Customer Reviews

American Gothic

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We all love a good Pumpkin rock out, but Billy is at his best when you can actually hear the snarl/sweet fight in his voice through the distortion. And while I admit I am a huge fan, the Pumpkins have lost me a little over the last few years.
I hope Billy decides to go with this sort of sound in the future; amazing and gorgeous. If you ever loved the Pumpkins for their light and dark layers, and vicious songwriting, BUY THIS. You won't be disappointed.

Okay, I'll tell you something: There's no way I'm going to suggest you shell out FIFTEEN bucks for an album with just four songs, no matter how good those songs may be. However, where Corgan flirted a lot with electric guitar and the synthesizer during Zeitgeist, these songs are fairly down to earth sounding and has a side of the artist you wish you could hear more often. Nothing here is as good as "Zeitgeist" (on a limited edition release of the album), but the songs are at least listenable. "Pox" is my favorite of the bunch, with some of Billy's strongest melodies. That's what made the lush side of the group so great, anyway. I also enjoy "The Rose March" and its interesting scats in the beginning. It's not as ambitious or sentimental as one could hope for, but if you want to hear some more Pumpkins it is a nice turn in pace. Just nothing special.

Being one of my favorite bands, but reserved at the fact that half of the principal band was not returning, I was hesitant at embracing the "return" of the Smashing Pumpkins. Zeitgeist had it's moments, but is, for the most part, in the lower regions of my Pumpkins favorites list. I just picked up the import of American Gothic though, and I'm pleasantly surprised. Besides being mainly the stripped down tender Pumpkins stuff that I've always favored, it's more genuine and heartfelt than the bulk of the album it was omited from.

The Smashing Pumpkins (or at least half of them) reunited last year for new album "Zeitgeist" and a new tour.

And you know what that means -- when the Smashing Pumpkins make a new album, they usually have a bunch of discarded B-sides. While "American Gothic" is very brief -- only four songs -- it's a solid little EP that serves as a musically lighter addition to "Zeitgeist."

It starts off on a poppy note: "I love you/I don't even care/If it takes my life for heaven unaware/Sin for sin, I've let you in..." Corgan sings lightly of painful love, over ringing loops of guitar and a rather gauzy, elusive melody. "The atrophy, the cruel enough/this vision of oblivion/And when it ends it all begins... Before the world should end/When will I see you again?"

It's followed by the light, shimmering "Rose March," with Corgan rather incongruously singing "la la la" over a strummed guitar. And "Sunkissed" takes a more electronic approach, starting on a similarly acoustic note, but soft streams of synth start creeping in, giving it a hollow organ sound. It softens the plaintive lyrics ("If I'm gonna live/Without you/I've never chased a brighter sun than you'll become").

And as "American Gothic" winds down, the EP ventures back into rock'n'roll territory with "Pox," a sharp little song that bristles with angular riffs and cynical disdain. "We're giving back the dream," Corgan sneers. "Put up your dukes/You're not so strong.... another dumb kid/his shadow..."

"American Gothic" is basically a postscript to "Zeitgeist" -- these songs didn't fit on there, but Corgan and Co. played them on tour, and released them as part of a special edition. But to be perfectly honest, "American Gothic" sounds a lot better when you listen to it just for its own merits, and don't compare it to the blazing fuzzy rock of "Zeitgeist." They just don't sound similar -- this is more acoustic and low-key.

In fact, "American Gothic" sounds very light and sunny much of the time -- lots of acoustic guitars strummed in a mellow back-porch manner, but hung over with smashing drums and airy organ. But there's spare, angular rock'n'roll that simmers in the last half of "Again, Again, Again," and it finally gets to express itself in "Pox's" sharp riffs and drums.

And Corgan seems to be straddling love and despair ("So put my heart on your chopping block/And feed me fire/But don't let go") and musing on how a doomed love will destroy you, even as he casts a jaded eye on the world around us. His smooth, slightly nasal voice has a new passion that I haven't heard from him in awhile, especially since these songs are quieter, more personal material.

