Released: June 19, 2012
Genre: Alternative Rock, Progressive Rock
Label: EMI, Martha's Music
Number Of Tracks: 13
It isn't "Siamese Dream", but you can still recognize the Smashing Pumpkins, who have continued to grow artistically – for better or worse.
OceaniaFeatured review by: UG Team, on june 19, 2012 4 of 4 people found this review helpful
Sound: In 2000 The Smashing Pumpkins broke up/went on hiatus – whatever you want to call it, until around 2006, and since that time they haven't quite been The Smashing Pumpkins. With the release of "Oceania", while there are definitely some elements that don't feel like a Pumpkins album to me, it does come closer to what I want to hear from them. There is a little bit of synthesizer, which honestly I was initially very turned off by, but after more listens I've come to terms with it. It seems from snippets of interviews with Billy Corgan that he has been using more synthesizers in his music in order to create an atmosphere to lay his music over. Really, while it isn't necessarily what an old school Pumpkins fan wants to hear, it does work.
Billy Corgan has been the creative force behind the Pumpkins since their formation in 1988, to the point where you can follow Billy's own emotional landscape through the years from listening to his albums. While there have been some rocky lineup changes, especially since the split in 2000, the same vibe/sound is present even now, which further shows that Billy Corgan is ultimately Smashing Pumpkins. I'm not trying to take away from the contributions of the other members over time, as I absolutely respect what they've done, but from a creative standpoint this has always been Billy's creative vehicle. With "Oceania" there is an element present that hasn't been consistently present before, but it is hard to put your finger on. The choice of progressions, the melodies used, and the lyrical content seem to be very raw emotionally, and in that way the album is most similar to "Siamese Dream". The more I listen to the album the more I'm enjoying it as a whole, though at first listen only about half the songs had any pull on me whatsoever. This is definitely an album that is going to take a few listens to fully appreciate. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: Billy Corgan's voice has really remained unchanged for the past 20 years, and continues to be very raw and emotive. The lyrics to "Oceania" are as always some type of autobiographical testimony about something going on with Billy. Here is a sample of lyrics from the song "Pale Horse": "If I was to listen/ I would turn back/ give up all my reasons/ forgive up the past/ did you think I'd swallow that/ bearing the weight of the ceilings/ just to stop and ask/ thorazine (repeated several times)/ they give you this/ they take away that/ thorazine/ they'll be no other/ they'll be no long lost friends/ empty on the insides/ empty of the last pretends/ to stand by the feeling of the end". I'm pretty sure I may have gotten some of those lyrics a little off, but pretty close. For those who don't know, thorazine is a strong anti-psychotic medication that also is used as a strong sedative sometimes. Basically, if you've ever watched a movie with an asylum and they give the patient some type of syrup or shot that causes them to immediately zone out and become zombie-like, that is thorazine. "Pale Horse" is the creepiest song on the album.
As another example of the lyrics, here are some lyrics from "Panopticon" that I actually took from a website, "Oh don't make me wonder/ Life's never clear where choice is a gift/ to use and abuse/ to build on proof/ oh don't make me suffer/ Birds find the wind and wing/ rest in the shells I've designed/ run through the fields I've denied/ and stroll upon the years I'm alive/ there's a sun that shines in/ there's a world that stares out at me/ and all I refuse to please/ Breathe! Love is here/ Oh don't make me suffer/ To dash debonair where chaste is the wish." I wanted to post these lyrics as well to show that the album is not excessively "emo" as the lyrics from "Pale Horse" might insinuate. // 9
Impression: My favorite songs on the album would absolutely have to be "Quasar", "Panopticon", and "The Chimera". I don't really dislike any songs on the album, but the song "Pale Horse" gives me a feeling of bad anxiety and is a downer to me at this point. Every time an artist releases a new album there is a two-sided danger – either their fans will complain they didn't grow from album to album or they changed too much. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and about my own contribution to this type of discussion. This is different than earlier Pumpkins albums. Not absolutely different, but part of gradual change they've been going through since the early 1990's. Yes, there is maybe more synthesizer than I would want to hear on a Pumpkins album, but maybe that is because I've romanticized "Siamese Dream" because of where I was at in my life when it came out so I don't want the sound to change too far from that. Really, when I put my nostalgic emotions behind me, this isn't a bad album and for the current musical environment it is outstanding. // 8
Oceania
Reviewed by:
siamesedreamful, on june 21, 2012 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Sound: The impression I get of this particular album is very spacey, and ethereal! The overall genre of this album zones in towards Progressive rock, with splashes of dreamy Psychedelia. In the style of "Gish", "Siamese Dream", and "Pisces Iscariot" but with a more modernized twist; staying true to their Psychedelic layered "shoegazery" dense guitars with crystal, flawless production! A must have!
