Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania News

EMI have announced today that they'll be releasing the new Smashing Pumpkins studio album, Oceania, on June 18. The album will appear on Billy Corgan's own label Martha's Music.
EMI Label Services's Mike Harris said: "We are thrilled to extend the long-term partnership between The Smashing Pumpkins and EMI with the release of 'Oceania'. Everybody at EMI is looking forward to working closely with Billy and the band to help them deliver their vision and their music to fans around the world."
Billy Corgan is insisting that the album is the best he's delivered since Mellon Collie in 1995, and word from industry insiders who have heard the finished work is also very positive.
The tracklisting for 'Oceania' is :
'Quasar'
'Stella P And The People Mover'
'Panopticon'
'The Celestials'
'Violet Rays'
'My Love Is Winter'
'One Diamond, One Heart'
'Pinwheels'
'Oceania'
'Pale Horse'
'The Chimera'
'Glissandra'
'Inkless'
'Wildflower'

Check out a live performance clip of Quasar here:

Billy Corgan Tweets More Pisce Iscariot Reissue News

Still no sign of a tracklisting for the Pisces Iscariot bonus material as yet, but Billy did have this to say 2 hours ago over his Twitter account :

'Excited to report that the extra disc for pisces iscariot was mastered by none other than howie weinberg!'

and

'Listened to the sequence w/ Howie at his lab and it sounds fantastic! I'm proud of the songs, esp glynis remixed by BT '

New James Iha Album On The Way + Reissue of Let It Come Down With Bonus Tracks

James Iha's first solo album Let It Come Down, a breezy collection of country / folk singer-songwriter tunes influenced by acoustic Neil Young was released in 1998, and was so far removed from Iha's day job as guitarist for the Smashing Pumpkins that it received little attention and has been out of print for a number of years.

Good news for fans then - this vastly under rated album has had a CD reissue in Japan with bonus tracks “Take Care,” and “Falling” both originally featured on the Be Strong Now CD Single. You can buy it here.

More excitingly, he also has a new album on the way, a sophomore release 14 years after his first.

Look To The Sky will be released by EMI Music in Japan on March 14 - some tracks have been previewed at the EMI Rocks Festival earlier this month. Those that heard this performance seem to be of the opinion that this is in a similar style to his first album.

It has been confirmed that the album will receive an international release later in the year.

Look To The Sky Tracklisting :

01. Make Believe
02. Summer Days
03. To Who Knows Where
04. Till Next Tuesday
05. Dream Tonight
06. Dark Star
07. Appetite
08. Gemini
09. Waves
10. Speed ​​Of Love
11. 4th Of July
12. A String Of Words
13. Diamond Eyes (bonus track)
14. Stay Lost (bonus track)

Smashing Pumpkin's Billy Corgan Tweets new Pisces Iscariot Reissue and Oceania Details.

Billy Corgan tweeted the following today about the upcoming Pisces Iscariot reissue : “(Pisces) will have a recreation of band original demo tape (1988) + a NEW Glynis remix from master tapes and also on the DVD a full UN-EDITED performance (1988) on local cable access w/ false starts, dialogue (shot at Roselle Music!)”. This has circulated in poor quality for some time as The Psycho Tapes ( sample below ).

and about Oceania : ”I think we’ll have a release date to announce in the next few weeks. Signing record deal now…”

Exciting times for Pumpkins fans, with industry insiders having very positive things to say about Oceania, and the Pisces reissue looking to have some pretty great content.

Smashing Pumpkins - Gish Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks - Track By Track Review

Following on from my Siamese Dream post earlier in the week, here's my track by track analysis of the bonus tracks on disc two of the Gish reissue as promised.

 1.    Starla (2011 mix) - a nice new mix of this which accentuates the spacy nature of the verse guitars.
2.    Siva (Peel session) - as previously found on the Peel Session E.P - a very solid live version.
3.    Honeyspider (Reel Time demos / 2011 mix) - a much nicer mix than the one which has circulated previously amongst fans. For those that haven't heard it, this is the Pumpkins at their most shoegazy and psychedelic.
4.    Hippy Trippy (Crush Music Box demo) - a very nice fully formed demo - lots of effects.
5.    Snail (live radio performance) - a good performance but not a great recording with poor separation between instruments and vocals at times very low.
6.    Plume (2011 mix) - an excellent new mix of this - much punchier guitars and a lot more bottom end.
7.    Bury Me (Reel Time demos / 2011 mix) - pretty good again with more lead guitar than the album version and a trippy effect on Billy's vocal during the ''bury me in love '' part which makes you question what you've just heard.
8.    Daydream (Old House demo) - Billy's original vocal demo is superior to the album version. This version almost makes it sound like one of Billy's acoustic Adore era b-sides.
9.    Tristessa (Sub Pop single / 2011 mix) - another nice punchy remix.

