Zeitgeist hit the market as Smashing Pumpkins’ newest album. Contrary to expectations, and several predictions, there were no additions to the Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin duo on the actual album. Music credits were as follows: Jimmy Chamberlin: drums, Billy Corgan: everything else.
Produced by Corgan, Chamberlin, Terry Date, and Roy Thomas Baker, it was released through Reprise records. Weighing in at 52:22 minutes, it is a rock performance by the band fragments of Smashing Pumpkins.
The album is typical Pumpkins. Corgan worked hard to produce a sound similar to the Pumpkins of the 1990s. Instead of plunging ahead and finding new ground to walk, fans will hear the same style they heard ten years ago. As Corgran edgily croons in the lyrics for “That’s the Way (My Love Is)”: “You should call on me baby/I’m always there for you,” Corgan and Chamberlin deliver the same Smashing Pumpkins package in a new, polished, politically loaded case.
Zeitgeist comes from a German word that literally translates as “time”, but is more fully understood as “the spirit of the age”. In German, there are many layers of meaning, including that is can only be observed for past events. It is an interesting title for a comeback album from a band that was a spirit of the times a decade ago.
The poetic lyrics bespeak of fragmented thoughts and use personal addresses such as “you” and “me”, bringing the messages to a more intimate level. Waxing philosophic in the “United States” lyrics, “the future yearns/right now’s the past,” the words are revolutionary, thought provoking, and yet inconclusive. Each fragment carrying a message of its own: the original author’s thoughts are masked behind poetic liberties.
Listeners are subjected to the droning of Corgan’s voice and repetitive electric guitar riffs, and the back-up rhythms of Chamberlin’s drums. The flair and expression of the Siamese Dreams album or Melon Collie are left behind. Conversely, the new expression is unmistakably Pumpkins’.
Despite obvious similarities to previous albums, there is also a distinct tonal change in the melodies of Zeitgeist: darker and heavier sounds penetrate the subwoofers of this generation. The rock guitar is a little wilder, but a brief moment in “Tarantula” is reminiscent of “Tonight, Tonight” from earlier years.
The album only features the musical talents of Corgan and Chamberlin, they will be touring with new band mates Jeff Schroeder playing rhythm guitar, Ginger Reyes on bass, and Lisa Harriton for keyboard and backup vocals.
Fans of the old Smashing Pumpkins should be moderately pleased with the new album, although undoubtedly there will be some contention over the new sound versus the old. Corgan promised an album with the old sound, but time has a way of changing a band’s tone. The next generation of rock fans should appreciate a refreshing breeze of the 90’s echoing through their speakers.