Smashing Pumpkins > what's happening?

Sorry I haven't written much, but neither has Shakespeare. Ok, I cribbed that line but it's still a great line.

There has been a lot going on in the Pumpkins world lately. You may know I was the biggest Pumpkins fan alive. I say was because we had a falling out of sorts. I really didn't like Billy's solo album at all. It was a techno keyboard thingy. I understand he needs to grow and develop, but I hated it. Then, the Pumpkins got back together (well, sorta... Billy and Jimmy) which was YAY. But, I thought that album (Zeitgeist) wasn't very good either. Too hard and loud, which seemed to be just for the sake of being hard and loud.

So, I still follow them, waiting for the genius of Billy to re-emerge... and he did. They released an EP only through iTunes called 'American Gothic' and it is just soft Billy on acoustic.

Want to see what that means? Watch this. It's a very new song that doesn't even have a studio recording yet. It's called '99 Floors', and it is amazing and worthy off Siamese Dream. They just finished an amazing tour, all shows are onsale online through the band's site.

They also made some noteworthy comments recently. They said they are not touring or recording albums anymore. I know how strange that sounds, but look deeper. He (Billy) makes a great point. He said the albums aren't what the band wants to do. He won't deal with labels anymore, and we could all appreciate that. Also, he knows that if you put an album up, it just gets cherry picked on iTunes. Like Ben Folds, they seem set for many many mini releases (like American Gothic, or example).

As for the touring comment, I don't understand. However, it is rare that I fully understand what Billy is doing. Billy knows, though, and he is almost always right. So, we'll see where this takes us. Over all, though, I am pleased to report I am extremely pleased with where the Pumpkins are right now.

They just released a DVD of their tour from last year. If you are a classic fan, you may not want it. There are NO hits on it, and no songs you know. The only song from the past is 'Starla', which is a cool song. Still, though, a 2 DVD Smashing Pumpkins concert release with absolutely no Smashing Pumpkins hits? Weird. Oh well, it does have this performance of 99 floors on it.

It's just an amazing song with the classic feel. It's all acoustic as well. Strangely, there is no audio version of this you can buy. It's only on the DVD, or on their live discs which they are selling through the site (which are really good shows). The show I have has 'Medallia, Down, Zero, BWBW, Tonight Tonight, Siva, Bodies, 1979, Soma, Cherub Rock, and Ava Adore. So, though they mostly skipped all the classic songs on their initial comeback tour, they are hitting them solid right now.

* post script >

I just remembered a strange and terrible quote from Billy. Somewhat pertinent. When talking about the re-union tour, he said "We don't want to be like Bon Jovi."
I think what he meant to say is that this isn't an oldies review. We are still a growing and dynamic thriving band.
That isn't how is comes across, though. It comes across as bitter and childish. Also, a really bad reference. Bon Jovi is still thriving heavily, making great records, and selling out every show for the last 20 years. So, mocking Bon Jovi doesn't really make the point.
Why not mock Poison, like the rest of us do?