The Smashing Pumpkins:
Adore
(1998)

The Smashing Pumpkins are another one of the bands I really like. They've made only great albums, but just not great enough to reach the top 50 list. Until they made "Adore" anyway. The earlier albums all suffer from being a lot of great songs that are eventually spoiled by too much guitar noise. A good example is "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness" which is a really fine effort. But the paint is scratched by the four or five songs where the band lose themselves to mindless guitar masturbation. "Adore" has none of that and in a way one can say that it's Smashing Pumpkins' mature album. Billy Corgan has grown up and is now focusing solely on the song and creating an atmosphere. The album is filled with half ballads and it is extremely melodic all the way through. Almost so much that once in a while you end up missing the occasional angry guitar...Fortunately, the songs are so strong that after listening to the album a few times, they open up and reveal that this album doesn't need those wild guitars to be majestic in every way there is. Mind you, they probably won't get away with making another one of these...

Overall Rating (on a scale from 1 to 10):9

If You Like This Artist, Check Out:

Nirvana, U2 - and everything inbetween.

Links To Artist:
About The Smashing Pumpkins
All-Music Guide (loads of information)