanks for posting this. i used to be obsessed with this band but gave up a while ago. this is quality.