The Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania It's gratifying to be able to say the following sentence, as I was uncertain that I'd ever get the opportunity again: The new Smashing Pumpkins record is really good. Billy Corgan has said of the album, "...it is the first time where you actually hear me escape the old band. I'm not reacting against it or for it or in the shadow of it." Oddly, it appears that this escape from the fetters of the old incarnation of the Pumpkins has freed him up to deliver a sound that is more classic than anything he's done since the late Nineties.
Make no mistake, this is not a Mellon Collie clone. It's immediately obvious that Oceania is a different animal than Corgan's earlier efforts, but the songs here don't have the same forced quality that can be heard on the rest of the Pumpkins' 21st century output. Zeitgeist was a difficult record. It was difficult to penetrate as a listener, and I'm sure it was difficult to produce for Corgan and company. It may have been something of a disappointment to listeners, but looked at objectively, it was an understandable disappointment. It was a comeback album from a new band with an old name in a different century. Hardly surprising then, that few felt at home with the end result. On the other hand, Oceania feels natural, like Billy is letting himself be Billy, and the album became just what it was meant to be.
The first three tracks on Oceania offer some long-missed Corgan melodies with warm, fuzzed-out guitars. Fans made skittish by past disappointments should know that by the end of the first song, "Quasar," you can feel your guard coming down, and by the end of the third song, "The Celestials," you're just happy that things are back to normal in Pumpkinland. The next few songs are notable in that they're led by New Order/Depeche Mode-style electronics, which are backed with steady bass work, sweeping strings, and acoustic guitars to great effect. The last half of the album returns to more rock-oriented territory, with "Inkless" as a standout with a huge Siamese Dream-era guitar tone and passionate vocals. While the guitars are certainly still at the forefront of most of the songs, Corgan has done away with unnecessary heroics and overlong compositions, reaffirming his ability to make a tight, listenable album despite all the fuzzy dreaminess contained within its thirteen tracks.
There are legions of thirty- and forty-somethings across the world who will be overjoyed at Oceania, though its appeal should extend far beyond the legacy demographic. It may not quite reach the towering heights of Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, but it absolutely deserves to be a part of the same discography. It's a beautiful album that restores the Smashing Pumpkins name to its former glory.
-Review by TZARATHUSTRA
