The Best Albums of 2012

48. The Smashing Pumpkins, 'Oceania'
The most recent dispatch from whatever far-off planet Billy Corgan currently resides on is the finest slab of cosmic prog he's thrown down since the Pumpkins' early-Nineties heyday. Songs like "The Celestials" and "Panopticon" are guitar-orgy labyrinths where nerd-herald melodies rise up like dragons. Krishna makes an appearance, and Corgan imagines the sun and the moon singing a song to each other. But

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48. The Smashing Pumpkins, 'Oceania'
The most recent dispatch from whatever far-off planet Billy Corgan currently resides on is the finest slab of cosmic prog he's thrown down since the Pumpkins' early-Nineties heyday. Songs like "The Celestials" and "Panopticon" are guitar-orgy labyrinths where nerd-herald melodies rise up like dragons. Krishna makes an appearance, and Corgan imagines the sun and the moon singing a song to each other. But ultimately his utopian vision can be summed up in one healing message: "I'll kiss anyone tonight."

Related:
• Readers' Poll: The Best Smashing Pumpkins Songs

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