I am a big fan of The Smashing Pumpkins and my favourite album of theirs is ‘Machina: The Machines of God’. It never ceases to amaze me how completely underrated this record is. Out of the seven (almost eight) albums that the Pumpkins have recorded I would cite this one as being their greatest work.

‘Machina’ is actually a concept album, although it is not as obviously a ‘story-record’ as is something like ‘Misplaced Childhood’, ‘The Wall’ or ‘Tommy’. The Pumpkin’s way of putting a story to music is far more subtle and mysterious. The basic tale behind Machina is very much a reflection of what was going on at the time with the band in the real world. Problems were setting in, fans were losing interest and some of the members were becoming increasingly disillusioned. Billy Corgan used these circumstances as a starting point and built them into something larger.

Machina tells the story of a rock star called Zero. After hearing the voice of God, Zero changes his name to Glass and calls his band ‘The Ghost Children’. After this, the album’s plot becomes far more sketchy and open to interpretation. There are many different theories to the crux of it all and a quick search on Google will give you a hundred varied interpretations. It may all sound a little bit pretentious (and maybe it is) but the most important thing about it is, after all, the music.

For me, it is an album that flows from start to finish; there are no weak spots here. Every single track is an absolute corker. The record saw the return of Jimmy Chamberlain on drums and he really is on top form. The production is awesome and the inclusion of the legendary Mike Garson’s piano on ‘Glass and the Ghost Children’ really is the icing on the cake.

Thanks to the beautiful presentation of the lyrics booklet and the choice of Vasily Kafanov’s artwork, ‘Machina’ is an album in which you can lose yourself for weeks on end.

Lastly, How does val d’isere ski contest sound to all of you? You guys should really put your names forward in this competition that I just found, this would be such a cool way to spend this stupid cold winter!