Adore
Album |
Name = Adore |
Type =
Album | Artist =
The Smashing Pumpkins |
Cover = SmashingPumpkins-Adore.jpg |
Background = Orange |
Released =
June 2 1998 | Recorded = December 1997 - March 1998 at
Sound City in
Van Nuys,
California | Genre =
Alternative rock/
ambient |
Length = 72:51 |
Label =
Virgin Records | Producer =
Billy Corgan with
Brad Wood | Reviews = *
All Music Guide link|Last album =
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness(1995) |This album =
Adore (1998) |Next album =
MACHINA/The Machines of God(2000) |}}
Adore is the fourth studio
album from
Chicago alternative rock band
The Smashing Pumpkins. Released on
June 2,
1998 in the
United States, it marked a dramatic change in sound for the band. It is also the Pumpkins' only album that doesn't feature original
drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. It was nominated for
Best Alternative Music Performance at the
1999 Grammy AwardsIn 1996, shortly after the release of "
1979" as a single, Smashing Pumpkins frontman
Billy Corgan mentioned in an interview that "1979" was his favourite song and that future recordings by the band would adopt a similar sound. As "1979" was the Pumpkins' first foray into electronic music, there was some uneasiness expressed among fans and critics who were more accustomed to the
guitar-oriented
alternative rock sound of
Gish and
Siamese Dream. Corgan's comments about a "1979"-like album led many to say "The Pumpkins are going techno on the next album."
It seemed that these comments were unfounded, however, a year later in June 1997 when the Pumpkins released their first single since their last album,
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, "
The End is the Beginning is the End" for the
Batman and Robin soundtrack. The song incorporated electronic elements but kept the hard rock edge of the band's previous material; following the release of the single, The Smashing Pumpkins began work on recording a new album. Fans and critics alike were interested in how the Pumpkins (and in particular, Corgan) would follow up on the massive success of
Mellon Collie..., especially without original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin who had been fired from the band for
drug abuse problems in 1996.
|
The Smashing Pumpkins circa 1998, promo photo. Up to down: Wretzky, Iha, Corgan. |
In August 1997, the three remaining Pumpkins, Corgan,
D'arcy and
James Iha (along with temporary replacement drummer,
Matt Walker) entered
Chicago Trax Recording and
Hinge in
Chicago with producer
Brad Wood, who Corgan had worked with in the early 1990s. The band was unhappy with the sessions recorded in Chicago and they were subsequently scrapped before making a move to
Los Angeles to resume the work on the album. After these sessions, Corgan felt that Wood was not suitable for producing The Smashing Pumpkins, stating "He needs to work with someone like
Liz Phair, whom he can mould, and I'm not the kind of person you can mould". Wood did not join the Pumpkins in L.A., and they instead recruited previous producer
Flood to serve as an engineer and an advisor for the album.
Before the move to L.A., the band made a few live appearances in which several new tracks were debuted. These shows included
Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit, a surprise gig opening for
Jane's Addiction and two shows opening for
The Rolling Stones. At these shows, attendees were treated to several new songs: "
Ava Adore", "Behold! The Night Mare" and "To Sheila". The second show with The Stones was also the final show with Matt Walker as he left the band to pursue a career with his own band,
The Cupcakes.
In December 1997, recording began at Sound City in
Van Nuys,
California with Ex-
Soundgarden drummer
Matt Cameron, although Walker had already recorded a handful of tracks.
Beck drummer
Joey Waronker was also called in to contribute drum tracks. The Pumpkins also worked with legendary producer
Rick Rubin for one track, "Let Me Give the World to You". Corgan stated that the recording of the song and the experience with Rubin was not a success, and was therefore left off the album. It was the last song recorded for the album. Sessions were wrapped up in early 1998, with 30 songs. Of those, only 16 made the final cut.
In January 1998, Billy described the new album as "arcane night music" and definitely not acoustic, which was the rumour at the time. It was around this time that it was announced that The Smashing Pumpkins' fourth album would be titled
"Adore". Corgan debuted ten new songs in a short set at
Johnny Depp's
Viper Room in L.A.; only one, "Let Me Give the World to You", was not released in some form on the final album. Iha also played a short set of songs from his new solo album,
Let It Come Down. He also began a small tour to promote that album before
Adore's release, mostly with radio station appearances.
