The Ballads of The Smashing Pumpkins

After being absent from working in this blog for a week, I'm back with a new article. 

Since the upcoming Smashing Pumpkins live album Oceania: Live in NYC will come out on September 24, I've decided to list every ballad by the Chicago-based alternative rock band from their debut Gish to their recent album Oceania.

From Gish (1991):

1. "Rhinoceros"
2. "Crush"
3. "Suffer"
4. "Snail"
5. "Window Paine"
6. "Daydream"

From Siamese Dream (1993)

1. "Today"
2. "Disarm"
3. "Soma"
4. "Mayonaise"
5. "Spaceboy"
6. "Sweet Sweet"
7. "Luna"

From Pisces Iscariot (1994)

1. "Soothe"
2. "Whir"
3. "Blew Away"
4. "Obscured"
5. "Landslide"
6. "Starla"
7. "La Dolly Vita"
8. "Spaced"

From Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995):

Disc 1

1. "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" (Disc 1)
2. "Tonight, Tonight" (Disc 1)
3. "To Forgive" (Disc 1)
4. "Cupid de Locke" (Disc 1)
5. "Galapogos" (Disc 1)
6. "Muzzle" (Disc 1)
7. "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" (Disc 1)
8. "Take Me Down" (Disc 1)

Disc 2

1. "Thirty-Three" (Disc 2)
2. "In the Arms of Sleep" (Disc 2)
3. "1979" (Disc 2)
4. "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" (Disc 2)
5. "Stumbeline" (Disc 2)
6. "We Come Out at Night" (Disc 2)
7. "Beautiful" (Disc 2)
8. "Lily (My One and Only)"
9. "By Starlight"
10. "Farewell and Goodnight"

From Adore (1998):

1. "To Sheila"
2. "Perfect"
3. "Daphne Descends"
4. "Once Upon a Time"
5. "Tear"
6. "Crestfallen"
7. "Appels + Oranjes"
8. "Pug"
9. "The Tales of Dusty and Pistol Pete"
10. "Annie-Dog"
11. "Shame"
12. "Behold! The Night Mare"
13. "For Martha"
14. "Blank Page"

The Big Chart Battle: Katy Perry or Lady Gaga?

Four days ago, Katy Perry's comeback single "Roar" made its radio debut, two days ahead of its official release. Also Lady Gaga's comeback single "Applause" was originally going to be released on August 19 but an internet leak caused the single to be rush-released to compete with "Roar".

Since "Applause" will be in the UK Top 10 this Sunday and I have to wait for "Roar" making its UK release next month so which comeback single will be better: Perry or Gaga? So here's my review of the highly-anticipated comeback singles. But you have to wait for their next albums Prism and Artpop coming out in October and November, respectively.

Katy Perry - "Roar"

"Roar" starts off as a synthpop song, but as the song progresses as a Fun-esque power pop song. I noticed there are elements of arena rock and glam rock that incorporate in this song. This song is quite very different from the songs of her pop-heavy albums One of the Boys and Teenage Dream. 

I enjoyed the stylistic change from this song, it changed Perry from a glam pop singer to more anthemic pop rocker. I give this song 5 out of 5 stars because this is one killer track and a number one hit in the works.

Watch the lyric video for "Roar":

Lady Gaga - "Applause"

"Applause" starts out as a new wave-meets-synthpop song, but it kinda goes more Lennox-esque. I noticed that there are elements of rave music, drum n bass, synthrock and electronica. This song is not different from the songs of her three synthpop-heavy albums The Fame, The Fame Monster and Born This Way. 

This song is a disgrace to Eighties music and it's more a Madonna song than a Lady Gaga song. I didn't like the song because this is not the music we want to listen to and it's copying David Guetta's sound. I'm not gonna lie but she's gonna suffer from fourth album syndrome, not because of her new natural look but because of using too much new wave elements.

For the little monsters of Gaga, I'm sorry to say this, but it sucks. I blame the producer Zedd for this. I don't care if it's going to be a Top 5 hit, it will not, I repeat, will not top the UK Singles Chart this Sunday. I give this song 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Watch the lyric video for "Applause":

Verdict

The winner of the big chart battle goes to... Perry. "Roar" deserves to be number one in the UK and her native United States. Not only that, she is the most-followed female tweeter on Twitter and is getting a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year. 

Get ready for the darker and edgier side of Perry in Prism, out this October.

The Pete Best of Music

Pete Best was the first drummer of The Beatles, who stayed with the band from their formation in 1960 to his dismissal in 1962, later replaced by Ringo Starr. This started the so-called eponymous term in which a band or an act have a lesser-known line-up that makes the band unpopular only to be replaced by a better-known line-up.

