Ogilala

So William Patrick Corgan shifts gears into singer songwriter mode evoking various footnotes of his body of work.A song like Amarinthe evokes the excellent live acoustic songs from the If All Goes Wrong DVD or the American Gothic EP. It is also a personal favorite off the album.The light production reminds me of the gorgeous acoustic Tonight Tonight B Side Medellia Of the Gray Skies.It is very tasteful and elegant. In fact elegance reverberates throughout all the tracks.Other times Adore is referenced with songs like Mandarynne and Archer.They sound like Adore B Sides or outtakes.Then tracks like The Long Goodbye or Antietam bring the Djali Zwan or Chicago Kid/Chicago Songs projects to mind. And then you have Half Life Of An Autodidact or Zowie which is an obvious reference to the MellonCollie era's ballads,B Sides and outtakes.The Spaniards sounds like a Teargarden By Kaleidyscope song that never made the cut.All the while the album sounds like a departure from his past and it's a very solid set of songs.And very enjoyable to listen to.It's an album that is grounding unassuming and something you can listen to that calms you when your having your morning cup of coffee or a bad day.But this music is more than just coffee house art house music.It's a statement from the master songwriter himself.They are stories of wisdom,fatherhood,loss and gain.They were songs inspired from his 30 days trip earlier in the year that marked his 50th birthday and search for America post Trump as well as himself.You can hear the early morning and wide open road in the openness of the songs themselves.You can hear Spring in Processional and the cold Winter in Amarinthe,Mandarynne and Shiloh.The whole feel of it all has a Joni Mitchell over tone all the while being a Corgan record through and through.He announced an acoustic record earlier in the year and I was extremely skeptical of the quality of the songs let alone skeptical it would even be released but here it is. An acoustic record from William Patrick Corgan. A record like this would have been shelved between 2000 - 2015. That's a long time.Between these years you had Zwan,The Future Embrace,Zeitgeist,Teargarden EP's,If All Goes Wrong,American Gothic,Oceania and Monuments.My complaint with albums like Zeitgeist,Oceania and Monuments was that they just seemed overproduced with Synth and bad vocals or production.They seemed like he was just desperate for another mainstream breakthrough and you could just smell it throughout the records.Every song seemed radio ready.Even the ballads or mid tempo tracks seemed radio ready.The emotion was flat.Even the happy emotions seemed forced and flat.On Ogilala all of that has been tossed out.A decade of desperation and pandering under he Smashing Pumpkins banner is no more.Here you have Rick Rubin focusing on an organic minimalist tone to the whole album and it's results are nothing short of incredible.A little bit of synth and unique production sounds are sprinkled tastefully over the songs.No more processed vocals and slathered on synth and layers of electric guitars. In the past it worked on some songs this past decade but other times it was his undoing on songs like Owata, The essence and beauty of the song was lost.That is not the case on this record.Rick Rubin could see that.Corgan could see it. For someone known to have an almost dictator type approach to his songs,production,band mates and back catalogue Corgan really seems out of character in his looseness on the acoustic tracks and minimal production. I want to thank Corgan for releasing this record.It's the type of record I always hoped he would put out.For those of you who hoped he would release the Chicago Songs,Djali Zwan material or make a record like Adore or the various acoustic B Sides and outtakes sprinkled through his catalogue this is the answer to your prayers.Corgan almost intuitively tapped into the minds of some of his fans when he made this.And not all his fans are only fans of his because of the heavy tracks he's known for .In fact what made me a fans was his ballads and artistic nature to the lyrics,art and aesthetic of the music.Songs like Luna,Crush,Thirty Three,Translucent,The leaving Lament,Laugh,My Life And Times,Winterlong,El -La -Noy Chewing Gum,Sunkissd and many other made me a fan rather than songs like Bullet With Butterfly Wings,Zero,Cherub Rock,Ava Adore and The Everlasting Gaze.You can add this to the many great singer songwriter albums released this year from other singer songwriters like Aimee Mann,The Weather Station,Jeff Tweedy,Hope Sandoval,Ani Difranco,Iron And Wine,Joan Shelley,Julie Byrne,Samantha Crain and Feist.

Yeah, I dig it. Buy it. I’d buy it. In fact, I did. Oh... is that not enough review? Oh... are you possibly wondering if this album has any hint of familiarity that will bring you back? I’m listening to this album right now with my head in the clouds, sooooo good luck. I just discovered about 20 minutes ago that BC released a second solo album. It came out October 2017 and it’s Feb 2018. I’m thinking, “How the fudge did I miss that one!?” Now, I’m listening to it on YouTube cause let’s face it and be honest with ourselves that BC/Smashing Pumpkins haven’t been 100% on their game so I didn’t want to waste any more money on what could be just another shizzy album. So I jumped on YouTube to listen to it. 😐✊ 😐🖐😳😃😍 —> mind blown. I feel like I’m back inbetween the late 90s and early 2000s. I’m coming off Smashing Pumpkins Adore and anticipating Machina. This could have been the album that transitioned Adore into Machina! This is bare bones material that with a little electric guitar + distorted acoustics would have made for a sweet little dish before serving up the new sound and style of Machina. I totally hear traces of Mellon Collie and Adore with a hint of a little Machina. It’s quite refreshing to my ears. I feel like I’m back in that place where Corgan is god and the Pumpkins are alive. Sorry, I feel like this review is a little “Star Warsy”. I’m jumping all over out of order. No? Yes? Maybe not? I think that’s pretty much all I really have to say about that. Listen to it and enjoy a little nostalgia.

With respect to arrangements, Billy is nearly peerless. His lyrics can be distracting at times and over the duration of his career have been very hit or miss. Given the spareness of these compositions, as well as Rubin's production treatment, they are thrust more to the front in this album than they otherwise would be in more dense sonic tapestries. Whether you feel that they resonate or not will likely color your impressions of this work. The music, though, is utterly beautiful. My only disappointment is that he didn't find any of these tracks suitable to name "Appomattox Court House." Also, if you haven't already, go check out "The Future Embrace." It's worthy of a listen in its own right, but will also help illustrate my point.

Truly a great album. It is a more stripped down affair compared to some of his other works in the Smashing Pumpkins but that let's his skills really shine through. While some of the early work was heavily layered the foundations where still extremely solid and that is what you get here. I have followed his music career for 25 years and this is one of the highlights of the most recent years.

Me ha gustado mucho, la verdad. Y el vinilo vino en perfectas condiciones. Si eres fan de Billy Corgan no creo que te decepcione en absoluto. Recomiéndalo al 100%.

A real return to form for Billy or should I say William. The acoustic album I've been waiting a long time for.. This is on a par with adore and machina in terms of songwriting, but is a wonderfully natural sounding album. Some of Billys best songs and lyrics, classic ambiguity and easy on the ear.. why has it taken him so long? Great album, and definatley five stars as it really has no filler and is so superbly captured.. Half life of an autodidact is the stand out for me.

Non potevo aspettarmi di meglio. Questo album è un capolavoro invernale per me. 12 tracce di pura classe che toccano le corde giuste. Delizia

Love it! Kind of unique album