Ogilala

This is an album that I will put on and listen all the way through. It's such an enjoyable listen and you can feel Corgan's connection to the music. It's all done so simply, and his vocals are at their best. If you're a Smashing Pumpkins fan, there's plenty that you'll like in the album, despite it being a Billy solo project. As much as I enjoyed the last several Pumpkins' albums, Ogilala easily ranks as my favorite Billy Corgan album of the last decade and a half. I can't wait to hear more!

After his last solo effort "The Future Embrace" I was a little skeptical about this album. I did not get it at first. After a few listens, I am really digging it. Stripped down songs in a good way. The opposite of the overproduced music currently in the mainstream. It reminds me of "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" with out the rocking songs. Hopefully it will be followed up by a rocking Pumpkins record in the future.

If you did not like BC's first solo album, theres certainly a chance you may like this one.Ogilala seems like it would be a typical acoustic-vocal solo album, but you may be surprised with the kind of vocal melodies and background atmospheres that are made present. I would certainly recommend this album to any BC and or SP fan out there.

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.

There's always been a quieter side to Billy (William) Corgan's music, but it's usually interwoven in an LP of songs. Here we get an album of "quieter" stripped down songs. Still, the lyrics are powerful, and the entire artist vision is beautiful. Be sure to check out the accompanying silent movie, Pillbox, on YouTube.

WPC hit a home run with this album. The songs are awesome and his playing is spot on. Billy in his prime and making some great music, love it.

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.

William's talents have increased with every release and this solo undertaking is hauntingly beautiful. The music and lyrics feel very intimate and meaningful. Watching Pillbox will make a person appreciate it even more.

I have had this on constantly in the car since it was delivered. I like it. I liked TheFutureEmbrace, but this is a whole different animal.I was a huge Pumpkins fan during the days of Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie, but somewhere along the way (Zeitgeist, I'm looking in your direction) I became disenchanted with Corgan's output. Don't get me wrong, he can write a decent tune, but there seemed to become more filler and less killer.Then along came Monuments To An Elegy and Oceania. I'm going to be controversial here; I genuinely believe they are two of the best albums of his career. Absolutely fantastic - not a naff song on either album - and that's speaking as an old-school Pumpkins fan. Whether they are 'Smashing Pumpkins' albums or not is a different story...Unfortunately, I think a lot of people gave up on him long ago and simply got to the point where they were past caring. Perhaps that is partly the reason for the 'WPC' thing. Maybe he's reached the point where he doesn't want to be compared to the Billy Corgan of old. Either way, this is a decent album. Not really comparable to his older music, as this is very much mellow, acoustic music and not at all heavy, but still good. Personally, I would say a step down from the last two Pumpkins albums (I would give them 5 stars), but definitely a step up from Zeitgeist.

A real return to form for Billy. 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, i'm sure helped by the Rubin production,.. such a shame they have not worked together more...Some of Billy'best songs, 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..

I ‘went off’ the smashing pumpkins a bit for some reason? But OMG what have I been missing.....this is a fantasy album. I couldCopy and paste this review to the latest pumpkins album, that too is outstanding. If you want WPC at his best, buy this, you won’t be disappointed. Especially like Aeronaut, a song he wrote for his son.

Such a good record. Well recorded, nice and clear.All the songs are mellow but could still be included in any smashing pumpkins album.Highly recommended just don't expect heavy.

Great cd with acoustic versions of classics...a different take!

Fantastic album.

A unique sounding album, a nice listen.

All the other reviews are correct - this is a great album. Only criticism is that it is too short!

such a great album!

This Album is simply beautiful. Love it

Seit 1996 bin ich Fan der Smashing Pumpkins und insbesondere natürlich von Billy Corgan. Keine Frage ich musste das Album erwerben.Die Songs sind nett und sicherlich sind ein paar Ohrwürmer dabei. Selbst meine Freundin, die einen völlig anderen Musikgeschmack hat, findet das Album toll und hört es im Auto rauf und runter.Dennoch vermisse ich seit Machina die richtig krassen Stücke, die sich in Herz und Gehirn bohren, die einen nicht schlafen lassen, bevor man sie nicht 20 Mal am Tag gehört hat. Ja das ist das Los eines Pumpkin Heads. Ich denke ein paar Fans werden mich verstehen.Sehr nett das Cover- des Meisters Frau und Kind zieren es :)

Un buon album dove il nostro Billy recupera punti dopo gli sbandamenti degli ultimi progetti.Un disco semplice ma onesto, assolutamente preferibile alle produzioni discutibili che lo hanno preceduto.Dopo lo splendore dei primi album degli Smashing Pumpkins, qualcosa di buono Corgan l'ha comunque sempre fatto uscire ma spesso era rovinato da eccessi di effetti o sonorità che invece di esaltarne la bellezza producevano l'effetto opposto.Qui invece ritorna all'essenziale ma con canzoni che lasciano il segno... Zowie, Processional, The Long Goodbye, Mandarynne e Archer le mie preferite.

Depuis le début de leur création dans les années 1990, le groupe ' The Smashing Pumpkins " avec, comme chef de fil, Billy Corgan offrait, souvent, dans leurs albums, de très belles mélodies dans lesquelles se mêlaient autant l'amour, la nostalgie, le désespoir, la mélancolie qu'une sorte de dégoût désinvolte de l'absurdité du monde avec des textes poétiques dignes d'écrivains tels que " Shame" ou " One diamonds, one heart."plus récemment etc. Pour être honnête, le dernier album faisait craindre une perte créatrice et la fin de l'âme des chansons. Or, heureusement, ce nouvel album "Ogilala" révèle, enfin, un retour à l'authenticité à laquelle il s'était éloigné avec dommage pour telles ou telles raisons et ces nouvelles chansons redonnent un souffle à la beauté et à des humeurs plus vraies.

Ich habe alle Alben von Smashing Pumpkins und auch das Solo-Album von Billy von 2005. Die soften Songs liebe ich besonders bei SP. Hier hat Billy Corgan ein so schönes, ruhiges, gefühlsbetontes Werk geschaffen, wow, absolut top! Für mich eines der besten Alben in 2017 überhaupt.

Ogilala is a gorgeous masterpiece by Billy Corgan! It's barebones with just acoustic guitars and piano all played by him. It sounds very refreshing and genuine. Billy is one of the greatest songwriters of all times. Ogilala is a fabulous keeper.