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MojoOct 24, 2017Never one to be soul-bearing or crass, Corgan pulls off his "Songer" task with enigmatic, starlit aplomb. [Dec 2017, p.86]
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Q MagazineOct 13, 2017Rarely has he sounded so consistently vulnerable. It suits him. [Nov 2017, p.107]
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Oct 13, 2017Ogilala is anything but musically overwrought, and the melodies do keep a haunting quality that elevates his distinct quivering voice.
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Oct 13, 2017Much of his recent work remains underrated, but by ‘Monuments…’, he was beginning to sound a little short on ideas; happily, the simplicity of Ogilala seems as if it’s rejuvenated him.
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Dec 1, 2017Unprepared for Ogilala's stripped-bare approach, it should neither shock nor stir those who will follow him through his ostentatious eight-hour musical homage to Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. In fact, Rick Rubin's laissez-faire production chops permits Corgan to showcase the breadth of his compositions.
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Nov 3, 2017You’ve not heard William Patrick Corgan this way before--and if you just let Ogilala do its thing you’ll find a completely pleasant journey that will envelop you happily.
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Nov 1, 2017There’s little variation in sound over the 11 tracks, but bucketloads of yearning, wistful emotion that is elegant and uplifting, with just a touch of schmaltz.
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Oct 20, 2017Whether Ogilala will count as one of them remains to be seen. Like its author it too is both fascinating, brilliant and unlikeable by turns. An interesting curio in an always-compelling career.
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Oct 18, 2017Ogilala is nothing particularly new or revolutionary for fans, more a strong reminder that there’s a reason why Corgan managed to shift millions of units with his brand of moody rock.
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Oct 13, 2017No matter the setting, Corgan peddles heartfelt prog rock and here, when his songs are shorn of solos and kept at a human scale, his imagination feels immediate and bracing--and also a natural way for this once angry young man to ease into middle age.
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Oct 13, 2017The anger and frustration that characterized his most famous work melts away on Ogilala, which stands out as his most centered, vulnerable, and soothing music yet.
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Oct 18, 2017Ogilala lives and dies by the strength of its songwriting, and while there’s nothing here that even sniffs at the coattails of Corgan’s best work, it is probably the most consistent and least offensively pretentious album he’s put out in, well, nineteen years.
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UncutOct 23, 2017The issue here is the sameness of his songs. [Dec 2017, p.25]
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Oct 13, 2017No matter what he does to it, that voice is still unmistakably Billy, and while Ogilala gives it some genuine moments of quietly affecting beauty, after 11 beatless tracks laden with burdensome titles (“Amarinthe,” “Antietam,” “Shiloh,” “Half-Life Of An Autodidact”), yet light on memorable melodies or any lyrics that match the frankness of the setting, by album’s end, you long to hear it over a wall of guitars again.
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Oct 26, 2017Corgan settles for an album that’s tastefully cordial but about as suspenseful as a round of bumper bowling. There are a few moments when everything clicks, when the passive pleasantness gives way to active pleasure, most of them involving a smartly deployed string quartet.
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Oct 13, 2017Most of Billy 2.0’s low-key lullabies are pleasant enough. Indeed, you could place any one of them in the middle of a big rock record as an eyebrow-raising, spine-tingling palate cleanser. Enduring them all in one sitting is, unfortunately, less fun than consuming 11 consecutive courses of the same pumpkin-flavoured sorbet.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 32
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Mixed: 2 out of 32
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Negative: 4 out of 32
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Oct 14, 2017
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Oct 22, 2017
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Apr 18, 2018