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[Diablos]

Former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan will release his debut solo album, TheFutureEmbrace, on June 21st.

"It's guitar-driven and loud, but not aggressive," Corgan tells Rolling Stone. "The videos, music and tour will be really new and different. No one will accuse me of sitting on my past."

Recorded in Chicago, Future was co-produced by Corgan and features eleven new songs, including the first single, "Walking Shade," as well as an unlikely cover of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody," with the Cure's Robert Smith on backing vocals.

"The Cure is one of my favorite bands of all time," Corgan says. "Robert is a good friend of mine, so it's a dream come true. That song's sort of a gem that not everyone will know."

As for Corgan's aforementioned past, more than 200 Pumpkins' songs will be made available digitally through online music stores on April 5th, including their six studio albums and dozens of B-sides. "The band was really aggressive about recording B-sides," Corgan says. "There's a song called 'Set the Ray to Jerry' that Flood, our producer, didn't think much of, but many Pumpkins fans think it's one of the best things we ever did."

Corgan just finished shooting the video for "Walking Shade" in Los Angeles and he plans to launch a world tour in July.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/st...organ?pageid=rs.Artistcage&pageregion=triple3

Billy Corgan to Release Debut Solo Album 'THEFUTUREEMBRACE' June 21 on Warner Bros. Records; World Tour to Follow
Thursday March 31, 3:52 pm ET

LOS ANGELES, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Mar 31, 2005 -- BILLY CORGAN, one of alternative modern rock's most compelling artists, is set to release his debut solo album "THEFUTUREEMBRACE" June 21 on Warner Bros. Records. Over shadowy guitar lines and beautifully lush cascades of sound, CORGAN warmly and vividly delivers pure expressions of love and devotion in the face of uncertainty, doubt and sorrow. He'll bring these melodic and haunting songs -- including "Walking Shade," the album's upcoming first track for radio -- to audiences in intimate venues when he launches a world tour beginning in July (dates TBA).

Says the revered singer, songwriter and guitarist whose groundbreaking work with the Smashing Pumpkins and later Zwan defined modern rock: "Many people assume when I do more progressive work that I am trying to move away from something, when honestly what I am trying to do is get closer to who I really am. I tried to sum up all my feelings about my life and the world around me in the most beautiful ways I could dream up. It is easy to be negative, and much harder to find that silver lining behind the clouds of modern society."

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"THEFUTUREEMBRACE" was produced by Corgan along with Bjorn Thorsrud and Bon Harris, mixed by Alan Moulder and recorded in Chicago. The sound is panoramic, and the songs have a push-and-pull emotional tension. The album contains 11 CORGAN originals plus a cover of the early Bee Gees classic "To Love Somebody," which dovetails with CORGAN's own themes of devotion and features Robert Smith of the Cure on backing vocals. Elsewhere, former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin plays on "DIA."

What inspired the title "THEFUTUREEMBRACE?"

"Album titles usually just come to me, I don't really give them much thought," explains CORGAN. "'THEFUTUREEMBRACE' just seemed to sum up the way I felt about my desire to move forward, in life, in love, and in music..."

Asked about the album's production, CORGAN says, "I don't really think about production much...it's like saying, 'Why did you choose to wear that color?' Sound to me is the way I express the shades of emotion, and this album has a lot of smeared paint... like a child who doesn't color in between the lines..."

On "THEFUTUREEMBRACE," CORGAN aims to find innocence and purity as the world rages around him. His tone is questioning, his vocals are tender, and his lyrical flow is as seamless as the poetry in his book of poems "Blinking With Fists" (Faber & Faber, 10/04). A noteworthy achievement, "Blinking With Fists" was the highest-debuting poetry book on the New York Times' best-seller list in over a decade.

The album opens with "All Things Change," in which CORGAN looks at life on all fronts -- "all things change/around/all is faith/unwound" -- but is ultimately hopeful. The rhythmically propulsive "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" contains images of apocalypse -- "the siren calls outside/they want to kill us all/innocents, wounded souls/full of rage/nowhere to go" -- but has the sincere, uplifting refrain, "Can I give my old heart to you?" Later, amid the pointed guitar lines of the upbeat "Walking Shade," CORGAN sings, "I'm out walking shade/to brush these fires aside/to calm the rising fight/to build you a new life." The album concludes with "Strayz," a ballad about truth and love that's simple, pure and evocative, as CORGAN relates: "you know I'm true/wasn't born to follow/you stay with me/you stay with me when I go."

