Complex but not complete.
Our expectations are set high and not met by this ill-planned record. The former drummer of both The Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan is here with a solo album, Dave Grohl this isn’t though. It’s Jimmy Chamberlin and he’s arrived peddling a load of blueprints for songs with not much built upon them. A lot of people would have been particularly looking forward to this release I’m sure, unlucky.
The 11 tracks presented on ‘Life Begins Again’ range from neo-jazz style, rambling rubbish to, at its best, a tune more in the tradition of the Pumpkins. The drumming is fabulous as ever, but the music as a whole seems to have very little more to it than a showcase of Chamberlin’s talents accompanied by a few other musicians adding a few bits to the beats.
It starts with ‘Streetcrawler’ an instrumental, as many are on this album, that’s got nothing more to it than a few repeated themes. ‘PSA’ begins in promise, ends in annoyance. The title track isn’t very good either; it’s only ‘Lokicat’ really that saves the day…
And why? Because Billy Corgan sings the song, to be fair, that’s not the only reason, this track, is miles above the others in terms of hooks and a sweet tune, if Jimmy had released just this as a single, we could be proud of him. But he didn’t and we have to put up with the other nine tracks of nonsense that just aren’t up to par.
The following ‘Cranes of Prey’ is a paint-by-numbers demonstration of metal with a sprinkling of quiet melody in the middle that doesn’t live up to the standard set by the Pumpkin’s classic ‘Siva.’ It’s a shame for that band that brought so much inspiration and delight in the nineties, that resulting side-projects and solo outings have gone from bad to worse. Zwan were ok, but not the best, Billy Corgan released his poetry to little or no acclaim and now this doesn’t restore anyone’s faith (or declarations thereof.)
It’s fishing for hooks, the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex with ‘Life Begins Again’ presents sub-standard material that we all know could be better. It’s complex in time signatures and music technique, but not complete in musicality, it’s an album of half songs. Ill-planned and ill-fated. Sorry…