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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The past is a foreign country but the new dawn alluded to by the title of Billy Corgan's debut solo album TheFutureEmbrace is actually an overcast day in an Eighties post-punk Britain of raincoats, chimneys, riots and run-down heavy industry. That might not seem like much of a surprise - Smashing Pumpkins were neither cheery, Anglophobic or much given to enjoying luxurious sunny afternoon teas in thatched Devonian hostelries - but while TheFutureEmbrace is very much the inverse of Zwan's lighter but all-too-brief psych-pop caress, Corgan, to his credit, has avoided any back-peddling to the salad days of Smashing Pumpkins' biblical bombast. This is much more subtle, brittle and chilly, the inner rage of yore making way for sceptical deliberation and John Foxx synthetics. Corgan's admiral influences are obvious - the grey wash and wintry equanimity of Bowie's Neukoln phase, the phallanx of distantly shimmering flanged guitars recall The Banshees, the archaic and relentlessly mechanic drum machine summons forth the austerity of early Human League. The Cure's Gothfather Robert Smith stoops forward for an unlikely duet on a cover of Barry Gibb's "To Love Somebody" (Joy Division's "The Eternal" meets David Sylvian's Japan) while Corgan's own "Sorrows (in blue)" suggests he's actually more of a fan of the Bee Gees than his public may care to conceed. Others may sense the spectral presence of Killing Joke (both in "DIA" and in the tense, metropolitan meltdown of "Mina Loy") but while 1981 in England was no laughing matter TheFutureEmbrace at least allows one to reminisce from an extremely safe distance. --Kevin Maidment
Product Description
BILLY CORGAN The Future Embrace (2005 Taiwanese issue 12-track CD album including the single Walking Shade plus his cover version of the Bee Gees classic To Love Somebody - featuring The Cures Robert Smith! picture sleeve plus obi-strip - sealed)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Smashing Pumpkins, that earthshaking rock band of the 1990s, broke up in 2001. Most of the members -- James Iha, James Chamberlin and Melissa Auf Der Maur -- have embarked on solo careers, with varying successes. In the meantime, frontman Billy Corgan put out a book of poetry and started a new band, the sadly short-lived Zwan.
Now Billy Corgan has gone solo for real, with "TheFutureEmbrace," with his usual mixture of self-examination and brooding music. It doesn't exactly forge new territories, but the echoes of the Pumpkins merely enhance the dreamier, softer sound.
"All things change/never rest, never sure/what is worth/fighting on for?" Corgan asks in the dream-rocker "All Things Change," over a bed of buzzing guitars. That dreamy sound continues throughout the album -- sometimes it's laced with synth blips, sometimes with airy distortion.
In fact, "TheFutureEmbrace" might have simply floated away if Corgan hadn't included some grittier songs to ground it. "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" kicks it off with some twisting synth, drum machines and a dark bassline. The songs in that vein are catchy and gritty, so it keeps the whole thing from seeming a bit too art-rocky.
Who will like it? Fans of Corgan will more or less know what to expect, and will probably enjoy it. Those that don't like Corgan's past work probably won't like this either, because it has Corgan's style written all over the album.
With "TheFutureEmbrace," Corgan has taken a slightly different musical turn. The harder rock of his old days has been replaced by a haze of synth and some murky dreampop guitars. All the songs feel softer and more comfortable, like shoes that have been broken in. Corgan's vocals are still a bit nasal, a bit high, but he puts so much passion into his singing that sooner or later you get yanked in.
The odd thing is, he seems to be at peace. There is pain and unhappiness, sure -- at one point he seems to be explaining his past work, by announcing "a naked soul just has to grieve/if I bleed, the camera cries." But Corgan also sings that "we can change the world," and announces, "only you remind me/that only love can find me." It's not really Corgan's best work, but it's still very good songwriting.
Billy Corgan's return is not a smashing rebirth, but a quieter triumph that takes awhile to fully sink in. A solid solo album, and definitely one worthy of praise.
Now Billy Corgan has gone solo for real, with "TheFutureEmbrace," with his usual mixture of self-examination and brooding music. It doesn't exactly forge new territories, but the echoes of the Pumpkins merely enhance the dreamier, softer sound.
"All things change/never rest, never sure/what is worth/fighting on for?" Corgan asks in the dream-rocker "All Things Change," over a bed of buzzing guitars. That dreamy sound continues throughout the album -- sometimes it's laced with synth blips, sometimes with airy distortion.
