Now that Oceania has been out for ten years…
 

…what is Netphoria’s consensus having had a decade to mull it over?

There is a lot to like about Oceania. That doesn't make it a great album, but there are plenty of parts that I enjoy and even the whole package to some extent.

The album would have greatly benefited from Jimmy. I think we've driven the Billy/Mike relationship into ground here. He couldn't fill those gigantic shoes. I feel bad for him overall, but I think this album suffered from his lack of experience.

I don't think this is a common sentiment, but I think the album kind of sounds like a retrospective. I hear imitations of Gish, SD, and even a bit of MCIS.

My favorite track by far is Glissandra. Inkless is fun as is The Chimera. Oceania the song is better in parts than as a whole. I don't know why I like Pale Horse as much as I do. Same with One Diamond, One Heart. Quasar tries a bit hard and is silly but I don't mind it. Panopticon needs Jimmy but I don't mind it much. Wildflower seems like a more watered down end-song version of Zeitgeist (song). Pinwheels is fine. My Love is Winter is a cringey line. Violet Rays is fine. The Celestials is mixed but I like the bass.

I'd give Oceania a 6.5 or even 7/10 depending on my mood. I listened to it quite a bit when it came out. I think with a better band it could have been an 8/10, especially if the production and mixing were adjusted a bit. I think the rocking songs sound fine for the most part, but Billy's front/center vocals don't work well on the softer songs.

the best post-2007 album

only thing he's done that's captured the warmth of the old stuff. i wonder if this is a Nicole thing? female presence? no clue

not to mention the only one where they recorded with a full band -- i imagine actually being able to jam songs together helps a ton versus corgan tracking all the strings and someone doing drums and merging the two in protools

Pinwheels is the best song on the record

i have absolutely no interest in it

What is Oceania?

eat sack

sucks

lol true true

Pretty much my thoughts exactly, other than that "Quasar" is probably my least favorite Smashing Pumpkins song and "Inkless" may be my favorite 2007-2014 song.

After Zeitgeist being a general let down to the public and Teargarden making the few people who actually bothered to listen question Corgan's sanity, this was the album that needed to be made. It wasn't particularly exceptional, but it had echoes of all band's most popular eras and a few moments where you could close your eyes and almost imagine the old band playing it. As you said, a better band and slicker production would have helped the album even more, but having something that sounded like a band playing in a room together with echoes of the old SP was what people wanted, and Corgan was rewarded for it. I'm too half-assed to look, but I think it remains the highest rated album of Corgan's career post 2000.

I can understand Corgan wanting to distance himself from that lineup of the band, but it did surprise me that for Monuments to an Elegy, Corgan basically went back to the TbK method of "Billy and friends," and the record suffered immensely for it.

A handful of decent songs. Some of the worst drum and guitar tones on an SP album along with some of the worst cover art on an SP album. The album is overly long and there are too many filler tracks.

5.5/10

i would love to see them adding OC songs into the set and see JC and Iha King Midas them

It’s a really solid record. I still listen to it regularly.

I own the CD because the local library was going to throw it away is really all I can say about it.

it's not interesting enough, in either a good or bad way, to compel me to listen to it

it's far from the worst thing ever and better than tbk, but at least tbk was comically bad

[quote=Shallowed;4595425]it's not interesting enough, in either a good or bad way, to compel me to listen to it
/QUOTE]

this.

I listened to it recently, post-Shiny 1, and I really enjoyed it. I liked it a lot at the time, but didn't have a lot of time for some of the middle stretch of the album. But I found myself being impressed by what I was hearing when I returned to it.

Nerd

Nerd

It was a fairly decent era. I like the approach to it, make an old school album experience that embraces enough of the 90s sound whilst trying to give it a new twist, kind of an icy shoegazery break up thing going on throughout it. It's a much better thing to listen to than Monuments, Cyr or Shiny for sure.

I actually enjoy Quasar which everyone seems to hate, but don't like the title track at all. Also enjoyed the smaller venue gigs they did around the start of the album cycle, despite no Jimmy the setlists were great. Also think it was definitely a mistake binning Nicole off who I liked a lot as a member.

Would have much preferred this to be looped into Teargarden but can see why that didn't happen. Similair to the above post
I really rate Quasar (Samurai Mike as it was once subtitled) and have a full on dislike for the title track (worst epic as far as i'm concerned).

Also on the record, My Love is Winter is fantastic although would have preferred the original Dirge version taking the centre spot on the record. Other than that I really rate Inkless and Wildflower is a lovely send off for the band/era.

I'm one of the few who likes the song Owata and thinks it would've been a better closer for Oceania.

My Love Is Winter has a great guitar solo. Lots of good guitar on this album.

And compared to what we have now, the vocals are pretty good, well mixed and not too upfront.

Drum sound sucks but that's what a lot of modern drum productions sounds like now, very dry and brickwalled, may as well be electronic drums. Which is what they eventually became...

I revisited this record a month or so ago and there are some great songs on it. Agree that Pinwheels is by far the standout, And I also would've loved Owata on Oceania too.

It's definitely one of the better post-Machina SP releases, but it's nothing that I ever put on consciously when I'm in a Pumpkins mood (but then again, I can say the same for everything Zeitgeist and on)

honestly JC's drums haven't sounded much better on any new SP records either

(of course on his jazz stuff they sound impeccable)

the unbearable love and beauty that lives inside the tower is the true lasting legacy of Oceania

I share Shallowed's opinion; I listened a few times when it came out and it was fine and I've barely thought about it since

If someone made me choose between listening to this or MTAE, I'd pick this in a heartbeat, but otherwise I'm never going to hear it again

Every album since has done something better - drums, vocals, vibe, etc - but none of them are as good overall. It's a bit wanky and everyone overplays a bit but MTAE went too far the other way, it's a shame the Oceania band didn't get to do another album.

The vibe is kinda "conscious uncoupling" or "I sleep in a race car". It's a bit wanky + meandering musically - it could've done with 1 straight forward, rocking, slightly angry song like Quiet.

I like Oceania and Quasar but the album would probably be better if you swapped one of them for As Rome Burns (which I don't particularly like but I feel like the album needed it or something similar).

Drum sound isn't great.

That all sounds very negative but it's a good album, frustratingly close to be great.

curiously this is the moment I check out from the album.
I just don't enjoy the "rockers" at all. it's not only bam bam mike, it's jeff that's a huge miss - I imagine he's trying to copy Iha and it's a fail. (the eboying in glissandara is pure cringe)

I know you've got big shoes to fill replacing the original members, but stop trying... you're just going to fail. :banging:


I quite like the synths on the album. Quasar is an instand skip.

I can't imagine actively choosing to listen to this with everything else at your disposal, Pumpkins or otherwise

it was cute at the time, Billy making a surface-level "early period" throwback or whatever, but ultimately, if you're even gonna bother with post-Zeit, why not just go big or go home?

i'm talkin' Tommy Lee on the kit

big guitars, unapologetic synths, ANUS

put on Monuments you at least get a morsel of entertainment 4 your dollar