Oceania – Smashing Pumpkins CD Review
by: Sal Christ
photo credit: MSO
Even after all these years, ‘loyalty to whom?’ remains the question when it comes to the fan relationship with the Smashing Pumpkins. Sometimes the front person is the genius behind the songs that color the soundtrack of our life, and sometimes not, so to whom does the gratitude go—the front person or the band as a whole? It’s that terrible cliché concerning a certain bird and its offspring.
What has essentially morphed into a Billy Corgan project with different people in the collaborative roles, the music attempted on the band’s newest record, Oceania, feels a little different while still sounding familiar. Several of the tracks glimmer like distant cousins of Pink Floyd work that ended up on the cutting floor while others are classic Pumpkins.
A lonely but cozy track, “Violet Rays” features Billy Corgan’s familiar vocals lamenting in one breath “I’ll leave with anyone tonight / I’ll kiss anyone tonight / Am I the only one you see” and a moment later, “Babe, don’t leave me / Please believe me / ‘Cause I’m so easy to know.” “Quasar” and “The Chimera” are spot on when it comes to alternative rock with heady guitar riffs and melodies meant for singing along to, but the most stunning of the album is “Wildflower,” an atmospheric ballad with a cinematic vibe that would stun in an orchestral performance.
Still, a couple of the songs are grand blunders for their attempts to jump on the indie pop electronica trend, including “One Diamond, One Heart” and “Pinwheel.” The Smashing Pumpkins have never fit the mold for manufactured pop music, but these tracks don’t suggest otherwise.
Oceania is one of those records that leave you torn: despite a couple of off tunes, the album is ridiculously good and yet, you wonder if Corgan isn’t merely repeating himself. The music maintains its quality, and there are tracks that speak to his maturity as a songwriter and composer, but has the record contributed something more than just another hash mark to the band’s Wikipedia entry? And if you love this album, are you somehow siding against the former band members that helped create that timeless sound? A pointless debate, but a question that will follow the Pumpkins into eternity.
Though it never approaches the eloquence of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, (which is set for a fully remastered reissue on Dec. 3), Oceania is a gorgeous listen that makes a good bedfellow with almost anything else out of the Smashing Pumpkins catalog.
Category: A-Sides
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