Oceania

Smashing Pumpkins | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: June 19, 2012
• Release Date: June 19, 2012
• Label: Martha's Music, LLC
• Copyright: (C) 2012 Martha's Music, LLC
• Total Length: 1:00:02
• Genres:
  • Alternative Rock
• ASIN: B0087240Z4
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (180 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,460 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 102 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Melodic...dreamy...heavy...beautiful; Corgan is back with his best album in over a decade June 19, 2012

By Jack Tripper TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Well Pumpkins fans, you can finally wave your freak flag proudly once again after the release of 'Oceania.' As a longtime fan of the band, and I'm sure some of you can relate, I'd started to lose faith after the cold, relentless bombast of 2007's (mostly) underwhelming 'Zeitgeist' and the ongoing, extremely hit-or-miss Teargarden project, of which 'Oceania' is supposedly a part, but I would still always list them as one of my two or three favorite bands out of some weird sense of loyalty. I didn't really have high expectations for this album, but the fact is, Corgan is reinvigorated here, with a renewed focus; the songwriting, lyrics, and vocals all at their best in years.

'Oceania' also feels like the product of an actual band, with backing vocals from bassist Nicole Fiorentino and drummer Mike Byrne, instead of the "million Billy choir" heard on much of 'Zeitgeist,' and this is a definite plus. Jeff Shroeder is treated as an equal when it comes to the guitar leads and solos, as opposed to Corgan constantly busting through the mix (Outta my way!), and proceeding to shred, he and his guitar catching fire from rocking so hard. Thankfully there are still plenty of impressive solos, but they seem to be divided equally between the two, with a few dual leads as well, which is refreshing, as Jeff has his own unique, fluid style that provides a nice contrast to Billy's "Guitar Hero" histrionics. Nicole seems to be given a lot more freedom to add her own flourishes compared to Corgan's past bassists, and she proves to be a dynamic player, at times even funky, which is new to SP. And while Jimmy Chamberlin is nearly impossible to replace, Mike Byrne more than holds his own here, with progressive rock-style rhythms and time-signatures throughout, giving many of these songs a fresh sound, with an entirely different feel from Jimmy's more jazz-influenced style.

Following the tradition of the past few Pumpkins albums going back to Machina 1, the album opens with the heaviest song on the album, "Quasar" (beginning one of the strongest opening six-packs of songs in SP history), a sonic assault with walls of skull-crushing guitars that you can either headbang to, or drift away to a state of hypnotized euphoria. The lyrics seemed a little cheesy to me at first, with "God, right on! Krishna, right on!" being the first words out of Billy's mouth, but eventually it becomes an ode to lost friends when the words change to "ride on," and the list of names goes on to include longtime friends (and 60's tripsters) who are no longer with us, like "Mark" (Tulin) of Electric Prunes fame, and "Sunlight," which I'm assuming refers to Sky "Sunlight" Saxon of The Seeds, to whom Corgan dedicated his short-lived supergroup Spirits in the Sky. The dreamy "Panopticon" follows in a similar vein musically, and at first I thought it was like a second act to "Quasar," the two seemed to fit together so perfectly, and it contains one of the most emotional and cathartic choruses in Pumpkins history, imo.

The album switches gears with what seems like an obvious radio single, the Mellotron-laden "The Celestials," which starts with a simple, infectious acoustic melody, and slowly builds and builds until it explodes into the fuzzed-out guitar bliss that's become the main signature of SP over the years (other than Billy's voice), one that's easily identifiable despite the many stylistic shifts this band has gone through over the years. There's no mistaking it, and it's as close to being "the perfect guitar tone" as I'm likely to ever hear. Nicole's breakdown in the middle of the song is another reminder that this album is the work an actual band, as I don't even remember hearing any bass guitar on SP's recent output, it's always so buried in the mix by walls of guitars and/or synths. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the "I will be special k" line in the chorus, however. Is he referring to the horse tranquilizer, or the cereal? And does either make sense?

Either way, the despair-filled "Violet Rays" follows, and is one of my favorite songs on the album, but it suffers slightly from following such an insanely catchy track. Taken on its own, it's a classic SP ballad, with some tripped-out synthesizer effects thrown in for good measure, making it sound unique while still nodding to the band's past. The Zwan-esque, super-catchy "My Love is Winter" also contains some nice use of synth that transforms the simple, short song into something much more progressive and "epic" sounding. While the songs so far have used keyboard flourishes as background atmosphere, "One Diamond, One Heart" is dominated by it, with a propulsive beat and excellent, soul-stirring lyrics and vocals that slowly captivated me over time, along with another huge chorus that's nearly impossible for me to listen to without a big goofy grin taking over my face.

