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BILLY CORGAN
TECHNO GLITCHES

There are a few promising moments on Billy Corgan’s otherwise bleak and bloodless new solo album, TheFutureEmbrace (Reprise) — the slinky, bass-driven, minimalist electro-pop of "The Cameraeye," with its brisk beat and semblance of groove; the NIN industrial stomp of "A100"; the Cure-yiously textured guitar washes of "Sorrow (In Blue)." And with a Smashing Pumpkins reunion imminent, you might have expected Corgan to be more passionate at intimate club venues like Avalon, where he packed the house last Thursday, than he is on the disc. Because as one thoughtful fan pointed out to a friend as they left the show, "The record is so bad that if a new band had put it out nobody would have bought it." In fact, with the commercial failure of Zwan a not-so-distant memory, TheFutureEmbrace isn’t exactly tearing up the charts.

Poised before a futuristic digital screen that brought to mind the diva scenes from The Fifth Element, Corgan, wearing black and with one of those trendy Black Castro caps covering his Uncle Fester noggin, led his listless band through most of TheFutureEmbrace. The members included two synth players stationed at what looked like leftovers from an H.R. Geiger sci-fi set (one boy, one girl who added some washed-out background vox to Corgan’s processed whine) and a poor drummer who spent the evening trying to make pounding drum pads look cool and failing to find anything resembling a groove. Think A Flock of Seagulls without the hair. There was nothing futuristic about the dismal throb and whine of the new material. And Corgan’s inability to inspire himself or the crowd hit bottom with the hopeful "All Things Change" (which ends with the mantra "We can change the world"), as everybody resisted his urging to clap or sing along during extended breaks. Covers of the Bee Gees’ "To Love Somebody" and an encore of AC/DC’s "It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’n’ Rock)" were poignant reminders that synthesizers don’t make bad music, people do.

BY MATT ASHARE

Issue Date: July 8 - 14, 2005
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