10.   Girl Named Sandoz (Peel session) - a great cover certainly, but presumably it'll be on Pisces Iscariot's reissue as well so I'm not sure why we need it here.
11.   Jesus Is The Sun (Apartment demo) - a nice enough demo of this quiet song which certainly would have seemed out of place on Gish, but is nice to have here.
12.   Blue (Gish sessions demo) - a very nice demo with acoustic guitar, bass, vocal and some sort of hand percussion - an excellent alternative to the album version.
13.   Smiley (Gish sessions demo) - the same instrumentation as Blue and again really nice.
14.   I Am One (Reel Time demos / 2011 mix) - an almost identical arrangement to the later released version - Billy's vocals gained a lot of confidence between this take and the recording of the Gish version.
15.   Seam (Suffer / Apartment demo) - another excellent acoustic demo, with some nice exotic percussion and an unexpectedly trippy backwards guitar section. A highlight.
16.   La Dolly Vita (2011 mix) - another nice mix, but really not too different to the released version.
17.   Pulseczar (Gish sessions demo) - same as the previously released version.
18.   Drown (alternate guitar solo) - same mix as the original version until the guitar solo comes in. This alternate solo has a similar approach to the original but I think I prefer it. The rhythm section are also mixed a bit higher throughout the solo than on the original version which helps the song keep it's shape a little better.

So overall not as many surprises as the Siamese Dream bonus disc, but more consistent overall. I would have liked to see tracks like Jennifer Ever, Jackie Blue, Not Worth Asking and some of the otherwise unreleased Reel Time tracks on here, but hopefully they'll still make it onto the Pisces reissue.

Active Listener's Top Ten Reissues of 2011.

1. Smashing Pumpkins - Gish / Siamese Dream
The original albums nicely remastered and repackaged with a bonus CD and DVD each. The bonus discs are an embarrassment of riches, curated by Billy himself with all manner of unexpected and welcome surprises.
The Gish DVD is an excellent 1990 show with covers of Blue Oyster Cult and Steppenwolf - lots of fun.
The Siamese Dream DVD shows the band's growth and sees them in world beating form.

2. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
The recent U.S reissue includes an excellent bonus disc full of early b-sides and cast off material and makes what was already a great album essential. The best psychedelic act on the planet at the moment.


3. The Byrds - Complete Columbia Album Collection
The deluxe bonus track versions of all of the Byrds Columbia studio albums lovingly packaged in mini LP sleeves and housed in an attractive mini box. And all for under thirty pounds. There's never been a better way of investigating their essential back catalogue.



4. The Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hall / Tomorrow The Green Grass
The Jayhawks two masterpieces get the deluxe reissue treatment with informative liner notes and some fantastic contemporary b-sides. Tomorrow the Green Grass also includes the fan favourite Mystery Sessions - a selection of all acoustic demos. Sure to please fans of Olsen and Louris' Ready for the Flood.



5. Suede - Suede / Dog Man Star
The entire Suede catalogue was extensively repackaged this year. The first two albums are the essentials - great albums now packaged with b-sides and alternate versions that are as good as anything on the albums. The long version of the Wild Ones is spectacular. Honorable mention also to their newly compiled 2 disc best of which concentrates mostly on their first three albums and their b-sides and is expertly sequenced to make some sort of Suede super album.



6. Dave Davies - Hidden Treasures
The Kink's Dave Davies was always the grittier of the two Davies but didn't get much of a look in on their albums compared to brother Ray. Steps were made to rectify this in the late sixties, but Dave's album never made it to release, with some of the material finding it's way onto future Kink's LPs and singles.  This release digs into the vaults and reconstructs the intended album as closely as possible and makes compelling listening.



7. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
The Pink Floyd reissue campaign has generally been a bit of a damp squib and an excuse to take fan's money all over again. The experience edition of Wish You Were Here has been it's saving grace up to this point. The interesting bonus tracks include two embryonic live jams which eventually became part of Dogs, an alternate take of Have a Cigar with Gilmour and Waters sharing the vocal and a fascinating take of Wish You Were Here with Stephane Grapelli on violin.


8. The Poets - Wooden Spoon : The Singles Anthology 1964 - 1967
Despite being produced and managed by Andrew Loog Oldham, Scotland's Poets never got the dues they deserved. This excellent collection brings together all of their singles and charts their evolution from beat and r&b through to their masterful freakbeat psych moment In Your Tower.



