I can already tell some tracks could've been shaved off but this is pretty good so far. Really liking Purple Blood! edit: Oh y'all definitely weren't kidding about Save Your Tears. Incredible song. Purple Blood, Save Your Tears, Schaudenfreud are my favorites. Phenomenal tracks. Tyger, Tyger is weird.
Listened to this twice today. Unfortunately there were a lot of duds on here for me, especially in the second half. Of the songs that weren't pre-released, I think the highlights are Save Your Tears, Minerva and Starrcraft.
don't think I've ever been less excited for a Pumpkins record haha but the positive feedback in here has me intrigued
Yeah Save Your Tears was underwhelming for me considering the hype in here. Still have to listen to the full album but most of the singles were mostly disappointing too. I expected better with most of the original lineup back. And I liked Zeitgeist, Oceania and most of the Teargarden releases *shrug*
the nicest thing I can say about this is that if it ended at "Save Your Tears" it'd be mid-tier Pumpkins the stuff after that.... oof
Does anyone else think that Billy is just a total troll and doesn't give a shit what his fans or former fans think? He's just making whatever music he feels like truly to test the loyalty or lack thereof? I've read some threads on Netphoria (pumpkins fanboards), and the hatred for each subsequent release is so toxic. Like, if you don't care for the music he is releasing, maybe stop listening to it? I mean DEFINITELY stop spending countless hours posting on the internet about it if you hate it that much lol. Just trolls trolling trolls over there. Anyway, the pumpkins were one of the first bands I ever truly loved, Mellon Collie came out when I was 10 years old, and I was totally obsessed until the first breakup after Machina. The 2007 "reunion" had me pumped even though it was kind of half assed, and I remember being let down with Zeitgeist as a whole. Since then I've sort of just..... lost interest? I skipped around some tracks on Cyr, I would find it hard to listen to this all the way through multiple times even if there WAS the possibility of the songs growing on me. There's just so much other great music out there to want to put the time into appreciating a record like this. That being said, I think there's a method to Billy's madness in pumping out a 20 song album that he knows "fans" are going to listen to. The fractions of a cent per stream add up quickly when you have 6.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
for me this record gets somehow v close sonically to adore and thefutureembrace and i’d rather corg do that than relive his guitar hero shit, even though oceania is good-to-great. (are ppl who love oceania seriously down on this record????)
I can totally believe that he was going for an Adore/TFE vibe when hearing some of these songs... or even a track like Eye, which came on shuffle for me on Friday. What I immediately thought of was the recording/mix on a song like Eye is wonderfully dynamic. There are quiet parts, with a totally dreamy feel - the "turn to the gates of heaven, to myself be damned" part. It shifts from that into the fuzzy synth and drum machine. That coupled with his vocals just being weaved nicely into the mix, it's just a GREAT sound. And I'm not trying to "live in the past", really, I am open minded to new stuff, experimentation, etc. But on these songs... they are just so middle of the road. They lack dynamics, they start, they end, if you aren't looking, you might not be able to tell where one song ends and the next begins. And his vocals are just RIGHT THERE in the front of the mix. I'm sure there are some people that like that or prefer that, I am just not one of them.
the production has gone to hell for sure but i’ve been grading on that curve since zeitgeist. “purple blood” actually has a little bit of depth to it, i take what i can get
I did enjoy quite a bit of Oceania - and you're right, it's not really fair to compare the songwriting quality if you have heard one album significantly more than the other, so I won't try to disagree with you there. Just not sure I will want to revisit Cyr enough to form that opinion. If you don't mind - remind me your top 4 or 5 tracks on Cyr , I will give each one 5 or so listens today to see if the songs grow on me.