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Rating: While Billy Corgan continues to panic the fans of the only real band he's ever had by declaring that the Smashing Pumpkins will soon reunite, only to deny it the next day by affirming the opposite, a small independent label from New York – Reignition Recordings – is offering these weeks a collection of eleven Pumpkins songs covered for the occasion by a handful of bands, largely associated with the U.S. emo scene.
The operation, like many others already seen with practically “contemporary” artists, has many flaws and one unquestionable merit: the faithful interpretations of the more aggressive tracks (Zero, Jellybelly and Quiet), as well as the pretentious distortions of other episodes (I think of the unnecessarily “country-style” version of The Everlasting Gaze and the questionable reinterpretations of 1979 and We Only Come Out At Night), clearly show how the melodic insights and solutions chosen by Corgan over ten years ago are still current and effective. Tracks like Cherub Rock, Soma, and Mayonaise (three gems extracted from the excellent Siamese Dream, an album unjustly overshadowed in the eyes of posterity by the grandiose double Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness), despite the academic performances of the bands involved, stand out in the memory of those who have the originals in mind as rock classics.
The limitations of such a tribute, entrusted to a group of teenagers and therefore variable in results, do not in the least affect the commendable spirit that permeates this album. Who knows, even Billy Corgan himself might learn something about the meaning of the term "respect" by listening, with attention and a bit of humility, to the sincere testimony of esteem that the young generation of American rock pays to his Pumpkins.
Tracklist
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