Cyr gets savaged in review by the Art Desk

[houseofglass11]

I can unironically enjoy Widow.

[Forgotten Child]

DIY Magazine - 3 out 5 stars

https://diymag.com/2020/11/26/the-sm...r-album-review

[Greatvegetable]

I'm much more inclined to listen to a friend or a passionate blog writer with 50 readers' take on an album than I am a reviewer for a big publication. Absolutely no one I know would be lauding Wyttch or referring to pumpkins peak material as grunge.

They seem to have as much of a grasp on the finer details that make alternative music special as my mum does.

Billy is reading all if these and thinking 'yeah, we really hit the nail on the head with this one, guys'.

Same happened with Seek (the return to the bands hard rocking roots apparently) and that has to he the worst song CRØGĂN has ever written.

[Woody]

The 3 star reviews are a combination of reviewers not understanding the OG Pumpkins and therefore not seeing the difference because it's all same to them, and Corgan still having influence over old print media.

Whilst NME and Kerrang gave Zwan 8/10 reviews (iirc) the journos and readership at the time wouldn't be caught dead listening to them.

[Forgotten Child]

Kerrang! - 4 OUT OF 5 STARS

https://www.kerrang.com/reviews/albu...-pumpkins-cyr/

[Greatvegetable]

Very, very rarely does a cover band who've been interviewed get a bad review.

[TuralyonW3]

Originally Posted by Shadaloo

I dislike Teargarden a lot less than I used to, generally. Widow will always be the worst thing he's ever created to my ears, and I maintain nothing on Cyr so far is close to that bad, even if it's unmemorable.

But Tom Tom's a hell of a fucking great song

Agree with all this

[smashingjj]

Originally Posted by Forgotten Child

Kerrang! - 4 OUT OF 5 STARS

https://www.kerrang.com/reviews/albu...-pumpkins-cyr/

MORE THAN THREE STARS ALL CAPS

[ninsp]

Originally Posted by Shadaloo

But Tom Tom's a hell of a fucking great song

Tom Tom is the only 5-star song he’s written since SIYL. If it wasn’t sentenced to the Teargarden purgatory due to the stupid “release plan” it would’ve been more widely known.

It’s funny, that’s a new SP song I could play for anyone, not feel cringe, and they’d love it. Unlike anything of Cyr.

I don’t understand how he nailed Tom Tom and fucked the rest of the album up so badly

[ninsp]

Also how the fuck does this band keep getting publicity
Fallon? C’mon man
They’re garbage
Have you ever met a person in the flesh who listens to the new stuff?

[incubator]

Originally Posted by Woody

Whilst NME and Kerrang gave Zwan 8/10 reviews (iirc) the journos and readership at the time wouldn't be caught dead listening to them.

revisionists garbage. there was a real indie groundswell around zwan at the time

[Woody]

Originally Posted by incubator

revisionists garbage. there was a real indie groundswell around zwan at the time

There was a small indie following around the time of the live shows in 2001 and 2002.

When Honestly / MSOTS came out this didn't transition into any sort of mainstream recognition or record sales. Even within the rock audience at the time. People didn't like the singles or videos. They would play on MTV and were met with apathy or mockery. Indie clubs wouldn't play them.

I'm a fan of Zwan, I'm not revising anything. I remember it well.

[incubator]

there was definitely a huge indie groundswell

[eviltimeban]

Originally Posted by ninsp

Tom Tom is the only 5-star song he’s written since SIYL. If it wasn’t sentenced to the Teargarden purgatory due to the stupid “release plan” it would’ve been more widely known.

It’s funny, that’s a new SP song I could play for anyone, not feel cringe, and they’d love it. Unlike anything of Cyr.

I don’t understand how he nailed Tom Tom and fucked the rest of the album up so badly

I just listened to Tom Tom for the first time in about 5 or 6 years. Wow! It's really good. The vocals, so different to now, even though at the time I thought they were as different to the "old" style as this (if you get me). That flanged vocal middle 8 is great.

