So today, the pumpkins much anticipated return happens with the release of their album "Zeitgeist". I loved them back in the day. My freshman year in college I went to a Red Hot Chili Peppers show at Cincinnati Gardens. The album Blood Sugar Sex Magic had just come out and it was before all the hub bub about "Under the Bridge" had made them famous, rich and well mediocre. 2 bands opened before them Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. Both of which I had not heard of yet.

When the pumpkins took the stage there was very little applause, it may as well have been a local band for all the people cared. But the sound that burst forth from Corgans amp to start the set could not be denied. Even back in the Gish days the songs did well in an arena rock fashion. By the end of their set and the much extended version of Starla, I was hooked. I would seek out albums, ep's, cd singles, peel sessions, bootlegs...and anything else I could find. In case you are wondering, Pearl Jam did not impress me at all, and except for the fact that Vedder jumped into the crowd repeatedly, they may as well have been that local band that no one cared about.

When Siamese Dream came out, I played it 24 hours a day much to the annoyance of my roommates. And often played along with it. My attempts at emulating Corgan had a definite effect on my style. I could probably still jam along with Geek USA repeatedly and never get tired of it.

Mellon Collie to me, was a double album that didn't need to be, which is often my opinion of double albums. And my love for the pumpkins quickly faded. There were other things for me to be into, and they seemed to be moving in more of a majestic direction ala queen that I didn't particularly care for and less of the arena rock that I had heard that night at the Gardens.

I did not hear or purchase or download Adore, or Machina 1. I had heard the singles on the radio and they didn't grab me. Machina 2 however I checked out , out of respect for the dead. I found the experience to be a little surreal. On the one hand, knowing this was the last of it was a little sad, hearing tracks that reminded me more of their earlier work that I was fond of made it a little worse. Why'd they quit now? when they were getting good again.

Zwan came and went, I ignored them except for catching them on SNL once. I laughed when Corgans solo album came out. And the announcement that there would be a reunion, just around the time that there was talk of the Pixies reuniting as well made me a bit suspect that this was an attempt to cash in on history a little premature. The corpse wasn't quite cold enough to warrant it.

So obviously I have not been anticipating this until I saw this the other night.

Holy CRAP!!!! this is what I loved about them back in the day. The review on allmusic.com gives it 2 stars, and I have no idea why. The bulk of it doesn't even talk about the album and just about building a case depicting Corgan as a money grubbing whore of sorts. Which leads me to believe it was written by an ex-band mate or ex-girlfriend. The only portion of the review I deem relevant is "To this end, he makes Zeitgeist the hardest, heaviest Pumpkins album ever..." Thus I'm on my way out to buy this sucker right now.

Update(7-11-2007)

Well, I have had a day to digest this and I've probably listened to it twice now. I would say over all it delivers in spades. It's definitely as heavy as Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie. The whiny 1979/Disarm-ish type songs are not really there. Well maybe Neverlost, but I think it's kind of justified after United States to give a bit of a rest. And honestly there's not one tune that sticks out as throw away filler. Tarantula and United States I would say are the strongest ones, though Starz kind of surprised me. I got the version with the bonus track Death from Above, this track seemed pretty weak in the first half, but hey, it's a bonus track. As with all Pumpkins albums it finishes with a whimper rather than a bang, but that's OK I think, I'm glad to hear good pumpkins stuff.