Buff, Shake and Mo's Pumpkins thread.

[MOtorboat]

OK, so I listened to Oceania, and I'm thoroughly impressed.

Following are my thoughts during the listen:

Oceania

Wow. Back to basic songwriting for Mr. Corgan, which oftentimes means brilliant.

Not sure if Corgan formulated this the way I interpreted it, but the first two songs were very reminiscent of the overdrive, power chord driven Zeitgeist album, and I thought, 'oh here we go.'

Then The Celestials kicks in and we finally get that stripped down Corgan guitar playing, which crescendos into a power-ballad type song, but it has more complexity than shallow 80s rock power ballads. I loved that transition.

That's what made Corgan's songwriting so great, early in his career. His ability to punch the overdrive button and the distortion pedal and then combine that with melodic, acoustic-driven songs to fill the void. He was versatile. He lost that on Adore, Machina and Zeitgeist. I think he got it back here. Adore was too avant garde and Machina and Zeitgeist had too much distortion. And on Zeitgeist he completely lost melody.

Anyway...My Love is Winter and One Diamond, One Heart were great. The latter was straying away from anything he's done with a synth-pop type feel.

Pinwheels was his best songwriting since Porcelina and Muzzle on Melon Collie and Mayonnaise on Siamese Dream.

I thought Oceania was the most disjointed song on the record. He tried to jam too much into a song, and it just didn't fit.

And just when I was about to comment that there wasn't any rockers on the backside of the album, he comes through with The Chimera and Glissandra. The former being the much better song.

Thought the ending was a little weak, but a good listen, nevertheless.

All in all it doesn't quite catch the magic of Siamese Dream and Melon Collie, and maybe that's me speaking as a teenager, but it is his best album since. He finally got out of his one-track mindset when it came to albums, and delivered a complete album.

[Timmy!]

:totallysnubbed:

[MOtorboat]

:totallysnubbed:

Sort of fixed.

[Thnikkaman]

I see nothing wrong with this thread.

[MOtorboat]

Corgan's best song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXfFZmkwcg

[Skinny]

I dedicate this to Buff, Shake, Timmy, and MO....

dZ06VF6wQMA

[MOtorboat]

I'm not sure, exactly, how t take Billy's opening comments in that video.

[MasterShake]

Corgan's best song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXfFZmkwcg

I don't know why but my favorite overall Smashing Pumpkins song is a toss up between Rocket or Muzzle.

As far as Oceania, I'm glad to hear that you and I had similar reactions to our initial listenings. I was kind of in a trance as the album got quieter then BAM! The Chimera.

There are 4 songs I absolutely love on the new album that I would gladly put with his best work:

1. Violet Rays - Take the poetry style songwriting of Adore and mix it with the prog-rock sensibilities of Gish and you get this gem. A little heavy handed at times, but a beautiful song.

2. Panopticon - Not quite as angry as a song like X.Y.U. or even Heavy Metal Machine, but a reminder that when he wants to Corgan can make a good hard rock style song.

3. One Diamond, One Heart - The most unique song on the album while at the same time being familiar. Catchy hook and good songwriting.

4. Pinwheels - The song I will always stop on when skipping through songs on my iPod. I love the crescendos and backup vocals on this one as well.

Also in case you don't know MO, Oceania is actually part of the Teargarden By Kaleidoscope album he is working on. The songs were available for free on their website for the longest time, but I can't find any working links so by all means torrent it. Those are more hit and miss than Oceania was, but Tom Tom and Freak are great. They released it for free similar to Machina II which you can download a high quality version of here at the Music Archives: http://archive.org/details/machina2

EDIT: I didn't care much for the last 2 songs at first on Oceania, now Inkless is one of my favorites. This album had to grow on me a bit, but overall I was really impressed the first time I listened to it.

[Timmy!]

I have not heard oceania yet, but im waaaayyyyy behind on new albums

[NightTrainLayne]

I bought this album back in June. Listened to it a few times, but haven't listened to it in a few months.

