Download Smashing Pumpkins Music
There is good news and bad news below. If you found your way here thinking that you could download the new Smashing Pumpkins album from this page, you’re going to be disappointed…but read on for links to download the last SP album as well as the latest concerts.
First, here’s the bad news: The new Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist is coming out in five versions. In order to get all of the new songs and bonuses, you’ve got to buy all the different versions (except the “standard” version, that comes with no extras, therefore only a foolish completist would buy that too).
- There’ll be the standard tracklist version, available everywhere with 12 songs.
- There’ll be the Best Buy version, featuring a bonus track titled “Death from Above” nestled between “Neverlost” and “Bring the Light.”
- There’ll be the Target version, featuring the TITLE TRACK, “Zeitgeist,” tacked on at the end.
- There’ll be the iTunes version, featuring a bonus track titled “Stellar,” tacked on at the end (plus other bonuses, which I previously blogged).
- There’ll be the special edition, which comes with a book.
I’m not crazy about this, but I’m not advocating that anyone download the album on a file-sharing network (a good way to get viruses/spyware). So what downloads am I speaking of in the header of this blog post?
This is the good news: I’m talking about all of the Smashing Pumpkins music that can be had for FREE on the internet, downloaded legally, and played on you iPod or burned to CD. Talking with casual Smashing Pumpkins fans, I’m often shocked to learn that so many people are unaware of Machina II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music. Only 25 original copies of this album and three EPs were pressed, and the vinyl was distributed to band members and close friends. The SPFC explains:
A followup to Machina, and the last album from the band. As a final farewell, a limited pressing album was made (3×10″ + 2LP, 5 discs total) and given away to be bootlegged out among the fans.
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All tracks are completely new/unheard, or new alternate versions of previously existing songs, except for Real Love, which appeared on the Friends & Enemies” 60m cassette>bootleg, and Le Deux Machina, which is the same synth version as found on the acoustic machina demos. The other songs which appear (i.e. Atom Bomb, Saturnine) are alternate versions which differ from otherwise released B-sides, etc.“Real Love” can now also be found on Rotten Apples (Greatest Hits), “Slow Dawn” and “Lucky 13″ appear on the Rotten Apples bonus disc Judas O, and “Try, Try, Try (alt. music/lyrics)” aka “Try / Version 1″ appears on the Untitled CD Single. These four tracks are the only Machina II tracks that were released by the band on CD.
Just to clear up any possible confusion, this is the final album from the band. There are 25 copies on vinyl only. There is not, and will not be a CD pressing.
So if you want to hear 25 Smashing Pumpkins songs that you’ve probably never heard, click here to download the MP3s from the Metro’s website.
The new incarnation of the Smashing Pumpkins has an open taping policy for their concerts. Fans are welcome to record live performances to share freely. Because of the band’s formal blessing of these recordings, the Internet Archive allows them to be uploaded and shared. So click here if you want to download Smashing Pumpkins concert recordings from as recently as June 27 (as of this writing) and as old as 1988.
After you’ve legally downloaded all of this free music from The Smashing Pumpkins, maybe it will alleviate any sour feelings about the 5 editions of Zeigeist. Even if it doesn’t, these tunes are still free.