HU sidebar talents Fluxblog and Thirteen Birds vs. the Record Desk have kind words today for “No Surrender” and American Gothic, respectively.

Matthew Perpetua, Fluxblogger:

The melodies [of “No Surrender”] are lovely, but at least in terms of Billy Corgan’s discography, atypically understated. Though the piece has its subtle dynamics, there is no bombast or drama, just this slow, meditative drift between delicate thoughts and emotions. Corgan’s vocal performance is also rather understated, and focused primarily on the lower register of his limited, trebly singing voice. He sounds relaxed and mature, and some turns of phrase sound absolutely gorgeous in a way specific to his body of work.

Thirteen Birdman:

In short, [American Gothic] is nothing new from Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain [sic], which is precisely why it isn’t a shrieking horror. It’s natural. It’s Billy Corgan music that sounds like Billy Corgan.

What is irritating about trying to follow Billy Corgan’s career is how frequently he defeats himself, how often he ignores what he does well to do something shallowly “Artistic.” He and [Chamberlin] could easily record album-after-inviting-album of expertly-recorded folky psychedelia.

It’s Thanksgiving week (in America), and to get you through the delayed flights and long, snowy drives home this week we recorded an overstuffed podcast this week all about the If All Goes Wrong 2-DVD set.

Listen to the whole show (1:37:11)

(download)(iTunes)

This week’s topics:

Panelists
-Chris, Jason, Jill, and Andrew

Concert Footage
-Starla is a fan favorite, and I’m the only one distracted by Billy’s new vocal flourishes.  Commenters, back me up (or shoot me down) here.  (15:19)

Special Features
-Pete Towshend interview and the Ghost Children featurette. Pete Townshend rants about Baba O’Riley.  Should an artist feel upset when fans misinterpret their work?  Plus, we delve into The Head, Jill earns our iTunes explicit tag this week, and she bares her soul for the panel.  (16:14)

Documentary
-Initial impressions.  We also digress on Billy’s recent comments about the listening public.  (17:52)

-Billy’s portrayal in the film.  The lonely life of the rock star and Billy’s relationship with the fans.  (22:18)

-The documentary’s co-stars: Asheville and San Francisco.  Why did the less-loving city and fans energize Billy as a writer and performer?  (9:35)

-DVD Sales numbers.  In its first week on the charts it hit #4 and sold 5200 units.  Is that the approximate size of the remaining hardcore Smashing Pumpkins fanbase?  (7:00)

This Week in Pumpkins History
-Vieuphoria is re-released on DVD along with Earphoria on CD. (3:17)

Song of the Week
-Chrysanthemum, November 16th, 2001

Make sure you save yourself some leftovers, because we will be taking next week off from podcasting.

If you haven’t managed to pick up a copy of the latest Smashing Pumpkins DVD, If All Goes Wrong, and you’re in the market for a (really creepy looking) iPod nano, you’re in luck.  LiveDaily.com is currently sponsoring a contest to give one grand prize winner an 8gb iPod nano, “preloaded with the entire Smashing Pumpkins catalogue, including unreleased song ‘Translucent’” and a copy of the new DVD.  They’re also giving away five copies of the DVD. Click here to enter the contest before December 26th.

Anyone know the origin of the “Translucent” track? Could it just be a live recording? Thanks to HU reader Greg B. for the tip.

ObSP: At the end of the fine print, it says one can receive the full set of rules by writing “Attn: Minh Tran, c/o liveDaily.”  Could it be?!

So reports Blabbermouth.net. The relevant Billboard chart is here.

Netphoria user myosis takes If All Goes Wrong down a few notches by contrasting it with the Smashing Pumpkins’ previous long-playing video release:

Similarities:
-both have the same typefont

Differences:
-Vieuphoria has a dysfunctional band
-If All Goes Wrong has a somewhat mature band

-Vieuphoria has people my age playing gigs, looking like they are actually independent and full of personality and genuine emotion
-If All Goes Wrong has people my age looking like they are on American Idol or some other reality TV

-Vieuphoria has twisted humour from the band
-If All Goes Wrong has silent movie mocks with no real point, featuring only the lead singer

-Vieuphoria has fans saying stupid things for the sake of being silly
-If All Goes Wrong has fans saying stupid things but they mean them

The wise Alex Crisafulli, in the process of weighing in on a recent “White Crosses” show:

Early on, while still in slow-down mode, the band played “Sunkissed” from the Zeitgeist add-on American Gothic and a new song called “99 Floors” which might be the best Smashing Pumpkins song I have heard in quite some time.