Corgan was on the Stern show back when the album came out. Had a really interesting interview abut his family life growing up. Just this last week they replayed it as part of the "Best of 2012" highlights. Now Mo starts a thread. Seems like the universe is telling me to listen to that album some more.

[shank]

dude, shut up

[MOtorboat]

dude, shut up

Get out.

[MasterShake]

I'm not sure, exactly, how t take Billy's opening comments in that video.

The last concert I went to he went off about Manning and the Broncos for 10 minutes and how excited we should be that they beat San Diego. He said its good to root for old guys.

[Skinny]

oPaw-qQheTA

[Nomad]

I like the Smashing Pumpkins.

[MileHighCrew]

I bought this album after reading about it, and although it isn't as good to me as the older albums I'm glad I bought it. Good album, thanks for the reference guys

[broncofreakz]

They neeta put Holiday in on Offence

[MOtorboat]

Let this thread not die.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aeETEoNfOg

[Poet]

I thought you guys were really into Jack-O-Lanterns or something.

Carry on.

[NightTrainLayne]

I'm upset that I didn't get an invite to this thread.

9uWwvQKGjLI

[MOtorboat]

Sorry NTL...

Hollywood has it wrong, BTW. The vampire rock stars don't have long, flowing, rock star hair, they look like Billy Corgan.

[chazoe60]

I never got the appeal. Corgan has a terrible voice IMO, somewhat akin to 1000 cats clawing the same chalkboard. Just my opinion obviously.

[MasterShake]

I never got the appeal. Corgan has a terrible voice IMO, somewhat akin to 1000 cats clawing the same chalkboard. Just my opinion obviously.

The best I ever heard it explained was that there are singers (like Freddy Mercury) and then there are vocalists (like Bob Dylan). I don't care for Corgan's voice either personally, but it does sound cool on some songs. The thing that got me hooked on the Pumpkins was that during the grunge movement they still managed to sound like something else and there was a certain theatrics and poetry to their songs, even with early albums like Gish. What sealed it though was when I got to see them during the Mellon Collie tour at the old McNichols arena. They managed to piss off the kids that were there in their polo shirts and cargo shorts to hear the "hits" and pump up all the weird kids like me with loud, thrashing versions of their songs. It was the closest I have ever seen a true rock show as I understand it should be.

Say what you want about Billy Corgan as a singer, but his arrangements on songs, lyrics (for the most part), and guitar playing are par with some of the best. But I can totally understand why some people don't like the band.

Plus I like how he always hires hot chicks for bass players.

3177

[MasterShake]

And here is one of their newer songs that came between Zeitgeist and Oceania on the very underrated Teargarden by Kaleidoscope EPs:

dJHbJfv_PUQ

[BroncoNut]

I never got the appeal. Corgan has a terrible voice IMO, somewhat akin to 1000 cats clawing the same chalkboard. Just my opinion obviously.

He's Irish and that goes a long way with me. Pumpkins are alright. I have one of their cds, the one with the 2 girls on it.

[MasterShake]

He's Irish and that goes a long way with me. Pumpkins are alright. I have one of their cds, the one with the 2 girls on it.

And all my friends from Chicago worship him just for the fact that he is from there.

[chazoe60]

I'm as big a fan of Irishmusic as there is on this site, probably the biggest actually, and I still think his voice is the worst I've ever heard on an actual recording artist.

[aberdien]

I like people with weird "original" voices, and I prefer those to the clean cut ones. Most of the music I listen to includes singers whose voices most people would listen to and go "what the **** this person sucks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCjpbjCH5L0) at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa3_-qXcyFY) singing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fqHr_KGPY)" but I find that usually the voice fits the aesthetic of the music, so that's all that really matters. Clean cut voices are usually just boring.

I like the Pumpkins. Melon Collie is the goods.

[MasterShake]

I like people with weird "original" voices, and I prefer those to the clean cut ones. Most of the music I listen to includes singers whose voices most people would listen to and go "what the **** this person sucks at singing" but I find that usually the voice fits the aesthetic of the music, so that's all that really matters.

I like the Pumpkins. Melon Collie is the goods.

