The Smashing Pumpkins: Adore (2LP) [VIRGIN]

Why you'll love it

This Virgin 2LP set comes in a foil gatefold with printed inner sleeves of photos, lyrics and credits, from Billy Corgan's 2014 remaster. Adore was the band's third straight album nominated for the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Foil gatefold jacket
• Printed inner sleeves with lyrics
• Pressed in the EU
• Stereo mix

About the album

After Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness turned them into one of the biggest bands on earth, The Smashing Pumpkins could have made another wall of guitars. Billy Corgan went the other way. With drummer Jimmy Chamberlin gone, his marriage over and his mother lost to cancer, he made a quiet, nocturnal record of drum machines, pianos and acoustic guitars that Rolling Stone's Greg Kot called a complete break with the past.

Flood and Brad Wood co-produced with Corgan, and the songs glow in the dark. "Ava Adore" stomps like a gothic drum-and-bass torch song, "Perfect" is a sunny cousin of "1979," "To Sheila" opens the record in a hush, and "Tear" and "Shame" go dark and grand. The long, tender "For Martha" is the emotional centre of it all. It was also their first album without an official drummer.

Critics praised the electronic turn, and it has gathered a devoted following ever since. MTV called it one of the most anticipated albums of 1998; plenty of people are still anticipating it now, mostly the ones who've just found it in our racks.

Also at Kops: more The Smashing Pumpkins on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Virgin, a reissue of the 1998 album.