Alright, this one's gonna take some explaining. When Billy Corgan decided to disband the Pumkpins, he wanted to release a final album of studio outtakes and such, but Virgin Records refused, citing that it was too soon after releasing the first Machina. So, Corgan decided to give them the proverbial middle finger by releasing it as a bootleg to fans for posting on the internet. Well, for some reason, Billy had only 25 copies pressed on vinyl and whoever posted it used a normal phonograph (as opposed to a super-expensive aduiophile), so the recordings sound pretty murky. However, the sound quality (or lack of) lends its own quality to the album that makes it feel completely out of time (in the history of music, that is).

As for the music itself, while one could argue that this album is saturated with filler, it is my personal feeling that most of these songs hold their own right and some of them are....werr....great. If you want to hear for yourself, I'd suggest heading on over to here. I will make notes on the songs that I feel like, being there so many (an hour and a half or so).


CR - 01

01 - Slow Dawn
Nice guitar solo. Great song. Calm until it explodes in fore-mentioned solo. Then calm again.
02 - Vanity
This song is driven by chord changes and it turns out a nice song with the perfect guitar solo.
03 - Satur9
This song can be somewhat slow, but falls into its own groove. With its electronic pulse, it lies in the vein of "Love". It's just how the guitar is drawn out that truly makes it.
04 - Glass [alternate version]
Fast and another song anti-rockstar song. There's another version I have that's much cleaner, so I enjoy that one more.


CR - 02

01 - Soul Power
Perhaps a tad shallow and slightly obnoxious, but it's a visceral relief from the overall mellowness of the Pumpkins' later material.
02 - Cash Car Star [version I]
The first vocals remind me of Devo, but the song simply rocks in its own way.
03 - Lucky 13
A darker gutiar part in the intro...with drums as a nice touch. Generally a darker song, which is another relief. Nice chorus too....manages to not be poppy.
04 - Speed Kills [but beauty lives forever]
Simply put, a beautiful song. The chords in the verse...the lead parts...how did he do it?


CR - 03

01 - If there is a God [piano and voice]
I never listen to this...kinda cheesy...no drums. But not bad and speaks well for Corgan as a songwriter.
02 - Try [version I]
I never liked this song...thought it was way too poppy and sappy and the video just got on my nerves.
03 - Heavy Metal Machine [version I alternate mix]
I love the live version I've seen the video for, but I don't really like this one.


CR - 04

01 - Glass
Different layout than other version.
02 - Cash Car Star
Same song.......different version.
03 - Dross
Another darker, heavier song...with profanity!
04 - Real Love
Sounds kinda sappy, but still a good song. I like the part about something about "21 century".
05 - Go
Alright, Iha has the mic again, which is suitable for this mellow song with an 8th note pulse.
06 - Let Me Give the World to You
Geez, this song is so sappy, I just skip it. The name seems downright cliche.
07 - Innosense
The worst of the poppy songs, in my humble opinion.
08 - Home
Synth backdrop with some nice drum fills. Mellow, as it seems this end (and a good part) of this album tends to.
09 - Blue Skies Bring Tears (version electrique)
Punky beat with Corgan's voice bantering something. Closest to "Cash Car Star".
10 - White Spyder
Closest in vein to "The End is the Beginning is the End". Nice techo-y rumble.
11 - In My Body
Sounds amazingly new-wavy, but yet maintains ints own depth. What amazes me is how it's stretched out to almost seven minutes.....must be the phrasing. I also like the drum fill between phrases. Also, nice guitar fills, as the add vital texture to the song.
12 - If There is a God
More instruments' rendition of the same song.
13 - Le Deux Machina
I honestly don't know why this is here....sounds like video game music. It's just a stark reflection of Corgan's affinity to synthesizers.
14 - Atom Bomb
Pretty techo-y. I'm sure that his solo material will reflect this sort of thing wuite a bit, as that's what I heard in that one song.

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The bottom line is that this album is sound evidence to Corgan's skills as a songwriter, because while much of the album could be argued as filler, there is much variety to be found here and several of these songs sound like they need to exist. And they all do, in the form of a free download from any number of sites. Just look for them with Google...they're there.

I really think that's one of the beauties of listening to Smashing Pumpkins: there's is so much out there. Yeah, perhaps there is filler, but that's something subjective. There are many other official bootlegs, so I suggest zipping on over to http://www.billy-corgan.com/. Plus, since these are mp3's, you can burn just your favourite ones onto a CD and forget the rest!!!