10:12am -- Start "Doomsday Clock"...to be fair, I am listening to the Best Buy version of the album with the extra track "Death From Above"...and the Orange cover....not sure yet how the different color cover will effect the album yet...
10:14am -- We are half way through "Doomsday Clock" and Billy Corgan is singing (and not screaming) about the "Doomsday clock, ticking in my heart"...so we are back to familiar territory here...a mid-strength rocker I would call it...
10:16am -- "7 Shades of Black" -- it is a weird effect when Billy is singing and his voice can also be clearly heard in the backing vocals that overlap...I makes me wonder the point of doing effects that can't really be done live without computers or special equipment or some weird lip syncing...The song is another mid-level intensity song...
10:19am -- "Bleeding the Orchid" -- much softer than the first two songs...I was a little worried that this album was not really going to have any "1979" or "Thirty-Three" moments but we seem to have one here...
10:22am -- "That's the Way (My Love Is) -- The best song yet. It could be a single.
10:27am -- I loose focus as I am reading another article...this can't be good...I lasted only 15 minutes...we are now into the first single "Tarantula" which is fine but I have heard it a bunch on Seattle radio...maybe that' why I lost focus...
10:31am -- "Starz" -- misspellings to do not impress me. "We are, we are starz." I am wondering why this is a Smashing Pumpkins record and not just Billy Corgan as he plays everything else except the drums...just like in his previous solo album "TheFutureEmbrace." Or perhaps the question is why wasn't that album put out by Smashing Pumpkins?
10:35am -- "United States" -- I am a little scared here...things could go wrong if it's about Bush...we are nearly 2 minutes in, no lyrics yet...oh wait, here we go..."revolution, revolution, revolution blues, what will they do to me?"
10:40am -- "United States" con't. We are now into a minimalist guitar solo..."I want to fight, I want to fight, revolution tonight"...
10:42am --My mp3 player shuts down from running a 1/2 an hour without touching it...
10:43am -- We are back again to "United States"...8:35 minutes in...1:17 left...my argument is that they should have combined the first two minutes and last 1:30 and had a great instrumental track that would speak to the title "United States" nicely...and maybe get them a Grammy for instrumental performance...
10:45am -- "Neverlost" -- I can't tell if I am hearing a xylophone or what it is...much more low-key than earlier tracks...
10:49am -- "Death From Above" -- this is the Best Buy bonus track...a little odd to include it in the middle of the album and change the album sequence form the "standard" version...as Douglas Adams would say the song is "mostly harmless"...
10:54am -- "Bring the Light" -- the chorus: "Bring the light, bring the light, bring the liiiiiiight."
What was it you want me to bring again?...Oh yeah, the light...right."
10:57am -- "(Come On) Let's Go" -- now we are back to it...key words: skulls, anesthetized, hate, lord...
Although the chorus is...you guessed it..."Come on, let's go."
11:00am -- "For God and Country" -- it doesn't really mention Iraq directly but reading between the lines that is what you get...
11:05am -- "Pomp and Circumstances" -- almost a hard-core Rufus Wainwright track...or Polyphonic Spree maybe...it is not exactly how I thought the album would end...
11:09am -- The album is over...
The Smashing Pumpkins -- "Zeitgeist" Rating: James Monroe
In Summary: An okay work by a Founding Father of Grunge.