9. X - Original Album Series
The first 5 albums from the best rockabilly punk band of all time, packaged as vinyl replica's and at a ridiculously low price. Nuff said.
Lots of other great releases in this series too ( Tim Buckley, Little Feat etc. )





10. Tally Ho - Flying Nun's Greatest Bits
A rather excellent two disc distillation of everything that makes New Zealand's Flying Nun one of the most important indie labels. From early gems by the Clean and Verlaines through to exciting new blood in the form of So So Modern's Grayson Gilmour and the Shocking Pinks. Highly influential stuff, and not just for muso's.

Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks - Track By Track Review

Stepping into the more mainstream for a moment here's a blow by blow on the bonus tracks from the Siamese Dream reissue. I received a copy of Siamese Dream for my 13th birthday a month or two after it's original 1993 release, and from that moment on the Smashing Pumpkins were the most important band of my teenage years. I've been waiting impatiently for these reissues since I heard of their impending release so now that they've finally hit the shelves, here's the lowdown. Gish will follow as soon as I get to listen to it.


1. Pissant (Siamese sessions rough mix) - sounds to me like a more bass heavy mix of the previously released b-side version.
2. Siamese Dream (Broadway rehearsal demo) - nothing like the released b-side version this is a much better recording and a totally different full band arrangement. The first half is very tightly structured and has great drums from Jimmy then the second half breaks down into a half time blues jam.
3. STP (rehearsal demo) - awesome heavy riff rocker with some lovely twiddly guitar leads. A very good recording with emphasis on the vocals, guitar and bass with the drums buried in the mix unfortunately.
4. Frail and Bedazzled (soundworks demo) - this is a kick ass instrumental version with the vocal parts replaced by some great lyrical guitar leads. Billy is a great player. It's a pity he doesn't let rip like this much anymore. An early highlight.
5. Luna (apartment demo) -  acoustic guitar, bass and vocal ( with some treatments ) demo. Billy obviously had a very precise idea of what he wanted with this track already at this point as the arrangement is identical to the album version.
6. Quiet (BBC session/BC mix) - a pretty good indicator of how tight the band were live by this point, but there's not really anything happening here that the album version didn't have.
7. Moleasskiss (soundworks demo) - this is probably my favourite unreleased Pumpkins track, so it's great to have a better quality mix of it finally. Shows how Billy could write anthemic choruses in his sleep at this point. Jame's harmony vocal in the chorus could do with being mixed a bit lower though. Or removed.
8. Hello Kitty Kat (soundworks demo) - an interesting early version with a completely different chorus and some different lyrics. Sounds a little hesitant early on but builds up a really good head of steam by the time the guitar solo(s) and outro arrive - both of which are again considerably different to the released version.
9. Today (Broadway rehearsal demo) - huge fuzz guitar on this heavier, slightly slower, early version with none of the dynamics of the released version as well as some different lyrics. Some nice guitar breaks, but a pretty lazy sounding, uncommitted vocal from Billy - but after all this was just intended as a rehearsal so we can't expect too much.
10. Never Let Me Down Again (BBC session) - very similar to the released version but without the treated backing vocals. Apparently Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan prefers the Pumpkins version to their own.
11. Apathy’s Last Kiss (Siamese sessions rough mix) - one of my favourite early pumpkins rarities this is a much more simple mix than the released version with clean slide guitar much higher in the mix and without the echoey vocal treatments. Good as an alternate mix, but the original is still my favourite.
12. Ache (Silverfuck rehearsal demo) - a pretty cumbersome rehearsal - a low point for me on here - there are too many good live versions of this around for me to think I'll ever play this version again.
13. U.S.A. (soundworks demo) - an effortlessly tight instrumental groove ( think gravity demos ) - good stuff.
14. U.S.S.R (soundworks demo) - a pretty basic instrumental demo - short and choppy - something a little different for the Pumpkins.
15. Spaceboy (acoustic mix) - the released version minus the mellotron bits ( which were the best bits in my opinion )
16. Rocket (rehearsal demo) - better than the other rehearsal versions of album tracks on here and with a slight variation to the main riff, but I still can't foresee a time when I'd want to listen to this if the album version was available to me.
17. Disarm (acoustic mix) - the released version minus the tightly strummed acoustic guitars - sounds a little too sparse to start with, but quite beautiful once the chorus strings come into play.
18. Soma (instrumental mix) - exactly what it says it is - there's enough going on for it to stand up on it's own two feet as an instrumental and it benefits from being able to hear some of the layers of lead guitars more clearly.

There was a reasonably negative response from some fans about what is on here compared to what they hoped would be on here, so it's very pleasing to report that this is much much better than expected with only a couple of weak rehearsal tracks that could have been left on the cutting room floor. Great stuff and I can't wait to hear Gish next.

As always comments are appreciated.