Song Review: Smashing Pumpkins "One And All"

This year has seen a flurry of activity from Billy Corgan, creator and proprietor of The Smashing Pumpkins.

From taping an unscripted drama based on his independent wrestling league Resistance Pro, to owning his own tea house, to staging an intimate, career-spanning solo show at Ravinia Festival this summer, Billy somehow found time to record a new Smashing Pumpkins album.

Sacking former drummer Mike Byrne (Jimmy Chamberlin's successor) left a void which was neatly filled by decades-deep drum beast Tommy Lee.

Jeff Schroeder (or as Corgan calls him "Schroeder The Shredder") has been Billy's guitar foil since 2007, and an important part of Smashing Pumpkins Mach II.

New track "One And All" is a loud, angst-y blast of prog-punk that Billy mastered in the mid-90's.

However, back then Billy used his lyrics to be candid about his less-than-perfect childhood, where "One And All" finds him sounding just as disillusioned about adulthood.

The chorus of "We are, we are so young, one and all" seems less of a confident rallying cry and more of a mocking of the herd mentality of the pop stardom Billy eschewed post-Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness.

This track rocks hard. Tommy Lee is an suitable replacement for Jimmy Chamberlin jazzy but muscular attack. Vocals low in the mix, guitars loud and Billy's knack for an ear worm melody is ever present.

First single "Being Beige" was a pleasant mid tempo pop song but "One And All" pummels the listener from beginning to end.

The full-length album Monuments To An Elegy will be released December 9th, and "One And All" should pique the interest of anyone slightly interested in the Smashing Pumpkins.

Listen to "One And All" via Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/05/smashing-pumpkins-one-and-all_n_6103894.html

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