Whatever the name he's recording under, Billy Corgan [ tickets ] takes risks, and doesn't particularly care what others think of his efforts. On his debut solo album, "TheFutureEmbrace," the king of poetic inner fury doesn't change that successful formula.

Don't think Corgan is all about the rock rage that dominated the best-known Smashing Pumpkins tracks. The former Pumpkins leader knows that emotion can be expressed with more than just hard guitars and primal screams. As he did on the Pumpkins' "Adore," Corgan--who supplies the majority of instruments and vocals on "TheFutureEmbrace"--moves away from the hard riffs and toward moody electronics, simple guitars with echo pedals and layered vocals, thanks to some great production by former Nitzer Ebb associate Bon Harris.

The tracks come from all musical directions. "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" evokes an early-Depeche Mode atmosphere, "Pretty, Pretty STAR" is a paean to the early Gary Numan band Tubeway Army and "DIA" sounds like a song that could have been released during the Pumpkins era, but would have been ahead of its time. All the songs spotlight Corgan's naked voice, which, as usual, displays his heart on his sleeve.