Released: 2020

Genres: Synthpop, Alternative Rock

The Musiquarium’s CYR Review Score: 4 out of 10

Following Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. (a contender for most pretentious album title of all time), the album that saw the reunion of Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha, comes an abandonment of everything from that album and an embrace of some of the worst synthpop you’ll ever hear.

Some twenty odd years ago, The Smashing Pumpkins had already taken a left-turn into synthpop territory with 1998’s Adore, an album that while bold, was ultimately a step down from the band’s first three albums. It did contain classics like Ava Adore and Perfect, but wasn’t as successful of a reinvention as say, KID A was for Radiohead, then in the early 2010s, Billy Corgan began to incorporate synthesizers into The Smashing Pumpkins’ music again (with mixed results). This time around, things fare even worse, as most of these songs here sound like cheesy eighties synthpop from someone who just discovered what a synthesizer is.

For some reason, Billy Corgan’s preferences for synthesizers is terrible, with him always opting for the corniest, most dated sounding synthesizers he can get his hands on. It actually sounds like he is just hitting play on all of his keyboard’s presets. For comparison, listen to something like Tame Impala’s Currents, a 2015 album that prominently uses synthesizers that sound absolutely mesmerizing and addictive. Now go and listen to CYR — one album sounds fresh and futuristic and the latter sounds like something that would have sounded dated 40+ years ago.

And when the songs don’t sound outdated, they are hindered by Corgan’s voice, which has aged like milk. Even in the band’s prime, Billy Corgan’s voice was an acquired taste, but it had character and fit the music, but here, he just feels out of his element and often sounds like he is on the verge of losing his voice, as if he was shouting at a concert the night before the recording sessions. Is Billy surrounded by yes men who are too afraid to tell him that his singing sounds like complete shit or does he just ignore their advice?

Billy Corgan was able to keep most of the original Smashing Pumpkins line-up together for a second album and this is what he chooses to do? You have Jimmy fucking Chamberlin and you use drum machines for most of the album? There’s also just simply too much music here and it’s not engaging or interesting enough to warrant one’s attention for 80 minutes, nor do Billy Corgan’s vocals sound pleasant whatsoever.

Do yourself a favour and steer clear of CYR, which is one of the worst albums of 2020.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view The Smashing Pumpkins on Discogs.

Back to the 2020 Album Guide or the The Smashing Pumpkins Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard