True to his particular brand of madness, Billy Corgan is releasing an album this month under his full name William Patrick Corgan called 'Ogilala', which is for-all-intents-and-purposes, a made-up word similar to Ogalalla (an aquifer) or Ogalala (a First Nation in the US); look for the review soon after its release date of 13 October here on the blog. There is no question that the man is an absolute nutcase , nor is there any questioning that he is very likely a musical genius who was directly responsible for some of the most important music of the 1990s (or if you ask him, the most important music). The very best example of his madness/genius combo is without a doubt, 1995's opus '', which, if memory serves, was chosen as the best album of the year by 102.1 The Edge (the only alt-rock radio station worth listening to in the 90s) in back-to-back years. What?

The challenge though in really breaking down this album is that it's too big a task - there are 25 songs spread across over 2 hours of double disc (remember when people actually bought CDs?!). So, here's our goal - we're going to take this monster of an album and compress it to its very best 13 songs (half the album), a task, which if done by Corgan et al. in 1995, would have most likely resulted in one of the five best alt-rock albums of all-time; as with Radiohead's ' Kid A ' and ' Amnesiac ' dilemma, ' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness ' has a lot of forgettable songs and/or songs that do not stand the test of time (or nostalgia), and it is an incredibly interesting intellectual exercise to condense it to just the best of the best. We'll avoid track numbers and album placement (and obviously, creative intent) and discuss them as we go. There are bound to be some consensus picks (" Zero "?) and some more contentious ones...



Here goes...

1)

Br.

Br.

Br.

Joel

Br.

Joel

Joel

Br.

Br.

Joel

Joel

Joel

Joel

Br.

Br.

JG





*the bloggers bear no responsibility for what happens after the 2:10 mark.

- this song is so beautiful and in hindsight, though I'm sure many fans were a bit confused at first listen, this is the perfect way to start an album with this kind of scale; this is the song that I want to be played at my funeral, such is its emotional weight for me (2) Tonight, Tonight - there are few songs that really showcase the mad genius of Billy Corgan the way that this one does; filled with drama and sweeping scale, this song is beautifully arranged and slides the focal point from Corgan's vocals to something nearing balance in a way that I'd not heard from the band before (3) Zero - the opening guitar riff does it all ... "" is delivered with a sneer that perfectly encapsulates the band and the era (- "", is peak pumpkins epicness (4) Here is No Why - chorus, chorus, chorus ... that drum roll launches you into something so sonically impressive that it's hard to do it any justice in words (5) Bullet With Butterfly Wings - ""... and with that opening line, millions of teenagers were hooked. The first single was crack to our teenage ears. Biblical references, screaming about the hopelessness of it all, loud guitars, how could this not be a hit? (6) Fuck You (An Ode to No One) - the chugging guitar intro is awesome but just wait until Jimmy Chamberlin's drums kick in. This song is a shot of adrenaline, and proceeds at such a pace that even the band seemingly runs out of energy and chugs to a halt just before the 3-minute mark. Their rest is short-lived though and they proceed to thrash for the last minute-and-a-half to close things out. (7) Love - this is a song that I fought for in terms of its inclusion on this list and for me it all comes down to the blending of 60s psychedelia with Billy's abrasive vocal style (8) Muzzle - Billy Corgan does not have a voice that is easy to listen to, let's be honest, but he steals the show here with vocals that so perfectly communicate all the optimism and possibility of the lyrics ... this is definitely my favourite song from the 'Dawn to Dusk' disc (9) Porcelina of the Vast Oceans - this 9-minute beast is the most epic of Pumpkins epics. Do yourself a favour by putting on your headphones, cranking it up, and getting lost in the dreamy slow-build of this one*. (10) Bodies - an anti-love song for anyone who went through a bad break-up in their youth. Billy's wailing of "" over heavy-metal guitars and relentless drums makes this one of the most ferocious cuts in the band's catalogue. (11) Thirty-Three - this is the song that Br wanted to pass on, but I had to stand up for. This song was a skip for me in my teenage years but over time I grew to appreciate it more and more. Now I think it's a masterpiece on an album that has at least a few of them. (12) 1979 - one of the best videos of the 90's from one of the best singles of the 90's. This song makes me feel nostalgic for '95 and a bit melancholy when I realize that 22 years have passed since then, compared to the 17 years of nostalgia that Billie was singing about in the band's most widely popular track. (13) Thru the Eyes of Ruby - before hearing this, I thought only The Beatles could craft a song on this kind of scale and slow-build beauty ... the moment of crescendo is so fulfilling that there is no doubt for me that this is the best track on the album (Interestingly enough, this wasn't actually all that contentious a list to make. Maybe it should have just been one album all along. For anyone with Apple Music, you can check out this playlist here Thoughts? Complaints? Questions? Fire away in the comment section below!Peace,