Solara is out for real

[Ram27]

Official youtube description says

The first recording in over 18 years to feature founding members Billy Corgan, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin.

So this is supposed to have Iha playing on it? where

[paranoid]

Song is fucking awful but jimmy does not suck on this ya boneheads.

His usual top notch drumming just couldn’t save this one. Billy gets more and more bland as the years go on.

Also for real all these guys are just too old to do the pumpkins thing again. This reunion is 10 years too late.

[Squish Squash]

Another boring song. Not bad, just boring but better than a lot of the stuff he’s put out after 2000 I guess. Overall still meh.

Billy has, as far as i know, literally never written a good song without D’Arcy being in SP. worth mentioning.

[Shadaloo]

Originally Posted by BurtSampson

There are so many dolts on the SP subreddit who think this is amazing. Are they genuinely hearing a different song than me or are they all brainless sycophants who can’t admit SP could write a bad song

Are we looking at the same reddit because all of the top comments agree that this thing is disappointing.

[brothahi4L]

Why release such a bad song? Zeitgeist was fail- why releasing a bad zeitgeist song. He will lose the last remaining sp fans with this embarrassing crap. Rick rubin cant save a horrible song. Lots of people thought that jimmy can save the sound. No way- a bad song stays a bad song. Big muff blabla. Release a decent ballad that gets airplay. His singing hooks are worse and worse. Please drown the voice in reverb or the mix. This dry vocals are sung without heart- a bad metal song, reminds me so much of starz

[BurtSampson]

Originally Posted by brothahi4L

Why release such a bad song? Zeitgeist was fail- why releasing a bad zeitgeist song. He will lose the last remaining sp fans with this embarrassing crap. Rick rubin cant save a horrible song. Lots of people thought that jimmy can save the sound. No way- a bad song stays a bad song. Big muff blabla. Release a decent ballad that gets airplay. His singing hooks are worse and worse. Please drown the voice in reverb or the mix. This dry vocals are sung without heart- a bad metal song, reminds me so much of starz

This is like beat poetry

[Corgan's Bluff]

Now you can download SOLARA officially from YouTube :

[brothahi4L]

Noone cares about a shitty song

[amoergosum]

Buttcannon emotionally revealed his incredible clickbait title:

https://i.imgur.com/6AwHEXC.png

D’arcy Wretzky is the only original Smashing Pumpkins member not featured on the song.

https://www.alternativenation.net/sm...-years-solara/

[eviltimeban]

I'm probably gonna be one of the few, but I like it! However:

Pros:
- The vocals sound MUCH better. Not as loud and less vibrato
- The chords progression are good, more interesting than MTAE
- There's quiet / loud dynamics
- Drumming is great
- Quite catchy, I'm singing the chorus in my head after one listen

Cons:
- It's brickwalled like crazy. It's got that Death Magnetic sound, also produced by Rubin.
- Jimmy's snare sound is lost in the mastering
- No guitar solo
- No evidence or influence of Iha
- Quite metallic sounding overall

So while generally I like it, and it's probably a better song than anything on MTAE, it isn't exactly a return to glory. Let's see what the other 7 tracks are like.

[SomaPhreak]

The ay-ay-ay-ay vocals are atrocious.

The Cars deserve a songwriting credit.

Jimmy sounds downright bad at times.

James appears to have contributed a buried seven-second lead.

Epic fail.

[wHATcOLOR]

oh god it is so bad. i really don't like it.

[wHATcOLOR]

its even worse than i imagined it would be

[enthusaroo]

Originally Posted by eviltimeban

I'm probably gonna be one of the few, but I like it! However:

Pros:
- The vocals sound MUCH better. Not as loud and less vibrato
- The chords progression are good, more interesting than MTAE
- There's quiet / loud dynamics
- Drumming is great
- Quite catchy, I'm singing the chorus in my head after one listen

Cons:
- It's brickwalled like crazy. It's got that Death Magnetic sound, also produced by Rubin.
- Jimmy's snare sound is lost in the mastering
- No guitar solo
- No evidence or influence of Iha
- Quite metallic sounding overall

So while generally I like it, and it's probably a better song than anything on MTAE, it isn't exactly a return to glory. Let's see what the other 7 tracks are like.

ok

[amoergosum]

Originally Posted by eviltimeban

It's brickwalled like crazy. It's got that Death Magnetic sound, also produced by Rubin.

