sp: teargarden parts one and two

The Smashing Pumpkins broke up in 2000, after "releasing" a free album, Machina II: The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music. They reformed in 2006 and released Zeitgeist in 2007. In 2009, Jimmy Chamberlin, longtime Smashing Pumpkins drummer, quit the band and Billy Corgan hired Mike Byrne from Portland, OR.

Teargarden by Kaleidyscope was announced on September 16, 2009, and it shall be released one track at a time over several years as 192kbps mp3s on smashingpumpkins.com. The first song, "A Song for a Son" is piano-based with an amazing solo. It is a beautiful song.

"Widow Wake My Mind", from February 2010, is rock. Like Zeitgeist but less heavy. Kind of Siamese Dream, but different.

By the time I heard "A Stitch In Time", I figured out that Teargarden now has its own feel, a mix of mellow, beautiful songs, and rockers. There is no way to compare to other albums because it's its own thing.

"Everyone gather up your soul," sings Billy Corgan in the Zeitgeist-like "Astral Planes". I find nothing wrong with Zeitgeist, unlike other fans, so I like this song a lot. Nice to have a mix of styles.

"Teargarden Theme" is a beautiful song with guitar and organ that less people have heard than the others because it is only on the vinyl 7" of the physical release that is a limited edition. Fortunately, several people ripped the song from the vinyl and posted it online. Many of these, however, are played at 33 1/3 RPM instead of 45 RPM, and are slower and longer. There is a correct speed rip here.

"Freak" was released on July 6, 2010. It has pretty sweet distorted guitar, a nice beat, great lyrics, and a beautiful melody. It was released as a single and is available as 256kbps AAC on iTunes.

"Spangled". A beautiful acoustic song. Originally released on Sweet Relief. A day later released on the official website. The shortest track so far. A love song.

"Tom Tom" (mp3 coming soon) is scheduled for release on Tuesday, the EP release day. Some record stores began selling it early , leading to its leak on YouTube. This prompted producer Kerry Brown to offer radio stations, magazines, and rock bloggers (like me!) a CD-quality WAV of the song, which sounds great. It's a great rock song, and I'd love to hear it on the radio over some of the trash on there these days.

"The Fellowship" is synthesizer based. It adds a horrible layer of noise into the background of the song, but at times sounds possibly melodic. The track was released 11/12 on The Vampire Diaries OST. It does have pretty good lyrics though.

"Cottonwood Symphony" has not yet leaked. I will review when it does, but for now, that is Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, Parts One and Two.
EDIT: "Cottonwood Symphony" has leaked. Here. The acoustic song is beautiful, and possibly should have been on Part Two.