Monuments to an Elegy

It's not just the most svelte, direct and immediate Pumpkins album ever, it's the most misleadingly titled. [Feb 2015, p.94]

Regardless of the pretentious set-up, this is another fine record.

There's lots of good guitar playing, but no flashy riffs and absolutely nothing you'd call a solo. It gives Monuments its greatest strength: a self contained identity.

The breadth impresses and it resonates stronger because he's funneled all these sounds and textures into a tight nine-song album that lasts barely over a half-hour. For an artist who has fervently believed more is indeed more, this restraint is thoroughly appealing and helps showcase his craft in surprising--and, yes, sometimes dazzling--ways.

Monuments To An Elegy constitutes an unexpected return to form. [Jan 2015, p.66]

Monuments to an Elegy is a stunning return to form, offering concise songs that plumb the vocalist/guitarist's stock in trade while offering new sonic veneers. [Jan 2015, p.93]

It’s an accomplished rock record that’s a very welcome addition to the band’s enduring history.

For as much as Oceania felt like a heavy return to form, Monuments is familiar in the sense that Corgan’s taking a thoughtful swing in a new direction.

A more concise Pumpkins isn't what anyone was expecting at this point in the band's career, but on its own limited terms, Monuments to an Elegy affirms that Corgan remains defiantly in his own lane.

Monuments‘s brevity is something that fans of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness will need to adjust to: nine tracks with only one clearing the four-minute mark. In comparison to the rest of the Pumpkins’ discography, this album is truly a hit-it-and-quit-it release.

At this stage, you’re either a fan or have decided to leave these pumpkins squashed on the porch of rock history. For those in the former category, this is Billy Corgan at his most playful and, well, enjoyable.

The key to enjoying this album lies, ironically, in forgetting that the Pumpkins ever existed. Remove the past and the baggage, and take it for what it is; a pretty decent rock album.

While not everything works--‘Dorian’ goes nowhere in particular and the assorted amateurish synths on show grate on the nerves and feel like an afterthought--this is rarely less than compelling.

Although his lyrics are as benign as ever, much of the music here doesn't just rehash what was good about the band's salad days, but bravely presents Corgan as an artist trying to stage one of the most unexpected comebacks in recent history.

Monuments To An Elegy is essentially a Corgan solo record which shows flashes of his old power, while also straying into some seriously dodgy attempts to update the Pumpkins sound for 2014.

While Monuments To An Elegy is certainly a solid release, in the end, it’s most enjoyable when approached with managed expectations.

There isn’t anything here that you haven’t heard previously on Oceania (“Run2Me”), either Machina LP (“Dorian”), or Adore (“Being Beige”). That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

It's not as good as either of those [Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness or Adore], but it is solid middle ground. For The Smashing Pumpkins' third act, Corgan has finally unveiled the album he should have made 15 years ago.

While some songs veer too far into slick pop territory, most are balanced.

The latest installment in his band's multi-album cycle Teargarden by Kaleidyscope--is a surprise.

It's hard to shake the sense that these songs ape Corgan's past but too often lack the spark of inspiration that fuelled his previous masterpieces. [Jan 2015, p.100]

It's an LP that makes virtually no sense in the Pumpkins' chronology, but is a satisfying enough half-hour of Alternative Nation-era would-be-smashes.

The overall sound might be slighter and less sprawling, but it's also more sharply focused.

This sunny half hour lacks an overarching aesthetic or a big, ten-minute cathartic blowout.

Monuments is an enjoyably straightforward rock album. [Jan 2015, p.128]

It’s the easiness of Monuments that truly make it an outlier--whether Corgan constructed a masterpiece or just sounded labored, it was obvious that a ton of effort went into Smashing Pumpkins

This trim nine-song set is packed with tuneful love songs that never outstay their welcome--knick-knacks to a haiku, maybe, more than monuments to an elegy, and all the better for it.

If the songs don’t all match the Pumpkins’ early glories, Corgan is still carrying what he once called “the infinite sadness”, investing uplifting sounds with an undercurrent of melancholy.

It’s the ninth studio album to bear the Pumpkins brand, and probably the seventh that wouldn’t find a single track making most fans’ side-of-a-C90 best-of. But it delivers what it promises: songs by Billy Corgan that sound enough like the ones you recall loving as a teenager.