March 27, 2012

Link

The wait is almost over for The Smashing Pumpkins’ seventh studio album, Oceania, which is part of the band's 44-song Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project. The Pumpkins have announced that Oceania will be released on June 19 through EMI Label Services.

“The Smashing Pumpkins created Oceania as an album experience, and it is intended for the process of the release to follow a path of inclusion, so that best efforts are made for all the fans hear it at the same time as press or radio,” said Smashing Pumpkins manager Peter Katsis in a statement. “We were excited to find partners in EMI Label Services that were equally passionate about the plan for the album release as well as being huge fans of the Pumpkins.”

I wish he wouldn't call it the Pumpkins, cause it's not, but still that's good news.

breese said:

I wish he wouldn't call it the Pumpkins, cause it's not, but still that's good news.

I agree. Its not the Pumpkins any longer and it hasn't been for enough of a time that he should be over the name. I'd actually prefer if he just recorded and toured as himself (with a backing band).

I was gonna say I only recognize one face. but I was never a big fan of them anyway. meh.

Methinks ol Corgan lost his creative steam after Adore.

Spinlight said:

Methinks ol Corgan lost his creative steam after Adore.

Did you hear the Zwan record? IMO it's so damn good that I have no concerns about his creativity.

The tracklisting for Oceania is as follows:

''Quasar''
''Stella P And The People Mover''
''Panopticon''
''The Celestials''
''Violet Rays''
''My Love Is Winter''
''One Diamond, One Heart''
''Pinwheels''
''Oceania''
''Pale Horse''
''The Chimera''
''Glissandra''
''Inkless''
''Wildflower''

I've actually been really impressed with the new material. I haven't really connected with anything post-Adore until now. Hopefully it bodes well.

As for whether or not it can be called Smashing Pumpkins... well one could argue that Billy Corgan was always the dominating force in that band. It's basically his project, so I don't have a problem with it.

NoVideo said:

I've actually been really impressed with the new material. I haven't really connected with anything post-Adore until now. Hopefully it bodes well.

As for whether or not it can be called Smashing Pumpkins... well one could argue that Billy Corgan was always the dominating force in that band. It's basically his project, so I don't have a problem with it.

I dont think anyone would argue with that. james iha doesnt have Billy's songwriting talents. But they did start the band together. When no one recognizes a single face except for Billy's however because everyone else left, died or got kicked out, then its essentially Billy's project. It'd be like Anthony Kiedis working with a whole new band and still calling them the RHCP's. It just would seem silly, as does this.

But anyway, it doesn't really matter to me, I havent listened to them in any serious fashion since the late 90's.

Why has he hired Steps as a backing band?

lezama said:

NoVideo said:

I've actually been really impressed with the new material. I haven't really connected with anything post-Adore until now. Hopefully it bodes well.

As for whether or not it can be called Smashing Pumpkins... well one could argue that Billy Corgan was always the dominating force in that band. It's basically his project, so I don't have a problem with it.

I dont think anyone would argue with that. james iha doesnt have Billy's songwriting talents. But they did start the band together. When no one recognizes a single face except for Billy's however because everyone else left, died or got kicked out, then its essentially Billy's project. It'd be like Anthony Kiedis working with a whole new band and still calling them the RHCP's. It just would seem silly, as does this.

But anyway, it doesn't really matter to me, I havent listened to them in any serious fashion since the late 90's.

I disagree.. RHCP's were a far more collaborative band than SP which was essentially always Billy's project.

But either way, hopefully the new album is good, it's been a very long time since Billy's put out a complete album that was decent

Spinlight said:

Methinks ol Corgan lost his creative steam after Adore.

Methinks you are right

Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan Talks Making “Great Music at a Very High Level” for Oceania
March 30, 2012

On Wednesday, The Smashing Pumpkins announced that their seventh studio album, Oceania, will be released in June. In an interview with ABC News Radio, frontman Billy Corgan says that he gave himself total creative freedom as he developed the songs for the album.

