Zwan - Mary Star Of The Sea
After the break up of Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan returned to his rock roots with Zwan. While there are strong similarities between the two bands, Zwan is a much more upbeat, stripped down version that frankly surpasses all but the early Smashing Pumpkins albums in
terms of songwriting prowess.
The most noticeable difference between the two is the almost complete lack of any electronica that plagued later period Pumpkins albums. There's some subtle synth on the acoustic songs but for the most part this is a straight rock record. What hasn't changed is Billy's superb gift for writing shimmering, multi-layered guitar driven epics backed by the solid, jazz-like chops of longtime Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The songs here are lush arrangements full of swirling guitars, tasteful melodic accents and heavy on good old solos. They don't have the sheer weight of the grunge masterpiece "Siamese Dream" but the more dreamy, atmospheric mood of many of these doesn't call for it.
There are some anomalies though, some good...some bad. There's a couple upbeat acoustic cuts, "El Sol" and "Come With Me", which are actually really good songs but then there's a couple moodier acoustic cuts, "Of A Broken Heart" and "Desire", that drag a little and remind me of later period Pumpkins. They're not total throw aways but they don't really match the vibe of the rest of the record. Another peculiar one is the 14 minute title track. This song runs you through the gauntlet of the different elements of the Zwan sound from it's light, acoustic start to its all out jam band center and back again only to culminate with a fabulous early period Pumpkins grunge jam. This is definitely the most varied song on the album but you have to wonder if chopping it into three different songs would have made more of an impact. Either way, it's long but well worth not hitting the skip button.
For those of you that are big fans of early Pumpkins this record offers a chance to hear an alternate history of that brilliant era. One filled with a more free floating, care free version of that same band but still dedicated to the dense rock soundscapes.
The most noticeable difference between the two is the almost complete lack of any electronica that plagued later period Pumpkins albums. There's some subtle synth on the acoustic songs but for the most part this is a straight rock record. What hasn't changed is Billy's superb gift for writing shimmering, multi-layered guitar driven epics backed by the solid, jazz-like chops of longtime Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The songs here are lush arrangements full of swirling guitars, tasteful melodic accents and heavy on good old solos. They don't have the sheer weight of the grunge masterpiece "Siamese Dream" but the more dreamy, atmospheric mood of many of these doesn't call for it.
There are some anomalies though, some good...some bad. There's a couple upbeat acoustic cuts, "El Sol" and "Come With Me", which are actually really good songs but then there's a couple moodier acoustic cuts, "Of A Broken Heart" and "Desire", that drag a little and remind me of later period Pumpkins. They're not total throw aways but they don't really match the vibe of the rest of the record. Another peculiar one is the 14 minute title track. This song runs you through the gauntlet of the different elements of the Zwan sound from it's light, acoustic start to its all out jam band center and back again only to culminate with a fabulous early period Pumpkins grunge jam. This is definitely the most varied song on the album but you have to wonder if chopping it into three different songs would have made more of an impact. Either way, it's long but well worth not hitting the skip button.
For those of you that are big fans of early Pumpkins this record offers a chance to hear an alternate history of that brilliant era. One filled with a more free floating, care free version of that same band but still dedicated to the dense rock soundscapes.