MUSIC STYLE
Each song is very unique and still follows the past Pumpkin formula with that modern 21st century twist. Which is truly progressive. As a listener, and a fan of the band; I've noticed this album is probably the "Gish"/"Siamese Dream" of the 21st century, but in no way does it rip off their classic work. But what this album does is incorporate vast genres into this album that pulls the listener into a trance of epic proportion.
The music styles used in this record are based upon what I noticed in each song. They may not be that accurate to you, but like I said it's what I noticed.
01. "Quasar" - has a very psychedelic, hard rock and shoegazing inspired sound. Almost like heavy shoegazing music, like Siamese Dream. A kicka-s song!
02. "Panopticon" - has that psychedelic, hard rock sound with that splash of dream pop in the song like from "Gish". A great song!
03. "The Celestials" - to me has kind of an "Adore" vibe, with that gloomy "goth" inspired persona of the band. Also it kinda sounds like symphonic rock. A good song, not my favorite song; but's worth a listen.
04. "Violet Rays" - has a majestic mix of psychedelia, dream pop, synth pop style mixed into this song; with the thick shoegazery style production like most Smashing Pumpkins releases. One of my favorite songs because it has that "spacey early feel to the band.
05. "My Love Is Winter" - has a more modern pop inspired alternative sound to it. Very uplifting! A real listener!
06. "One Diamond, One Heart" - has that Adore electronica, techno rock feel to it, with a tiny splash of psychedelia to it. Not one of my faves but it's cool though.
07. "Pinwheels" - has a synth pop sound to it with the intro with a splash of symphonic rock to it. Probably my least favorite song from this album. But it's not a terrible song.
08. "Oceania" - ahh this song is the holy grail of the whole album! The defining piece! You know how "Starla" was the epic song from "Pisces Iscariot"? And "Echoes" was the defining song from "Meddle"? Well "Oceania" is definitely the king of all songs on this album, it's so epic. To me, I feel as though this song is a mix of Psychedelia, folk, pop, alternative, shoegaze and a slight pinch of acoustic work by Billy Corgan to create a true progressive rock masterpiece! The best song from this album.
09. "Pale Horse" - another great song from "Oceania". This song has a sad gloomy psychedelic and dream pop sound. Another solid track. A very haunting but killer song.
10. "The Chimera" - has a kinda buzzsaw Queen tone guitar to me, a straight up basic hard rock song. Give it a listen it's great.
11. "Glissandra" - has a trancey, and dreamy shoegaze layered guitars that sounds heavy yet hypnotic, like that song "I Only Said" by My Bloody Valentine. Definitely a shoegaze style song with psychedelic melodies. One of my favorite rock songs from the album!
12. "Inkless" - another rocker with a modern rock twist to that classic Pumpkin formula(spacey rock).
13. "Wildflower" - a kinda mellow type rock song. It's pretty eerie but great!
For anybody a fan of this band or a fan of Psychedelic, shoegaze, dream pop, progressive rock, synth pop and Alternative rock style music please buy this record! Hell it's even worth stealing the record haha, just run like hell when the alarm goes off. // 9
Lyrics and Singing: Overall impression of the lyrics. As a listener I try to feel the music the ambience and heaviness of the record. But the lyrics are sung artfully by Billy Corgan and the other members as backups for the band. But the lyrics still have that Pumpkins feel to them. Aggressive, sad, gloomy, happy, uplifting.
Billy Corgan despite getting of age, he's still the man and has a great voice that has that "Gish" but modern feel to it. // 8
Impression: This is probably the best rock album of 2012! A record everyone should hear before they die.
My favorite songs from this album are in no particular order.
1. Oceania
2. Quasar
3. Panopticon
4. Violet Rays
5. Glissandra
6. Pale Horse
7. The Celestials
are my top 7 favorite songs from this cool record.
What I love most about this record is that it has that spacey rock and shoegazey sound from "Siamese Dream", the Psychedelia from "Gish" and the synthesizer inspired sound from "Adore" but it doesn't sound nostalgic at all! It sounds completely new!
What I don't like about the album is just the song "Pinwheels". Sorry for all the fans of that song. But other than that I gave this album a good rating so screw off! If this album were lost/stolen I'd be pissed as hell because it's such a cool record, so I'll probably buy 2 copies of the record. // 9
The album is outstanding song-wise but the track placement hurts it a bit especially since the Pumpkins are notorious for song order (not to mention Corgan holding it in high regard compared to Mellon Collie which was all about the song order as it was the songs.)
