Customer Reviews

Adore

5 star:		(355)
4 star:		(109)
3 star:		(45)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(40)

 

 

I purchased this album when it first came out many years ago and I still pull it out on a regular basis. Very sad and melancholy with many beautiful textures throughout. Billy wearing his heart on his sleeve for all to share.

I give it 2 stars because I love the Pumpkins... the only thing saving it from being utterly disgusting is their name on the cover and the fact that Billy seems to at least remember what his band used to sound like. I saw an interview Billy did where he claimed that Mellon Collie "kind of... marked the end of our era as a 'rock band'." You ain't kiddin, buddy.

I miss Jimmy's drumming. With Jimmy Chamberlin missing, Billy's tyranny took over and he decided to do a bunch of weird techno junk... I am very disappointed in the band. The first single, "Ava Adore", is fairly decent, but in no way even comes close to the old Pumpkins. "Pug" almost rocks hard, but Billy still sounds like he's whining. Don't get me wrong, I like soft music just as much as the next guy, but an entire album full of it just IS NOT PUMPKINS.

"Appels + Oranjes" is quick and lively (although dark at the same time), and its lyrics are reminiscent of "Muzzle" (from Mellon Collie). I enjoyed it... so there's three good songs.

I just learned yesterday, though, that Chamberlin is back. I can't wait for the next album... hopefully this soft, semi-techno thing is just a phase. Hopefully they can be a real band again now that they have their drummer back.

The Smashing Pumpkins have always been a band that I've known of and been able to recognize on the radio (how could you not?) but I never truly "got into" them. However, after hearing "Thirty-three" (from "Mellon Collie") on the radio, I finally said, "Okay, I have to listen to these people." Over the past few days, I've listened to all of the Smashing Pumpkins' major studio releases. Based on my impression of them, I have to say "Adore" is my favorite. I don't understand why it was poorly received, both by fans and critics, when it came out. It shows a huge step both forward both musically (for the Pumpkins as a whole) and lyrically (for Billy Corgan). It shows far much more ambition than "Mellon Collie" -- ask yourself, how many alternative bands would attempt to make an album without a drummer? But they attempted and they pulled it off beautifully.

The album opens with the absolutely gorgeous "To Sheila" -- I knew from the first notes that I was going to love the album. It's followed by the electronically-driven and -- dare I say -- catchy "Ava Adore." The two opening songs do what opening songs should do -- they set the tone for the album, as the rest of the album is full of electronics and beautiful piano-driven songs. Don't worry, the guitar isn't absent -- it's still there, it's just not the overpowering force it once was. It blends easily here. Beyond the opening tracks, some standouts are "Daphne Descends," "Annie-Dog," "Blank Page," and "For Martha," Billy Corgan's tearjerking tribute to his deceased mother.

"Adore" proves the musical genius of Billy Corgan. Only a genius could blend all of these noises and come up with the product that he came up with. As I said before, his lyrics also improve with this album -- it's almost as if he stops trying so hard and just lets it come out exactly how he's feeling it ("it" being his mother's death, his divorce, the reunion with his father, etc.). Perhaps that's why I love "Adore" so much -- it's a work of pure emotion, emotion conveyed so well through both the words and the instruments. Don't let yourself be fooled by fans and critics telling you the album isn't "hard" enough -- pick up "Adore," put aside all other influences, and just revel in its beauty.

I find that the overdubbing of synthesizers and drum machines really took away the soul of this album. I still love, however the piano driven songs, and the soft acoustic driven songs. I love the emotion in the album, but as I said before it doesn't fit in well with a lot the synthesizers.
I think that if the outtakes from Mellon Collie (Aeroplane Flies High) were combined with this album, and a sort of a double album like Mellon Collie this would be an amazing album, perhaps better than Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie, Gish, or even Pisces Iscariot.
Code Name: I Adore You
Disc 1:
1. To Sheila
2. Transformer
3. Ava Adore
4. 17
5. God
6. Marquis in Spades
7. Meladori Magpie
8. Rotten Apples
9. Shame
10. Behold! The Nightmare
11. Ugly
12. The Aeroplane Flies High
13. The Last Song
Disc 2:
1. Tear
2. Crestfallen
3. Pug
4. Perfect
5. The Boy
6. Cherry
7. Set The Ray To Jerry
8. Mouths of Babes
9. The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete
10. Annie Dog
11. For Martha
12. Blank Page
13. My Blue Heaven

Note that this was not meant to offend anyone, both fans of aeroplan flies high, or adore. I personally love aeroplan, but think adore is mediocre.

