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Rating: There are those bands famous for one album or for particular songs, idolized for that gem of undisputed beauty by both people and critics, but I want to contradict myself a bit too: I prefer "In Utero" to "Nevermind," I prefer "Transmission From The Satellite Heart" to "The Soft Bulletin," "Wish You Were Here" (and "Meddle") to "The Dark Side Of The Moon," and "Adore" to "Mellon Collie And Infinite Sadness"; and it is precisely "Adore" that I will talk to you about today.
"Adore" is not an innovative album, nor particularly beautiful, "Adore" is the album of a specific state or moment in one's life, that moment you go through between paranoias about life, mental disturbances about the world and knowledge, between depressions towards nothingness and infinity, "Adore" is the album of a specific passage, it takes you into gloomy and dark worlds to teach you something.
Thus begins "To Sheila" in a nocturnal summer landscape as if observing a valley illuminated by the lights of the houses, which deludes you into understanding what's in front of you, but gives you the hope to keep going forward. From here you enter the world of soft nightmares and false dreams, "Ava Adore" agitates the mind, plays with the darkest sentiments; "Perfect" is the counterpart, a melancholic dream with the hope of mending a broken shell. The night is still dark and threatening, the full moon lights up the streets and "Daphne Descends" is the right ride for this night, another illusion, another failure, due to one's own mistakes.
"Once Upon A Time" returns to more real and palpable atmospheres, compared to the previous synthetic and unreal songs, an acoustic ballad always with a veil of melancholy and a continuous remembrance of a lost loved one; the nightmares return and "Tear" along with a real tear runs down your face always in memory of the deceased loved ones, almost blaming the world and the dead themselves for what happened, as if calling time itself a murderer. "Crestfallen" is a self-flagellation full of depression; it unstitches the word "Love" from the hearts placing it back in the pocket, perhaps leaving it in a dusty and cobweb-laden corner; the first part of the CD closes with another hypothetical ride this time a "brain-storming" of almost illogical questions, insecure, due to the loss of the supporting pillars of one's life, "Appels + Oranjes" the most "dancey" song of the album, which still maintains the dark air that you are now accustomed to hearing since the beginning.
"Pug" I find one of the best of the album, always on synthetic synthesizer carpets, always the usual illusions, the usual search for confirmation. The stories usually invented serve to make sense a little here, to get out of our real nightmare of illusions, "The Tale Of Dusty And Pistol Pete" is nothing but the mirror of Billy's sentimental situation seen in reverse, with the woman in search and the man on the run. But it's just a point of clarity before scraping the bottom of the barrel, "Annie-Dog" is a melancholic surreal ballad, in a moment of madness he can no longer distinguish reality from fiction, almost seems drugged, immersed in a depression that spreads increasingly without a solution; "Shame" is an introspective song, for the first time he is ashamed of his past, of what he is feeling and what he is ruining, first and foremost in himself.
It's time to return to living, rediscover life and grasp the teachings from these difficult situations; "Behold: The Night Mare" leaves one's nightmares behind, one is ready to walk back on the roads, now less blurred and dark, now the nightmare is seen only in the distance, the sun gives a glimpse of its first glimmers in this long night. Time stopped for a night, but after this "Nightly Thought" everything is clearer, the dead who spoke in the head now leaves only beautiful memories in a long infinite embrace "For Martha" is a special dedication. "Blank Page", the blank page to start writing something new, something that will nonetheless reflect on one's past because the page is blank but in front of it there is already a written book.
