William Patrick Corgan – Ogilala – Album Review by Killian Laher

If you’re looking for the new Billy Corgan album, you might struggle to find it.  On its front cover the artist name is WPC standing for William Patrick Corgan.  Very in keeping with Corgan’s sense of his own importance.  Corgan was generally at his best with the Smashing Pumpkins in their heavier moments.  So the thought of him teaming up with Rick Rubin should make you apprehensive.  First things first: Corgan is not a particularly good singer, his voice is overly abrasive and grating.  It doesn’t gel particularly well with piano ballads like Zowie where he tries to play it straight and sing somewhat sweetly.  As well as these we get acoustic guitar-fuelled tunes such as Processional and The Long Goodbye which are not unpleasant, though fairly unremarkable.

The same tempo is maintained throughout, making the album suffer from a lack of variety, as well as Corgan’s singing which is inclined to grate.  Amarinthe aims for a pastoral feel akin to Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter, and is probably the most successful thing here.  When more instrumentation is added, such as the organ that underpins The Spaniards or the strings behind Aeronaut, it makes for a better listen, in a sort of ‘ballad off Mellon Collie’ kind of way.  You know, sort of alright, but not really what you want from him.  Which is pretty much true of this strangely-titled album.

Track List –

1. Zowie
2. Processional
3. The Spaniards
4. Aeronaut
5. The Long Goodbye
6. Half-Life of an Autodidact
7. Amarinthe
8. Antietam
9. Mandarynne
10. Shiloh
11. Archer

The Spaniards –