Solara:

https://i.imgur.com/9P0Khqp.png


It's so brickwalled that you just want to turn the volume down...ear fatigue.

[Whir34]

Great song

Instant classic.

Real grower.

Hope they play it on the tour.

[WeilandFan]

Originally Posted by amoergosum

Buttcannon emotionally revealed his incredible clickbait title:

https://i.imgur.com/6AwHEXC.png



https://www.alternativenation.net/sm...-years-solara/

It melted my heart while revealing it.

[Shallowed]

The first time I heard it, I knew I disliked it pretty much straight away from the lame palm-muted chugging riff, and I turned it off after the cringey i-e-i-e-i bit.

Upon second listen, the chorus has a decent progression, and it's good that Billy has buried his vocals a bit more. There's a decent song in there, but it's let down by cheesy hooks and shitty production.

Still meh.

[VoxUpDoc]

What’s f’king baffling, put this into perspective is that over 10 years in the band’s heyday in the 90’s, Billy switched up their sound, style and production etc every album.

Yet for the last 15 years, he’s stuck doggedly to the try-hard singing, loud-at-any-volume bad vocal mix production style despite the overwhelming evidence fans and casuals hate it. He just keeps doing it. And he still sings pretty good live, and on Ogilala - yet on studio rock tracks like this it’s just so completely off. His voice is way too high in this, with no attitude to it at all.

[paranoid]

If he’s willing to do a knockoff of starz, why not do a knockoff of hummer, or rocket? Or shit, quasar? Inkless? But starz? Does BC and jc not know how to do anything but the zeitgeist sound anymore?

Well now we know what zeitgeist would have sounded like with james... worse.

[amoergosum]

[brothahi4L]

I never expected such a shame. In any way.

[houseofglass11]

Originally Posted by Whir34

Great song

Instant classic.

Real grower.

Hope they play it on the tour.

Lol ok sad machines

[Forgotten Child]

Rad Machines

[amoergosum]

Billy: "As I've often said, no one had better musical discernment in our band than she.


...would have been good to have her in the studio...

[brothahi4L]

Sp are dead. How can you choose such bullshit as a 1st single??
I wouldnt mind one bad song, but if the first song sounds like that it is very likely that the other 3 songs go the same direction. Zeitgeist sound- billy fuvk u and your sound. What a fail

[brothahi4L]

Did noone tell him that this song hasnt any substance, hasnt good guitar effect, has cheap metal riffs, has no iha input, has no catchy melody, has shitty production, has shitty mix, and has shitty vocal performance. Billy this is for sue a five star song

[Try Try Give Up]

I never thought I’d have to be negative about Jimmy but he sounds like one of those guys who do drum covers on YouTube and show off with excessive fills to the detriment of the song. The sound isn’t great either but that has to be blamed on Rubin.

The song is okay, speaking as someone who didn’t mind Monuments, but it sounds no closer to classic Pumpkins than any of the last three albums.

[teh b0lly!!1]

didn't realize it was out. holy smokes this song is awful.

it carries no purpose, no weight, no direction. it's only even there to indulge the past rock dreams of grown men who have lost every bit of touch that once made them good - each in their own separate ways.

the melody and vocals are absolutely fucking atrocious, and are once again SO FUCKING LOUD in that mix. it's nothing different than zeitgeist, except even shittier, if anyone thought that was possible.

also, this song is remarkable in at least one department: i've never heard jimmy play so tastelessly. the drum part is at least as ugly as everything else in that song, and that's saying something.

[teh b0lly!!1]

can anybody even sense james' presence in this track?

i think this incarnation of the band truly proves how crucial d'arcy was to the initial mix that once made them such a great group. she definitely benefited from being left out. the years made her get the credit she deserved all along.