I personally have not been feeling “99 Floors” so much, but there is now more than one person whose opinions I respect saying that it’s a new favorite of theirs. Also, importantly, Billy Corgan seems to like it.

I don’t think consensus is possible (or desirable) on such subjective matters, but still I am curious to hear others’ feelings: How much do you like “99 Floors” relative to other new or old material? Of what does it remind you? (Do you still care?)

Here is a partial transcript from the “Psalm 131″ chapter of the new Smashing Pumpkins movie If All Goes Wrong:

Billy Corgan: You know, I’m not that picky…I’m okay with everything not always being great and perfect, and even this experience of being at the residencies, it doesn’t have to be this continual high point. You know, sometimes the mundane is just as important as the special. But there’s this immense pressure that everything’s just got to be great all the time, it’s like one big ABBA concert all the time.

fan: I heard a couple of the [newly written] songs, they’re cool, they’re good. You can kind of tell they were written the same day — they don’t sound developed at all, I mean…it usually takes a while for a song to get developed, I mean, months, maybe a year, maybe two.

Corgan: We live in a very results-oriented society. This culture, particularly the American culture of the 2000s, is only obsessed with the absolute cream-of-the-crop, peak-experience moment. It’s like we’re all just stuck on orgasm.

David Wild: We live in a time where even our supposed alternative rockers, whatever the hell that means or whatever it ever meant, are basically very professional careerists who deliver the hits in concert. Delivering the hits is not enough for him.

Corgan: It’s really weird to me that people really don’t, generally speaking, don’t want to hear the work around the great work. I understand the obsession and the attraction to the peak work, because I feel the same thing. But when I find the peak work, no matter who it is, whether it’s Matisse or Bach or whatever, I want to find out the work around it, I want to hear the process and the journey to the peak work. But this culture seems to be only obsessed with the peak work and everything else is discardable…which is why people are still touring on one song.

Okay, I just watched The Fillmore Residency, a.k.a. the main dish on If All Goes Wrong DVD #2. That was sweet.

Three of the 15 songs are performed by Billy Corgan and Lisa Harriton alone, those being “Peace+Love+Shit”, “Death from Above”, and “Winterlong”. Given my previously expressed fondness for that duo’s takes on “Death from Above” and “That’s the Way”, you might expect that I’d be all about these performances too…and boy, would you be right. I only watched it once, but I thought “Peace+Love” was the shit.

Better keep an eye on your man, Jimmy…he just might have another musical soulmate in the band these days.

If the first public step was his Time Out Chicago piece praising the Smashing Pumpkins’ August concert in Hammond, the transition appears to be complete with his fresh review of If All Goes Wrong:

One thing becomes clear as the foursome tirelessly practices, jams and hangs out together: The songwriter is dedicated to the bonds of his band. The film depicts Corgan as infuriating, misunderstood, witty, thoughtful and unpredictable. Fans’ and haters’ preconceptions of the unique rock star will only intensify, but it’s hard to not be impressed by his prodigious skills. The narrative is structured around an unending flow of new tunes, which go from scribbles in bed to stage in a matter of hours.

Shawn “Drake Lelane” Anderson reaches oh-so-far to find someone and something against which Billy Corgan and If All Goes Wrong could never, ever measure up:

It’s telling that we see nearly as much of Corgan in a bathrobe writing songs as we do of him on stage playing them, showing that he wanted to give access to his artistic process. But in the end, he comes off more of an egomaniac than what he probably was hoping to convey. Perhaps he saw himself like Jeff Tweedy in the Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, but Corgan seems far more aware of the camera. The idea of writing a song during the day and debuting it later that night at a show is kind of cool in theory, but that’s only if the songs will resonate, and, for the most part, they don’t.