Kenny Arnoff, drummer for high profile acts like
John Mellencamp and
Melissa Etheridge, agreed to join the Pumpkins for their upcoming tour after Matt Walker's departure. Waronker was invited to join the tour, but declined as he requested higher pay than what the band had offered. More musicians were announced to be joining the Pumpkins on tour, including another two percussionists, violinist
Lisa Germano and pianist
Mike Garson.
The band headed to
London to film a video for the album's first single "Ava Adore". Their highest budgeted video yet, "Ava Adore" featured a large cast of extras and was filmed in one continuous shot. The three Pumpkins also showed off a new image adopted for the new album - an almost
gothic look, featuring elegant robes and make-up. While in
Europe, The Smashing Pumpkins began their tour for
Adore, just before its release, performing "Ava Adore", "Daphne Descends" and "Once Upon a Time" on
BBC's "
Later with Jools Holland".
Adore was released to most of the world on
June 1,
1998 and in the US on
June 2. Some radio stations even aired the album in its entirety the night before. As was becoming increasingly common with larger bands, the album was leaked on the Internet some weeks before the release. The album was drastically different in approach and style, but many attested that it was still "typically Pumpkins". Despite the band's high profile as an angst-driven rock monster, distorted guitars are notably absent from the album. Corgan offered the following explanation for the new sound: "I'm not talking to teenagers anymore. I'm talking to everyone now. It's a wider dialogue. I'm talking to people who are older than me and younger than me, and our generation as well." Guitars in general are used sparingly throughout the 72 minutes and are used to complement the music rather than dominate it. Iha's guitar playing had reached new heights and even a new role within the band, providing many lead riffs and effects in the music rather than any rhythm playing at all.
Piano was dominant in most songs, especially in tracks like "Annie Dog", "
For Martha" and "Crestfallen". The use of electronic instruments, especially drum machines, gave the album an ambiance not heard before in the Pumpkins' music, and one track, "Appels + Oranjes", is completely
synthesized - performed entirely on electronic instruments (apart from the vocal). The track "Tear" (as in 'to tear a piece of paper') was a song that was left off the
Lost Highway soundtrack in favour of the electronic song "
Eye". Listening carefully, one can hear the original "Lost Highway" recording in the bridge of the song. Its instrumentation is similar to that in "Eye". Many fans who had heard
bootleg recordings of the Viper Room show were disappointed at the absence of "Blissed and Gone", known at the time as "Need"; on the album, it is represented only by a brief piano instrumental titled "17".
Apart from being the first album without Jimmy Chamberlin, "Adore" was also the first album that featured no writing contributions from Iha. This is due to his creative efforts going into his own solo album,
Let it Come Down. He did however write the track "Summer" which was released as a b-side to "Perfect". Fan reaction was generally good, as the album still retained Corgan's unique lyrics and song structure, but most fans were still disappointed with the departure from previous "heavier" music. Most became satisified with the knowledge that the band may possibly return to their rock roots. Public reaction, however, was not quite as strong. "Ava Adore" was a successful single and drove initial interest in the album; however, the follow up single "
Perfect" was not quite as strong and the success of the album lagged.
The artwork and photography for the album booklet was designed by Corgan's at-the-time girlfriend
Yelena Yemchuck. The cover of the album, and subsequent singles and radio promo singles all feature a woman in black and white. It's assumed that the women are meant to represent the subjects of most of the songs, as many are related to love. All the models in the artwork have a crestfallen look upon their faces which matches the subject material of the songs.
 |
The Adore US 12 |
The vinyl release of the album features a slightly different cover: a different photo of the model, colour and the absence of the album title. In colour, it's quite easy to see that the model is seated in a giant
hibiscus flower. The artwork also contains a shot of the three band members on a grassy hill, beneath a bare tree, in which Corgan is standing on top of the hill looking away from the camera, while Iha and D'arcy appear to be fighting through wind to reach him; and a controversial photo of the trio, in which D'arcy wears a sheer blouse that reveals her breasts completely.
