“Oceania” by the Smashing Pumpkins is their 7th or 8th studio album (depending how you count “Teargarden by Kaleidyscope” which honestly I’m not exactly sure how that whole idea is working anyway…I digress….)

If you only download one track: “My Love is Winter” feels like a tip of the hat to the Smiths and I find myself listening to it more than once.  It won’t be a hit, but it’s def the best track.

Hot Fire of Truth:  In full disclosure, I’ve never been a fan of Billy & the Pumpkins “whine-rock”.  I know a lot of people like it, but I think “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” is just garbage.

That said, I have to tell you that this record SOUNDS fantastic.  The production is fairly lush without being a 30 Seconds to Mars record, and the guitar & drum sounds are perfect for the tracks.  Song wise, there isn’t a clunker in the bunch and really I enjoyed my time with “Oceania”.

Even Billy Corgan’s voice, which generally lands at a sonic frequency proven to cause cancer in lab mice, is in a place that makes it fit perfectly into the tracks.

“Oceania”  doesn’t become irritating unless you take time to read the lyrics, which sadly I did. The imagery is trite and verbiage is too reliant crutches to be very interesting.  A grown man in his mid-forties whining about how tough it was as a teenager gets old fast.  Though some people may think that makes it emotive or personal, those people also probably like Meredith Baxter movie specials on Lifetime TV.

Overall though, I’ve gotta give this high marks.  I wouldn’t bother with the special collector CD, but go ahead and do the 9 dollar iTunes download and you’ll enjoy it.