[Fernando]

There's something so obvious but this guy does not seem to see: the natural step for Billy has always been electronic music. Every time he finds himself without a drummer or a real band, he goes back to the electronic;

This happened in The Marked, again in "Adore" and once again in TheFutureEmbrace (and I can call TbK to this conversation too). So, Adore didn't happen to follow the trends of the moment - plus, the biggest hit in MCIS was 1979, an electronic-ish song, and in that album, we got "Love" and "We Only Come Out at Night" in the same electronic vein.

[ButterflyBullets]

When I first got into SP and started loving their music, when I listened to every album in a row, Adore was easily my favorite and the one that clicked with me the most, quickest. The whole album is just beautiful.

[Sophie]

I remember it well as it is not the thing I am the most proud of...
You said be completely / fully / genuinely honest right ? So here it is:
I put the CD on, then To Sheila began and I asked my friend : "Hey, who's that guy singing with the Pumpkins?" I still don't know why but I hadn't recognized Billy's voice in the first place... :hth:/>
Don't despise me for this, I was younger than I am now.

As far as the whole album is concerned I must admit that it was the first of their albums that I thought was a little patchy. For the first time there were songs that I was not immediately fond of (Perfect in particular never blew my head off musically speaking). And let me add that this was not because of the piano nor the lack of heavy guitars. I am not hostile to style variations and I was ready at the time for some more subdued atmosphere.
This being said I would not call this album a bad album. Some tracks were catchy (Ava Adore), the orchestration of some others were great (Tear), some had original lyrics (Dusty&Pistol Pete), some lyrics were more delicate, etc. I think I really appreciated 2/3 of the album at the time and I sticked to it over the years.

In a word: yes great Pumpkins album, I still listen to it frequently. Perhaps just not my favorite because I have the impression that it is a little uneven.

[crepe]

cookieshoes, on 10 January 2012 - 04:35 PM, said:

Since you're making it "clear", you do realize that you were the one making the description of MCIS having "shitty" lyrics, referencing the other poster. You realize that Billy wrote those lyrics too, right? So, who's calling him a bad lyricist now? Or what, only you get to pick and choose what you do/don't like about the band's albums? I've been consistent in my opinion.

And as for the music to "For Martha" being from the MCIS era, so what? No wonder they didn't put it on MCIS. It would've revealed what a weak piano player Billy was no matter where they put it. The only really significant piano part on MCIS is the instrumental that opens/closes the album, and in that short snippet his playing works. That Billy wasn't Chopin is no more a big deal than Jimmy's singing was on "Farewell and Goodnight". But you don't have to have an entire album of Jimmy's singing, or Billy's piano playing, to see that it wasn't very good.

1. You gotta be fucking with me now. You didnt understand a single thing I said. I never said he was a bad lyricist. I think every album has parts with bad lyrics but its no big deal, I love them all. You based your opinion on adore' lyrics with ''you'll always be my whore'' by saying its shitty lyrics. So what. One song has a weak line. But then you say MCIS was superior and all but heck ''Cause you're all whores and I'm a **** And I've got no mother and I've got no dad'' has to be the shittiest thing he has ever writing. Yet its from MCIS.

2. Farewell and Goodnight outro. kthx bye

But I give up now, everybody in the topic has give up. You're consistent in your opinion and so am I. I'll leave it here.

[soVerysadAboutyou]

United States, on 15 June 2011 - 11:34 PM, said:

Behold! The Nightmare is the best "hidden gem" on the cd in my opinion. Few people mention it, I love it.

it is one of the best songs on the album.

[snail33]

soVerysadAboutyou, on 28 January 2012 - 11:41 AM, said:

it is one of the best songs on the album.

absolutely!

[Deleted User Account]

I'm going to step in with some truth for you fanboys and teenagers.

People are allowed to like different things. The lyrics on Adore aren't objectively good. They're not objectively bad, either.

[crepe]

Yet they can wrong by saying its shit

[Deleted User Account]

crepe, on 30 January 2012 - 09:09 AM, said:

Yet they can wrong by saying its shit

No, people are allowed to think it's shit. That's fine.

[Fernando]

People are allowed to think people that think it's shit are wrong.

[Dusty]

People are entitled to thier opinion, but I think that it's hard to dismiss some things completely. If I write "jhkksbshdbjshbdjbsjdbsjdbjs" and say I think that's a great lyric, I guess I am entitled to think that, but for whatever reason it would be hard to believe me. I think that's a far cry from quibbling over whether "you'll always be my whore" or "cause you're all whores and I'm a ****" is Billy's worst lyric--I actually like both those lines. That is a matter of taste. But to write off the lyrics on Adore, or almost any Corgan album, as entirly, objectively bad, is hard to do. There is too much evidence that there is *something* going on in almost all of them, whether it's a message, a pun, a rhyme, etc. The lyric may not speak to you, but it's hard to just say "oh that's stupid".

And if I were to editorialize, I think Billy's "worst" lyric is "Travel the world, traverse the skies/Your home is here within my heart". Why not rhyme "skies" with "eyes"? Why not rhyme "stars" with "heart"? For someone usually committed to pretty strict rhymes...wow. Opportunity wasted. Smack dab in one of my favorite Pumpkins songs. :p/>

[LostSoul]

Dusty, on 01 February 2012 - 04:00 PM, said:

And if I were to editorialize, I think Billy's "worst" lyric is "Travel the world, traverse the skies/Your home is here within my heart". Why not rhyme "skies" with "eyes"? Why not rhyme "stars" with "heart"? For someone usually committed to pretty strict rhymes...wow. Opportunity wasted. Smack dab in one of my favorite Pumpkins songs. :p/>

Why does it have to rhyme? The emotion in his voice is quite apparent when he sings, the word "heart", as with the whole song. And plus, heart makes more sense than eyes. Why would she have a home in his eyes, rather than his heart? The whole song revolves around how much this girl means to him. Usually when you love someone, you hold a place in your heart for them. Not your eyes or spectacles..

[snail33]

LostSoul, on 01 February 2012 - 06:15 PM, said:

Why does it have to rhyme? The emotion in his voice is quite apparent when he sings, the word "heart", as with the whole song. And plus, heart makes more sense than eyes. Why would she have a home in his eyes, rather than his heart? The whole song revolves around how much this girl means to him. Usually when you love someone, you hold a place in your heart for them. Not your eyes or spectacles..

i actually sort of agree with the criticism...matter of fact, i thought he WAS saying "stars" for some time, because it would have been closer to a rhyme, and just because i like the word better...but shortly thereafter i got past it, because he PRONOUNCES it with such a high 'a' vowel shape that it sounds like a rhyme anyway--it's more like "skahs" and "hahr" than "skies" and "heart." it's a common device in pop music, especially in hip-hop.

and it's one of my favorites too, in fact it's a close 2nd behind ruby.

[Cundinama]

i liked it a lot

[Inertia]

My first impression on Adore was that it felt like a good outlier that had it's own special aspects. There were some repetitiveness and questionable vocal pitches, and the production felt messy at certain spots. However, the lyrical content alone redeemed this album quite drastically and conveyed a good sense of Adore's atmosphere. Plus, the quieter flow was a nice breather after listening to Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie for such a long time. So in terms of sonic, the album was alright. Lyrically, it was pretty damn good at first listen. I believe the first time I listened to Adore was during the nighttime under a cloudy full moon standing in the middle of my neighborhood street(which was wet from rain) all alone. If I hadn't listen to Adore in that setting, then my first impressions might have been a little more negative. My favorites were To Sheila, Once Upon a time, The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete, Behold! The Nightmare, and Blank Page. The climax at Behold! might be the best moment in Adore.

[GracefulSwan]

I loved Adore from the start, and to me it sounds like it follows on perfectly from MCIS, as MCIS mellows out towards the end it sets the scene for Adore. To Sheila sounds like the partner song to Stumbleine, as Perfect is to 1979.

My favourite songs from the album are: Perfect, Shame, For Martha and Once Upon a Time. I think a lot of the songs were better when played live, Perfect and Shame in particular.

[Fire Dragon]

Disappointment at first, then a realisation that the band were in a transistional period and a subsequent forgiveness for that, followed by the unravelling story behind the story of the album, (the Chamberlain crisis, the restlessness of D'arcy, Corgan's electro experimentations etc), and the result is an album that they probably had to make to decompress from the whorld devouring monster that was MCATIS.

[mkoasis]

My first listen to Adore was after I already had the Greatest Hits. I loved Ava Adore and Perfect and so I was looking forward to hearing the album a lot. I found it a lot to take in, especially in one sitting. It's a long album and I've always felt (although the songs are good) that a more concise offering after the heavy MCIS would make for a stronger album.

I love the first side (Tracks 1-8). From the second, I really like Pug, Nightmare, and For Martha. The other songs are alright but to listen to it from To Sheila through to 17, is a lot especially as most of it is very even paced. I probably would have made it down to 13 songs.

[nickpancake]

I was pretty amazed. I was 13 and I remember listening to Pug over and over and I could "hear" colors in the intro. . like red fireworks going off. I wonder if synesthesia? fades as you get older because those colors are not as strong anymore.

[Reichljuice]

In 1998, I was 13 I think. I can't really do math.
Anywho, I'd like to think I was still pretty impressionable, so if Billy would've released Zeitgeist, I would've been like "Oh ... ok then this is where they were naturally progressing" so I wasn't as put off by Adore as fans older than I seemed to be.
That being said, fortunately they didn't release Zeitgeist after MCIS. I liked the louder songs on MCIS, but what really got me was the expansive sound with tracks like Thirty-Three, Love, Galapogos, Porcelina, By Starlight, etc. so I was interested in quieter songs, sad songs.
Now that I think about it, I was put off by the lack of songs that were louder and more similar to Ava Adore. I was at some store run by a late 20-something dude who had on MTV when the Ava Adore video premiered. There was a shared "whoa.." reaction from everyone. Not whoa as in, this is really something awesomely different, but whoa as in what the crap was that??
But I liked it. The video reminded me of the whimsical lyrics that came from the lesser-known, more made-for-album MCIS songs like Stumbleine.
I remember listening to To Sheila and thinking "they started off with a quiet song, ok" but really liking the lyrics. That being said, it wouldn't be uncommon for 13 or 14-year-old me to skip right to Ava Adore. I also remember liking (when I didn't skip To Sheila) the transition from To Sheila to Ava Adore. I didn't enjoy the transition from quiet to loud to a faster pop song in Perfect back to more intense sounds in Daphne Descends.
If I had to resequence Adore, I would move Perfect. I don't know where, maybe after To Sheila and before Ava Adore (I realize I said I enjoyed the transition, but it might've made for a smoother listening experience building up to the loud Ava Adore instead of just To Sheila to Ava Adore).
Anyway, back to the album as a whole.
I got into it right away. I liked the liner notes, the different fonts and styles in the lyric printings. Again, when I was 13 I figured these guys knew what they were doing so I had already accepted it before it had come out.
But I think at the time, I wished it had been a little more loud, I was missing the next TEITBITE ... I really liked that song when it had come out.
All in all, I grew to love Adore, from passively liking it, so my opinion never really changed, just grew to a stronger attachment.

GracefulSwan, on 08 March 2012 - 03:45 PM, said:

I loved Adore from the start, and to me it sounds like it follows on perfectly from MCIS, as MCIS mellows out towards the end it sets the scene for Adore. To Sheila sounds like the partner song to Stumbleine, as Perfect is to 1979.

That's a REALLY good point, I never would have thought about that but I 100% agree!

[love_minus_zero]

Reichljuice, on 22 June 2012 - 06:58 AM, said:

If I had to resequence Adore, I would move Perfect. I don't know where, maybe after To Sheila and before Ava Adore (I realize I said I enjoyed the transition, but it might've made for a smoother listening experience building up to the loud Ava Adore instead of just To Sheila to Ava Adore).

If I had to resequence Adore, I would split it up into two CDs like Kid A and Amnesiac. Something like ...

Adore
To Sheila
Once Upon A Time
Ava Adore
Pug
Let Me Give The World To You
Blissed & Gone
Perfect
Saturnine
Once In A While
Shame
For Martha
Blank Page
17

Adored
Behold! The Night Mare
Daphne Descends
Crestfallen
Waiting
Do You Close Your Eyes?
Summer
Tear
Annie Dog
Appels + Oranjes
Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete
Winterlong
Soot & Stars

[bmaromars95]

As a depressed high school freshman, I loved the album. Didn't care that it was different than the previous albums.

Crestfallen hit me hard right away. It made me cry many times.

And now as a depressed 29 year old, hearing (and seeing :)/> ) for Martha played live in 2011, when the solo kicks in at the end, I still tear up.

I need Prozac or some lithium.

[GracefulSwan]

NVM.

[MinaLoi]

I really loved it and admired how daring the writing style had changed since MCIS, I couldn't believe the sound diversity between the two and was shocked anyone would do such a thing at the time in their career. I had really been listening to SP for a year prior to that(seen the vids, heard the singles years before, fondness came after I heard MCIS entirely), and was very reluctant to call it my favourite band, but after I listened to Adore it was like "all right, the music is fantastic and they don't give a fuck about nothing but making interesting and original music."

So I started collecting all the other albums, and soon discovered that each had its own style/theme/personalitie, whateverr; so I knew from there it was no-180 time. In the past, I have always favoured the artists that did pretty much what Billy has always done, artists that never stayed with a particular way of delivering music and altering their sound from album-to-album as time went on, artists like Pink Floyd, Beatles, Rush, Cheap Trick, Bowie, etc. Anyway that's what I like in my music and what I loved about Adore, because I always felt it represented the constant progression, or evolution of his creative thought process, that has continued on thru out Billy & SP's history, and it certainly is observable in Oceania, too.

[louguzzo]

HATED it.

I was 18, had just graduated high school, and was anxious to purchase my first Pumpkins album upon its release date. I didn't get into the band until '97 - "Drown" was the song that did it for me. I had the "Singles" soundtrack because I love PJ, AIC, etc...

So yeah, I hated Adore at first. I refused to listen to it for a few weeks. One day I tried again on my way to work, go to the pseudo-barbershop quartet breakdown in "Behold! The Night Mare," and ejected the CD in disgust! What the hell is this crap??? Where are the guitars? They need Chamberlin back!!!

My girlfriend at the time showed me the error in my ways, forcing me to listen to the album a few times. Now, it is my favorite Pumpkins album by far, and ironically, my favorite moment is the squealing feedback solo that happens RIGHT after the barbershop quartet part. If only I hadn't hit eject that day... Stupid punk kid.

[teacher]

If it wasn't for Adore, I wouldn't be a fan. For years, I could not stand that voice! My boyfriend drug me to a concert during the Siamese Dream era and the only thing worse than Corgan's screeching voice was Red, Red Meat opening up for them. I cringed every time I heard a song by them. Shame on me, I know.

Then came Perfect. Not a great song by any means but when I heard it, my mind snapped and, even though I knew it was that band with the screeching voice, I had to have it. So I went out and bought Adore - knowing nothing but I liked Perfect. I've written pages and pages about what listening to that album did and, to this day, it remains at the top of my life-changing list. I had to buy everything SP did thenceforth... I could not believe Siamese Dream when I heard it - again.

Life is amazing. I guess the moral is don't judge a song by a screeching voice, for what lies beneath could be a lyrical genius.

[Friginator]

My first impression: "THIS is what people are complaining about?"

[werideatdusk]

I think Adore is the one SP album that I will keep going back to later in life. Along with perhaps Oceania and The Future Embrace.

SD is terrific but pretty worn out, and the loud guitars don't do for me what they once did.

MCIS is still one of my favorite productions, just dreamy. But too many of the lyrics deal with youth, it's already starting to slip away from me.

Gish and Machina are really great albums but are a little out-there to relate to my personal life as much.

Zeitgeist, I'm pretty much done with. And TBK I kinda wore out, I was in the minority that really enjoyed those songs. But I do see now that they're a little undercooked and overproduced.

ADORE has a timelessness and a sophistication that Billy had never managed before or since. It's perhaps a little bloated but it really is a masterpiece and will take you to some insane places, past, present, future, to the ordinary catacombs and rain-soaked streets, yours alone on the telephone where the whirlpools sleep. love is good and love is blind.