Teargarden gets better with age, by virtue of the fact that it's better than what we're getting now. Tom Tom, Owata, Lightning Strikes, even the Fellowship. I've always liked Astral Planes, and A Song For A Son came out the day my second child was born which was kind of cool, so I have a link to that.

If these had been proper one off singles, or an EP, and not wrapped up in the whole "44 songs for free" thing, it would've been different.

[Forgotten Child]

Do WWMM next!!!

[Greatvegetable]

Lightening Strikes is fucking appalling. There have been at least a dozen songs superior to Tom Tom since it came out.

[incubator]

WWMM is fine, I don't get the hate. people just upset because he's going "OH! OHOH!" or what

[TuralyonW3]

Originally Posted by Greatvegetable

Lightening Strikes is fucking appalling. There have been at least a dozen songs superior to Tom Tom since it came out.

I think lightning strikes his best TG era song

[TuralyonW3]

Originally Posted by incubator

WWMM is fine, I don't get the hate. people just upset because he's going "OH! OHOH!" or what

To meet someone with such different wiring in their brain

[incubator]

lightning strikes is a song of contrasts
the bit where he singings "I stumble brightly" and the whole thing literally stumbles is the funniest and unfunniest thing in an SP song
the bit with nicole singing sounds legit nice
there's the bit that sounds like power rangers transforming that's prob the worst melody in an SP song

[Forgotten Child]

Independent UK - 3 out of 5 stars
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...61805.html?amp

[Unicycle]

Originally Posted by ninsp

Also how the fuck does this band keep getting publicity
Fallon? C’mon man
They’re garbage
Have you ever met a person in the flesh who listens to the new stuff?

Weirdly, on two separate occasions, both my roommate and one of my other friends (who aren't really SP fans outside the hits) have asked me what I thought of the Cyr stuff since one of the songs popped up in their Release Radar on Spotify and they dug them. For one of them it was Ramona but I don't know what song my other friend listened to. I don't feel strongly either way about the new stuff but I guess it's working for some people.

[Woody]

I don't think Billy appreciates how little people paid attention to Teargarden & the b-sides / live / demos Machina onwards.

He could re-record some of this stuff or put Tom Tom on a new album and it'd be a new track for most people.

Owata needs some of those synths muting and it'd be fine. Lightning, Stitch, Freak and Cottonwood too.

There's half a good album on TG with a little reworking.

[Woody]

Originally Posted by Forgotten Child

Independent UK - 3 out of 5 stars
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...61805.html?amp

Amazing that Smashing Pumpkins and Steps put out new albums covered in the same article and Steps is the least camp of the two...

[fluxequalsrad]

Originally Posted by Woody

Owata [...] fine.

[ninsp]

Originally Posted by Greatvegetable

Lightening Strikes is fucking appalling. There have been at least a dozen songs superior to Tom Tom since it came out.

Shut the fuck up

[ninsp]

Originally Posted by eviltimeban

I just listened to Tom Tom for the first time in about 5 or 6 years. Wow! It's really good. The vocals, so different to now, even though at the time I thought they were as different to the "old" style as this (if you get me). That flanged vocal middle 8 is great.

Teargarden gets better with age, by virtue of the fact that it's better than what we're getting now. Tom Tom, Owata, Lightning Strikes, even the Fellowship. I've always liked Astral Planes, and A Song For A Son came out the day my second child was born which was kind of cool, so I have a link to that.

If these had been proper one off singles, or an EP, and not wrapped up in the whole "44 songs for free" thing, it would've been different.

Owata is bad but overall yeah I agree

[Forgotten Child]

Someone here was asking about the different versions, here's a chart

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Juha Lehtonen (@juha7461)

[fluxequalsrad]

Widow sounds like Hummer @Pink Pop 94' compared to Sammy Sammy or any of the other new singles.

[Ram27]

Originally Posted by fluxequalsrad

Widow sounds like Hummer @Pink Pop 94' compared to Sammy Sammy or any of the other new singles.

++++ absolutely. it has a cool groove and vibe

all of Teargarden sounds like a breath of fresh air just after thinking about CYR, let alone listening. tom tom is a fucking jam