"American Gothic" is a nice little EP for the Smashing Pumpkins, though its quietly brokenhearted sound should be taken on its own merits. A pint-sized triumph.

Much like Alice In Chains followed two of their albums with quieter, acoustic work, the Smashing Pumpkins do the same here with their four-song acoustic EP "American Gothic" (2008).

I'm not really sure what the title "American Gothic" refers to. Unlike its immediate predecessor, the highly underrated "Zeitgeist," (2007) there's no grand political statements, no protest songs, and no social commentaries to be found. Rather, with "American Gothic" we get much more personal, reflective work, with Corgan's more familiar themes of love and broken relationships, etc.

"The Rose March" has a sort of medieval feel, and with the opening "la-da-da-da-la-da-da," one would think something like that would sound corny, but Corgan pulls it off. With the pretty "Again, Again, Again (Crux)" Corgan sings of wanting to meet someone "again," after stating "I love you, I don't even care," as though he is confessing his love despite previous letdowns.

While the first two tracks are good, if not great, the EP really starts to pick up with the final two songs. Incredibly catchy and cynical "Pox" sees Corgan referring to "giving back the dream" several times and I'm not exactly sure what he means by this. Corgan sounds quite cynical here, yet the song still manages not to sound too bitter, as the song, paradoxically exudes a sort of strange optimism, despite lyrics like "another dumb kid shot him, another restless b#@h still f*#@s."

The EP's closing "Sunkissed" is by far the best moment on "American Gothic" and is, in this reviewers opinion, simply one of the finest songs Corgan has ever written. Incredibly pretty, lush and bittersweet, Corgan sings of, presumably, some estranged girlfriend. I'll be honest here, some of Corgan's lyrics I just don't understand and that's how I feel about this song ("Chase the bees of the death song's wings, There's no crying anymore, Crystalline, the bridges burn outside, Stitches will all come undone")? Still, I get the feeling/message here and the song is quite beautiful.

One of the more overlooked releases of 2008, with two good songs and two outstanding ones, "American Gothic" is definitely worth the time and money of any Smashing Pumpkins fan. "Sunkissed" alone is worth the 12 bucks.

I won't be buying this even though I consider myself an Avid Pumpkins fan. the New Pumpkins are Awesome but The DVD "If all Goes Wrong" audio is where to start, I burnt them songs (from the DVD) into mp3 format and MAN! These songs from American Gothic ARE awesome and amazing....LIVE. I heard this CD and it totally disappointed me because when compared to the live renditions of these Same songs, this disc is blown out of the water...I highly recommend all these songs but just get some High Quality Live shows........For Instance, the opening song The Rose March, On the DVD 'If all Goes Wrong', It's a showstopper, on this album it's Crap..Why??? Theres plenty of reasons but the biggest problem is probably just how it was mixed....he starts the rose march chanting the most annoying crap when played Live it is a hauntingly serious song......
DONT GET THIS ALBUM, GET ALL THESE SONGS LIVE (Start with the Audio from IF ALL GOES WRONG and buy the DVD too!!)

This product was exactly what I was hopoing it would be. There wasn't anything I may have needed to know about the product before purchasing. The CD itself is an awesome supplement to any smashing pumpkins fan CD collection. Being a release after the reunion of the new smashing pumpkins lineup, it hints at a newer sound but is a throwback to some of the more classic sounds of the earlier band that were missing in Zeitgeist. Overall great EP!

I love this EP! I wish the last CD was all like this. Classic SP. No electronic bs.

While not my favorite, the songs on this EP are very well written. It is a little "toned down" as compared with some of their more recent work.

But, I liked it a lot (I've listened to it like 19 times since getting it like 2 days ago) The best track, IMO, is "Again, Again, Again (The Crux)", but all of the songs are good in their own way. A definite must have for SP fans!