By far the worst pumpkins album to date billly needs to do a solo project and stop ruining the pumkins name
He did do a solo project, and it was average. Are you not aware that Smashing Pumpkins was and is "The Billy Corgan Experience"? He created the name, he can do what he wants with it.
Solid album. Not as raw or angry as other releases on the Pumpkins continuum, but a terrific standalone effort.
wwwwwhy do people continue to compair albums from almost 20 years ago and albums of the present....are there still people out there expecting to hear a pumpkins album that sounds just like another, like a "siamese dream pt.2" or something?
EVERY SINGLE pumpkins record is different. and the new stuff, everything post 2000 break-up, is as good as the old stuff, without a doubt, despite the overwelming general attitude that anything new sucks and that the music was "better" back in the day. how can one even start to try an compair the two when so much is different, in the world in general and in the lives of the present and past members
i personally dont want to hear the same thing over and over again(if I did i'd go listen to ac/dc or the ramones, no offense to either band whatsoever), but it seems like thats exactly what the average yahoo out there wants these days....*sigh*
Lovely album. I'm happy the fan community is responding so positive! The band deserves this.
Yes, I said band. Because Oceania isn't a Billy Corgan effort, it's a real band effort. You can hear all the band members playing their own parts and doing great vocal harmonies. Beautiful.
Pumpkin fan here. This album is easily moving up the ranks for me the more I listen to it. It has some definite sounds of Gish/Siamese, but I don't automatically think its a rip of the older albums.
oh i forgot to mention that the celestials has an element of hard rock too, i only listened to a minute of it because my computer conked out so i could not finish my review of the song. Oh, and Pinwheels is starting to become a decent song for me; not bad once i gave it some time.
Great comeback album with a new crew...Zietgeist sucked...love Oceania. Billy's vocals are much better and much more emotion than on Zietgeist. No, it's not old pumpkins, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, love the new record and would gladly see them perform it in full live.
"Oceania" huh? I suppose this album was only intended to be heard by fish. Everyone is always a step behind Dethklok.Dethlock??? really dude? Dethlock is a ****ing parody of music. Basically the modern day Monkees if you ask me.
How does no one get that this is sarcasm? You guys give guitarists/metalheads/americans or whatever you are a bad name. Lighten up, if you can't see the joke in there I feel sorry for you.
I am a lifelong SP fan, and I love (almost) every single track they/he has ever recorded, so I am always a little biased when it comes to SP. This is by far my least favorite SP album, yet, it still rocks. The heavy hitters: Quasar, Panopticon, The Chimera, Glissandra, & Inkless are heavy, hype songs with slicing guitars that we have come to know and love from SP. The Celestials, in my opinion, is a one-of-a-kind SP song, something from Billy that really does not sound like anything else from his catalog. It is a great song. My Love is Winter, One Diamond One Heart, and Inkless are all average songs, but they all contain certain moments where a guitar slashes in and rips your face off, which makes them all worth listening too. Oceania is by far my favortie track on the album, with a superb middle section which I wish was a complete song in and of itself. The drum beat and lyrics during that short section leave you wanting more, which is a typical reaction to an SP song. Pale Horse is a nice, sweet little ditty, that somehow will have you singing along, or humming it to yourself later in the day. It has some solid bass lines in there which make the song legit. Billy's voice is also great on this track, for being someone who was never really praised for his voice, and for being 45 years old, he sounds great. Violet Rays was my favortie track after the first few listens, but kind of wore off after listening to the rest of the album. It is a slow, love ballad, with, once again, some great Billy lyrics. The final track, Wildflower, is not a faovrite of mine. It seems like SP just wanted to end the CD with a slow, almost acapella track, which most SP albums do contain, yet I feel that this one falls short. I think it could have been left off the album completely. 7/10 stars for me on this latest SP cd, from a die-hard, "SP is the greatest band in the world" fan.
its good, but i cant stand the genres its in, hoping for a little more of the siamese dream type of style in the next album, that would be gold, even though billy corgan would hate to hear that...
btw, pale horse is about billy's mom (for the author of this article/anyone that dont already know), he said so in the "stompland" interview
I think it's a stronger album than some that they've done. It's obvious it won't match the power of Gish and Siamese Dream, the clarity and beauty of Mellon Collie, or even the dreaminess of Adore. However, even without Jimmy and D'arcy and James, the album still is solid and Corgan proves it himself with his continuing songwriting ability. Go Oceania!