The Pumpkins embarked on what would be their most ambitious tour yet. Starting in Europe and eventually making their way around most of the world, The Smashing Pumpkins played what could possibly be the most odd collection of venues played by a rock band. There was the elegant: in
France, they played at the base of the
Eiffel Tower and at the
Cannes Film Festival and in
Spain, at the
Guggenheim Art Museum; and the plain weird in
Sydney,
Australia, they played in an International shipping depot and in
Tokyo,
Japan, in the back of a truck. These odd venues were usually shortened sets, however, and full shows were played in more traditional venues.
In America, the Pumpkins were unable to perform at unconventional venues as they had done on the European and Pacific legs of their tour. However, for the American tour, the Pumpkins still chose to do something special--they donated 100% of the ticket proceeds to charity. In every city they performed in the Pumpkins would pick a local charity and designate it as the recipient of the night's concert. In the end, the Pumpkins, with the help of their fans, raised over $2 million for charity.
|
The Smashing Pumpkins perfoming "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" live in 1998. |
If fans were surprised at the addition of a touring keyboardist on the
Mellon Collie... tour, they would be completely aghast at the troop of members the Pumpkins had recruited. The line up for the tour excluding the core band members was: Kenny Arnoff (drums), Mike Garson (piano and keyboards), Stephen Hodges (percussion), Dan Morris (percussion), and Lisa Germano (violin). Germano left the tour for undisclosed reasons very early in the first leg, and was not replaced. This large line up enabled the band to put together new arrangements of their new songs, leaving most of them to sound quite different from their album versions. The beautiful mellow acoustic crooner "To Sheila" was turned into a lengthy, powerful song with a full band, and the electronically driven single "Ava Adore" was turned into a distorted short rock song that was rich with the influence of previous Pumpkins albums.
Much to the dismay of most fans, The Smashing Pumpkins performed songs every night from a very small and strict repertoire. The new set was made up mainly of "Adore" songs, most of which were played every night, whereas others (like "Pug" and "Appels + Oranjes") were played sparingly if never at all. No songs prior to
Mellon Collie... were performed, which eliminated some of the band's biggest hits like "
Today" and "
Disarm" (it's worth noting that both of these songs were performed - acoustically - near the end of the tour, late 1998). "
Bullet with Butterfly Wings", "
Tonight, Tonight", "
1979", "Stumbeline" and "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" were the only remainders of the band's earlier material. In an exhibit of spontaneity,
Melbourne,
Australia audiences were treated to an improvised version of "
Zero" after chanting for the band to play it. It was the only time on the tour it was played despite being a successful single only two years earlier. An arrangement of the
Joy Division song "
Transmission" was also jammed on to close shows.
|
"Crestfallen" promotional single cover. |
Adore entered the U.S. charts at #2 with a solid — but not exceptional — 174,000 units. After eight weeks, it dropped out of the
Billboard Top 40, leading Corgan to publicly blame fans for the bad sales, claiming the album hadn't been given a chance. In reality, it's far more likely that dedicated fans would be the main buyers of the album, but no interest from the general public. Still, the album was certified platinum in the U.S. Promotion for
Adore finished by the end of 1998, a particularly short run for an album when considering the 2 year touring and promotion schedule for
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It finished with but 2 singles (a third, "
Crestfallen", was planned but never released). As of May 2005,
Adore has sold 1.1 million units in the U.S. In terms of commercialism,
Adore was not a success, especially when compared to their previous album
Mellon Collie... which was able to sell almost 5 million units in the US, but it still remains a staple part of The Smashing Pumpkins' rich history. Songs from the album were still performed in subsequent tours for
MACHINA/The Machines of God with Jimmy Chamberlin back at the drums.
