Home Read Classic Album Review: Various Artists | Stigmata Soundtrack

Classic Album Review: Various Artists | Stigmata Soundtrack

Billy Corgan's dull debut score loses hands-down to cuts from Björk, Bowie & others.

This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


The main selling point on this thriller flick’s soundtrack album is its second half: The first film score from Smashing PumpkinsBilly Corgan.

So why do they make us sit through a bunch of rewarmed album tracks from Chumbawamba, Massive Attack and the like first? Maybe because Corgan’s handiwork is so startlingly dull: His “score” consists of two basic melodies, reworked over and over into a series of half-baked, experimental song snippets that have been strung together to make them seem like something more profound than the unfocused noodlings they are. In the end, those opening album cuts — which include a new trip-hop track from Björk and a new Tin Machine-ish rocker from David Bowie — are the real scores here.