We've been going a little Smashing Pumpkins crazy here at Ology this summer. It's a great time for it, right? In addition to releasing their new album Oceania to rave reviews, the band are also digging through their back catalogue and releasing amazing deluxe edition box set reissues of their classic albums Gish, Siamese Dream and Pisces Iscariot. If you haven't already, you can enter to win all three deluxe editions in our Smashing Pumpkins Ology contest! Click here for more details—contest ends Monday, August 20. These reissues are so cool, in fact, that it's been easy to get sidetracked away from what we Pumpkins fans should be talking about—the new album.
For your consideration, I've compiled a list of my five favorite tracks off Oceania along with an explanation of why I think they are… at this current moment, at least… the best of the bunch. Best part? I want to know which Oceania songs you guys are digging on! Be sure to hit up our comments section below after the jump and let everyone know your favorites and why. In the meantime, though, here are my Top 5 picks in running order:
No. 1 "Quasar" Track 01 (4:55)
"God, right on! Krishna, right on!" With Oceania's roaring opening track, Billy Corgan announced loud and clear that although this album is technically part of the larger Teargarden By Kaleidyscope project, it's not simply a one-dimensional expansion of those songs' re-exploration of the Smashing Pumpkins' dreamier, gentler side. Billy and Jeff Schroeder's guitars positively kick, appeasing the stubborn old Pumpkins fans screaming for another Gish while allowing the "new" lineup the chance to really let loose.
No. 2 "Panopticon" Track 02 (3:52)
Has some more of that old school, gritty electric guitar crunch, but paired with a more loose, adventurous melody—a lolling, blessed-out 6/8 stroll bolstered by Billy's endearing lyrics ("Breathe! Love is air / Oh don't make me suffer / To dash debonair where chaste is the wish…") and subtly effective backup harmonies by Miss Nicole Fiorentino. Has some of the same wide-eyed sweep that peppered the first half of Mellon Collie—a carefree sense of optimism creeping through the aggro-guitar stomp.
No. 3 "The Celestials" Track 03 (3:58)
Can I help it that Billy stacked three of Oceania's best songs at the outset? No, but I can't deny it either—"The Celestials" is one of the band's most engaging ballads to date, a proper burst of acoustic guitar strums, hazy keyboards and one unforgettable summer sunset of a chorus ("Never let the summer catch you down / Never let your thoughts run free…"). Can't get enough of how it seamless transforms from an unassuming unplugged jam into a hissing, grinding rocker before spilling out into a trippy space rock freakout and then back again. No one writes real rock 'n' roll stunners like this anymore—it's a real shame.
No. 4 "Pinwheels" Track 07 (5:44)
I know the nine-minute title track is supposed to be the album's real centerpiece… but to me, this is where Oceania really reaches its peak. In under a little less than six minutes, it goes from a post-"Baba O'Riley" synthesizer sequence to a chilled out guitar strummer to a cinematic electric guitar bliss-fest to an intimate campfire strummer and beyond. The way Billy and Nicole trade "I got you" lines is positively gut-wrenching, while the devastating "Cause you don't deserve me, but I deserve you" refrain still gives me the shivers every time. "If nobody wins, then what gets lost? / If I've got you…" Songs like this are why, to this day, the Smashing Pumpkins are still my all-time favorite band.
No. 5 "Pale Horse" Track 09 (4:38)
Okay, so it's not an obvious highlight, but this one… for me, at least… harkens back a little to the final stretch of Mellon Collie ("We Only Come Out At Night," "Lily," etc.) without really looking back or re-treading old musical ground. It's got a great, almost cavernous sound on the verses (love the twinkle of the guitars paired with the "bum-BUM" of those kettle drums) and a lush, bittersweet chorus, stocked full with just the right amount of wistful regret and keyboard-soaked melancholy. It's a bit understated, sure, but in the right mood, it packs just as much (if not more) of an emotional punch as the long jams and in your face rockers.
Agree? Disagree? Hit me up below. Again, if you haven't already, you can enter to win all three Smashing Pumpkins deluxe edition reissues by joining and posting in the SP Ology group right here. Good luck, everyone!
John Busch :
@emilio yea, I guess I'm that way with Panopticon. @Redmond you should finish your list with Inkless so you can run the gambit from melancholy to hopeful.
August 16, 2012
Redmond Silverfield:
Personally, my Top 4 would go like this (in descending order):
01. Pale Horse
02. Oceania
03. Pinwheels
04. Quasar
I'm undecided as to what I would put after that (several good candidates), but those are definitely my 4 favorites. Really, from 'Pinwheels' thru 'Pale Horse', I was positively drowning in musical bliss.
August 15, 2012
Redmond Silverfield:
Close enough to my top personal favorites, but with an album as quality as this, it would be difficult to find a Top 5 List that I thought really missed the mark.
August 15, 2012
Tom Ušeničnik:
I like the list ... mine would be: Quasar, Panopticon, Pinwheels, Oceania, Inkless
August 15, 2012
Emilio Rodriguez :
Hard to fault any of the choices on your list. It all boils down to personal taste. My list, in order: (1) Panopticon (2) My Love is Winter (3) The Chimera (4) Pale Horse (5) The Celestials. I seem to be one of the few people that have Violet Rays near the bottom of their Oceania list...
August 14, 2012
John Busch :
haha I hear ya. It's tough with a record as strong as Oceania. I think my list would probably be in no particular order: the Chimera, Inkless, Violet Rays, Pinwheels and The Celestials, but hey the whole record is great, can't go wrong with any of it really.
August 14, 2012
Brett Warner:
I know, I knowww haha Picking just five was too hard. If I didn't have such a personal attachment to "Pale Horse," then "Violet Rays" would totally have its spot.
August 14, 2012
John Busch :
Good list, but needs Violet Rays in there somewhere!
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