In fact, "TheFutureEmbrace" might have simply floated away if Corgan hadn't included some grittier songs to ground it. "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" kicks it off with some twisting synth, drum machines and a dark bassline. The songs in that vein are catchy and gritty, so it keeps the whole thing from seeming a bit too art-rocky.
Who will like it? Fans of Corgan will more or less know what to expect, and will probably enjoy it. Those that don't like Corgan's past work probably won't like this either, because it has Corgan's style written all over the album.
With "TheFutureEmbrace," Corgan has taken a slightly different musical turn. The harder rock of his old days has been replaced by a haze of synth and some murky dreampop guitars. All the songs feel softer and more comfortable, like shoes that have been broken in. Corgan's vocals are still a bit nasal, a bit high, but he puts so much passion into his singing that sooner or later you get yanked in.
The odd thing is, he seems to be at peace. There is pain and unhappiness, sure -- at one point he seems to be explaining his past work, by announcing "a naked soul just has to grieve/if I bleed, the camera cries." But Corgan also sings that "we can change the world," and announces, "only you remind me/that only love can find me." It's not really Corgan's best work, but it's still very good songwriting.
Billy Corgan's return is not a smashing rebirth, but a quieter triumph that takes awhile to fully sink in. A solid solo album, and definitely one worthy of praise.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a very good album, if you were a fan of adore then this is definitely worth listening to. It's not quite on par with some 'pumpkins stuff but it is awesome none the less. Billy has adopted a cool new approach to guitar, mixing an electro sound with subtle guitar, much like in Adore. A must have for any Smashing Pumpkins fan.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Billy Corgan's place at the front of one of the 90s most important bands, The Smashing Pumpkins, has given him a lot of leeway to explore his own muse, and in recent years his work with the group Zwan and work on albums by New Order have suggested a comfort with the 80s electronica that was part of his youth. TheFutureEmbrace mixes his immediately recognisable, perfect rock voice with a lot of heavy synthesiser in a way almost guaranteed to suggest New Order, Human League, The Cure and Japan brought into the neon glare, and heavier edge, of 2005. Whether you like this or not will depend a lot upon your visceral reaction to 80s heavy eyeliner bands, and German synth-era David Bowie. Fans of The Smashing Pumpkins won't be able to take an obvious leap between the two, but there is a better place for Cure fans than their own recent album.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not his best but a welcome addition
Not his best work by a mile, but there's still some quality to be found here. Billy Corgan has an unerring ear for a melody, and writes songs that creep up on you then won't let... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2008 by Tony
So bad I took it back twice
T Bevan, I fully agree. This album is atrocious. I bought it the day it came out as I was pining for anything Pumpkins related. Took it back after a week. Read more
Published on 7 Aug 2008 by J. Daniel
the future embrace....
this is without doubt the worst album ive ever heard. i love billy corgan - i consider siamese dream the best album of all time, his other early pumpkins stuff is superb, when he... Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2008 by T. Bevan
The former Pumpkins' electro-pop experiment...
TheFutureEmbrace sounds like former Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan has stumbled upon an old Victorian time machine, travelled back to England 1982 to soak up the goth, pop and new... Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2006 by Jonathan James Romley
Embracethefuture
The Smashing Pumpkins, that earthshaking rock band of the 1990s, broke up in 2001. Most of the members -- James Iha, James Chamberlin and Melissa Auf Der Maur -- have embarked on... Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2005 by E. A Solinas
Pretty Awesome, but not quite 'Pumpkins
This is reminiscent of Adore, but it is not quite as good. It has a lot of growers on it, and also has songs that you know are good instantly such as "The CameraEye" and Mina Loy... Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2005 by "jamski68"
Is a future embrace
Yes, this takes a while to get into and I mean 5+ listens but once you get there these songs really get under your skin and have you humming their melodies and whispering... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2005 by Justin Lumb
The Bold One Speaks
Well at last we have a BC album and i cant say i'm surprised! Billy was always saying he's a band member first and foremost and always felt the need for people around him which i... Read more
Published on 25 July 2005 by Mr. R. K. Shukla
The Bold One Speaks
Well at last we have a BC album and i cant say i'm surprised! Billy was always saying he's a band member first and foremost and always felt the need for people around him which i... Read more
Published on 25 July 2005 by Mr. R. K. Shukla
BILLY THE LOVE METALLER
yesterday i received my copy of the future embrace in the post, straight from amazon. Then after that i placed it into my cd player and as the first track begun to play i realised... Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2005 by Patrick Linnane
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