Billy Corgan - TheFutureEmbrace
List Price:
Our Price: $2.60
You Save: $11.36 (81%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Billy CorganEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2005-06-21
Music Label: Reprise / Wea
Product features:
- CORGAN BILLY THE FUTURE EMBRACE
- All Things Change
- Mina Loy (M.O.H.)
- The CameraEye
- Tolovesomebody
- A100
- DIA
- Now (And Then)
- I'm Ready
- Walking Shade
- Sorrows (In Blue)
- Pretty, Pretty Star
- Strayz
Music reviews of TheFutureEmbrace
Music Review: Billy is back!
Rating: 4 Stars
I'm not sure why the man has turned to squishing the words of his song titles together, or why he feels "z" is an appropriate replacement for "s" in indicating the plurality of something, but all that aside, Billy Corgan is back.
Before I start the review, I have to admit: Billy Corgan is my favorite musician/songwriter of all time. Over the years, he has been able to do no wrong in my eyes. So when I review his new solo effort, I may be a little biased...
The easiest way to describe "TheFutureEmbrace" is to label it "Adore: The Sequel". Just as I had envisioned when The Smashing Pumpkins broke up several years ago, Corgan has continued on by himself with the electronirock that he gambled away his career with on "Adore". For a fan who considers "Adore" his favorite SP album ever, this is good news.
"TheFutureEmbrace" seems to be the lost rock songs people were yearning for on "Adore". The songs are still dark and drenched in synth with the guitar pushed to the back edges, but you can actually dance to these tunes. And unlike "Adore", Corgan seems to be a happier and more hopeful individual on this record. "Adore" was a heartbreakingly emotional album. While TFM is not the happy-go-lucky Corgan of Zwan, he is clearly a man who is looking forward to the new challenges his life will bring. He is no longer a "rat in a cage". He is changed, and he embraces that.
Before I get carried away, let me just say that this album is not perfect. Far from it. There are several songs in which Corgan seems to be trying to be different just for the sake of being different. Corgan has always had a knack for writing very melodic songs, but it seems when he gets bored, he crosses a line to where most of us can't follow. It results in a few songs that just don't seem to make musical sense. The bass lines go places where you weren't expecting, the synth sounds seem to be colliding with each other, and you're waiting for a hook that never comes.
Don't get me wrong, I'm an intelligent music fan. I'm perfectly capable of understanding and enjoying types of music that most would just dismiss as rubbish because they don't "get it". But there is a universal tie that binds music lovers, and it's called melody. If a song has a good melody, it doesn't matter how it goes about portraying it, it is going to be good. But on several songs, namely the opener "All Things Change", the melody doesn't do the pleasant things you are waiting for it to do. It seems to be saying, "I know I should do this, but I want to do something else so I will be considered different". That's fine when that "something else" is something that grabs your soul. This just doesn't.
But you know what's funny? It's still a good song. A bad song for Billy Corgan is like a bad day at the beach: it's still better than any day at work. And Corgan at his worst is still better than any of the crap being released today. But when you find him at his best...wow.
Take, for example, "Mina Loy". This is the most radio-friendly song Corgan has written since the Mellon Collie days. I don't know if it is the current single or if it ever will be, but it should. This song could revive Corgan's commercial appeal in a heartbeat.
And, of course, there is that trademark Corgan voice. He seems to get better and better with each album. Here, he may have reached his peak. Gone is that piercing whine we knew from Siamese Dream. Corgan has become a full-fledged good singer. And unlike Zwan's only album, "Mary Star of the Sea", the production here is great. You can finally HEAR Corgan's voice. And you can listen to the album straight through without getting ear fatigue. Things are finally right in the world.
I will admit, however, that I would love to hear these songs with a full band behind them...with Jimmy Chamberlin (he does play on one song but his talents are wasted) doing his thing and James Iha matching Corgan note for note. Synthland is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. These songs scream out for the out-and-out rock band treatment. And hopefully, with the news of The Smashing Pumpkins possibly being revived, we will get that chance.
Regardless, if you're a Corgan fan at all, you will love this album. If you're new to the man, start with Siamese Dream and work towards this. It's been a long journey and the ending doesn't make sense without first seeing the beginning.