The album begins to lose some steam for me during the next couple tracks. Normally I'm a huge fan of Corgan's epics, as they're usually the most overtly psychedelic songs on the albums (their psych tendencies being a key factor in turning me on to SP nearly 20 years ago), but both "Pinwheels" and the title track are somewhat meandering and never really seem to go anywhere. The latter begins to take flight near the end, but unfortunately it fades out (awkwardly) just as it's getting off the ground. Sometimes, however, the SP songs that don't immediately hit me are the ones that turn into my favorites down the road, but this one especially just feels like wasted potential to me.

But things begin to look up again with the haunting, hypnotic "Pale Horse," and "The Chimera," another rocker that recalls the sunny days of Zwan. "Glissandra" has a pretty standard, heavy-yet-dreamy sound that's become a Pumpkins staple, while "Inkless" reminds me of Built to Spill, in a good way, with a chugging, simple rhythm and guitar riff that's likely to stick in your head all night while trying to fall asleep, if you're anything like me. But I don't know if Doug Martsch ever got quite such a beautiful sound out of his guitar. The quiet, somber "Wildflower" closes the album; an atmospheric, dreamy, perfect coda to an atmospheric, dreamy, nearly-perfect album.

'Oceania,' while not a rehash of Corgan's short-lived Zwan project from a decade ago, does give me the same euphoric feeling I had while witnessing that band live during their formative months, with a similarly uplifting, "rejuvenated" sound that's both fuzzed-out and tripped-out at the same time. However, this is much more of a musical journey than Zwan's lone album was, with a variety of emotions and song-styles, not to mention more poetic, heartfelt lyrics that still maintain the positive vibe and energy throughout. The vocals are a lot lower in the mix than recent efforts as well, and, combined with the psychedelic overtones, allowed me to lose myself in the albums sonic bliss, which hasn't happened to me with any Corgan-related project since the Machina albums 12 years ago. It forges ahead into new musical territory for the band while still being instantly recognizable as The Smashing Pumpkins, and is an excellent start to this new chapter of the band's storied, ever-evolving history, much in the same way 'Gish' was a promising start for the original lineup. While it's not a flawless album, Billy Corgan now seems re-energized and ready to take on the world again, and for that, we should all be grateful.

PS: If you're still not digging this album after a few listens, just turn the volume up and see if that solves the problem!

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Oceania Pulls Together the Brightest Moments of Corgan's Career June 30, 2012

By Grant Cousineau

Format:Audio CD

In a 2010 Rolling Stone article, Smashing Pumpkins' lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter Billy Corgan sat backstage before a show at Cleveland's House of Blues. Even he wasn't oblivious with just how removed the Pumpkins' fan base had become with everything they'd done over the past decade. When asked about their 2007 album, Zeitgeist, he said:

"That album sold over 500,000 copies, it went gold. But people didn't listen to it. ... We would go out and play the first song and I could tell [the audience] had not even listened to the first song. I don't view it as a gross disappointment. It's disappointing to me that what I was trying to communicate didn't get the chance to be communicated."

Believing the "traditional album" was dead in a world of Rock Band and iPods, Corgan replaced drummer Jimmy Chamberlain with some new blood in Mike Byrne, who was a Lego-eating five-year-old when the Pumpkins released Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Only Corgan remained from the band's 1990's lineup, and their first project became Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, a 44-track concept album to be released one track at a time as free online MP3s. Between 2009 and 2011, ten tracks were recorded and posted, but the industry didn't shift like he had expected. One day, he said, "F@#k it. I'll just make a kick-a$$ album."

(That might not be verbatim. His calm, benign demeanor makes even the sharpest curses sound like polite hugs from teddy bears.)

Oceania is that album, the next 13 tracks in his grand Tarot card story. It is unabashed progressive rock, with tinges of that signature "shoegaze" alternative sound he's known for, but it is absolutely, one hundred percent lean, finely textured Corgan beef.

The album opens with "Quasar," a stadium rock, Siamese Dream homage as energetic and galactic as the title suggests. This wondrous intro transitions into "Panopticon" almost seamlessly, yet without becoming two halves of the same track. In fact, the flow of this album is so slick that you can listen from beginning to end without disruption, and still want to hit "repeat."

