04/10/2010

14. The Smashing Pumpkins : Stand Inside Your Love

(single, 2000)

This is as straightforward a love song as you could expect to find anywhere. "Who wouldn't be the one you love," sings Billy Corgan, who has called it the only "true" love song he has ever written. For what it's worth - or even inasmuch as it's even important - it does sound like he means it.

For some, Corgan's whining vocals are an acquired taste, and the whining guitars and whole rock ambience will put them off. It's a taste I acquired a long time ago during repeated plays of Siamese Dream (1993). I found some of the subsequent material a little underwhelming, but this was a real return to the "classic" Pumpkins sound: quiet verse, huge chorus, soaring, shrieking guitars - all the good stuff. I particularly like the way the lead guitar sounds on the verge of feedback all the time, with an infinite sustain effect making it more like a synthesised instrument than a guitar. (With my guitar geek hat on, I'm guessing the effect is achieved with an E-Bow or a Fernandez Sustainer. Or possibly just a really, really loud amp.)

Back to the complete Best Tracks of the Noughties

No comments:

Post a Comment