THE SMASHING PUMPKINS Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Long-term Pumpkins fans might have been forgiven for thinking that Billy Corgan had taken leave of his senses of late, given his ventures into wrestling management and the eight-hour freeform modular synth take on Herman Hesse's Siddhartha that he baffled an audience with in his coffee shop recently. Yet fear not: on the evidence of Monuments To An Elegy, the combination of riff attack, fragile melody and plaintive melancholy that was at the heart of the Pumpkins' classic work is very much present and correct, not to mention Corgan's charismatic songwriting suss. Monuments To An Elegy is a fitting title, for both the rock solid and emotionally engaging elements of classic Pumpkins are here explored anew.