Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:32 am
Force of Nature
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2005 3:41 pm Posts: 618 Gender: Male
AndySlash wrote:
J's Brain wrote:
There is a great quote over on Grantland about Oceania/Billy which sums things up perfectly, IMO:
Quote:
All his fans ever wanted in the first place was a regular goddamn Smashing Pumpkins record, and Oceania is Corgan trying not to be a dick about it for once.
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:48 am
too drunk to moderate properly
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
PHATJ wrote:
¡B! wrote:
$10 for the CD on Amazon with $1 credit toward mp3s.
I'm alright if it's just mediocre.
$9 at Target this week. It's better then mediocre too.
Meh. I'm kinda over it already.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 4:36 am
Stone's Bitch
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 4:25 am Posts: 17123 Location: Maspeth, NY Gender: Male
Having listened to it multiple times in the last 2 weeks, I can safely say that this is the best I've heard the Pumpkins sound since the MCIS-TAFH period. I do wish the drums had more punch to them though in the mix.
Fav tracks: "Panopticon", "Oceania", "The Chimera" Least fav: Don't really dislike any of them, but "Wildflower" doesn't quite hold up like the rest.
Overall, I'd give the album a 8/10.
_________________ Gotta say it now.... better loud than too late.
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 4:37 pm
Stone's Bitch
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 4:25 am Posts: 17123 Location: Maspeth, NY Gender: Male
Riot Actor 25 wrote:
I haven't absorbed it yet and I'm already working on a MCIS one-disc compilation for the car.
1. Where Boys Fear To Tread 2. Bodies 3. Galapogos 4. Here Is No Why 5. Porcelina of the Vast Oceans 6. Zero 7. Muzzle 8. X.Y.U. 9. To Forgive 10. Cupid De Locke 11. Jellybelly 12. Thru The Eyes of Ruby 13. Farewell & Goodnight
_________________ Gotta say it now.... better loud than too late.
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 4:05 am
Stone's Bitch
Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2007 4:05 pm Posts: 635 Gender: Male
Mellon Collie By Starlight 1979 Here is no why Where Boys Fear to Tread Love X.Y.U Stumbleine Porcelina Tonight, tonight Muzzle
_________________ "Es verdad que el río en el que ayer estuve a punto de ahogarme es de una indiscutible belleza pero que me cuelguen con un gancho del prepucio y me hagan girar si en el resto de mi putísima vida vuelvo a meterme otra vez en el agua"
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 4:06 am
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
I finally got around to listening to this. It is okay at best. Nothing cringe worthy like you might find on Zietgiest, beyond a few lyrics here and there, but overall I think this is a fairly bland effort on just about every level.
The music is pretty one dimensional. There is a cool sound to his guitar but it's the same thing song after song after song, without the nuance you got on a record like Siamese Dream, where the same feel of each song made the whole thing feel like it was making an epic statement. Here it just felt overlong. Sprawling, but rarely interesting. Beyond that there is basically no beauty, no subtlety, no majesty, and these were all things he used to do really well. It is completely lacking in the delicate power that made their best music so good--the sense that you were getting hit with something really hard but it was coming out of this really fragile vessel. It made it all kind of dangerous.
Part of the problem is that I think Corgan just doesn't sound good anymore, but he thinks he does. His voice no longer has the shrieking angel quality that it used to. It makes him sound petulant instead of mysterious, and for a guy who just sounds bad he is way to prominent in the mix. Stronger bass and drums to ground him a bit might help, but something is missing.
And lyrically Corgan was always over the top, but he could get away with it since he could do melodramatic better than anyone in a way that felt really literate. There was a high school poetry quality to much of it, but it was the best high school poetry you'll ever read.
I suspect if he learns to write and record within his current limitations he could possibly still do good work, but not if he keeps writing like he could sing like it was 1995. The titles of every record post Adore all scream to be taken seriously as some kind of grand statement.
Machina: God acting in the world Zietgiest: The spirit of the age Oceania: Something vast
He can't pull this off. So much of his best stuff came from him trying to find safe, quiet spaces where he didn't have to feel small, and that's the direction I'd like to see him move. Not the bombast.
I can't say I was disappointed in this album since I didn't expect much, but I am disappointed that the last song Billy Corgan wrote that I cared about was Lyric. That was what, 12 years ago?
