Album Review: The Smashing Pumpkins - Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol 1 / LP: No Past, No Future, No Sun

Ok, let’s get it out of the way. That title is fucking awful and probably makes you think Billy Corgan still lives up his own gothic colon. He might well do but he’s redecorated and invited some of his oldest friends back, namely fellow founding Pumpkins, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin (D'arcy Wretzky still apparently in no mood to deal with neither music nor Corgan) and things are remarkably smashing. Legendary producer Rick Rubin wouldn’t have been cheap to procure but he’s brought out the best in everyone. Take the utterly gorgeous Knights Of Malta in which the whole band sway in unison with Corgan comfortably letting the strings lick the air around him. Or Solara which thunders like the lovechild of both the Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie albums. Seek And You Shall Destroy has a crispness that sounded too sterile on the Zwan record but provides balance here. 

Make no mistake, the original band may be (almost completely) back together but all songs are very much - at least on paper - Corgan’s own. It just sounds like he’s loosened the sphincter a bit and (whisper it) might be enjoying being with his mates again. Deliciously accessible yet acerbically Pumpkins-esque, Shiny is unexpectedly bright.