Billy Corgan
TheFutureEmbrace

A Synthetic Embrace: or Everything Changes!
"But now that evening comes and darkness" (as the poet said), let's talk a little about this man. First of all, allow me to take a step back, let's say about five years. It's the year 2000 and a certain Billy Corgan, the famous leader of a group called The Smashing Pumpkins, is completely in the grip of his paranoias regarding the decay of modern music and his own role as a rock prophet, he releases "Machina/The Machines of God", distributes for free on the Internet the double album "Machina 2: Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music", sends around crumpled pieces of paper with the story of the misunderstood savior Glass in search of a mother's and God's love, and leaves his band to sail solo, as he says, to other shores.

Perhaps the boat wasn't that stable, for less than a year passes before a lineup called Zwan begins to form, and, attention!, it includes some of the most talented alternative musicians of the '90s, as well as former adventure companion Jimmy Chamberlain. When asked about his old friends, Billy responds that The Smashing Pumpkins are atomic waste to be buried in a bunker and that James Iha can't find work even in a Japanese restaurant.
After two years of acoustic, electric, folk, rock, hard-rock, progressive, and country concerts, the much-anticipated Zwan CD is released... and it's a big disappointment for most fans and critics. -Goodbye to Billy's abilities- some say, -eh, but I already knew that since Machina times- others respond, -no, but look, this is a masterpiece, the best album out of Corgan's pumpkin so far- still others think. The album in question moves in a vague electronic jumble of power-pop, tear-jerking acoustics, declarations of faith and new life, no longer dark but illuminated by the light of the Madonna (or a madonna's light, if you prefer). And above all, it contains one of the most beautiful songs ever written by the Chicagoan, that is "Jesus I/Mary Star Of The Sea", made of renewed pain, progressive digressions, and a music box. It's May 2003, the group is live and performs as a perfect and well-oiled machine, and by September the swan is dead: Zwan disband leaving nothing but a trail of mutual accusations.

Our man, though, never stands still and announces an immediate solo career, in 2004 he launches into country acoustic concerts and alt-folk and poetry readings from his book "Blinking With Fists". Suddenly the toxic waste has become Zwan, and, guess what, "in my heart, there is only James and the pumpkins"! "The next album -says Billy- will contain only a handful of acoustic songs about Chicago and will be a concept". But maybe something goes wrong in the work of conceptualization, for Billy changes course yet again within 5 years and 2 albums.

The very same day of "TheFutureEmbrace"'s release, Corgan buys a page in the Chicago Tribune to publish a rather cryptic announcement: essentially, his heart belongs to the good old band, he wants to return to playing the good old songs, the new album is the continuation of the Pumpkins' saga, sooner or later the Gods' Machines will return, with or without the old members. Too bad that during the tour, as soon as any fan says "Sm..", the singer cuts off the music, makes long speeches like "let me live my life, who has had, has had, who has given, has given, scurdammuc' u'passat"... in the best scenarios. In the worst, he leaves the stage after 50 minutes, as in Milan (and let's lay a merciful veil over the band: Matt Walker pretends to play an electronic drum, a lady with the surname Ciliegia pretends to play the keyboard and thrashes around like Mauro Repetto, a former contestant from Maria De Filippi's show pretends to play another keyboard and that's it... but at least the set design was spectacular).

Confused? That's the least! My little steps back dragged out too long, let's try to tackle this future embrace. First of all, we have to get over the unexpected effect of the cover and booklet: Corgan bares his soap-like cherry-scented desires, grits his teeth, and spreads his arms for the embrace. If you don't look at it with an artistic eye, the result can seem really gruesome.

Let's finally get to the music. As a big fan of this artist, I tell you that my impression isn't all that bad, at least regarding the first half of the album: the tracks work quite well, perhaps they can recall episodes of The Smashing Pumpkins like "Eye". The melodies are good, the lyrics are very personal and intimate. The album kicks off with "All Things Change", and, indeed, we had already realized things had changed, the problem is that they have changed too much. The production, in my modest opinion, is terrible: Billy and Bjorn Thorsrud drown every cue, every harmony in a bland and shapeless electronic mix. The guy still proves he can rock with "Mina Loy", "A100", and "Walking Shade", only he seems hesitant, afraid to turn up the amplifiers too much and use the distortions. What he communicates is that he wants to return to the glory of great songs of the past but, fearing to remind too much of the past, attempts the path of a new cerebral electronica, which is not new because it resembles early Depeche Mode and primitive new wave synthesizers. Still, we feel that he gives us his "old heart," and with "TheCameraEye", the best creation of the solo work, we are proud to become involved with his ability to make proper music and write lyrics worthy of his name. But here we immerse again in the synthetic sands of the Bee Gees cover "To Love Somebody": Robert Smith lends his depth to the chorus, but Billy Corgan fails to take advantage of this gift and the Cure is like a guest that just decorates the party. Another useless guest is Jimmy Chamberlain: Billy has the fortune to have as a best friend and musician in "DIA" one of the best drummers around... so why must he chop the sound's power and render ineffective the vibrations this guy could make us perceive?

Among the slow tracks, the only one that genuinely moves me is "Now (And Then)" and I must admit my shiver every time I hear the way Corgan pronounces the phrase "build a fire behind the school come and visit soon". For the rest, his voice sounds like a sick cat, gives us the idea that the guy is unhappy, but not with the sadness of "Adore", I'm talking about a vague tired unhappiness. "Sorrows (In Blue)" and "Pretty, Pretty Star" are negligible if not irritating, the closing "Strayz" is thin and simple, re-evaluable after several listens. Needless to say, the most beautiful tracks, like "Tilt", "Bit 4", "Bit 5", and "Mini" are rigorously kept out of the tracklist, but this is an old habit of the author and no one, I think, will ever be able to make him understand what should be included in the album and what not.
Are you tired? Want a final judgment? I don't have one! There are moments when I love it, moments when I appreciate it, other moments when... I don't know, really...

And for the future? Risking to sound rhetorical, I say "He who wants to be happy, let him be so, for tomorrow there is no certainty".
Good night.

from "TheCameraEye"

"Here, things are
we’ll never get that far
close enough to die
a time or two or three

stretch my skin
restless gods
maybe turn my heart of hearts
deposit change in the camera eye

who needs pain to survive?
I need pain to change my life
in gentle myths and turning leaves
we all come to bury truth

honey choose my wet dream
a naked soul just has to grieve
if I bleed, the camera cries
no one doubts the camera eye"