# "To Sheila" â€" 4:40# "
Ava Adore" â€" 4:20# "
Perfect" â€" 3:23# "Daphne Descends" â€" 4:38# "Once Upon a Time" â€" 4:06# "Tear" â€" 5:52# "
Crestfallen" â€" 4:09# "Appels + Oranjes" â€" 3:34# "Pug" â€" 4:46# "The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete" â€" 4:33# "Annie-Dog" â€" 3:36# "Shame" â€" 6:37# "Behold! The Night Mare" â€" 5:12# "
For Martha" â€" 8:17# "Blank Page" â€" 4:51# "
17" â€" 0:17
The following songs are those that were written and recorded for Adore
but did not make the final cut, were not complete or did not get past the demo stage. It is rumoured there are another 15 finished songs left from the recording sessions, but those are not known to the public:*"Saturnine" (released in 2001 on
Judas O, produced under high influence and with the help of
Nitzer Ebb's
Bon Harris; was re-recorded in 1999 and released in 2000 on
MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music album)
*"Waiting" (released in 2001 on Judas O)
*"Blissed and Gone" (released in 2000 on a Still Becoming Apart promo CD, and in 2001 as a last track on Judas O)
*"Czarina" (released in 1998 as a b-side off Ava Adore
single)
*"Once in a While" (released in 1998 as a b-side off Ava Adore
single; was played live only once as a part of band's 2000 promo tour Resume a Pose with Billy Corgan playing piano)
*"Summer" (released in 1998 as a b-side off Perfect
single, was played live only once as a part of band's perfomance at the 1999 Neil and Peggy Young's Bridge School Benefit; is the only song recorded for Adore
which has songwriting and lead vocals credited to James Iha)
*"Cash Car Star" (was re-recorded in 1999 and released in 2000 on MACHINA II album; was played live numerous of times, including band's surprise perfomance as a support act on KISS' Halloween concert in 1998; also the heaviest track considered for Adore
)
*"Let Me Give the World to You" (was re-recorded in 1999 and released in 2000 on MACHINA II album; was played in a slow-tempo almost on every gig on the band's tours supporting Adore
; original studio version produced by Rick Rubin was never released)
*"Chewing Gum" (not available on any commercial release, recorded in 1997 as an album track, but later considered a demo)
*"Sparrow" (released in 2001 on Judas O)
*"Because You Are" (released in 2001 on Judas O)
*"My Mistake" (released in 2001 on Judas O'')
*"48 Chords" (a working title for a long instrumental piece notable for the fact that the chord sequence did not uniquely repeat until 48 successive chords were played; was never released in any form including bootlegged, though was mentioned in a
Billy Corgan's blog entry).
*Billy Corgan - Producer, Art Direction, Design, Mixing, Group Member
*D'arcy - Group Member
*
Flood - Mixing
*James Iha - Group Member
*Chris Shepard - Engineer
*Bjorn Thorsrud - Engineer, Digital Editing
*Howie Weinberg - Mastering
*Howard Willing - Engineer, Assistant Engineer
*Brad Wood - Producer, Engineer
*Neal Perry - Engineer
*Matt Cameron - Drums (on "For Martha")
*Joey Waronker - Drums
*Robbie Adams - Engineer, Mixing
*Bon Harris - Programming
*Ron Lowe - Assistant Engineer
*Andy VanDette - Digital Editing, Compilation
*Eric Greedy - Mixing
*Frank Olinsky - Art Direction, Design
*Matt Walker - Drums
*Jimmy Flemion - Producer
*Ed Tinley - Assistant Engineer
*Yelena Yemchuk - Art Direction, Design, Photography
*Jay Nicholas - Mixing
*Matt Prock - Assistant Engineer
*Jeff Vereb - Engineer
*Steve Johnson - Assistant Engineer
Album
| Year | Album | Chart | Position | | 1998 | Adore | The Billboard 200 | No. 2 |
| 1998 | Adore | UK Album Charts | No. 5 |
| 1998 | Adore | Top Canadian Albums | No. 2 |
| 1998 | Adore | Australian Highest Selling Albums | No. 47 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position | | 1998 | Ava Adore | The Billboard Hot 100 | No. 42 |
| 1998 | Ava Adore | Mainstream Rock Tracks | No. 8 |
| 1998 | Ava Adore | Modern Rock Tracks | No. 3 |
| 1998 | Ava Adore | UK Singles Chart | No. 11 |
| 1998 | Ava Adore | Canadian Singles Chart | No. 9 |
| 1998 | Ava Adore | Australian Singles Chart | No. 34 |
| 1998 | Perfect | The Billboard Hot 100 | No. 54 |
| 1998 | Perfect | Modern Rock Tracks | No. 3 |
| 1998 | Perfect | Mainstream Rock Tracks | No. 33 |
| 1998 | Perfect | Adult Top 40 | No. 31 |
| 1998 | Perfect | UK Singles Chart | No. 24 |
| 1998 | Perfect | Canadian Singles Chart | No. 13 |
