Customer Reviews

Zero / God / Mouth of Babes

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My favorite SP single. Mouths of Babes is my favorite song, God is a close 2nd. such vicious rock. the other songs are really good too, and Pennies is perfect pop songwriting. its too bad some of these harder tracks didn't make it on to Mellon Collie. ahh well. I usually skip past the medley. although there are some good riffs on there.

The Smashing Pumpkins's double-disc album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" became an instant rock classic. And one of the top songs on that album, was "Zero," a sizzling hard rock song with Billy Corgan's despairing lyrics. The "Zero" EP is just as enthralling, a little tapestry of unhappiness.

"Intoxicated with the madness, I'm in love with my sadness!" Corgan wails in the title track. It transitions into the quieter but even more despairing "God," and the more pensive look at superstardom, "Mouths of Babes." Corgan takes a break from misery in "Tribute To Johnny," a twisting rock song that highlights his ability to make the guitar bend to his will.

Bitterness and revenge are at the heart of "Marquis of Spades," another sizzling hard-rocker where Corgan snarls, "And all I see is empty/'Cause now I'm one of them/So adored/The slink of impotence/That money can afford!" With "Pennies," the sound softens down to a solid non-hard rock song; even Corgan's vocals sound more relaxed. And finally it climaxes with a twenty-three minute medly that veers from murky, plodding bass to a blistering riff. Often it changes with no warning, as if Corgan and Co. are just randomly changing their minds.

"Zero" is a pretty unusual EP -- most EPs are just to show a sampling of the band's work, or keep the fans satisfied between full-length albums. But "Zero" is actually more cohesive than many LPs. The underlying themes seems to be devoted to the emptiness, scorn for empty fame, and to lost love (of course!).

The music veers a lot closer to the hard rock side of the Smashing Pumpkins, with only a brief reprieve in "Pennies." And that's not what you'd call dreampop either. Billy Corgan lets rip with his guitar in the instrumental tracks, twisting and deeply distorting the sound; he's backed by the excellent Jimmy Iha, the outstanding drumming of Jimmy Chamberlain, and the solid bass of D'Arcy Wretzky.

Corgan's voice is high and thin; it takes a bit of getting used to. Which makes it especially surprising that he is so flexible -- he snarls and serenades equally well. His writing is on top form, including in the non-"Zero" songs: "And the mouths of babes sing revolution/ And the mouths of babes scream disillusion/ You can't break what's already broken/Cause from the mouths of babes comes nothing!"

It's not the epic art-rock experience that "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" is, but the Smashing Pumpkins EP "Zero" has the distinction of being a cut above your average album. It rocks. Literally.

Zer0, I collected singles and I have around 100 of them, but nothing comes near this. Marquis in Spades, God ... realy good sound. Buy it

S.J.

Many people who don't own the Aeroplane Flies High box set will at least recoginze this CD, becuase it was sold separately for a time. All of the songs here showcase the Pumpkins at what they do best, grungey, metallic hard rock. After the familiar title track, things are kicked off with "God," one of Corgan's best uses of a soft chorus-loud verse song structure. If you've heard this song, chances are you probably love it. "Mouths of Babes" is pretty good, "Tribute to Johnny" is not all that memorable, but the best moments come during the second half. The raging "Marquis in Spades" (which is one of my favorite Pumpkin b-sides) sits nicely nest to the mellower, wistful "Pennies" (another one of their best b-sides, in my opinion). The closer, "Pastachio Medley" is 23 minutes worth of spare riffs left over from the Mellon Collie sessions. Some of them are actually pretty good. My favorites are the ones that occur at around 8 minutes and 45 seconds into the track. There is an electronic sounding drone followed by a great acoustic riff, and I think both of these sound great (I don't know their names, though).

Anyway, if you're into the hard rocking side of the Pumpkins (as I'm sure most fans are) then you won't want to be without this. This is just as essential as Mellon Collie.