”We've shifted back into a mindset of, like, we must make great music at a very high level and if the song is 11 minutes long, well then that's, the song's 11 minutes long,” says the singer. “Oceania has two songs, like, one's seven minutes long, one's 10 minutes long. So, we're back in the mode of just, like, let's just make the best music possible.”

Corgan added that he had a wealth of material to choose from as he put the album together. “The 13 songs in Oceania are probably culled down from about 30 or 40 songs,” notes Corgan. “I kind of went into it how I'd made the albums in the '90s. The way I used to work would be like, 'OK, I'm going to take the best rock song, the best pop song, the best moody song and just go from there' and so I went back to the way that I used to work, and so it has that kind of sense of diversity in the album."

Oceania is set to arrive in stores on June 19.

Link

breese said:

Spinlight said:

Methinks ol Corgan lost his creative steam after Adore.

Did you hear the Zwan record? IMO it's so damn good that I have no concerns about his creativity.

Zwan was a great album. I liked quite a bit of the Machina era also. There was surely enough great material to cobble together a solid twelve track album.

NoVideo said:

I've actually been really impressed with the new material. I haven't really connected with anything post-Adore until now. Hopefully it bodes well.

As for whether or not it can be called Smashing Pumpkins... well one could argue that Billy Corgan was always the dominating force in that band. It's basically his project, so I don't have a problem with it.

That's kind of true but Jimmy also played on most of their material with the exception of Adore.

I may give this new album a listen eventually but I am much more excited for the reissues. Any news on when Pisces Iscariot will be released?

I really like the few Pumpkins songs that I heard in the early 90s.

When I saw the photo at the top of this thread, I was like who are those kids in the picture? Smashing Pumpkins is at least 20 years old, and at least 2 of the folks in the photo look under 30 for sure. I agree that it's about time to hang up the name.

lezama said:

NoVideo said:

I've actually been really impressed with the new material. I haven't really connected with anything post-Adore until now. Hopefully it bodes well.

As for whether or not it can be called Smashing Pumpkins... well one could argue that Billy Corgan was always the dominating force in that band. It's basically his project, so I don't have a problem with it.

I dont think anyone would argue with that. james iha doesnt have Billy's songwriting talents. But they did start the band together. When no one recognizes a single face except for Billy's however because everyone else left, died or got kicked out, then its essentially Billy's project. It'd be like Anthony Kiedis working with a whole new band and still calling them the RHCP's. It just would seem silly, as does this.

actually, it would be more like every line-up of a band that Robert Smith fronts being called The Cure. which it is.

errant said:

lezama said:

I dont think anyone would argue with that. james iha doesnt have Billy's songwriting talents. But they did start the band together. When no one recognizes a single face except for Billy's however because everyone else left, died or got kicked out, then its essentially Billy's project. It'd be like Anthony Kiedis working with a whole new band and still calling them the RHCP's. It just would seem silly, as does this.

actually, it would be more like every line-up of a band that Robert Smith fronts being called The Cure. which it is.

Very apt comparison

He should just call it the Billy Corgan project from now on.

[Edited 4/2/12 11:51am]

I love the Pumpkins and I'm eagerly anticipating this release.

I agree that Zwan's album "Mary, Star of the Sea" is the most cohesive album Billy has made in the last ten years, but as with Prince, I always find at least a handful of songs per album that I love. "Song for a Sailor," which was one of the first (if not the first?) free online releases as part of the "Teargarden by Kaleidyscope" project remains one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded by anyone - in my mind, anyway.

And I totally think Billy has every right to call his band the Smashing Pumpkins. It has always been his band, his vision, mostly his playing on record (at least through Siamese Dream) and his songs ... not to mention his voice and guitar, which to me truly define the Pumpkins. Yes, I miss D'arcy and James because I liked the vibe they brought to the band and those were great years musically ... but times change. I just feel blessed that Billy is still making music.

There are too few rock gods left these days, and Billy is one of them. Thank the gods for that.

