Smashing Pumpkins "Machina II / The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music" (2000)
An expanded edition of the Smashing Pumpkins album Machina / The Machines of God from the year 2000 is being sold exclusively through Billy Corgan's Madame ZuZu's website, in a limited-edition pressing of 3,500 units. The shipping date was set for today, September 5, 2025. As of this writing, the set is not yet available digitally, or in any other format through any other distributors. Subtitled as the Aranea Alba Edition, the 8-LP box set contains a staggering 80 tracks, 48 of them making up the full Machina album in the form which Corgan had originally envisioned, along with 32 bonus tracks.
Where did all of those tracks come from? The original Machina CD issued in 2000 consisted of just 15 tracks. Corgan's original plan was to release Machina as a 2-CD set, like the earlier Pumpkins classic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. But the folks at Virgin Records did not think this idea was feasible, after the band's 1998 album Adore was considered a commercial disappointment. Corgan had then hoped to release the full album in two separate parts, but the Machina CD sold poorly compared to the band's earlier albums, and the release of the second CD was scrapped by the label. (In either case, the total number of tracks would have been nowhere near 48; many of the Aranea Alba Edition tracks are previously unreleased).
Corgan and the Pumpkins then made a move that was truly ahead of its time: they self-released the second part of the Machina album online, for free listening and/or downloading. How was this done in September of 2000? The Pumpkins had 25 vinyl copies pressed, and distributed them to a selection of close-knit fans who were instructed to upload the recordings onto the internet. This Napster-era stunt was pulled off a good seven years before Radiohead made waves by self-releasing their 2007 In Rainbows album online, and about the same number of years before the vinyl record resurgence came about. (To wit, the first Record Store Day event took place in 2008). The full title of this online release was Machina II / The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, interpreted by some as a dig at Virgin Records. As of this writing, Machina II has still not been commercially released, 25 years from the day of its online distribution.
The released Machina album from 2000 was widely misunderstood. Intended as a concept album, it was instead touted as a return to the guitar-rock-based sounds of the band's 1995 Mellon Collie album, after the more electronic stylistic shift of 1998's Adore -- which was the worst way for the listener to think when approaching Machina. When compared to Mellon Collie, the Machina album came across like the work of a band in its death throes, trying to recapture old glories from barely five years earlier, and failing to do so. This impression was compounded by reports of the band's internal troubles, and the fact that bassist D'arcy Wretzky exited the Pumpkins before the album was completed -- and, of course, the band's (temporary) breakup taking place before the end of that year. So, for a long time, Machina had a bad reputation as an album that embodied the sound of a once-huge, once-hip band falling apart, and not in an artistically compelling way.
When the listener is aware of the album's context, it works much better, though it still does not meet its lofty goals. Machina was designed as a Ziggy Stardust-like concept album revolving around a fictitious rock star character called Glass, and the songs were supposedly works by Glass' fictitious band called the Machines Of God -- hence the album's full title. Instead of being a return to the Pumpkins' earlier sounds, Machina was actually an ambitious attempt by the band to further evolve and explore new musical territory. It's still no great masterpiece, but Machina makes much more sense when its true intentions are understood, and its tracks can then be better appreciated. At the same time, it's still best not to take the whole "concept album" thing too seriously here. Individual tracks about loneliness, emptiness, and rock stardom come across better than, say, the ten-minute opus "Glass And The Ghost Children", in which Corgan dares to repetitively utter the Ziggy Stardust-like lyric: "As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her".
If Machina had been issued as a pricey double-CD set as intended, it may have gone down in history as an even greater commercial disaster, not only because it would have invited even more damaging comparisons to Mellon Collie, but also because it would have likely been found exhausting for many casual fans. In truth, Machina ran too long even as a single-CD.
As for Machina II / The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, there are still plenty of ways to listen to that never-commercially-released album online. And it's well worth hearing. This half of the Machina project has a sound which generally uses much more electronica than the released Machina album did, as if these tracks were kept off that CD because the record label did not want their electronic sounds on the album. Putting those tracks on one separate album makes for a fascinating, futuristic alternative-pop experience. Not that the expected Pumpkins guitar sounds aren't here, but they are often mixed very well with the auras created by the electronic sounds. Of the 14 tracks from the two vinyl LP's in this set that were meant to make up the proper Machina II album, the first half of them tend to take on an air of dreaminess, but with some grit, coming partially from Corgan's characteristically rough vocals. One track, "Go", is more warmly sung by guitarist James Iha, and has more of a shoegazing effect. A few tracks, like "White Spyder" and the "Version Electrique" of "Blue Skies Bring Tears", have a slightly harsher industrial sound. The album's concept is more evident here; the lyrics suggest that the rock star character named Glass is arrogant on the outside, but feels an empty void on the inside. There are more lyrical references to spiders from Mars, and "Cash Car Star" lifts a few words from Grand Funk Railroad. We'll never know how Machina II would have been received if it had been released commercially in or around 2000. But it's still a good album to discover online in the present day. Even if this subset of tracks was not originally meant to be presented in this frame and sequence, Machina II still stands on its own as an innovative alternative work, able to withstand comparison to recordings by more contemporary indie rock artists.
Besides the two vinyl LP's that contained the 14 main tracks of Machina II, the very limited vinyl edition also contained three bonus 10-inch EP's, containing a total of 11 tracks which were supposedly "B-sides". For the most part, they sound more like disposable CD bonus tracks. The four songs on the first EP sound unrelated to Machina II, and sound unfinished as well, like demos loaded with guitar dissonance. The four songs on the second EP sound like tracks that are almost finished, but are still too heavy on guitar distortion. These four tracks include an early take of "Cash Car Star", and a version of "Speed Kills" that is inferior to the one added to the 25th Anniversary Edition of Machina. All four sound like they were more likely to be en route to Machina I than II. The dark and defiant "Lucky 13" is the one to pick from this portion. The third EP is the best of the three, containing alternate versions of two songs from Machina I and one from Machina II (the latter being a piano ballad version of "If There Is a God"). The alternate version of "Try, Try, Try" has slightly less shimmering production, and different lyrics; the alternate version of "Heavy Metal Machine" has a more heavily distorted industrial sound, and Corgan's vocals sound almost robotic.
Aside from the mostly negligible EP tracks, Machina II is a good musical discovery, even (especially?) on its own, without being heard as part of the behemoth Aranea Alba Edition. Also, anyone who has not heard the 2000 Machina CD in a long time is advised to revisit that album; you might find that it is better than you remembered.
Smashing Pumpkins "Machina II / The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music" (Constantinople CR-04) 2000
Track Listing:
1. Glass' Theme
2. Cash Car Star
3. Dross
4. Real Love
5. Go
6. Let Me Give the World to You
7. Innosense
8. Home
9. Blue Skies Bring Tears (Version Electrique)
10. White Spyder
11. In My Body
12. If There Is a God (full band)
13. Le Deux Machina
14. Here's To The Atom Bomb
EP one (Constantinople CR-01)
1. Slow Dawn
2. Vanity
3. Saturnine
4. Glass (spacey version)
EP two (Constantinople CR-02)
1. Soul Power
2. Cash Car Star
3. Lucky 13
4. Speed Kills
EP three (Constantinople CR-03)
1. If There Is a God (piano)
2. Try (Again)
3. Heavy Metal Machine (version 1 alt)
Where did all of those tracks come from? The original Machina CD issued in 2000 consisted of just 15 tracks. Corgan's original plan was to release Machina as a 2-CD set, like the earlier Pumpkins classic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. But the folks at Virgin Records did not think this idea was feasible, after the band's 1998 album Adore was considered a commercial disappointment. Corgan had then hoped to release the full album in two separate parts, but the Machina CD sold poorly compared to the band's earlier albums, and the release of the second CD was scrapped by the label. (In either case, the total number of tracks would have been nowhere near 48; many of the Aranea Alba Edition tracks are previously unreleased).
Corgan and the Pumpkins then made a move that was truly ahead of its time: they self-released the second part of the Machina album online, for free listening and/or downloading. How was this done in September of 2000? The Pumpkins had 25 vinyl copies pressed, and distributed them to a selection of close-knit fans who were instructed to upload the recordings onto the internet. This Napster-era stunt was pulled off a good seven years before Radiohead made waves by self-releasing their 2007 In Rainbows album online, and about the same number of years before the vinyl record resurgence came about. (To wit, the first Record Store Day event took place in 2008). The full title of this online release was Machina II / The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, interpreted by some as a dig at Virgin Records. As of this writing, Machina II has still not been commercially released, 25 years from the day of its online distribution.
The released Machina album from 2000 was widely misunderstood. Intended as a concept album, it was instead touted as a return to the guitar-rock-based sounds of the band's 1995 Mellon Collie album, after the more electronic stylistic shift of 1998's Adore -- which was the worst way for the listener to think when approaching Machina. When compared to Mellon Collie, the Machina album came across like the work of a band in its death throes, trying to recapture old glories from barely five years earlier, and failing to do so. This impression was compounded by reports of the band's internal troubles, and the fact that bassist D'arcy Wretzky exited the Pumpkins before the album was completed -- and, of course, the band's (temporary) breakup taking place before the end of that year. So, for a long time, Machina had a bad reputation as an album that embodied the sound of a once-huge, once-hip band falling apart, and not in an artistically compelling way.
