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For someone who once released a double CD, Billy Corgan has had it with the album. “I was never comfortable with the album format,” Corgan tells Rolling Stone. “It always felt so forced and was obviously an economic decision made by others and not an artistic decision made by creators. It can be draining to try to record 15 songs over a six-month period.”

Smashing Pumpkins celebrate 20 years of rock in New York: photos.

True to his word, the in-progress, psychedelic-leaning Smashing Pumpkins album, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, will be released one track at a time, as free downloads, starting in late October. “No strings attached, no e-mail address need be given, no fees, nothing, totally free,” he says. “A 44-song free-for-all!” Even when it will be available physically, the format will be 11 EPs with four tracks each. “I thought it would emphasize that each song is really important to me,” he says, “and also try to get myself up to the speed of a world that is absolutely devouring information.”

Corgan says he wasn’t inspired by any similar approaches, like Radiohead’s recent move to put out singles and one album online. “I want no limitations on what I can, and will do,” he says. “I think the size and shape of the traditional album is just morphing into something much more in the moment. Four songs at a time will mean I can give my heart over to the music fully without giving away my now happy life.”

Although Corgan says he already written 53 songs, he won’t say whether he’ll be recording them with the latest edition of the Pumpkin or reveal any song titles. “The first four songs are speaking a new language to me, rooted in the psychedelic music I love but still sounding quite modern and like the Pumpkins I long to hear,” he allows. He’s also hoping to have the first track available just after Halloween.

Can Corgan, who parted ways with Warner Bros. last year, afford to give music away for free? “I can’t afford it!!” he says. “But I would rather be free than rich. The [major] labels are dead ghosts walking, and they know it. They never should have left this mystic free, because I am way more of a pied piper than they could ever fathom.”

Related Stories:

• Corgan’s Fury: Exclusive Q&A
• Smashing Pumpkins Reveal New LP Teargarden By Kaleidyscope
• Corgan Explains Why He’s Keeping Smashing Pumpkins Name

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The Who won’t be hitting the road again until next year, but as Rolling Stone reported, Roger Daltrey won’t be staying home during their hiatus. “That’s a long time for me,” says Daltrey, “so I put a little band together. I’m going back to where it all began.” For his first solo shows since 1985, Daltrey and his own band (which includes Simon Townshend, Pete’s brother, on guitar) will be playing theaters in October and November. “Simon’s my mate,” he says. “And like me, he needs to work.”

The set list is still in the works, but Daltrey is promising “different versions of Who songs” — like an acoustic reworking of “Who Are You.” (”Strip away the synthesizers and it’s a blues song,” he says.) He’s also considering rarely performed tracks from Who albums like The Who By Numbers and Face Dances (”I always liked ‘Cache Cache,’ ” he says) as well as select tracks from his own albums, like “Walk on Water” and a few of the Leo Sayer covers from his 1973 album Daltrey.

Fans expecting solo hits like “Avenging Annie” or “After the Fire” may be disappointed: “Some of those might sound dated now,” Daltrey says. But the lineup — and the balance between solo and Who songs — are still in the planning stages. “The show has to be a journey,” he says, laughing. “An enjoyable journey or it could be a bumpy ride!”

When the Who do resume rework next year, Daltrey says he and Townshend are considering playing Tommy or Quadrophenia in full. “I’d like to do a stripped-down show — no staging, no big production, just play the bloody music,” he says. “The music is timeless.” Although Daltrey keeps his voice in shape with vocal warm-ups — and even calls his solo tour Use It Or Lose It — he’s also realistic about his singing future. Of the Quadrophenia songs, he says, “These are the last years of my life that I can sing that material.”