Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music is an album by The Smashing Pumpkins that was released for free on the Internet on September 5, 2000. A sequel to Machina/The Machines of God, it has thus far not had a commercial release. The album itself, a double LP, was packaged with three EPs full of B-sides and alternate versions.^[1] Both Machina albums are loose concept albums telling the story of "a rock star gone mad."^[1] Machina II was to be the final Smashing Pumpkins studio album, but the band has since reformed with new members and released a new album, Zeitgeist, in 2007.

History

Near the conclusion of the Machina sessions, it was Billy Corgan's wish to release a double album of material, but Virgin Records was unwilling to do that following the disappointing sales of Adore. After the release, and poor sales, of the single-disc Machina/The Machines of God, Corgan then wanted to release a second Machina album separately, but Virgin declined to do this as well.^[2] The album was thus released on Corgan's own label Constantinople Records as Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music. Only twenty-five copies were made, and were shipped via FedEx to several prominent fans in the online community, with instructions to immediately redistribute it on the Internet free of charge.^[1]

Promotion

The Pumpkins performed a track from the album ("Cash Car Star") on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which also ended up being the band's final television appearance until their 2007 revival. The performance was a rarity as "Cash Car Star" was not a single in any way, and Machina II was unavailable for purchase. (Leno even held up an actual vinyl hard copy of the album in true talk show performance tradition, with the comment "You can download it on the Internet") A previous live performance of the song had been broadcast as a portion of Kiss' 1998 Psycho Circus Halloween special, where the Pumpkins served as the opening act.

Response

Because it was not released conventionally, few professional reviews of the album were published, but those that surfaced were largely positive. The Onion AV Club called it an "artistic high" for the band.^[3] Pitchfork Media opined that the band sounded "energized and at a creative peak."^[4] All Music Guide called the album a "winner."^[5]

The fan response was similarly enthusiastic. Though not as well known among Pumpkins fans as the band's commercial releases, Machina II perhaps enjoys greater popularity among die-hard fans than the first Machina. Its underground popularity can most likely be attributed to its hard, raw sound and rough energy. This sound was largely caused by the manner of the album's release: the tracks were sourced from hand-cut vinyl records and then uploaded to the Internet. The end result was a collection of heavy rock songs with a very raw, "lo-fi" sound characterized by pops, scratches, and other distortions. For fans left unsatisfied by the muted atmospherics of Adore and the comparably processed and produced Machina/The Machines of God, Machina II was hailed as a welcome return to the band's hard rock roots.

Value

Because of the high interest in the album and its extreme rarity at 25 copies, a vinyl Machina II can be considered a holy grail for Pumpkins fans. On August 5, 2005 the Q101 copy (#19/25) was put up for sale on eBay. The seller decided to end the auction four days early when the bidding had reached $10,000 from a bidder in France. This bidder has since disclosed that there was a mutual agreement after the auction was ended to cancel the sale transaction. It remains to be seen if this copy (or any other) will go up for sale again publicly in the near future, but the episode suggests that an original vinyl copy could fetch a five-figure sum.

Track listing

The two-LP set is the album itself. Corgan has said that the three EPs are "technically the B-sides."^[6] CR-01, CR-02, etc. all refer to their relased on Constantinople Records (Constantinople Records-Released 1, etc). The only other Constantinople release, CR-05, was Live at Cabaret Metro 10-5-88, a gift given to fans exiting their farewell concert at the Cabaret Metro.

Two-LP set (CR-04)

1. "Glass" – 1:54
2. "Cash Car Star" – 3:18
3. "Dross" – 3:26
4. "Real Love" – 4:16
5. "Go" (James Iha) – 3:47
6. "Let Me Give the World to You" – 4:10
7. "Innosense" – 2:33
8. "Home" – 4:29
9. "Blue Skies Bring Tears" (version electrique) – 3:18
10. "White Spyder" – 3:37
11. "In My Body" – 6:50
12. "If There Is a God" – 2:08
13. "Le Deux Machina" – 1:54
14. "Atom Bomb" – 3:51

EP one (CR-01)

1. "Slow Dawn" – 3:14
2. "Vanity" – 4:08
3. "Satur9" – 4:11
4. "Glass" (alternate version) – 2:55

EP two (CR-02)