Here's some Pete Best of well known music acts:

• Evanescence: Averted, as Ben Moody and David Hodges left the band during the Fallen tour in 2003 and became successful songwriters. Coincidentally, Moody and ex-members John LeCompt and Rocky Gray formed a similar band called We Are the Fallen in 2009, with ex-American Idol finalist Carly Smithson becoming the lead singer.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers line-up that lasted for one album only.

• Red Hot Chili Peppers: After John Frusciante's departure in 1992, the band replaced him with Arik Marshall for the remainder of Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour, only to be replaced again by then-former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. The result of the 1993-1998 line-up was the album One Hot Minute, which recieved mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the charts. This would later result Navarro's depature and Frusciante's return in 1998.

Under construction

Albums releasing in August 2013

Release date	Artist	Album	Genre	Label	Ref.
August 2	The Defiled	Daggers	Industrial metal, metalcore	Nuclear Blast	[417]
August 5	Swim Deep	Where the Heaven Are We	Indie pop	Chess Club, RCA	[418]
August 6	Asking Alexandria	From Death to Destiny	Metalcore, hard rock	Sumerian	[419]
	Black City Lights	Another Life		Stars & Letters	[420]
	The Civil Wars	The Civil Wars		Sensibility Music LLC, Columbia	[421]
	Demon Queen	Exorcise Tape	Electro-funk, synth-funk, trap	Rad Cult Records, The Orchard
	The Polyphonic Spree	Yes, It's True	Psychedelic pop, indie rock	Good, Kirtland, Cherry Red	[422]
	Pond	Hobo Rocket	Psychedelic rock, neo-psychedelia, hard rock	Modular	[423]
August 7	Zebrahead	Call Your Friends	Punk rock	MFZB Records	[424]
August 11	The Vaccines	Melody Calling		Columbia	[425]
August 12	White Lies	Big TV	Indie rock, post-punk revival	Fiction, Harvest, Universal Music Canada	[426]
August 13	K. Michelle	Rebellious Soul	R&B, soul	Atlantic	[427]
	Luke Bryan	Crash My Party	Country	Capitol Nashville	[428]
	Parachute	Overnight	Pop rock	Mercury	[429]
	Sam Phillips	Push Any Button		Littlebox Recordings	[430]
August 16	BT	A Song Across Wires	Trance, progressive house, dubstep	Armada Music	[431]
	Stromae	Racine carrée		Mosaert	[432]
August 19	Charlotte Church	Three	Indie pop, alternative rock, post-rock	Alligator Wine	[433]
	Travis	Where You Stand	Alternative rock, indie rock	Red Telephone Box, Kobalt	[434]
August 20	ASAP Ferg	Trap Lord	Hip hop	ASAP Worldwide, Polo Grounds, RCA	[435]
	Blessthefall	Hollow Bodies	Metalcore	Fearless	[436]
	Blue October	Sway	Alternative rock	Up/Down Records	[437]
	Born of Osiris	Tomorrow We Die Alive		Sumerian	[438]
	Earl Sweatshirt	Doris	Hip hop	Tan Cressida, Columbia	[439]
	Jimmy Buffett	Songs from St. Somewhere		Mailboat	[440]
	John Mayer	Paradise Valley	Folk rock, country rock, Southern rock	Columbia, Sony Music	[441]
	Lee DeWyze	Frames	Folk, rock, pop	Vanguard, 19	[442]
	Zola Jesus	Versions		Sacred Bones	[443]
August 23	Avenged Sevenfold	Hail to the King	Hard rock, heavy metal	Warner Bros.	[444]
	Ellie Goulding	Halcyon Days		Polydor	[445]
	Juicy J	Stay Trippy	Hip hop	Kemosabe, Columbia	[446]
	Michael Monroe	Horns and Halos	Rock	Spinefarm	[447]
	Naughty Boy	Hotel Cabana	R&B	Naughty Boy, Virgin EMI	[448]
	ReVamp	Wild Card	Symphonic metal, progressive metal	Nuclear Blast	[449]
August 26	Franz Ferdinand	Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action	Indie rock, dance-punk, dance-rock	Domino	[450]
	Money	The Shadow of Heaven	Dream pop, indie pop	Bella Union	[451]
August 27	Big Sean	Hall of Fame	Hip hop	GOOD Music, Def Jam	[452]
	Goodie Mob	Age Against the Machine	Hip hop		[453]
August 28	Tarja Turunen	Colours in the Dark	Symphonic metal	earMUSIC	[454]
August 30	John Legend	Love in the Future	R&B, soul	GOOD, Columbia	[455]
	Nine Inch Nails	Hesitation Marks	Electronic, electronic rock, alternative rock	Columbia, The Null Corporation	[456]
August 31	Kayo Dot	Hubardo	Avant-metal	Ice Level Records	[457]