Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness / The Smashing Pumpkins / Virgin
Remember a couple months ago when Halloween was approaching and your were
trying to decide between getting that big fat pumpkin and the more manageable
smaller pumpkin? With their new double album, Mellon Collie and the
Infinite Sadness, The Smashing Pumpkins have made that choice for you:
get the big one.
Following the smashing success of Siamese Dream, the Pumpkins seemed to be inspired by the fact that now more people are listening than ever. The result: an only slightly indulgent work that, while hardly a breakthrough album, is still a rich and satisfying opus.
The first disk, entitled "Dusk to Dawn," quietly charms its way into your house with the title track and the pleasant "Tonight, Tonight." Then, it proceeds to trash the place with "Jelly Belly" and "Zero." The full Pumpkins range unravels from soaring power chord ballads like "Here Is No Why" to the lilting melodies of "Galapagos." The carefully sculpted fuzz-guitar sound that has been the Pumkins' bread and butter is still the dominant sound throughout the first and well into the second disk.
The "Twilight to Starlight" disk starts out screaming, then (apart from the shattering "Tales of the Scorched Earth") seriously mellows through to the album's close. The final five songs gently take apart the band's core sounds without shocking your system with anything too bold. Producer Flood's influence can be heard most strongly through this last movement.
There are a few surprises (like the harp plucking through "Cupid de Locke" and the hoaky saccharine of "Take Me Down") but old Pumpkins fans are not likely to be scared away, and new listeners will find Mellon Collie a complete and formal introduction to the band.
Special mention should be made of John Craig's illustrations in the album. His work lends a warm Victorian storybook-like feel to the package.
Inzombia / Slant 6 / Dischord
It's hard to pass up an album when the cover shows the three women of Slant 6
as white-faced, pajama-wearing zombies standing awkwardly in a graveyard. It
gets me every time. Between that and the clever-clever title that is bound
to be a Troma direct-to-USA-Network release any week now, the CD practically
bought itself for me.
But does the music of Inzombia live up to its cinematic packaging? More or less. While not absolutely required listening, Inzombia should prove to be a fun night out.
After a couple standard up-beat frolics, Slant 6 starts to get a little more imaginative. "Ladybug Superfly" is creepy comedy and "Retro Duck" is just plain comic. "Partner in Crime" and "Victim of Your Own Desires" are intriguingly mysterious enough to hold your attention. The final, title track is a lengthy freeform frightscape that could supply a low-rent film producer with quality sound effects for at least two or three flicks.
Bordering on camp, but never revelling in it, Inzombia succeeds in sounding like an understated zombie surfer-guitar epic soundtrack without all the tedious nudity, sex and violence. Okay, maybe just a little.
Sparkle and Fade / Everclear / Capitol
At least it sounds like they are trying. And in their family album pictures
all over the booklet, they seem like nice people. And maybe this would be
good music to hear in a bar, beer in hand. But pumping out of a conventional
stereo, Everclear just falls flat.
Take the Foo Fighters, for instance (or maybe even Urge Overkill) and remove all the hooks. Yank out any clever chord changes you might hear. Then take away all the mildly interesting lyrics. Add and ever-so-slight twang. What's left? Some loose guitar rock that sounds like it should be something far more enjoyable than it really is. You'd be better off with Uncle Tupelo, or Buffalo Tom, or even Wilco.
- Glenn Ricci