"17" are the seconds in which the sun peeks over the horizon,
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 To Sheila (04:48)
Twilight fades through blistered avalon
The sky's cruel torch on aching autobahn
Into the uncertain divine
We scream into the last divide
You make me real
You make me real
Strong as I feel
You make me real
Sheila rides on crashing nightingale
Intake eyes leave passing vapor trails
With blushing brilliance alive
Because it's time to arrive
You make me real
You make me real
Strong as I feel
You make me real
Lately I just can't seem to believe
Discard my friends to change the scenery
It meant the world to hold a bruising faith
But now it's just a matter of grace
A summer storm graces all of me
Highway warm silent poetry
I could bring you the light
And take you home into the night
You make me real
Lately I just can't seem to believe
You make me real
Discard my friends to change the scenery
Strong as I feel
It meant the world to hold a bruising faith
You make me real
But now it's just a matter of grace
02 Ava Adore (04:22)
It's you that I adore
You will always be my whore
You'll be a mother to my child
And a child to my heart
We must never be apart
We must never be apart
Lovely girl you're the beauty in my world
Without you there aren't reasons left to find
And I'll pull your crooked teeth
You'll be perfect just like me
You'll be a lover in my bed
And a gun to my head
We must never be apart
We must never be apart
Lovely girl you're the murder in my world
Dressing coffins for the souls I've left to die
Drinking mercury to the mystery
Of all that you should ever leave behind
In time
In you I see dirty
In you I count stars
In you I feel so pretty
In you I taste god
In you I feel so hungry
In you I crash cars
We must never be apart
Drinking mercury to the mystery
Of all that you should ever seek to find
Lovely girl you're the murder in my world
Dressing coffins for the souls I've left behind
In time
We must never be apart
And you'll always be my whore
Cause you're the one that I adore
And I'll pull your crooked teeth
You'll be perfect just like me
In you I feel so dirty in you I crash cars
In you I feel so pretty in you I taste god
We must never be apart
03 Perfect (03:25)
I know we're just like old friends
We just can't pretend
That lovers make amends
We are the reason so unreal
We can't help but feel that something has been lost
But please, you know you're just like me
Next time, I promise we'll be perfect
Perfect
Perfect
Perfect strangers down the line
Lovers out of time
Memories unwind
So far I still know who you are
But now I wonder who I was
Angel, you know it's not the end
We'll always be good friends
The letters have been sent on
So please, you always were so free
You'll see, I promise we'll be perfect
Perfect
Perfect strangers when we meet
Strangers on the street
Lovers while we sleep
Perfect
You know this has to be
We always were so free
We promised that we'd be
Perfect
Perfect
Perfect
04 Daphne Descends (04:41)
With the sugar sickness
You spy the kidnap kid
Who kids you to oblivion
It's the perfect hassle
For the perfumed kiss
He makes you miss him more than home
You love him
You love him more than this
You love him and you cannot, you can't resist
You love him
You love him for yourself
You love him and no one, no one else
Past sidewalk ashes
A last lovers arc
You come apart to intertwine
It was all so simple
As you watched him move
Across the darkness in your room
You love him
You love him for youself
You love him and no one, no one else
And the winding vines
The pretty boys dive
And thru the pinhole stars
Into the shadow mind
You will lose him then
On some gentle dawn
This boy is here and gone
You love him
You love him for yourself
You love him and no one, no one else
You love him
You love him more than this
You love him and you cannot, you can't resist
You love him...
05 Once Upon a Time (04:07)
horses run once in a while for you
the shades will drop once in a while for you
destiny will have a sense of your touch
once in a while
once in a while for you
once in a while for you
once in a while for you
the soldiers will fall once in a while for you
the shades will crawl once in a while for you
you'll take the walls
i will take the pain awayonce in a while
once in a while it's you
once in a while it's you
once in a while
you'll make it on your own
you'll make it so alone
feel so alone
you'll try to care once in a while for me
i will be there once in a while
once in a while for you
once in a while for you
once in a while for you
06 Tear (05:55)
The lights came on fast
Lost in motorcrash
Gone in a flash unreal
But you knew all along
You laugh the light
I sing the songs
To watch you numb
I saw you there
You were on your way
You held the rain
And for the first time, heaven seemed insane
'Cause heaven is to blame
For taking you away
And do you know the way that I can
Do you know the way that I can't lose?
And do you know the things that I can
Do you know the things that I can do?
Where is your heart?
Where is your heart gone to?
Tear me apart
Tear me apart from you
You laugh the light
I cry the wound
In gray afternoons
I saw you there
You were on your way
You held the rain
And for the first time, heaven seemed insane
For taking you away
'Cause heaven is to blame
For taking you away
The lights came to pass
Dead opera motorcrash
Gone in a flash unreal
In nitrous overcast
And do you know the way that I can
Do you know the way that I can't lose?
And do you know the things that I can
Do you know the things that I can't lose?