This is one of my least favorite Pumpkins albums, I was amazed to find it on LP though! The album starts off fairly strong, then ends up rambling on to boredom really.

Being a casual vinyl collector, I recently stumbled upon Amazon's offerings. I am more then please with them, I only wish more artists would offer special vinyl copies. Heck I usually end up buying multiple copies to give to friends or to keep shrink wrapped for when I wear out the first copy I purchased.

Thank you Amazon!

At a first listen I thought to myself, "This CD sucks! Why the hell did I buy it?". But after deciding to give it a chance and repeated listenings, it started to grow on me. I see why people didn't like this CD, because it's nothing like the Pumpkins we're used to listen with their blazing guitars, powerful drums, and angry vocals. Instead, this album is filled with chords, harps, and keyboards. The vocals are now about personal losses, love, and relationships.

I give it 4 stars because at some points it can be a bit boring, not because it's bad. My favorite tracks are "Ava Adore", "Perfect" (which sounds like a B-Side to 1979), "Appels + Oranjes", "Pug", and "Annie-Dog".

Adore is not a Smashing Pumpkins album. Billy Corgan even said so himself. He said people are wrong if they consider this either an acoustic or electronic album, and I can see where he's coming from. This release was torn to shreds by critics, and I can see where they were coming from as well. Corgan was always considered a bone head because he didn't want to go in the direction other people wanted him and his band to go into, and I still admire him for it. With Adore this is all about his prose. This is more about the lyrics than the music bringing it out. Almost every track is soaked in dark romance, and I thought this was very interesting. As for the techno aspect, which Mellon Collie hinted at with the tracks Love, 1979, and Beautiful, it was fair, but what really stank was the fact that Jimmy Chamberlain wasn't with the band at the time due to a past scandal and numerous drug problems which led to his shall we say unemployment, and his absence showed dramatically, thus making the album a non-Pumpkins effort. Basically, if you are a fan of the early material, don't bother, but if you love the band to its core, wanting to see them evolve musically and lyrically, pick it up. It's worth the fifteen or so bucks.

I'd say that this album has no throw-away songs on it, but that isn't true. It does. The single, "Perfect", may be one of the worst Pumpkins songs in their epic little history. The song just trashes up the album and should have been replaced by "Eye", which is one of the most badass Pumpkins songs of all time and resides on the Lost Highway soundtrack.

Now, I love the emotion on this album, and I love the piano too. "Ava Adore", another single on this album, is good, but not as good as everything to follow. SOme really cool songs on this album are "Tear", Daphne Descends", "Pug", "To Martha", "Annie-Dog", and "Blank Page". The song 17 is kind of cute, it almost sounds like "Twinklie, Twinkle Little Star". The thing is, it would be track 17 if you owned the Japanese version of the album, which I think would make more sense.

The album shows a band at their most artistic moment with some new sounds and experimentation. Definitely influenced by Depeche Mode and other such electronic bands, this album has a stand-out different sound than the other Pumpkins albums. And on the last note, I would like to refer you all to the "Perfect" single. Yes, "Perfect" is a bad song, but there is an amazing version of "Daphne Descends" on the single that made me like the song so much more!

With Billy Corgan's mother's death comes this album. Very soft, very sad. There is an abundance of piano and this is their most heavily techno influenced album. Standout tracks include, "Ava Adore", "Perfect", "Annie-Dog", & "For Martha".

Well, it is a diffrent album from Billy and co. It wasn`t as comercialy sucefull as the others were, but it represents the Pumpkins at there artistic peek. On no other Pumpkin album you can't find the incredible songs like To Sheila, For Martha or Blank Page. Critics said that the album isn't hard enough, but clearly songs like tha amazing Ava Adore, Pug, Shame and Behold! The Nightmare have got enough dark rock sound to please every rock fan. Perfect is a great dreamy pop song, and a big radio hit. The art cover is a very dark and beautiful.This piece is for any one who sits in a dark room and has got a lot of pain and anger inside. The music on the album is so beautiful, that it makes me very angry, that critics toor the album apart, and now 6 years have past, and they finaly admited that the album was clearly under-rated. So to finnish of..., with this briliant masterpiece Pumpkins didn't make the history books, but it is still by my opinion there best album...