Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania

The Tune for today is:

Smashing Pumkins - The Chimera

Fairy tales and time in whales
Substitutes for sin
It takes some life to find the light within
Whistle past the lane, lover
Whistle past the lane
'Cause love's forever strange
Nestle on the moon, sunshine
Nestle on the moon
Should you hear that faint murmur
Of what love might do

Seven stars that shine
In my mind, oh my mind
I'll take you with me where I climb
In my mind, oh my mind

And if I'm wrong I'm right
I'm never gonna lose you
If I'm wrong I'm right
Take me to your life

Summertime's the only child
Summertime's the only child this night
You want to brace the golden fool
Let's make this right

Nightingales and nursery crimes
Twins that spark the charts
It takes some trust to find a trust apart
Whistle past the lane, lover
Whistle past the lane
'Cause love's forever strange
Nestle on the sun, starlight
Nestle on the sun
Should you hear that faint murmur
Of what love has done

Seven stars that weep
In my sleep, oh in my sleep
I'll take you with me where I keep
In my sleep, oh in my sleep
And if I'm wrong I'm right
I'm never gonna loose you
If I'm wrong I'm right
Take me to your life
All you need is you, lover
All you need is you
All you need is you, lover
So please need me too
What you need is love, stranger
What you need is love
When your love needs it's danger
Please let me through when I've got you

Review by Matt Collar (allmusic)

Following up on, and in many ways amending, much of the bombastic overcompensation of 2007'sZeitgeist, Smashing Pumpkins 2012 release Oceania is an exuberant, gloriously melodic, fluid return to form for Billy Corgan. While Zeitgeist certainly contained many of the elements that make for a classicSmashing Pumpkins release -- including slabs of distorted guitars, passionate vocals, and poetic lyrics, not to mention drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who was the sole remaining original member besidesCorgan and who subsequently left the band -- there was something cold and perhaps a bit too calculated about the production. Ultimately, Zeitgeist didn't do much to dissuade audiences that Corgan, undeniably the mastermind behind the best Pumpkins work, was now overvaluing his abilities in an attempt to recapture fans disillusioned by his various side projects. Thankfully, none of these concerns are applicable to Oceania. Ostensibly an "album within an album" of the greater 44-track Teargarden by Kaleidyscope concept project, Oceania works as a stand-alone album. Conceptual conceits aside, these are some of the most memorable and rousing songs Corgan has delivered since 1993's Siamese Dream, the album thatOceania most closely mirrors in tone and aesthetic. Which isn't to say that Corgan is treading old ground; on the contrary, there is something fresh and inspired about the songs on Oceania. Admittedly, kicking the album off with the heavy psychedelic acid rock groove of "Quasar" -- in which Corgan croons several EST-era-style affirmations including, "God right on! Krishna right on! Mark right on!" -- is a move that almost begs comparisons to Smashing Pumpkins' euphoria-inducing 1991 single "Siva." A similar sentiment comes to mind with the latter album rocker "The Chimera," a classic rock-sounding groover that sparkles with crisscross laser-beam guitar lines recalling the jewel-toned guitar heroics ofQueen's Brian May. But these are welcome comparisons, born out of Corgan finally delivering a gorgeous and cohesive set of songs that balance some his more arch, cerebral inclinations with his generously romantic and sweepingly cinematic gift for revelatory guitar rock. Elsewhere, we get the soaring "Panopticon" and the minor-key, prog rock-inflected drama of "Violet Rays." However, Oceaniais perhaps best represented by the euphoric mid-album ballad "Pinwheels." Starting with a repeated keyboard line and building to swells of acoustic and electric guitar before settling into one of the most swoon-worthy melodic anthems Corgan has ever written, "Pinwheels," much like the rest of Oceania, is a masterpiece of pop songcraft and rock production. As Corgan croons on the song's chorus, "Sister soul, lovers of the tune, sing!/I got you/I got you." On Oceania, the Smashing Pumpkins definitely have us.

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