Project Description

WILLIAM PATRICK CORGAN

‘Ogilala’

(album review)

Reviewer – Benjamin Smith

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William Patrick Corgan, formerly frontman for The Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Corgan to his fans, has a new solo record. Any relationship with Corgan and his music is by necessity a complicated one. A man once at the heart of a band defined by its unique expression of the 1990s zeitgeist, is now professional wrestler, anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist. Records like Gish and Siamese Dream which helped define a generation’s deep sense of isolation gave way to the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness which mocked and defiled it. Mellon Collie, in my view, ended the 90s in the same way Altamont ended the 60s, tragically and in a manner symbolically indicative of the bloated parody of what once was.

Thus we arrive at Ogilala. Ogilala is the kind of record one might expect someone in Corgan’s position to make. It is more mature and less frenetic than previous records, but also less desperate to signify reinvention than his previous solo effort TheFutureEmbrace.

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This is an album given shape by strings and keys and the stewardship of Mr Rick Rubin. Rubin, known for his inclination to taketh away, is here less ascetic than he has been on past records. There is a lushness to this album of which most that have received the Rubin treatment have been deprived. It feels generally fitting here and marries well with Corgan’s emotional, if sometimes overwrought, vocal delivery.

The album is best discovered as a whole rather than through its constituent parts. Intended as a stand-alone piece, its affect is best experienced late at night with a couple of runs through, such is its plaintive sensibility. On third track, The Spaniards, Corgan beseeches listeners to “Take me as I am”, as he has done throughout his career. Pleading to be understood, to be approved, to be loved, Corgan’s lyrics are sincere, if not slightly predictable given the precise point at which he finds himself as an artist.

Ogilala is unquestionably a very listenable record. It is probably not destined to become a classic but it is a solid effort from a performer who has struggled to find his place since the demise of the musical universe in which he flourished. It is a better album than his previous as a solo artist and one more honest than many made by his contemporaries.

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AMNPLIFY – DB