In other news, April 5 marks the date that the entire Smashing Pumpkins catalog will be available in the digital domain for the first time. As one of the pre-eminent alternative groups in history, the band's prolific output of 227 songs in 10 years shed light on both their enormous success as a cult favorite and mega-platinum monster. All the official album releases are here in all their glory, as well as 114 non-album tracks, including rare imports, long out-of-print songs, obscure covers, soundtrack releases, vinyl only B-sides and limited editions.

The full track listing for "THEFUTUREEMBRACE" is as follows:

"All Things Change"
"Mina Loy (M.O.H.)"
"TheCameraEye"
"To Love Somebody"
"A100"
"DIA"
"Now (And Then)"
"I'm Ready"
"Walking Shade"
"Sorrows (in blue)"
"Pretty, pretty STAR"
"Strayz"

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/050331/083786.html


All I can say is: w00t.

 

[Dead]

Set the Ray to jerry is an amazing song...

 

[Diablos]

Set the Ray to jerry is an amazing song...

All this new info and you comment on a song that was released in 1996! :lol

 

[Mifune]

I'm cautiously optimistic about this. Horrible title, though. The Future Embrace is fine. No need to mash it up into one word.

 

[bonesquad]

I wonder how long this "band" lasts before Billy breaks himself up...

I was always disappointed we only got one album out of Zwan, though I guess I cried longer when the Pumpkins brokeup...

Can't wait to hear it though.

 

[BigJonsson]

Score!

 

[Diablos]

Haha, it's kind of hard for solo artists to break themselves up. You're either working or not. There's nothing beyond... you. If he walks away from his solo career, he's either gonna fade away completely or get the Pumpkins back together. As I have already said before, Chamberlin basically said a Pumpkins reunion in like another 3 years or so is likely, and that he would be interested in doing it. Corgan and Chamberlin basically agree on everything, so I'm pretty sure Corgan feels the same way.

It's cool that he's doing a song with Robert Smith of The Cure... but uh. To Love Somebody by the Bee Gees? :\ Unlikely indeed, but we'll have to wait and see.

Yeah, TheFutureEmbrace looks kind of weird, but so did Pisces Iscariot, Siamese Dream, and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness... only difference is that you are used to them. Of course, at least the words in those titles are seperated.

A noteworthy achievement, "Blinking With Fists" was the highest-debuting poetry book on the New York Times' best-seller list in over a decade.

Never knew this. +1 Billy.

I was always disappointed we only got one album out of Zwan, though I guess I cried longer when the Pumpkins brokeup...

Well for the 50th time SP will get back together... as for Zwan? Yeah, sucks that they only had one album, but guess what, Zwan was bootlegged like the recording equipment would not exist the year after. For example, if you get the 11/21/2001, 12/14/2001 and 04/10/2002 shows, you basically have three albums, heh. Throw in the BBC sessions and the Cafe de la Danse radio bootleg, and you have yourself one hell of a discography for a band that didn't even survive past 2 years...

 

[Star Power]

I'm looking forward to it. I hear that it's somewhat similar to Adore, which is awesome.. I think Billy can pull it off. He's a reallt talented guy.


Crappy album name AND song titles, though.

 

[Diablos]

For bonesquad, Star Power, anyone else interested:

http://s37.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1X7TGJB8N7EIK375F7G18BKAWK

Some better songs from Zwan's live performances. Their studio album had nothing on their shows. (There are no copyrights on these songs, thanks)

 

[Star Power]

Thanks a lot.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

i will reserve judgement for when i hear the record myself, but as the #1 pumpkins fan on this board i have to ask why can't billy just rocket again? he knows we want it, i'm pretty sure HE wants to, so stop being stubborn and jam!

 

[Diablos]

i will reserve judgement for when i hear the record myself, but as the #1 pumpkins fan on this board i have to ask why can't billy just rocket again? he knows we want it, i'm pretty sure HE wants to, so stop being stubborn and jam!

haha, you're busting out the 2000 SP logo I see :lol
Billy's getting kind of older... he's a lot more mellow, not really depressed, etc. I find it hard to imagine Billy singing a song like "Fuck You" today.

Star Power: no prob..

 

[TheDrowningMan]

Really looking forward to this record.

 

[cubicle47b]

Thanks Diablos. I'm downloading now. I still love the Zwan concert in Paris I downloaded a year ago.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

i dont want him to kick out the jams fuck you style, but just the overall tone of zwan was freaking crappy. i would be satisfied with songs like daphne descends and tear. adore was a "mellow" album but it was awesome.

 

[Space Age Playboy]

Just listened to Set the Ray To Jerry. What's the big deal about this song? It's dull and unremarkable in every possible way. It's obvious to me why it was left off of their albums.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Honestly...