Description of TheFutureEmbrace
The first solo album ever released by Billy Corgan-the revered singer/songwriter/guitarist whose groundbreaking work with The Smashing Pumpkins defined modern rock-is shockingly affirmative, even romantic. Corgan's most intimate set of songs yet, the hauntingly beautiful TheFutureEmbrace brings together Corgan's astonishing past and promising present.Odd it may seem, Billy Corgan is wearing his heart on his extremely long sleeve, in his first proper solo album since dismantling the Smashing Pumpkins five years ago. Maybe it took that long to process the enormity of that loss, since The Future Embrace sounds like nothing so much as a break-up album. But having said that, it's rather difficult to determine whether it's the absence of James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain, and D'Arcy Wretzky or just something much more mundane than the shattering of an affair of the heart that his sent him on this 12-song confessional. To his extreme credit, Corgan isn't trying to obscure his pain and uncertainty behind layers of guitar distortion and sonic dissonance the way he did with the Pumpkins, instead he's employed a rather restrained hand as he tries to work his way out of this psychic maze of his own making, cavorting with the ghosts of his past, present and future on such kinetic panoramas as "All Things Change," "DIA," or the rather wrenching "The Camera Eye," where the musician wrestles with his fear of aging, his burgeoning religiosity as and the necessity of transformation. Don't miss Robert Smith singing rather angular back-ups on the Bee Gee's skewed ode to love, "You Don't Know What It's Like." A tremendous and noble effort from a major talent. --Jaan Uhelszki
Alternative Rock CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Alternative Rock CDs
Bouncing Souls - Maniacal LaughterRelease date: 1996-01-26; Music CD
Best price: $30.00
Blondie - Parallel LinesRelease date: 1994-07-29; Music CD
Best price: $149.98
Doors - L.A. WomanRelease date: 1993-04-09; Music CD
Best price: $99.99
Amon Duul - Phallus DeiRelease date: 1997-04-08; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Tangerine Dream - MelroseRelease date: 1990-10-02; Music CD
Best price: $74.98
Tangerine Dream - Private Music of Tangerine DreamRelease date: 1992-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
![Ska Explosion [VHS] Image](/images/Ska-Explosion-VHS-6303381014-X.jpg){kind=small}
Ska Explosion [VHS]Cleopatra; Release date: 1995-02-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
![Little Earthquakes [VHS] Image](/images/Little-Earthquakes-VHS-6302488664-X.jpg){kind=small}
Little Earthquakes [VHS]Atlantic / Wea; Release date: 1992-11-10; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
Exileby Geoffrey Oryema
Music CD
Best price: $4.95
![Louder Than Live [VHS] Image](/images/Louder-Than-Live-VHS-6301627865-X.jpg){kind=small}
Soundgarden - Louder Than Live [VHS]A&M Video; Release date: 1991-07-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $202.44
Similar CDs
Smashing Pumpkins - Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. II "The Solstice Bare"Release date: 2010-11-22; Music CD
Best price: $19.53
Price in other shops:
Smashing Pumpkins - American GothicRelease date: 2008-02-12; Music CD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Smashing Pumpkins - Machina: The Machines of GodRelease date: 2000-02-29; Music CD
Best price: $9.87
Price in other shops:
Smashing Pumpkins - GishRelease date: 2011-11-29; Music CD
Best price: $24.00
Price in other shops:
Zeitgeist CD/ DVD Limited Edition SilverMusic CD
Best price: $2.35
Zwan - Mary Star of the SeaRelease date: 2003-01-28; Music CD
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Smashing Pumpkins - AdoreRelease date: 1998-06-02; Music CD
Best price: $9.73
Price in other shops:
Smashing Pumpkins - Pisces IscariotRelease date: 1994-10-04; Music CD
Best price: $8.91
Price in other shops:
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadnesspostersultan; Release date: 1995-10-24; Published: 1995; Music CD
Best price: $13.88
Price in other shops:
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese DreamRelease date: 2011-11-29; Music CD
Best price: $23.00
Price in other shops: