Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Music

All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000

Upcoming &
Recent Releases

sort by namesort by score

70 AFI
65 Air
71 Alice In Chains
77 Amerie
85 The Antlers
75 Arctic Monkeys
68 As Tall As Lions
82 Atlas Sound
75 The Avett Brothers
67 Backstreet Boys
56 Bad Lieutenant
68 Devendra Banhart
72 Lou Barlow
88 Baroness
69 Basement Jaxx
81 David Bazan
72 Brendan Benson
72 The Big Pink
96 Big Star
46 Billy Talent
75 The Black Crowes
51 Black Mold
68 Blitzen Trapper
75 BLK JKS
77 A.A. Bondy
73 The Bottle Rockets
63 Box Elders
65 Boys Like Girls
76 Brand New
73 Tyondai Braxton
87 Brother Ali
70 Ian Brown
75 Michael Buble
78 Built To Spill
61 Colbie Caillat
79 Califone
68 Mariah Carey
84 Brandi Carlile
73 Julian Casablancas
83 Rosanne Cash
69 Castanets
65 The Cave Singers
84 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79 Vic Chesnutt
75 Choir Of Young Believers
81 Circulatory System
68 The Clean
84 The Clientele
71 Cobra Starship
85 Converge
71 Eric Copeland
80 Cymbals Eat Guitars
71 Datarock
59 Dead By Sunrise
76 Dead Man's Bones
88 Destroyer
63 The Dodos
77 Drive-By Truckers
66 Bob Dylan
44 The Entrance Band
67 Esser
69 Fanfarlo
63 Felix Da Housecat
68 Fink
78 The Flaming Lips
66 Flight Of The Conchords
79 Florence And The Machine
67 John Fogerty
83 Fuck Buttons
71 Nelly Furtado
47 Gary Go
68 Ghostface Killah
79 Girls
69 Gossip
62 David Gray
66 David Guetta
79 Richard Hawley
74 Mayer Hawthorne
66 Headlights
79 HEALTH
77 Joe Henry
66 Hockey
69 Whitney Houston
68 Imogen Heap
59 Jack Ingram
79 Islands
73 Jessie James
74 Jamie T
65 Jay-Z
51 Jet
69 Daniel Johnston
76 Karen O And The Kids
72 Toby Keith
69 Kid Cudi
65 Kings Of Convenience
62 Sean Kingston
64 KISS
76 Kris Kristofferson
68 KRS-One & Buckshot
76 La Roux
84 Miranda Lambert
72 Ledisi
75 Sondre Lerche
56 Juliette Lewis
82 Lightning Bolt
73 Little Dragon
44 Pixie Lott
73 Lyle Lovett
66 Lovvers
75 Baaba Maal
77 Madness
84 Madonna
85 Manic Street Preachers
62 Maps
55 Massive Attack
57 Matisyahu
67 Reba McEntire
66 Tim McGraw
65 Brian McKnight
79 Mew
77 Malcolm Middleton
77 Mika
68 Amy Millan
76 Mission Of Burma
76 Molina And Johnson
80 Monsters Of Folk
62 Morrissey
85 Mount Eerie
78 The Mountain Goats
62 Múm
72 Muse
66 Willie Nelson
78 Nirvana
97 Nirvana
72 Nisennenmondai
80 No Age
71 Noah And The Whale
75 Noisettes
79 Nudge
47 Dolores O'Riordan
74 Os Mutantes
73 Osso
81 Owen
76 Paramore
76 Pastels And Tenniscoats
51 Sean Paul
80 Pearl Jam
66 Jemina Pearl
72 Jack Penate
65 Phish
82 Pissed Jeans
61 Pitbull
79 A Place To Bury Strangers
66 Robert Pollard
79 Polvo
72 Porcupine Tree
80 Q-Tip
80 R.E.M.
89 Raekwon
69 Rain Machine
70 Ramona Falls
75 Dizzee Rascal
75 The Raveonettes
76 Jay Reatard
82 Reigning Sound
81 Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79 Russian Circles
69 Buffy Sainte-Marie
73 Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61 Sally Shapiro
78 Shudder To Think
70 Simian Mobile Disco
58 Simple Minds
72 Six Organs Of Admittance
69 Slaughterhouse
80 Slayer
61 The Slits
62 Mindy Smith
78 Soulsavers
77 Speech Debelle
58 Spiral Stairs
58 Squarepusher
55 Steel Panther
73 Sufjan Stevens
52 Rod Stewart
65 Joss Stone
75 George Strait
83 Barbra Streisand
76 A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74 Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78 The Swell Season
76 David Sylvian
83 Taken By Trees
78 Tegan And Sara
68 The Temper Trap
72 Themselves
82 They Might Be Giants
67 Third Eye Blind
66 J Tillman
69 Times New Viking
57 Tokio Hotel
67 Trey Songz
71 The Twilight Sad
58 Carrie Underwood
56 The Used
68 Various Artists
70 Various Artists
74 Various Artists
77 The Very Best
71 Kurt Vile
67 Vivian Girls
71 Volcano Choir
76 Rufus Wainwright
59 Weezer
80 White Denim
76 Why?
83 Wild Beasts
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59 Andrew W.K.
71 Patrick Wolf
67 Wolfmother
84 The xx
79 Yo La Tengo
83 Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51 Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59 Zero 7

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

TheFutureEmbrace

EMAILPRINTby Billy Corgan

Billy Corgan reviews
59
7.4 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 74 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: Warner Brothers

Release Date: 21 June 2005

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Alternative, Rock

Summary

The Smashing Pumpkins/Zwan leader's solo debut includes a cover of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody." Jimmy Chamberlin and Robert Smith guest.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Alternative Press

Some of the most engaging music of his career. [Aug 2005, p.172]

80

The Guardian

The unthinkable has been achieved: a Billy Corgan album for anyone who always hated Billy Corgan.

Read Full Review >
75

Los Angeles Times

There's a moment or two of alarm and urgency, but less of the rage that colored the Pumpkins' music. In its place, Corgan summons a liturgical grandeur that makes this an almost religious embrace. [19 Jun 2005]

70

musicOMH.com

If you like Billy Corgan for his knack of writing a radio-friendly song with a heavy dose of angst, then you may not enjoy TheFutureEmbrace. Yet give the man credit for moving on and signalling a clear break with his past.

Read Full Review >
70

Mojo

Corgan allows a surprisingly vulnerable side to appear. [Jul 2005, p.96]

70

The Onion (A.V. Club)

TheFutureEmbrace is a bit colder than what's expected of Corgan, especially after Zwan's celebratory Mary Star Of The Sea, and it goes without saying that he's handed in his trendsetter badge. But the fact remains that he's a pop showman, and regardless of the vehicle, he's going to continue writing transcendent sing-along rock songs from the heart.

Read Full Review >
70

Billboard

While the lyrics are more introspective and the music more electronic than what we've come to expect from the Pumpkins or his most recent project, Zwan, thankfully Corgan's distinctive vocals and grungy guitar riffs are ubiquitous.

Read Full Review >
70

New Musical Express

The thing that's not missing here is songs. [18 Jun 2005]

64

Pitchfork

So, forgive Corgan his infinite lyrical badness, but know that infinity's a lot to forgive.

Read Full Review >
60

Q Magazine

There's nothing as heroic as Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight Tonight, but Now (And Then) is a surprisingly successful attempt at emotion. [Jul 2005, p.113]

60

Dot Music

Corgan is slowly swamped by the style he's adopted.

Read Full Review >
60

All Music Guide

Musically, it's closest to Adore, yet it's a distant cousin: if that album hinted at '80s synth rock and goth, this re-creates the spirit and sound of 1986, right down to the robotic pulse of the rhythms, the cold, slick surface of the production, and the brooding, self-absorbed atmosphere.

Read Full Review >
58

Stylus Magazine

What The Future Embrace lacks in terms of consistency, it makes up for with the feeling that Corgan has turned a corner, that his return to musical credibility is well underway, and isn’t nearly as inconceivable as it was one year ago.

Read Full Review >
55

Neumu.net

The gear is buffed to such a productional sheen that its every sound seems like a reflective surface, the compositional complexity leading to an album as confusing -- and, ultimately, distancing -- as a hall of mirrors.

Read Full Review >
50

Rolling Stone

Future mostly sounds like a bunch of so-so Smashing Pumpkins songs, stripped of everything except Corgan's adenoidal vocals, and then set to a chorus of synths and electronic drumbeats.

Read Full Review >
50

E! Online

For the most part, the vitality is gone.

Read Full Review >
50

Under The Radar

Only on the more solid "rock" tracks does he get it right. [#10, p.109]

42

Entertainment Weekly

Flim-flammy beats, tinny guitars, and Corgan's nasal moan predominate as he mopes like it's 1984 and his mom forgot to renew his Sisters of Mercy fanclub membership. [24 Jun 2005, p.164]

40

Blender

We're left with the immutable Corgan sans ambition: his narrow whine, melodies not quite predictable but dull anyway and a misty worldview with collegiate airs. [Jul 2005, p.116]

40

Uncut

Not hopeless, but hopelessly self-indulgent. [Jul 2005, p.94]

40

Drowned In Sound

It sounds like Corgan wanted to make a classic eighties 4AD-style shoegazing record, but instead of offering us something swirling and beautiful, we end up with an experience that is simply flat and grey.

Read Full Review >
30

Village Voice

Corgan does his level best to make the whole affair as joyless as possible.

Read Full Review >
30

cokemachineglow

The tragedy here is not that this is a mid-nineties retread, though, as much as Corgan’s songwriting is Machina level unmemorable.

Read Full Review >
30

PopMatters

It's not that any of the songs are horrible; it's just that they are so shamelessly middle-of-the-road that you become sickened by the ambivalence that they instill.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 74 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Leandro R gave it a9:
muito bom!

Fernando R gave it a9:
Just beatiful

squall gave it a10:
oo. this album is one of the best albums ive ever listned to. but this wasnt my first opinion. to be honest, ive always been a huge pumpkins fan, since gish. i heard he had a solo album but i never got around to getting up and looking for it. well one day my sister called me up and said that she just bought 2 tickets to see billy in hollywood. we went, on the way she played me the future embrace cd. i was like. hmm. billy sounds awesome, but im not sure if this is all that great. we got there, and when billy walked out on stage it was incredible. you can tell he knew what he was doing. this is the same man whjo created to awesome band, the smashing pumpkins. when he started playing and i saw that all that "synth" and "electronica" was actually comming out of his guitr and not 10 sets of keyboards, i was flabbergasted. this is the real deal! this is amazing, this is BRAND NEW! this has never been done before, this is absolutly incredible music. those disrespecting the machina album have no idea what he was doing in that album. machina and future embrace are my favorite cds o this day. people said machina was all "synth" blah blah blah, this is new, individual style music with a new rock and roll sound. with a meaning! does anyone relize what machina was about? does anyone realize there was a concept to the entire album? well there was and its incredible. im not going to ruin it for you but ill give u a clue. glass is billy. we are the ghost children. the machines of god were a band. june is a woman. billy is not stupid, he knows what hes doing. something that was never done before, something thats not fake and done over and over again. this is the future embrace. it wil grow on you like a really awesome tumour- that wont kill you.

Alan R gave it a0:
One of the greatest CD's Corgan has ever produced solo!

Paul S gave it a10:
One of the greatest CD's Corgan has ever produced!

Allan gave it a3:
Minus A100, DIA and to Love Somebody, pointless dribble. Wow, what a mess, Bill.

No Name gave it an8:
Some say that if it wasn't for his fame, no one would even pay this album attention. I say, that if it wasn't for his fame, no one would be nearly as harsh on this album. The fact of the matter is that it is pretty good, but we hold him up to himself in comparison, so it looks 'lame.' Well, what doesn't look lame when compared to Siamese Dream, Melancholy, and Adore? Only the best stuff out there, that's what! Unfortunately, this is not the best. But it is still well worth listening to multiple times. Forget it's Billy Corgan for a minute and let the star bashing go, 'cause it's probably better than you let yourself think.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use