When the listener is aware of the album's context, it works much better, though it still does not meet its lofty goals. Machina was designed as a Ziggy Stardust-like concept album revolving around a fictitious rock star character called Glass, and the songs were supposedly works by Glass' fictitious band called the Machines Of God -- hence the album's full title. Instead of being a return to the Pumpkins' earlier sounds, Machina was actually an ambitious attempt by the band to further evolve and explore new musical territory. It's still no great masterpiece, but Machina makes much more sense when its true intentions are understood, and its tracks can then be better appreciated. At the same time, it's still best not to take the whole "concept album" thing too seriously here. Individual tracks about loneliness, emptiness, and rock stardom come across better than, say, the ten-minute opus "Glass And The Ghost Children", in which Corgan dares to repetitively utter the Ziggy Stardust-like lyric: "As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her".
If Machina had been issued as a pricey double-CD set as intended, it may have gone down in history as an even greater commercial disaster, not only because it would have invited even more damaging comparisons to Mellon Collie, but also because it would have likely been found exhausting for many casual fans. In truth, Machina ran too long even as a single-CD.
As for Machina II / The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, there are still plenty of ways to listen to that never-commercially-released album online. And it's well worth hearing. This half of the Machina project has a sound which generally uses much more electronica than the released Machina album did, as if these tracks were kept off that CD because the record label did not want their electronic sounds on the album. Putting those tracks on one separate album makes for a fascinating, futuristic alternative-pop experience. Not that the expected Pumpkins guitar sounds aren't here, but they are often mixed very well with the auras created by the electronic sounds. Of the 14 tracks from the two vinyl LP's in this set that were meant to make up the proper Machina II album, the first half of them tend to take on an air of dreaminess, but with some grit, coming partially from Corgan's characteristically rough vocals. One track, "Go", is more warmly sung by guitarist James Iha, and has more of a shoegazing effect. A few tracks, like "White Spyder" and the "Version Electrique" of "Blue Skies Bring Tears", have a slightly harsher industrial sound. The album's concept is more evident here; the lyrics suggest that the rock star character named Glass is arrogant on the outside, but feels an empty void on the inside. There are more lyrical references to spiders from Mars, and "Cash Car Star" lifts a few words from Grand Funk Railroad. We'll never know how Machina II would have been received if it had been released commercially in or around 2000. But it's still a good album to discover online in the present day. Even if this subset of tracks was not originally meant to be presented in this frame and sequence, Machina II still stands on its own as an innovative alternative work, able to withstand comparison to recordings by more contemporary indie rock artists.
Besides the two vinyl LP's that contained the 14 main tracks of Machina II, the very limited vinyl edition also contained three bonus 10-inch EP's, containing a total of 11 tracks which were supposedly "B-sides". For the most part, they sound more like disposable CD bonus tracks. The four songs on the first EP sound unrelated to Machina II, and sound unfinished as well, like demos loaded with guitar dissonance. The four songs on the second EP sound like tracks that are almost finished, but are still too heavy on guitar distortion. These four tracks include an early take of "Cash Car Star", and a version of "Speed Kills" that is inferior to the one added to the 25th Anniversary Edition of Machina. All four sound like they were more likely to be en route to Machina I than II. The dark and defiant "Lucky 13" is the one to pick from this portion. The third EP is the best of the three, containing alternate versions of two songs from Machina I and one from Machina II (the latter being a piano ballad version of "If There Is a God"). The alternate version of "Try, Try, Try" has slightly less shimmering production, and different lyrics; the alternate version of "Heavy Metal Machine" has a more heavily distorted industrial sound, and Corgan's vocals sound almost robotic.
Aside from the mostly negligible EP tracks, Machina II is a good musical discovery, even (especially?) on its own, without being heard as part of the behemoth Aranea Alba Edition. Also, anyone who has not heard the 2000 Machina CD in a long time is advised to revisit that album; you might find that it is better than you remembered.
Smashing Pumpkins "Machina II / The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music" (Constantinople CR-04) 2000
Track Listing:
1. Glass' Theme
2. Cash Car Star
3. Dross
4. Real Love
5. Go
6. Let Me Give the World to You
7. Innosense
8. Home
9. Blue Skies Bring Tears (Version Electrique)
10. White Spyder
11. In My Body
12. If There Is a God (full band)
13. Le Deux Machina
14. Here's To The Atom Bomb
EP one (Constantinople CR-01)
1. Slow Dawn
2. Vanity
3. Saturnine
4. Glass (spacey version)
EP two (Constantinople CR-02)
1. Soul Power
2. Cash Car Star
3. Lucky 13
4. Speed Kills
EP three (Constantinople CR-03)
1. If There Is a God (piano)
2. Try (Again)
3. Heavy Metal Machine (version 1 alt)
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