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:43 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:23 am Posts: 4187
stip wrote:
I finally got around to listening to this. It is okay at best. Nothing cringe worthy like you might find on Zietgiest, beyond a few lyrics here and there, but overall I think this is a fairly bland effort on just about every level.
The music is pretty one dimensional. There is a cool sound to his guitar but it's the same thing song after song after song, without the nuance you got on a record like Siamese Dream, where the same feel of each song made the whole thing feel like it was making an epic statement. Here it just felt overlong. Sprawling, but rarely interesting. Beyond that there is basically no beauty, no subtlety, no majesty, and these were all things he used to do really well. It is completely lacking in the delicate power that made their best music so good--the sense that you were getting hit with something really hard but it was coming out of this really fragile vessel. It made it all kind of dangerous.
Part of the problem is that I think Corgan just doesn't sound good anymore, but he thinks he does. His voice no longer has the shrieking angel quality that it used to. It makes him sound petulant instead of mysterious, and for a guy who just sounds bad he is way to prominent in the mix. Stronger bass and drums to ground him a bit might help, but something is missing.
And lyrically Corgan was always over the top, but he could get away with it since he could do melodramatic better than anyone in a way that felt really literate. There was a high school poetry quality to much of it, but it was the best high school poetry you'll ever read.
I suspect if he learns to write and record within his current limitations he could possibly still do good work, but not if he keeps writing like he could sing like it was 1995. The titles of every record post Adore all scream to be taken seriously as some kind of grand statement.
Machina: God acting in the world Zietgiest: The spirit of the age Oceania: Something vast
He can't pull this off. So much of his best stuff came from him trying to find safe, quiet spaces where he didn't have to feel small, and that's the direction I'd like to see him move. Not the bombast.
I can't say I was disappointed in this album since I didn't expect much, but I am disappointed that the last song Billy Corgan wrote that I cared about was Lyric. That was what, 12 years ago?
i feel the same way in a few things, the first one is Billy´s vocals...too prominent in their recent records..he needs a good producer like butch vig or a mixer like flood. The same with the bombastic writing...i can´t stand machina even if you hear some good songs buried in all that stuff... but i think their new record has some great elements...my love is winter is a pretty nice pop song, and most of their songs from the new album sound awesome live.
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:32 pm
too drunk to moderate properly
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Sometimes I feel like stip is just me from another universe where I give a shit enough to write stuff down.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 3:53 pm
Got Some
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:12 pm Posts: 1749 Location: Portland, OR
stip wrote:
If Billy Corgan had produced more than a handful of passable songs in the last 15 years this would be easier to take. I assume that interview was not from 1996.
He's produced a lot of great stuff since then; he just doesn't seem to be able to filter out the crap. If he were better able to self-edit people would look at him and his music a lot differently. I can't think of any other artist who consistently shoots himself in the foot by leaving their best and most interesting material off their albums.
Pearl Jam shows: Champaign 4/23/2003 Chicago 6/18/2003 St. Louis 10/05/2004 Portland 7/20/2006 Gorge 7/22/2006 Ridgefield 9/26/2009 Philadelphia 10/31/2009
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 4:36 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:23 am Posts: 4187
matt reeder wrote:
stip wrote:
If Billy Corgan had produced more than a handful of passable songs in the last 15 years this would be easier to take. I assume that interview was not from 1996.
He's produced a lot of great stuff since then; he just doesn't seem to be able to filter out the crap. If he were better able to self-edit people would look at him and his music a lot differently. I can't think of any other artist who consistently shoots himself in the foot by leaving their best and most interesting material off their albums.
Great post...i think he needs a big producer like in his early years.
Post subject: Re: Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - June 19, 2012
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:10 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
matt reeder wrote:
stip wrote:
If Billy Corgan had produced more than a handful of passable songs in the last 15 years this would be easier to take. I assume that interview was not from 1996.
He's produced a lot of great stuff since then; he just doesn't seem to be able to filter out the crap. If he were better able to self-edit people would look at him and his music a lot differently. I can't think of any other artist who consistently shoots himself in the foot by leaving their best and most interesting material off their albums.
that's totally possible. I only know what's on the albums, and I haven't heard any teargarden stuff beyond what made oceania.
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
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