ARTIST: The Smashing Pumpkins
TITLE: Zeitgeist
WEB DEBUT: June 30, 2007
RELEASE DATE: July 10, 2007
SOUND QUALITY: 216kbps (VBR)
ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: There's no immediately apparent reason why Billy Corgan's vocals were recorded in such a way that they sound pancake-flat, but other than that,
Zeitgeist is a solid if unspectacular run through the Smashing Pumpkins' existence, complete with snarling guitars, wispy tracks that recall
Adore, and a nearly ten-minute blowout ("United States") that closes out with a pretty glorious, if bombastic, coda. The only real misstep? The unfortunate opening of "Starz," which resulted in a violent
Hear 'N Aid flashback.
WHERE TO FIND THE BEST TRACK: Nobody's posted the pretty, "Tristessa"-echoing "That's The Way (My Love Is)" yet, but for some reason people seem to have cottoned to "Starz";
Onward Charles has the MP3. (You can also stream the whole album
at AOL.)