1. "Soul Power" (James Brown) – 3:02
2. "Cash Car Star" (version 1) – 3:41
3. "Lucky 13" – 3:05
4. "Speed Kills (But Beauty Lives Forever)" – 4:51

EP three (CR-03)

1. "If There Is a God" (piano/vox) – 2:34
2. "Try" (version I) – 4:23
3. "Heavy Metal Machine" (version I alt. mix) – 6:47

Had the album been crystallized as an "official" pressed release, the song "Let Me Give the World to You", originally written and recorded for Adore, was considered as a single ^{[citation needed]}. The original, as-yet-unsurfaced version, was produced by Rick Rubin.^[7]

Personnel

Because Machina II was not released conventionally, and did not include any credits, it is virtually impossible to ascertain exactly who did what on the album. The timing of D'arcy Wretzky's departure complicates matters, as do conflicting reports as to whether Machina II was recorded simultaneously with Machina I or not. It is unknown whether Flood, who co-produced the first Machina, was involved with Machina II.

The following credits are incomplete and unverifiable.

• Jimmy Chamberlin – drums
• Billy Corgan – guitar, lead vocals, producer
• James Iha – guitar, vocals on "Go"
• D'Arcy Wretzky – bass^{[citation needed]}
• Mike Garson – keyboard on "Le Deux Machina"

Release sources

A number of a release sources exist for Machina II. All of them are sourced from vinyl (except for the noted commercial releases of select tracks).

Virgin promos

This source is from in-house promo CDs made at Virgin Records (sourced from the vinyls), made before Machina II was released to the public over the Internet. Two versions of the promos exist, a UK (type I) and U.S. (type II) version, both with 4 CDs corresponding to the vinyl copies.^[8] As it was done in-house at a record company it generally assumed to be a high-quality transfer, though some of the faint voices which can be heard in the background before some of the EP songs are cut off, and in general it is missing a considerable amount of audio between song transitions.

Q101 transfer

As mentioned above, the radio station Q101 received one of the 25 vinyl copies. It was subsequently transferred to 2 CDs by the station (one CD containing the EP tracks and one containing the LP tracks). The transfer was done by a high profile radio station (presumably with high-end equipment and professional oversight) and spectral analysis shows the transfer to be of good quality. Copies were given away as prizes from the station.

SPIFC transfer

The SPIFC transfer was produced from a vinyl copy by a member of the SPIFC. A transfer was eventually performed onto two CDs with "high-end" equipment. The SPIFC offers MP3 downloads of the transfer to members and held a contest giving away CD-R copies. When analyzed the audio from the SPIFC transfer shows a 21 kHz tone which casts some doubt on the quality of the transfer.

MP3 web releases

Following the vinyl release a number of MP3 versions quickly surfaced on the web. A select number of people involved in the Smashing Pumpkins online fan community received one of the 25 releases. Using audio equipment they had immediate access to these were recorded onto computer, encoded to MP3 and quickly released for the masses. Later MP3 releases may be from one of the CD sources listed above or newer lesser known transfers.

Commercial releases

Four tracks from Machina II have been released commercially. These are of specific note, because these versions were sourced from the master tapes rather than amateur vinyl transfers. "Real Love" was featured on the Rotten Apples compilation. "Lucky 13" and "Slow Dawn" appeared on Judas O, which was included with early copies of Rotten Apples. The Machina II version of "Try, Try, Try" was one of the B-sides to the "Untitled" single, titled "Try (Alternate Version)." The studio banter that precedes "Try, Try, Try" on Machina II has been removed from this version.

Download sites

• SmashingPumpkins.com (160 kbit/s CBR MP3)
• Billy-Corgan.com (320 kbit/s CBR MP3)
• ThePumpkins.net (192 kbit/s CBR MP3)
• MetroChicago.com (192 kbit/s CBR MP3)
• Archive.org (192 kbit/s CBR MP3)
• Archive.org (Q101 transfer, FLAC, OGG and MP3)
• Archive.org (Virgin transfer, FLAC, OGG and MP3)
• SPIFC.org (192 kbit/s CBR MP3)

References

External links

• spfc.org: discography: Machina II/the friends & enemies of modern music
• spfc.org: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for MACHINA II/the Friends & Enemies of Modern Music