Daytime television may not provide emulation-worthy acting, but the scandalous plots realized everyday between the 11 o'clock edition of Sportscenter and the first edition of the evening news can be found in the music world as well.
Treat yourself to this saga: Man produces child with woman (Billy Corgan produces Hole's album, "Celebrity Skin," with Courtney Love); woman publicly slanders man, saying the child is not his (Love publicly slanders Corgan, saying he did not do nearly as much work on "Celebrity Skin" as he claims to have done); man breaks ties with woman and goes after woman's best friend (Corgan breaks ties with Love and lures Hole bassist Melissa Auf De Mer into the Smashing Pumpkins).
It's textbook soap opera, exactly what Corgan and the Pumpkins needed to reclaim their past glory after the ill-fated "Adore," the band's 1998 release which, despite its ambition, continues to be shunned by critics and Pumpkins fans alike. But that musical miscarriage is of no consequence considering the band's latest release, "MACHINA: The Machines of God," recalls the fuzzy-but-serene sound of "Siamese Dream," an album that ceaselessly knocked listeners down only to pick them up in time for them to be knocked down again. The thrash is back in songs like "The Everlasting Gaze," while the tranquility of "Tonight, Tonight" remains present.
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"MACHINA" is a resurrection in which the Pumpkins do little wrong. "I of the mourning" carries a plea so sincere ("Radio, play my favourite song") that it is easy to envision Corgan begging his stereo to make his wish come true. James Iha and Corgan sketch the first wailing guitar solo of the disc, and Jimmy Chamberlain, reinstated on the drums after being kicked out of the band for drug abuse problems, supplies the punchy fills that hoist the song toward its climactic end.
"The Sacred and Profane" has rhythmic strength and as always, Corgan's vocal spontaneity jumps octaves and switches timbres unexpectedly. The speculative "Heavy Metal Machine," strapped with rock star contemplation, reconciles the animosity surrounding "Adore" as Corgan asks that "the world forgive the past."
"Glass and the Ghost Children" has a different structure from the other songs on "MACHINA." Bass leads opening moments and a guitar line emerges, emitting a varied, high cry throughout the song which lends it a boundless texture and spiked ambience. In perhaps the disc's most exhilarating moment, a recording of Corgan describing the voices he hears in his head, lays itself down on an ominous piano as the music fades out. Corgan's voice and the piano are altered electronically, wavering the pitch. Finally, reserved original melodies reenter, culminating in epic bliss.
If there is one thing that inhibits the momentum of "MACHINA," it is the lyrics' weight. Corgan's focus is clear, but his sermon-like songwriting is often intrusive, as in "The Imploding Voice," where he writes: "It's in the thought of you/ It's in the eyes of all." Corgan unsuccessfully attempts to speak universally, infringing on the musical construction's force and distracting from the entire band with emphasis on Corgan's own thoughts.
But this kind of heavy-handedness should not cause doubts about the album's overall quality. Whether or not Corgan has one special listener in mind, the band has the ability to regain their audience with a blend of music both visceral and direct. And when Corgan says on "The Crying Tree of Mercury," "I'm reaching through the noise/ across the dusk of time/ within the lilting lies/ I am singing out to you," everyone will pray that Billy Corgan is singing to them.
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