I stopped reading Rolling Stone reviews after they gave that 3 stars...

[aberdien]

I stopped reading Rolling Stone reviews after they gave that 3 stars...

Rolling Stone is a joke for music anyway.

I think Siamese Dream is my favorite over Melon Collie though.

[BroncoNut]

And all my friends from Chicago worship him just for the fact that he is from there.

I didn't know he was a chicago fuk. He's probably from a western suburb 40 miles from the loop and jsut says he's from Chicago.

[BroncoNut]

I like people with weird "original" voices, and I prefer those to the clean cut ones. Most of the music I listen to includes singers whose voices most people would listen to and go "what the **** this person sucks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCjpbjCH5L0) at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa3_-qXcyFY) singing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fqHr_KGPY)" but I find that usually the voice fits the aesthetic of the music, so that's all that really matters. Clean cut voices are usually just boring.

I like the Pumpkins. Melon Collie is the goods.

i know what you mean wiht the voices. like getti lee of Rush. just something weird about it that makes Rush Rush.

[chazoe60]

I like people with weird "original" voices, and I prefer those to the clean cut ones. Most of the music I listen to includes singers whose voices most people would listen to and go "what the **** this person sucks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCjpbjCH5L0) at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa3_-qXcyFY) singing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fqHr_KGPY)" but I find that usually the voice fits the aesthetic of the music, so that's all that really matters. Clean cut voices are usually just boring.

I like the Pumpkins. Melon Collie is the goods.

I usually do too. Some of my favorites are Dylan, Cash, and MacGowan but I just can't stand Corgan's voice. I listen a ton of stuff with lead singers who have non-traditional voices.

[BroncoNut]

Johnny Cash isn't known for having a particularly "bad" voice. Dylan is trrible, but I do like his music. my favorite Dylan song is positively 4th street. Then Tangled up in blues

[chazoe60]

I like people with weird "original" voices, and I prefer those to the clean cut ones. Most of the music I listen to includes singers whose voices most people would listen to and go "what the **** this person sucks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCjpbjCH5L0) at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa3_-qXcyFY) singing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fqHr_KGPY)" but I find that usually the voice fits the aesthetic of the music, so that's all that really matters. Clean cut voices are usually just boring.

I like the Pumpkins. Melon Collie is the goods.

I really dug the song you linked in the word "singing". Good shit. I've been listening to a band called Rock Plaza Central a lot lately. Their lead singer has a pretty unusual voice, check out their song I am an Excellent Steel Horse. I'd post the video but my phone is being a dick.

[BroncoNut]

I really dug the song you linked in the word "singing". Good shit. I've been listening to a band called Rock Plaza Central a lot lately. Their lead singer has a pretty unusual voice, check out their song I am an Excellent Steel Horse. I'd post the video but my phone is being a dick.

you and your phone are 2 peas in a pod

[chazoe60]

you and your phone are 2 peas in a pod

Nut, I love you.

[MasterShake]

I didn't know he was a chicago fuk. He's probably from a western suburb 40 miles from the loop and jsut says he's from Chicago.

I think he lived in Glendale Heights or something growing up, but based the band in Chicago when they formed in 1987. Their first and last show with the original lineup were both at The Metro.

[Thnikkaman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYElsvpB8RA

[MOtorboat]

I can't click on that Youtube right now, but you better not be spamming our Pumpkins thread with shitty rap, Tinker.

[chazoe60]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYElsvpB8RA
That was awful.

Sorry Tink, I just don't think you and I will ever agree on much, musically speaking. Although there were a few of the rap songs that I enjoyed more than I ever thought I would.

[Thnikkaman]

I can't click on that Youtube right now, but you better not be spamming our Pumpkins thread with shitty rap, Tinker.

Not rap. Just an electronic song that samples the Pumpkins. Thought it wouldn't be too offensive.

[Thnikkaman]

That was awful.

Sorry Tink, I just don't think you and I will ever agree on much, musically speaking. Although there were a few of the rap songs that I enjoyed more than I ever thought I would.

That's a fact I can live with.