Recorded 1999–2000 Length 92:23 Label Constantinople | Genre Alternative rock Language English | |
Released September 5, 2000 (2000-09-05) | ||
Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was released for free on the Internet on September 5, 2000. Plans for a standard physical release, bundled with the first part Machina/The Machines of God, were revealed to happen sometime in 2013, but has since been postponed indefinitely.
Contents
The album itself, a double LP, was packaged with three EPs full of B-sides and alternate versions. Both Machina albums are loose concept albums telling the story of "a rock star gone mad". Machina II was the last Smashing Pumpkins studio album until the band reformed in 2006, and also their last album to feature original member James Iha.
Background
Near the conclusion of the Machina sessions, it was Billy Corgan's wish to release a double album of material, but Virgin Records was unwilling to do that following the disappointing sales of Adore. After the release and poor sales of the single-disc Machina/The Machines of God, Corgan then wanted to release the second Machina album separately, but Virgin declined to do this as well. The band nonetheless returned to the Chicago Recording Company in July 2000 to finish what would become Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, which was subsequently released on Corgan's own label Constantinople Records. Only twenty-five copies were made, and were given mostly to friends of the band in addition to radio station Q101. A few of the 25 copies were purposely shipped to prominent fans in the online community, with instructions to immediately redistribute it on the Internet free of charge.
Promotion
The Pumpkins performed a track from the album ("Cash Car Star") on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which also ended up being the band's final television appearance until their 2007 revival. A previous live performance of the song, in an earlier and slightly different-than-final-version form, had been broadcast as a portion of Kiss' 1998 Psycho Circus Halloween special, where The Smashing Pumpkins served as the opening act.
Musical style
Machina II reflects "Corgan's obsession with dream-pop, Cure- and Depeche Mode-styled synth-goth, and glam-tinged heavy metal." The album picks up the thematic elements of "Glass and The Machines of God" started in Machina/The Machines of God. Songs like "Glass' Theme", "Cash Car Star", "Home", and the B-side "Speed Kills" are related to Corgan's story. The first three songs ("Glass' Theme", "Cash Car Star", and "Dross"), considerably more intense than much of the Pumpkins' other releases, are a hearkening to the earlier, famous Smashing Pumpkins sound, blending dream pop with arena rock, while "Let Me Give the World to You" has a melodic, radio-friendly sound. "Real Love", which would later appear on the band's Rotten Apples, has a sound reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine. "Home" has been called "simply gorgeous" and compared to U2. The album's closing track, "Here's to the Atom Bomb", has been compared favorably to the Pumpkins' biggest hit, "1979".
Response
Because it was not released conventionally, few professional reviews of the album were published, but those that surfaced were unanimously positive. The A.V. Club called it an "artistic high" for the band. Pitchfork Media opined that the band sounded "energized and at a creative peak". AllMusic labeled it a "winner". The Michigan Daily also published a review calling the music "some of the best Pumpkins material to date".
In April 2010, Billy Corgan commented on the album's reception, stating that: "I think the fan response at the time was very positive, as the fans who were around at the time seemed to like Machina II better than Machina I. That said, Machina I is proving now to be the more influential part of the work for many of the younger bands that I've talked to. [...] At the time I saw [releasing the album for free] as a one-time thing. I never thought we would see a near collapse of the music business and its dominant control on how music reaches people."
Track listing
All tracks written by Billy Corgan, except where noted.
The two-LP set is the album itself. Corgan has said that the three EPs are "technically the B-sides." CR-01, CR-02, etc. all refer to their released on Constantinople Records (Constantinople Records-Released 1, etc.). The only other Constantinople release, CR-05, was Live at Cabaret Metro 10-5-88, a gift given to fans exiting their farewell concert at the Cabaret Metro. The songs "Let Me Give the World to You" and "Saturnine" were originally written and recorded for Adore. The original "Let Me Give the World to You" was produced by Rick Rubin, and was later released on the deluxe edition of the 2014 reissue of Adore, alongside demos and remixes of "Saturnine" and a remixed version of Cash Car Star.