Music Review: Billy Corgan resurfaces in Mary Star of the Sea

Published: Tuesday, February 25, 2003

A decade ago, a gangly, greasy rocker from Chicago released Siamese Dream and gave millions a feeling of fetal warmth using androgynous vocals and soothing cadence as his vehicle.

Then he shaved his head and looked like a fetus.

After several multi-platinum albums, Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan dissolved his band, slept with Courtney Love, wrote her an album and then jumped back on the mechanical bull of rock and roll.

Back in the saddle with his first album in more then two years, Corgan, along with ex-Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and the rest of the self-proclaimed “True Poets of Zwan,” delivers the rock pizza on time as promised. And it’s a smoking hot, 14-slice, deep-dish supreme.

With Zwan, Corgan adopts the moniker Billy Burke and reclaims the Pablo Escobar Throne of alternative rock, proffering some of the highest quality product on the market. Zwan’s first album Mary Star of the Sea won’t give listeners a runny nose, but what it will do is give them a blissful burning in their tummy.

Zwan looks demographically like Smashing Pumpkins, sounds exactly like Smashing Pumpkins and may even smell like a smashed pumpkin. Only subtle nuances inform the listener that this is a different band and even these may not be strong triggers.

Mary Star of the Sea tends to be a poppy, lucid, less covert sounding version of early Pumpkins. Corgan’s lyrics are more decipherable than usual and the feral grunge fuzz has been tamed. Yet Mary Star of the Sea plays to the same emotions as Siamese Dream, undeniably one of the most progressive and influential rock albums of the early ‘90s.

Accompanied with biblical references, stickers, and a brightly colored booklet that look like a scene from The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, it’s Corgan’s lyrical candidness that provides the album with appropriate mood and depth.

Opening songs like “Lyric,” “Settle Down” and “Declarations of Faith” are not only the most vivacious tracks on the album, but they’re also a stronger propellant than chlorofluorocarbons and propel the album forward.

The first six tracks are perfectly laid out. Corgan’s naïve, bittersweet voice and the timeless songwriting, especially on “Honestly,” perpetuates a steady rhythm that is only interrupted by the faux pas “Jesus, I,” a weak and unlucky track. However, the unexpected harmonica fill on the final cut “Come With Me” repairs this rupture and ends the album optimistically.

One can hope that Mary Star of the Sea is merely the first stage in an upward trajectory for Zwan. And if history serves as a harbinger of the future, Corgan and associates will not disappoint with subsequent endeavors.