Zwan only somewhat graceful

He's baaaack.\nHe still has that knifing guitar, that keen pop sense and that way with guitar repartee.\nI speak, of course, of former Chavez frontman Matt Sweeney, mysteriously missing from the music scene since that band's fine 1996 album Ride the Fader.\nOh, did I mention that Billy Corgan is in this band?\nYes, Zwan is Corgan's first project since the Smashing Pumpkins broke up in December 2000. Billed as Billy Burke in the album credits, he ceded some authority on this album, as compared to Pumpkins albums.\nCorgan was such an autocrat that it is commonly believed that Corgan played everything but drums on the Pumpkins' 1993 breakthrough, Siamese Dream. Corgan's consistent unhappiness with the band's nominal guitarist and bassist, James Iha and D'Arcy respectively, led to a working atmosphere often described as tense.\nThat Corgan would hire Sweeney, former Slint and Tortoise guitarist David Pajo and retain Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin shows that he wants to share the responsibilities. He continued his trend of hiring cute female bassists by getting the enchanting Paz Lenchantin of A Perfect Circle.\nWhat results is an album even more guitar-based than anything the Pumpkins ever did, and that includes Siamese Dream. The album is also surprisingly poppy and not as art-rocky as this band's lineup might suggest, though the band does break loose with the mini-symphony "Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea" toward the album's end. Blunt guitars intertwine rapturously throughout the album and Corgan's guitar goes with Chamberlin's drums like chocolate with peanut butter.\nOf course, many Pumpkins fans enjoyed wallowing in the lyrics more than the music. Corgan is an expert at writing lyrics general enough to appeal to a wide audience and specific enough to feel like he knows exactly what you're going through. It's a luxuriant, decadent, made-for-suburbia melancholy.\nZwan's lyrics are more assured and certain as if to say that it's time to enjoy rock for the noisy, transcendent escape that it can be. Just look at some of the song titles: "Honestly," "Endless Summer," "Baby Let's Rock!," "Yeah!" It's not about taking your Prozac, but growing up, and Corgan deserves respect for taking this tack. After all, who wants to hear a millionaire complain about his problems? \nWhat struck me as incongruous on the album was its production by Corgan and his longtime associate, Bjorn Thorsrud, and the mixing by Alan Moulder, another Corgan confidant. This record either needs some more sharp edges to drive home the power chords or some grime to dirty it up. \nI can see why he wanted to surround himself with some familiar faces, but I would recommend that he work with somebody like Jack Douglas, who gave that great garage feel to the Aerosmith and Cheap Trick albums of the '70s, or a mainstream producer like, dare I say it, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who put just the right amount of gleam and polish on AC/DC and Def Leppard albums of the '80s before becoming Mr. Shania Twain. What should be a celebration of the rock guitar instead tends to drown in too much murk, as if Corgan's a little unsure of his sound.\nFew rockers have great second careers after the first band breaks up, and about all who succeed, do so as a solo act. Corgan's trying to succeed with two different bands. He's off to an okay start, but he'll need to make a sonic commitment and go there if he wants to get nearly the same artistic success as the Smashing Pumpkins achieved.