Tear me apart
Tear me apart from you
Where is your heart?
Where is your heart run to?
07 Crestfallen (04:11)
Who am I to need you when I'm down?
And where are you when I need you around?
Your life is not your own
And all I ask you is for another chance
Another way around you
To live by circumstance
Once again
Who am I to need you now?
To ask you why?
To tell you no?
To deserve your love and sympathy?
You were never meant to belong to me
And you may go but I know that you won't leave
Too many years built into memories
You're life is not your own
Who am I to need you now?
To ask you why?
To tell you no?
To deserve your love and sympathy?
You were never meant to belong to me
Who am I to leave?
Along the way I lost my faith
And as you are you'll be agian
To mold like clay, to break like dirt
To tear me up in your sympathy
You were never meant to belong to me
You were never meant to belong to me
You were never meant to belong to me
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
08 Appels + Oranjes (03:37)
what if the sun refused to shine?
what if the clouds refused to rain?
what if the wind refused to blow?
what if the seas refused to wave?
what if the world refused to turn?
what if the stars would hesitate?
what if, what is isn't true?
what are you going to do?
what if, what is isn't you?
does that mean you've got to lose?
digging for the feel of something new
what if the silence let you dream?
what if the air could let you breathe?
what if the words would bring you here?
what if this sound could bring you peace?
what if, what is isn't true?
what are you going to do?
digging for the feel of something new
what if, what is isn't you?
does that mean you've got to lose?
it came from your thoughts, your dreams and visions
ripped up from your weeks and indecisions
what if the sun refused to shine?
what if the clouds refused to rain?
what if the wrold refused to turn?
what if the clocks would hesitate?
what if, what is isn't true?
what are you going to do?
what if, what is isn't you?
does that mean you've got to lose?
digging for the feel of something new
does that mean you've got to choose?
the feel of something new
does that mean you've got to lose?
the thoughts you cannot lose
what are you gonna do?
09 Pug (04:49)
Kiss and kill me sweetly
Come and drive me home
Drag the miles in me
I am yours alone
Inside where it's warm
Wrap myself in you
Outside where I'm torn
Fight myself in two
In two
Into you
Desire me so deeply
Drain and kick me hard
Whisper secrets for me
Try to go too far
Inside where it's warm
Wrap myself in you
Outside where I'm torn
Fight myself in two
In two
Into...
Please don't change
Please don't change at all
Bring your rain
Bring your rain to fall
Inside where it's warm
Wrap myself in you
Outside where I'm torn
Fight myself in two
In two
Into you
Come and kiss me sweetly
Ride the telephone
Drag the miles to me
I am yours alone
Yours alone
On the telephone
Yours alone
Looking for a kiss kiss
Yours alone
10 The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete (04:37)
Dusty screams, through doors and imaginary floors
"Why can't you miss me?"
Pistol pete removes the final breaths from her unkind and she is shaken
What does this mean in love or in peace?
With you lying next to me
So faithless serene
And she calls to him
Let the waste cross the ancient trails to you
Far out beneath the sorrow clouds
Let them taste the bitter lost mistake of you
Let them cry out through your rusted scars
Alone he roams inside the ordinary catacombs of her waiting
With raven hands she steals and staggers towards her man
Still scorned by his demon
Because he's undone
Become the language of
Disaster and love, vengeance and dust
And she calls to him
Let the waste cross the ancient trails to you
Far out beneath the sorrow clouds
Let them taste the bitter lost mistake of you
Let them cry out through your rusted scars
Dusty screams, through doors and imaginary scenes
Of hurt and teardrop
As he holds her down, in the cold lonely winds
Together again, her inside him
And she calls to him
Let the waste cross the ancient trails to you
Far out beneath the sorrow clouds
Let them taste the bitter lost mistake of you
Let them cry out through your rusted scars
11 Annie-Dog (03:40)
Amphetamine Annie-Dog
Has her leash and a face
Her velvet spleen, her shackle spine
Her diamond curse, it comes with mine
A vessel she, for violent I
Confession arms awake
Mine, mine, you were always mine
Possessed by my taste
And below the angel dog
Combs her hair and sings her psalms
The bombs go off, she doesn't notice
It all goes wrong, she sets things tragic
She is Venus, she is Mars
She's electric, and the struggle of
Upon my face we leave no trace
But in her stomach mercury aged
She holds the blood, she carves the knives
She digs the wives in our babies
Amphetamine Annie-Dog
Pulls her trash and her stories
From place to place, and bed to bed
Gives of herself and the magnet head
Another floor, another ceiling
Counting stairs with double meanings
Is it wrong to swallow whole?
