POLLcelina of the Vast Oceans - ILM artist poll #87 - SMASHING PUMPKINS (voting open until 2 April 2018)

i had a conversation with someone recently where he declared the best pumpkins release is the 1979 ep and tbh hard to disagree

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, March 19, 2018 2:48 AM (sixteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I disagree.

The last Pumpkins album I own is Machina 1. I don't know whether to go digging in the reunion albums or stick to the stuff I used to love.

Oceania is the only one that you really need to hear, as it's excellent. 'Panopticon' in particular rules. Predictably, Brad is wrong about the record.

nah I agree with Brad - it's making all the right moves but the songs just aren't that exciting or moving

Anyhow, thinking about what tracks I vote for, several selections from MACHINA spring to mind (and no, MACHINA II isn't better - don't be daft) as well as one or two things from Pisces Iscariot ... I can only think of one track from Adore that is a no-brainer for a Pumpkins ballot.

I was excited and moved by the record, therefore yer wrong.

I can only think of one track from Adore that is a no-brainer for a Pumpkins ballot

this explains everything!

fun's over i guess

I'm bumping all my Adore votes up a spot.

xxpost:

It's an incredible track, though!

I like Adore a lot, but if you're only going to pick 25 tracks then they might as well be incredible.

can't wait to read more of your challenging and intelligent opinions in the rollout

There's nothing "challenging" about it - basically, this band's high points were/are incredible, and while there's a lot on Adore that's highly listenable and very good, and while I have a lot of time for the record - there's not a lot on it that comes close to the very top of what this band in their original incarnation were capable of.

it’s For Martha right

Adore has some pretty high highs, Behold! The Night Mare especially is incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohGwSHQ7Vdc

25 is so brutal

My shortlist is down to 27... It was pretty easy to put together without overthinking but cutting two tracks and ordering them is going to be tough.

listening to Mary Star of the Sea for the first time in years now and it's surprisingly pretty good? probably better than both Machinas and certainly better than all the SP mk2 material by a long way

yeah it's a great power-pop record

honestly I'd probably enjoy it more if whenever I listen to it I wasn't reminded of how needlessly sour he was towards his new bandmates

like obv it's also a problem with SP but it's especially jarring against the posi vibes

and most of their best songs were left off of it (Chrysanthemum, My Life + Times, Cast a Stone, Rivers We Can’t Cross, Friends as Lovers, Glorious).

i've just done a 50-song list and just realized I left 'quiet' and 'blank page' off the list. this is impossible.

lol. i revisited gish/siamese dream last night and the positions of certain songs in my ballot fluctuated wildly ("hummer": it's actually perfect), this is v hard

yeah no ballot is complete w/out "hummer" imo

My list seems to be angling strongly towards softer tracks and epics so far. Not so many heavy songs.

same

yeah no ballot is complete w/out "hummer" imo

Made some hard cuts last night based on studio vs. live versions. One of them, I can’t believe it’s not on my ballot but there’s just too many.

i just realized that only 4 songs in my list were released as singles.

My list seems to be angling strongly towards softer tracks and epics so far. Not so many heavy songs.

b-b-but Hello Kitty Kat!!!

Yeah Yeah

The transition back into a more languid mood in 'Hummer' is so good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Imf_anNCY

where does "Let Me Give The World To You" fit into ILM's view of this band

I could wait to see but I'm impatient

The Zwan record is good, and I can think of 2 or 3 tracks on there that I absolutely love - but I disagree about it being better than MACHINA, let alone Oceania ...

xp fine song, wouldn't have fit on Adore, but I still think it could've been a decent hit (only the Rick Rubin version though), certainly bigger than Ava Adore and Perfect.

LMGTWTY is totally pedestrian imo

don't think it would have been a hit either

it is pedestrian, and tho i don't think it would've been massive or saved SP's career, i think it had a better shot than the other two singles.

it's just so extremely 1998, it's like a Matchbox 20 song

Unashamedly stoked for this. Was a huge fan when young. It's to my advantage that everything after Machina I/II (bar Zwan) is pish, so I don't have to consider those. Still, stuck with a first draft of 40-songs-that-absolutely-have-to-be-on-the-25-votes-ballot.

Is Zwan allowed to vote for (it's prob not going to make it, but just checking)

Except that not everything post-MACHINA is awful.

If Zwan is allowed then Corgan's solo stuff should be, and if Corgan's solo stuff is then so should Iha's and Jimmy's ...

assuming Zwan & Billy's solo records are not eligible, what say you Bee OK? Chrysanthemum would absolutely make my top 10, probably top 5, but like everyone has said whittling just SP mk I down to 25 tracks is truly brutal.

I'm perfectly fine with just SP, was just asking

even picking 25 b-sides would be tough tbh

i can’t figure zwan into this, it’s honestly like another 100 additional songs to account for even though they only put out one album lol

“let me give the world to you” is a very nice song

that’s all i can think of to say about it