Mary Star of the Sea

Ah, the awkward era of post-most of the Pumpkins in the band Billy Era. Right before we would get his...solo album, that thing, we would get Zwan. A veritable supergroup of indie-alt musicians of the 90s from David Pajo and Paz to Billy and more. We would get one of the more saccharine sweet projects and definite evidence of the 90s transforming into the 00s right before Emo/Scene would smash in and take us from the grunge and anger 90s, the full on dude-bro late 90s and early 00s, and into the androgynous, sad mid-late 00s.That being said, this album is still an under appreciated gem. Despite the band having its issues with Corgan (what band doesn't? He's a bit of an arse at times) the album flows so well and gives off so many hits. One of my favorites to blast on a road trip.A shout-out to the seller. Affordable, shipped super fast, thanks so much!

I was a MASSIVE Smashing Pumpkins fan throughout their 90s run, I think Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the greatest album of the 90s and the greatest American rock album of all time and Siamese Dream would be top 5 on the same list. I even loved their B-Side companions to both albums and Adore is another great album. Having said that, outside of a couple songs, I was not a fan of Machina and was not all that upset when they broke up, the timing was almost right for it. The passion was gone, they were just going through the motions circa 1999. The last thing I expected was to actually embrace a new Corgan band so soon after the breakup, but I saw Zwan on Saturday Night Live around the time this album was released and decided to invest in the album, almost out of loyalty to Billy and the impact his music had on my life in the 90s and to this day. Little did I know that this album would become such a vital recording for me. This band was PERFECT musically, I love the 3 guitar sound and Jimmy is stellar as always but the thing I loved most was Paz (bassist) and her background vocals, something I also loved when D'Arcy would back Billy up with the Pumpkins, which happened far too infrequently in my opinion. I think Billy Corgan is an outright GENIUS and a gift from God to all of us, but his voice is not exactly stellar, and I thought, along with his new positive attitude on this album, that his allowing Paz to harmonize so much with him on so many songs really added a great deal to the vocal stylings. It's almost hard to mention my favorite songs here because there are very, very few I disliked but "Declaration of Faith" and particularly "Ride a Black Swan" are sensational songs and "Desire" is another terrific tune. Many good ones in between but "Jesus I/Mary Star of the Sea", which was an enigma to me at first, is a favorite now, what AMAZING guitar work. Only Billy Corgan could write that song and make it work. If comparing Billy's albums overall, "Mary Star of the Sea" is his 3rd best behind "Siamese" and "Mellon Collie", it is THAT good. Arguably the best album of the 2000s to this day.

All of this "pumpkin talk"...pshhh people...c'mon. Although they did depart each other... One of them made a solo album in 1998 and his name was James Iha. This Cd Zwan has laid out for the world to hear reflects the same mood that James's Cd had in 1998...James Iha's Cd got rather bad reviews(not on amazon, but in the general public) and Zwan is exhaulted..I don't get it. Maybe it is in the Billy... Anyway I thought this CD along with James Iha's "Let it come down" are awesome and bring a lot to the rock scene...it isn't hard and it isn't soft. Warm and upbeat, I believe that if you are a fan of new music, and your not dwelling on the death of the pumpkins to fill your void this is for you. I was pleased to see the DVD with all of the band members acting funny and nuts... All in All 5 * album

My youth and cash was spent rockin' out to the Pumpkins. Gish is still the number one album that I own, followed by Siamese Dream. I like the other stuff, too, but I'm an Old School SP fan. I saw them live 12 times and saw Zwan live once. Maybe I've just grown up, or maybe it's Billy who grew up, but I just can't get into this album.Don't get me wrong, I really dig a couple of the tunes (of a broken heart - great tune), but I really miss the long, twisty psychedelia that SP was so famous for - Starla and Tristessa. "Jesus,I / Mary Star Of The Sea " is a hot spot on the Zwan CD.If this were anyone else, I'd give them 5 stars, but it's Billy and I just expect more out of such a guitar genius. I think my expectations are just too high to give it 5 stars. Too bad. Sorry Billy.

Chamberlin's work with Zwan was a huge step up in his development as a drummer and Corgan and the crew's writing was uplifting and powerful. Whatever BS that happened that broke these guys up and caused Billy to clam up and say he won't release more material for some time (or at all) is terrible but necessary I suppose, otherwise this wouldn't have been created.The DVD was cool, got to see just a little behind the scenes, not as much as I had hoped but it is full of tracks that didn't make it on the CD.

while i was a tiny bit skeptical about this outing by billy and company, i didnt think it was gonna be this good!!! every song has the corgan smear,which i love. plus chamberlins drumming is top notch once again. im not sure how many songs the new musicians helped write because nothing stood out as un-corganish. the songs are an excellent addition to the pumpkins collection. i personally love track #3. the dvd is about 40mins of behind the scenes type footage. overall, it really fits with your pumpkins music library.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

It’s such an awesome album and a welcome turn for Billy. The dvd captures a great moment in time for all these artists careers. If you have heard this album before and think it’s good, do yourself a favor and track down the dvd. It’s worth it.

I was pleasantly surprised that I could purchase this gem on Amazon! Great music!

Awesome album! enjoyable from tip to tails!The CD came before the date scheduled! great seller: 10/10

This album is the soundtrack to my time at university, only took me 16 years from hearing my flatmate play it to going out and actually getting it

disco decente di Billy dopo aver sciolto gli smashing.... forse un po' troppo allegro rispetto a quello per cui è diventato famoso

took time to reach , but this cd is genuine product , usa importlove billy corgan works great songwriter and sartist