NoVideo said:

errant said:

actually, it would be more like every line-up of a band that Robert Smith fronts being called The Cure. which it is.

Very apt comparison

Simon's been with Robert for almost the entire duration of the Cure I think..

errant said:

lezama said:

I dont think anyone would argue with that. james iha doesnt have Billy's songwriting talents. But they did start the band together. When no one recognizes a single face except for Billy's however because everyone else left, died or got kicked out, then its essentially Billy's project. It'd be like Anthony Kiedis working with a whole new band and still calling them the RHCP's. It just would seem silly, as does this.

actually, it would be more like every line-up of a band that Robert Smith fronts being called The Cure. which it is.

The Cure's lineup hasn't changed much since 1994 but it's like with this group, they only know the front man.

lezama said:

NoVideo said:

Very apt comparison

Simon's been with Robert for almost the entire duration of the Cure I think..

Yeah, he's been the closest thing to a constant besides RS, but even Simon hasn't been there the entire time

NoVideo said:

lezama said:

Simon's been with Robert for almost the entire duration of the Cure I think..

Yeah, he's been the closest thing to a constant besides RS, but even Simon hasn't been there the entire time

He left between, what, 1985 and 1989, or something like that? I heard it was due to some misunderstanding or an argument between him and Robert. Robert reportedly was depressed over Simon's exit. Simon and Robert made up later and Simon returned to the group.

Timmy84 said:

NoVideo said:

Yeah, he's been the closest thing to a constant besides RS, but even Simon hasn't been there the entire time

He left between, what, 1985 and 1989, or something like that? I heard it was due to some misunderstanding or an argument between him and Robert. Robert reportedly was depressed over Simon's exit. Simon and Robert made up later and Simon returned to the group.

He left after the "Pornography" album, and at that point The Cure was essentially broken up. Robert continued with several pop singles that were essentially solo projects (The Walk, Let's Go To Bed, The Lovecats - Lol Tolhurst was listed as a keyboardist but he really couldn't play much) - and then the album "The Top" which was also essentially a RS solo album played with various musicians. Simon came back for "The Head on the Door".

Here is a summary of all their changes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w..._personnel

Porl Thompson and Roger O'Donnell have both had 3 separate stints in the band.

[img:$uid]http://i44.tinypic.com/20hm25x.jpg[/img:$uid]

The above is supposedly the album cover art for Oceania.

NoVideo said:

Timmy84 said:

He left between, what, 1985 and 1989, or something like that? I heard it was due to some misunderstanding or an argument between him and Robert. Robert reportedly was depressed over Simon's exit. Simon and Robert made up later and Simon returned to the group.

He left after the "Pornography" album, and at that point The Cure was essentially broken up. Robert continued with several pop singles that were essentially solo projects (The Walk, Let's Go To Bed, The Lovecats - Lol Tolhurst was listed as a keyboardist but he really couldn't play much) - and then the album "The Top" which was also essentially a RS solo album played with various musicians. Simon came back for "The Head on the Door".

Here is a summary of all their changes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w..._personnel

Porl Thompson and Roger O'Donnell have both had 3 separate stints in the band.

I always thought that era was interesting.

Identity said:

That's not Smashing Pumpkins, that's Guns 'n' Roses!!!!

Timmy84 said:

NoVideo said:

He left after the "Pornography" album, and at that point The Cure was essentially broken up. Robert continued with several pop singles that were essentially solo projects (The Walk, Let's Go To Bed, The Lovecats - Lol Tolhurst was listed as a keyboardist but he really couldn't play much) - and then the album "The Top" which was also essentially a RS solo album played with various musicians. Simon came back for "The Head on the Door".

Here is a summary of all their changes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w..._personnel

Porl Thompson and Roger O'Donnell have both had 3 separate stints in the band.

I always thought that era was interesting.

Agreed! Love that era. Also includes The Glove's "Blue Sunshine" album that RS did with Steve Severin.