News > Smashing Pumpkins
Billy Corgan Straightens Out His Kaleidyscope
By Skwerl
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
In our interview with Hanson last month, we talked about the idea that artists could get by better in the download era by selling less records for more money. In other words, perhaps it is time to accept that the format of digital files most popular among music listeners today has no intrinsic market value, yet hardcore fans will always be willing to pay a premium for limited “collector’s” editions hand crafted by the artists.
After bringing some not so compelling ideas to the table in April, it sounds like Billy Corgan will be putting the “less for more” concept to a proper test with the release of a 44 track Smashing Pumpkins album fruitily entitled Teargarden By Kaleidyscope.
I feel like we never say anything good about Billy Corgan without a dumptruck full of skeptical salt. But for the record, reviews from the recent Spirits In The Sky tour were positive, and I mean… It’s not unreasonable to expect a dozen good songs out of 44, right?
Corgan plans to release the songs one at a time, starting around Halloween. He insists that they will all be completely 100% free, with absolutely no strings or hoops to jump through; not even an email address gate.
For the fans, there will be eleven limited “mini box sets” of four songs each, which will include intricate artwork, and possibly outtakes & demo versions. When all is said and done, all 44 songs will be packaged up into a “deluxe box set.” Corgan promises the complete set will be more than a simple recompilation of the mini versions, and unlike Radiohead, he’s announcing all of this right up front rather than as everyone gets done purchasing the lesser versions.
Sounds like a plan. We’re looking forward to seeing how it- and the music, of course- turns out.
p.s. thanks to passenger for the heads up on this one.
“It’s not unreasonable to expect a dozen good songs out of 44, right?”
ha
Can anyone name a dozen good songs he has written in the past decade? I used to be as big a Smashing Pumpkins fan as anyone, but reckon their best days are far, far behind them.
yeah, i guess it might very well all suck, huh.
At least it’s free.
Haha:
http://twitter.com/Balsumgo/status/4050676361
I believe this is a good makreting strategy, people love collecting shit one piece at a time, especially if those pieces can put together later, and create a cool collection. The whole thing is more about being pleasent to the eye rather than ear, so I suppose he got a little off track with the whole thing.
suck + free still = suck
Im not really sure what to say about this anymore. I’ve kinda been hatin on Billy these days…..but I’m on the fence. I want to like the new stuff, but….. man, has it really come to that? We are all just hoping for a dozen good songs out of 44? Sadly that rings true.
Hey Billy, why not just release one album of those 12 good songs? Heck, you could even charge for the album.
And yeah the whole deluxe limited edition fan package is cool artistically, but unpractical, except for the most hardcore, and seems a bit elitist. But I think that’s true of other bands who have done the same thing too. I own my share of box sets, but even my favorite bands have released some overblown, redundant shit. Usually though, it’s a greatest hits package, not new stuff.
I guess if it’s free we can’t complain, but I think people want to hear the best of what an artist has at the time, and save the filler for another day. And will pay to do so.
Neil Young and Rivers Cuomo, for example, two guys who write a shitload of songs, have songs in the fucking bank, and yet consistently release ablums with a modest amount of tracks where a good majority of those tracks don’t suck.
I know I shouldn’t really compare past work, but I love every song on Mellon Collie, even the most quirky. They all fit together, and it worked. To me, There was no wasted effort. And even that was an unwieldy 28 tracks. My point is, I think we should be able to expect that a better majority of songs will be good. Hopefully in this case they will.
Still, it seems like now Billy is about just writing as many songs as he can and throwing them all on the floor and seeing which ones land face side up.
Instead of releasing them all, if he was able to distill that 44 down to a solid core of songs, he could have another album on par with the any of the best of his work.
If you enjoyed Machina such as I did(and perhaps even parts or all of Machina 2) you are already over the 12 songs you were asking for he’s written in the last decade that are good. I will stretch further and say that every release he has made since then has had SOME good songs on them. If not his best material, it is still quite good and worth listening to a few times.
I hope they’re all about God.
“Can anyone name a dozen good songs he has written in the past decade?”
Song For a Son (2008)
Owata (2008)
Freak (2009)
Come With Me (2003)
7 Shades of Black (2007)
Of a Broken Heart (2003)
Dross (2000)
I of the Mourning (2000)
The Fellowship (2009)
Again, Again, Again (2007)
I tried to cover every era, but I could list 50 more, including probably at least 20 amazing songs. Half of machina was awesome, Machina II was great, Zwan was brilliant, Zeitgeist had a few good songs, and almost he’s written since the the premiere of G.L.O.W at the guitar hero release has been amazing lately. I will admit he had a lull from his solo album through american gothic, but there was still some awesome stuff there. I mean he has written over 200 songs in the past decade and theres definately been genius there.
[...] eventually to be released as an “album” called Teargarden By Kaleidyscope. We reported the details of the plan in [...]