i will always give a new pumpkins record a listen or two, even if i have low expectations. this seems like it's the biggest, most detailed thing they've done in a long time, so i should give it a chance.

the pumpkins have always had this split personality, and it's sort of instructive to go find their earliest material, some of it dating back to the mid 80s. the smashing pumpkins first existed as a new order influenced synthpop act. corgan was a wittle goff kid from the start; he only started pushing the guitar stuff to get shows in chicago in the late 80s, at the height of the alternative rock movement. so, this generally understood narrative that they were a rock band that sold out with adore and unraveled from there is not just wrong but ass backwards; this was a synthpop band that sold out to make rock music. and, the facts align with that - the biggest selling records were the rock records, not the pop records.

i admit i like the rock records a lot better. they're amongst the most elaborate, intricate guitar rock ever produced. so, i share a little bit of the frustration, but i get it, too. there's however many millions of people out there, no doubt still, wondering "why doesn't he want to make rock music anymore?", and the answer is perhaps as simple as it is unexpected - he doesn't need the cash, anymore.

so, this is what he always wanted to do.

and, at his age, you're not going to get anything worthwhile out of anybody unless their heart is in it - the lack of which has been the actual problem for...it's been decades, now. no shit.

never forget that bowie's best record was released in 1995, when he was 48 years old. you need to back off and let them do what they want, even if it's not what you want, rather than beat your own demands into them. go write your own fucking record.

i actually like adore. and, i like the future embrace, as well. imo, it was machina where the writing started to get lazy in terms of the non-single material (he started writing singles & filler, rather than albums), and there's really never been a recovery. what's become clear over many years is that all you're going to get from him is bad rock music for the simple reason that he's just not fucking into it. 

i strongly doubt that i'll take to this, in the end. i just don't see the point, without the guitars. but, i'll give it a fair listen, and hope that the return of his bandmates helps him maximize whatever potential he has left.