An album that's been overlooked/ignored by many people this year is OCEANIA by THE SMASHING PUMPKINS. Be it because whatever they do these days is always compared to hit albums like Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness, be it because people think that the Pumpkins aren't the Pumpkins without Iha/Chamberlin/Wretzky (as if the band's name hasn't always been a synonym for Billy Corgan, and as if the bunch of people he's gathered around him these days aren't just as talented - if not more talented), or be it because people simply didn't give it a fair chance after having tried to sit their way through the Zeitgeist album a few years earlier, and failed hopelessly doing so. I must admit, that previous album was a bit of a disappointment to me as well. This one however is certainly not!
It would be stupid if Billy would have come up with a "Siamese Dream Part 2". That's not going to happen anymore; get over it. He's nearly 20 years older than the 26 year old bloke he was when he was blowing people's brains out at summer festivals in 1993, mind you. And that's something you hear back in the music. It's more mature, if you like it or not. But it still has the magic, when you listen to songs such as Quasar and My Love Is Winter - to name but a few.
The musicians around him are good. Simple as that. Mike Byrne is an extremely talented drummer who's been playing with Billy for more than 3 years now. Nicole Fiorentino was the bass player for one of my favourite indie rock bands Veruca Salt for the past 7 years. And last but not least, Jeff Schroeder is a very talented guitar player which i heard of ever since i bought the amazingly good s/t CD by The Violet Burning in 1996. He's been playing with Billy already since 2007 so you can't really speak about the band's "new guitarist" anymore.
Funny anecdote: Jeff's been playing for years with Wayne Everett and Eric Campuzano in The Lassie Foundation, and those guys are former members of a truly great band called The Prayer Chain (and of Starflyer 59, by the way). I've seen The Prayer Chain almost every time they played in this area around '92/'93, and i know by talking to them a few times that they were massive Pumpkins fans at the time, like myself. I remember that they even had a cover of I Am One in their live set. So for some reason it never really surprised me that someone from that scene would start playing for the Pumpkins eventually. It all comes together. Now hoping for a show over here sometime soon again.
Label: Martha's Music
Cat.nr.: MM002
Year of release: 2012
SIDE A:
01. Quasar
02. Panopticon
03. The Celestials
04. Violet Rays
SIDE B:
01. My Love Is Winter
02. One Diamond, One Heart
03. Pinwheels
SIDE C:
01. Oceania
02. Pale Horse
03. The Chimera
SIDE D:
01. Glissandra
02. Inkless
03. Wildflower
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