Better still, the whole damn thing is laden with memorable tracks like "Pinwheels," where looping rhythms build into a delicately acoustic verse. Then there's the nine-minute eponymous "Oceania," a rock ballad that may very well be one of the Pumpkins' greatest pieces ever written. The music journeys like a horse through the desert, exploring every dark crevasse and moonlit gorge. At last, Oceania finishes breathlessly strong with the immersive "Wildflower." Its melancholic vocals wrap you up like a pitched blanket in your bedroom, peeking out to gape as the star-strewn window.

The tinges of 1984 and occultism are definitely intriguing, reasserting Corgan's famously uncompromising approach to songwriting. What you walk away with is music even the harshest critic can appreciate, the rebirth of an artist who stubbornly refuses to sell out, and an album that takes a little piece of everything the Pumpkins have ever done, and puts it all together in what might be their greatest achievement yet.

Where 2007's Zeitgeist extrapolated Corgan's fitful reaction the world crumbling around him, Oceania is a proclamation that he chooses not to live in that dark energy anymore. He tempers his energy and rage only to pour through where it serves the composition of the album rather than use it as a vehicle. And though the story within the music is about heartbreak, the result is a triumph. But most importantly, finding this album is like a beautiful gift to the most disenfranchised Pumpkins fan who sort of lost track of Corgan over the last decade. "Welcome home," is what this album says.

41 of 51 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the Album We've Been Waiting For June 19, 2012

By T. A. Daniel TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

Is this a Smashing Pumpkins album? Or is this a Billy Corgan album? Jimmy Chamerlain, the band's only original member (asides from Corgan) left in 2009, and all of the original members have been replaced with a new band. Given that Corgan has been the leading creative force of the band since its inception, would it even make a difference if he were the only surviving member of the band? Nervous fans can relax -- this latest album, OCEANIA, is a return to form for the band and is better than 2007's ZEITGEIST by leaps. OCEANIA is compiled of tracks that came from the 44-track TEARGARDEN BY KALEIDYSCOPE project that Corgan has been working on, so this an "album-within-an-album" in many ways; even though this album is part of a larger whole, it is distinctly its own entity. This album feels more like a comeback album than ZEITGEIST ever did, and it's been worth the wait.

Opening track "Quasar" reminds us of "Cherub Rock" and its own blistering introduction. Many of the tracks on OCEANIA recall the past Smashing Pumpkins songs, but don't confuse that as being unoriginal. Instead, it feels like this album was made by a man who now embraces his band's past, unlike ZEITGEIST, which tried to blaze its own trail. The guitar instrumentation here is exciting, but Corgan keeps us on our toes by including a variety of instruments in the mix (synthesizers, cello, piano, acoustics, etc...) The addition of bassist Nicole Fiorentino proves to be a great addition to the band, providing a solid bass and a great harmony.

"Violet Rays" is a slow-burning synthesizer-tinged ballad that melts into its own fading distortion. This same timbre is used later in the introduction to "Pinwheels." "My Love is Winter," seems to be an early fan favorite: a song reminiscent of Corgan's work with Zwan on MARY STAR OF THE SEA. The title track "Oceania" is a multi-song medley, reminiscent of something a band like Porcupine Tree would try to pull off; it's spacey, and it leads us in strange unexpected directions. The final track "Wildflower" is a quiet track, marked by sampled-loops of strings before giving slightly to electronic fuzz. It brings a good close to an album that works as a coherent whole.

Corgan reminds us of all the elements that made the Pumpkins so great: blistering guitars, creative songwriting (breadth and depth), heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics, and wild dynamics. The only real disappointment that OCEANIA carries is its lack of catchy, melodic hooks. While this album is consistently good, there's no single song that feels as enduring as "1979" or "Bullets with Butterfly Wings" for example (not that I'm asking Corgan to rewrite those songs). Instead, OCEANIA works great as a cohesive whole album. It feels as if instead of trying to reimagine his band for a new generation, Corgan has created an album that remembers the past but pushes forward to new territory.

Fans of the Smashing Pumpkins (even if its just a handful of their songs) should love this release. I would recommend this album to anyone with an interest in early 90's alternative rock music. Highlight songs to sample: "Panopticon," "The Chimera," "Quasar" and "Violet Rays." OCEANIA is the Smashing Pumpkins album we've been waiting for, and it fits well along the likes of SIAMESE DREAM, GISH, and MELLON COLLIE.