Rate the last album you listened to

So this was released 20 years ago tomorrow and I would like to say it divided Pumpkins fans, but that would imply that 50% of them liked it, and I really do not think it was the case. After the rip-roaring commercial and critical successes that were Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie, this stripped back, almost entirely acoustic album seemed to alienate fans, and it was just too much of a change in sound for the majority, even if a good handful of songs from Mellon Collie, including 1979, would have fit well enough into Adore.The album  did well enough critically and was a modest commercial success, but after the previous two albums, it was still considered a bit of a failure.

Personally, I have always adored it (pun fully intended). It is breathtakingly beautiful music, and lyrically it was the best stuff Corgan has ever written. Songs like Once Upon a Time, For Martha are not just two of the best songs Corgan ever wrote, they're two of the best songs anyone has ever written. In terms of popular music, the juxtaposition of extremely powerful lyrics against quiet and mellow sounds is something that has always worked for me, and I have never heard it work anywhere better than across the scope of this album. It's a wolf in lambs sheep's clothing.

I think time has thankfully been kind to this album, as it seems to have been re-evaluated massively in the eyes of Pumpkins fans, and I think the vast majority now see it as the masterwork it is.

Personally, I go back and forth, on which Pumpkins album is my favourite, but his is always one of the three I consider.

Top Tracks: Once Upon a Time, For Martha, Tear, Pug, Ava Adore, To Sheila…all of them pretty much.

This is a really solid debut for sure.  It's very dancey and wears it's influences heavy (which isn't a problem).  I like that it has a flow and a sense of coherency, but at the same time, it leaves it without a true standout track. I guess “The Only Time” is the closest it comes to that.  The main negative, is that the clarity often given to Reznor's voice in the mix, at times shows A) his weaknesses as a vocalist and B) his weaknesses (at that point) as a lyricist.

*****

When we get to our 90s Best Albums Poll, this will be way up the upper end of my ballot.  Such a fun album and maybe my favourite by and Irish band.  9.5/10