Billy Corgan will always have the shadow of the nineties hanging over him, of his success fronting The Smashing Pumpkins – and his less-loved antics, making him a love/hate figure of that decade. That shadow got heavier in 2006 when he revived the band name, with only him & drummer Jimmy Chamberlin from the original outfit – and then Chamberlin left a record later. With such exploits as the no-one-wants-reunited Zwan behind him, and claiming an epic 44-song album Teargarden by Kaleidyscope ahead of him was in front of him, it all looked set for a terrible future, but then he/Pumpkins released Oceania (QRO review) in 2012, that ‘first part of Teargarden’ had all the hallmarks of a strong Smashing Pumpkins album. That continues with Monuments to an Elegy.
Monuments very definitely continues Oceania, including its greater usage of synths and Corgan’s lyrics taking more of a backseat, but it is decidedly Smashing Pumpkins. It opens with the big, tragic, Pumpkin psych-rock of “Tiberius”, and sees Corgan bare himself amid large alt-rock. The following “Being Beige” is convincing in being both epic and intimate, while “Drum + Fife” is an evocative cry. Loss is peppered in with the synths on “Dorian”, though “Anaise!” is an ill-fitting disco effects mistake.
Fans of a certain age will hear elements of 1993’s classic “Spaceboy” in “Run2me” – and Corgan can’t shout “Alright” three times on “Monuments” without bring up to mind a certain major actor’s trademark catch phrase. But Billy Corgan has managed to make/keep The Smashing Pumpkins relevant in the twenty-first century.
