ThePumpkins.net

I've never been a big fan of Machina. In fact, I consider it to be by far the Pumpkins' worst release. And I haven't much more appreciation for Machina 2, though the price was right for that one

So I finally got round to compiling my Ultimate Machina - a compilation of songs from both Machina releases onto one CD.
And the resulting CD I made is great and I will listen to this a lot more than I would ever listen to the Machina albums as they were originally.

My compilation ended up being 19 songs (12 from Machina 2, 7 from Machina) and runs at around 77:26.

Here's my tracklisting, in the order I decided on:

01. Everlasting Gaze
02. Lucky 13
03. Cash Car Star
04. Dross
05. Stand Inside Your Love
06. Let Me Give The World To You
07. This Time
08. Glass and the Ghost Children
09. Innosense
10. Slow Dawn
11. Wound
12. Speed Kills
13. Glass
14. Blue Skies/version electrique
15. Raindrops + Sunshowers
16. Home
17. With Every Light
18. If There Is A God/piano and voice
19. Try/version 1


There were a couple of other songs that came close but were dropped to make it fit on a CD, or because they just didn't seem to 'fit'.

So, what do you think of my Ultimate Machina? And what would yours be?

good but i of the mourning, age of innocense, and in my body are some of my favorite tracks. here's mine

01. Everlasting Gaze
02. Lucky 13
03. Cash Car Star
04. Dross
05. Stand Inside Your Love
06. Let Me Give The World To You
07. This Time
08. Glass and the Ghost Children
09. I of the Mourning
10. Slow Dawn
11. The Imploding Voice
12. Speed Kills
13. In My Body
14. Try, Try, Try
15. The Sacred and Profane
16. With Every Light
17. Age of Innocense

(Saturnine if there's more time)

Machina II never gets any love

If you're going to make an "ultimate" Machina album you probably should include songs from the FAEOMM 60m Tape, demos, bsides, etc.

In the spirit of Machina II, I broke up the album into 3EP and a full length album. I think it turned out really well.

The Everlasting Gaze
In My Body
Slow Dawn
Heavy Metal Machine

Glass and the Ghost Children
Blue Skies Bring Tears (FAEOMM)
The Crying Tree of Mercury (Piano)
If There is a God (Sad-Remix)

Glass’ Theme (Glass and the Machines of God Remix)
White Spyder
Here’s to the Atom Bomb (Machina II)

Lucky 13
Dross
Soul Power
The Sacred and Profane
Stand Inside Your Love
Let Me Give the World to You
Go
Home
Innosence
This Time
Try (Alt)
Cash Car Star
Saturnine
Wound
With Every Light
Age of Innocence
Speed Kills (Machina II)

I Of The Mourning and This Time are the best tracks off Machina. To be fair, Machina is a different album, though it's probably my favorite from them, and I realize your criticism, but I can't help but feel Zeitgeist is the worst release.

And having two separate Machina albums are cooler, in my opinion.

blueseattle wrote:
Yeah, I respect that. I know some people really like Machina - I try to, but I just can't, whereas Zeitgeist I enjoyed from the first time I heard it.
I do now love the Ultimate Machina CD I've made though. If they put that out as the album I would have enjoyed it a lot. I think it says something that I picked more songs from Machina 2 than the actual Machina release. And Lucky 13, Cash Car Star, Dross and Let Me Give The World to You are amongst my favourites - I'm really surprised none of those made the main album.

And Pete, I like the way you broke it up into 3 EPs and a full length. I did it as one CD purely for practical reasons - I have one disc that I can stick in the player and listen to all my favourite Machina-era songs. Sadly I never feel the urge to put the actual Machina/Machina 2 CDs in

01. Lucky 13

02. Everlasting Gaze

03. Cash Car Star

04. Dross

05. Stand Inside Your Love

06. Let Me Give The World To You

07. Real Love

08. I of the Mourning

09. Go

10. Try, Try, Try

11. This Time

12. Glass and the Ghost Children

13. Age of Innocence

This is what it should have been like, not too damn long! I think Lucky 13 works better as an opener, with pretty much the majority of the albums heavier tracks following on. I've arranged the continuity with Try & This Time because lyrically they are very similar. I also added 'Go' which is quite often overlooked but I do enjoy it.
Obviously my ultimate-Machina is short but I think in this sense there is no actual album filler which doesn't make you sit there skipping tracks.
In a perfect world Billy would have written Adore & Machina at pretty much the same time, then these two albums would be combined & they would never have even been the worst SP releases.
When it comes to the musical theories of SP's albums I think Zeitgeist is there worst release, lyrically and musically. That said; Jimmy's drumming is on top form in Zeitgeist.
Sorry, I'm writing an essay at the moment for my media project so I'm in that essay writing mood!!

