#263 The Smashing Pumpkins - Teagarden by Kaleidyscope Vol. 1

I liked these guys a lot back in high school, and while I thought Zeitgeist was crap, I figured I'd give this newfangled thing a chance.

Man, that title tells you everything you need to know. Billy has just gone off the deep end, getting too wrapped up in his own bullshit, and I just don't get the idea that he has any idea how to step back from what he's doing to see if its any good. Maybe they were always this full of themselves and I was just too close to see it, but this is not good. The songs are repetitive and largely uninventive, tarted up with little production tricks that mostly don't do anything to help. Mostly. The fuzz on Astral Planes kind of works, and that song's got a nice solo that harkens back to the good days, and the acoustic chug of Stitch in Time is kind of nice.

But at the heart its Billy chanting anthems like "everyone gather on your soul, everyone gather on your soul, everyone! everyone!" and "you're everywhere at once and you can't catch me! watch out!" over and over, and the whole thing comes across as out of touch and self-indulgent. Its a shame, he's really got a knack for a hook, and can put together a lush production with the best of them, but I just can't get past how ridiculous it sounds. But the kicker is the songs just aren't interesting enough. It seems to think its being hypnotic, but its mostly just boring, Stitch in Time the only exception. Trying to hold out hope for Volume 2, but maybe this band and I have just grown apart 2.5/5