I guess WesleyDodds was right…either that, or whoever typed up the back cover verbiage didn’t get the memo on use of the word reunion (and will be hearing from Billy soon?).

So, now that it’s been widely available for a day (sorry we didn’t post anything about its release yesterday!), I’ve finally seen If All Goes Wrong. A few initial thoughts:

• For about the first two-thirds of the film, I wasn’t particularly crazy about any of the lyrics that made it to onscreen text. Some better ones surfaced later…
• …such as a few lines from “The Rose March”, which I personally would pick as the best song (or “peak experience”?) to emerge from the residencies — the film implies this is Billy’s opinion as well, but please come to your own judgments.
• The most sizable bout of laughter from both myself and HU reader Stace was prompted by the immediate wake of the Super Melt-Down of “Jeff Shroeder” [sic]: as band members pull themselves together to troop back out on stage for an encore, of all moments Billy might choose to comically acknowledge the documentary camera…that one.

What observations or thoughts does everyone else have? There’s a lot to process in the film, but please jump right in.

The Smashing Pumpkins have graciously allowed HU to release the tenth and final Internet promotional clip for the documentary. Click the image to view it in QuickTime format.

Download

AOL’s Spinner.com has been given exclusive access to the video.

Is there an 8pm screening of “If All Goes Wrong” in your area tonight?  Find out at IfAllGoesWrong.com.

If all goes right (ha!) and you do see it, please share your observations and thoughts in the comments.

Adam Graham of the Detroit News politely writes up the new Smashing Pumpkins documentary:

Seen mostly moping around hotel rooms in a long nightgown you’d expect your grandmother to wear to bed, Corgan spends much of the film writing and performing new songs, most of them unmemorable. But he’s trying, and the concerts are not hit parades or quick cash-ins, but rather creative experiments designed around exploring the dynamic between band and audience and the expectations of both.

Mostly, it’s Corgan’s interactions with die-hard fans that show the gap between what he’s expected to be and what he truly is: a man — albeit a famous one whom many people idolize — trying to find his way.

Martha’s Vineyard Times writer Ben Williams is more enthused:

It is the weight of [Corgan’s] character that drives the documentary forward. He seems to answer the movie’s title with a loud, “Keep going,” repeatedly regaining momentum as everything from tired audiences to disillusionment with San Francisco challenge what his band is or should be.

Despite the film’s tendency to provide only parts of songs, the music is presented wonderfully. One of the heights of the movie is the strobe-strewn guitar solo of “Gossamer,” which has impressive energy coming through the Capawock [Theatre]’s sound system.

This week we had a special guest join us on the podcast. Paul, the webmaster of SmashingPumpkins.com, came on the show to talk about some upcoming changes to the official website (as shown above!) and offer his tour predictions.

Listen to the whole show (1:16:27)

(download)(iTunes)

This week’s topics:

Panelists
-Chris, Jason, and Jill

Special Guest
-Paul

News
-Pumpkins to perform at the Spike Scream Awards. Is this a good move for the band as artists? What’s the most kickass beverage to slam? Plus, a contentious debate on the new shirt: White Spyder or Tarantula? (11:47)

-If All Goes Wrong is coming to a theater near you. Our guest does some name dropping and gives us a scoop straight from the source. (8:15)

-The band is coming to my hometown. It’s not news, but I treat it as such. (2:26)

Interview:
-Paul tells us what’s coming to smashingpumpkins.com, why they’re bringing back the o-board, and what the band’s involvement is in their web presence. However, he gives us no juicy gossip. (34:44)

Tour Predictions:
-Once again we all place our bets on what song that hasn’t been played by the reformed Pumpkins will get debuted over the next few weeks. Will Jason strike it rich again, or will he wager it all on Mastery + Conjecture? Note: At the time this was recorded, Billy had not yet mentioned Sunkissed as a spoiler. (9:01)

This Week in Pumpkins History
-Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is released, and the band plays the infamous Riviera Theater power outage concert. (2:42)

Song of the Week
-Geek U.S.A., October 23rd, 1995

If you have a suggestion for a future guest interview, leave it in the comments.