To disappear in her?
To give her the priceless peace
Of giving up control?
We tumble out into the streets
And Annie-Dog, she drags her leash
Pretty face, ugly mouth
Bitter bred and so released
And by the no, and by the yes
Annie goes if you couldn't guess
A simple man, a sycophant
Her elephant with the laughing call
She wants clean sheets, and fresh flowers
And dental shots, and the Hong Kong glue
Amphetamine Annie-Dog
Has her leash and a face
12 Shame (06:42)
You're gonna walk on home
You're gonna walk alone
You're gonna see this through
Don't let 'em get to you
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Love is good and love is kind
Love is drunk and love is blind
Love is good and love is mine
Love is drunk all the time
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
You're gonna walk on home
You're gonna walk alone
You're gonna walk so far
You're gonna wonder who you are
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Shame
Shame
Love is good and love is kind
Love is good and love is blind
Love is good and love is mine
Love is good all the time
Hello, goodbye, you know you made us cry
Hello, goodbye, you know you made us cry
14 For Martha (08:19)
Whenever I run
Whenever I run to you, lost one
It's never done
Just hanging on
Just past has let me be
Returning as if dream
Shattered as belief
If you have to go, don't say goodbye
If you have to go, don't you cry
If you have to go, I will get by
Someday I'll follow you and see you on the other side
But for the grace of love
I'd will the meaning of
Heaven from above
But for the grace of love
I'd will the meaning of
Heaven from above
Your picture out of time
Left aching in my mind
Shadows kept alive
If you have to go, don't say goodbye
If you have to go, don't you cry
If you have to go, I will get by
Someday I'll follow you and see you on the other side
But for the grace of love
I'd will the meaning of
Heaven from above
But for the grace of love
I'd will the meaning of
Heaven from above
Long horses, we are born
Creatures more than torn
Mourning our way home
15 Blank Page (05:00)
Blank page is all the rage
Never meant to say anything
In bed I was half dead
Tired of dreaming of rest
Got dressed drove the state line
Looking for you at the five and dime
Stop sign told me stay at home
Told me you were not alone
Blank page was all the rage
Never meant to hurt anyone
In bed I was half dead
Tired of dreaming of rest
You haven't changed
You're still the same
May you rise as you fall
You were easy you are forgotten
You are the ways of my mistakes
I catch the rainfall
Through the leaking roof
That you had left behind
You remind me
Of that leak in my soul
The rain falls
My friends call
Leaking rain on the phone
Take a day palnt some trees
May they shade you from me
May your children play beneath
Blank page was all the rage
Never meant to say anything
In bed I was half dead
Tired of dreaming of rest
Got dressed drove the state line
Looking for you at the five and dime
But there I was picking pieces up
You are a ghost
Of my indecision
No more little girl
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Other reviews
By Asjklf
Adore is definitely the most enigmatic, controversial, and underrated album by the Smashing Pumpkins.
The result is a nocturnal and mysterious electro-pop that is very fascinating and culminates in heartbreaking songs like For Martha, Blank Page, or the surreal Crestfallen.
By Dune Buggy
'Adore' is a non-place, a refined electronic twilight as deep as an abyssal puddle of farewells.
'I never wanted to hurt anyone' whispers our... but you hurt me, dear Billy, obliterating my soul with this desperate abandonment.
By van norden
"Adore is a sacred album, to be listened to with true devotion: isolate yourself from the world, in silence, while it rains, and listen calmly."
"Billy extends a hand to accompany him in the darkness, transforming grief into catharsis through a fusion of real and visionary worlds."
By fede
"Adore represents the nocturnal side of the Pumpkins, the endless gothic night tinged with poignant prayers and pleading poems to nothingness."
"Let yourself go in this dark sea, drown if you must, cry and vent, pity yourself if you want. Afterwards, however, you will feel better."