I actually quite like both the Machina's (though II is a bit too repetative) The one thing that always bothered me though is that the acoustic version of Wound never made it onto either of them, it's far better than the version that made the cut IMO

dang, i forgot heavy metal machine and real love on my list. i'll take off... wow, i'll just add them to the end

yeeeiiii, an adore/machina fusion would be sweet..

Go is definitely the best Iha song.

OK! HERE WE GO ON A MAGIC TRACKLIST ADVENTURE! Mine begins with zero...

0. Glass's Theme
1. The Everlasting Gaze
2. Stand Inside Your Love
3. Eye of the Mourning
4. This Time
5. Try, Try, Try
6. Lucky 13
7. Vanity
8. Speed Kills (either version)
9. Glass and the Ghost Children
10. Dross
11. The Sacred and Profane
12. Cash Car Star
13. The Imploding Voice
14. Heavy Metal Machine
15. Age of Innocence

I don't really like the studio version of Let Me Give the World to You but if possible I'd include the acoustic Machina Demos version in there somewhere.

I do believe my list is the best...

Homicidal_llama wrote:
Well, I'd agree both Machina and Machina 2 have a lot of filler tracks, but with the version I made, for me at least, there would be no tracks to skip - as I said I would even have put a couple more on there if I could fit them. I'm not a big fan of the Machina albums, but I think picking through them there are at least 20 good tracks.

machinas are awesome. both.

Yes, I love all SP albums. Even the MACHINAs.

Machina is an incredibly underated album, and dont get me started on adore - but i can see why its not liked that much. The production style takes a while to get used to it and some of the songs sound kinda random on there. But you have to remember its a concept album and thats why certain songs are on there and how they sound etc. Machina 2 had some great songs but in general, i felt was quite weak. Machina took some time to appreciate but i honestly found it the most accessible of all the pumpkin records. I used to hate the crying tree of mercury but now i think its awesome. But anyway, here's my 'perfect machina collection' (although i wouldnt change the original album.

1. Hope
2. Slow dawn
3. I of the mourning
4. Stand inside your love
5. Home
6. Let me give the world to you
7. Heavy metal machine
8. Glass and the ghost children
9. Speed kills
10.The everlasting gaze
11.This time
12.Go
13.If there is a God
14.Try Try Try
15.Age of Innocense

how come i of the mourning never became the third single... i love try, try, try but would have liked i of the mourning more

Maybe try try try better fitted as the final single for the band; they never could hold on...

I of the mourning was pretty much the next single though; they played it on letterman (incidentally one of the best pumpkins performances ever)it was pretty much always in their set for the final tours but they never had time to release it.

blueseattle wrote:I won't say a thing as to which is the better release. However, I agree with you that Machina was meant to be enjoyed in it's entirety - not with a few choice songs emphasized while others are cut out all-together.

Ultimate Machina would be the form in which the band originally meant to release it: as a double album - nothing cut, with the exception of a few of the alternate versions on Machina II.

*Replace the Machina I version of Blue Skies with the Machina II version.

*Remove alternate of Cash Car Star.

*Remove spacey Glass' Theme.

*As for If There Is A God, I prefer the instrumental version - though I don't necessarily think it's better than the piano version. Same with Try, Try, Try. I think both versions have their merits...

*Cut Machina II version of H.M.M.

this should have been the singles;
everlasting gaze
stand inside your love
age of innocense (this would have been better for radio than try try try)
then I of the mourning (to close out)

am i the only one who thinks The Sacred and Profane and The Imploding Voice are the best tracks?

Don't get me wrong, the WHOLE album is effing great, but these two songs are so underrated yet so awesome.