"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" by the Smashing Pumpkins

I'd cut out Love and replace w/ Cherry, altho that song is Corgan-admittedly underdeveloped and 'prob should've been on the album.'

13-year-old me LOVED X.Y.U.

i like the flangey effects on Love

was that song actually about Courtney Love?

smashing pumpkins tracks poll might be fun at some point, lord knows they have enough songs to make it interesting

Love, X.Y.U., Luna, Silverfuck, and Fuck You are all about Courtney Love

It amazes me how Courtney Love managed to get through so many prominent figures in "alternative rock"... I mean, you're in a successful band, you probably have chicks throwing themselves at you every night, and you choose to go with Courtney Love? Christ, I wouldn't even touch her with the cock of my worst enemy!

yeah some people just have no class huh

I remember a time in my uni days when getting hold of another couple of Pumpkins B-sides was a real thrill--some of their best stuff. Haven't listened to anything they've done from Zwan on, though.

i burned out on this album, maybe i should revisit it now. loved this record, at the time, but always felt that two disc was too much by the Smashing Pumpkins at one time.

I remember a time in my uni days when getting hold of another couple of Pumpkins B-sides was a real thrill--some of their best stuff. Haven't listened to anything they've done from Zwan on, though.

― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Thursday, November 29, 2012 2:17 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've listened to both Zeitgeist and Oceania in full a couple of times each when they came out, but neither of them really stuck with me and I haven't felt like listening to either album since. Bit of a shame really, because I played the hell out of each of the initial run of Pumpkins records... even MACHINA/The Machines Of God which I still feel has some great songs on it, even if it is a bit overdone.

even MACHINA/The Machines Of God which I still feel has some great songs on it, even if it is a bit overdone.

my thoughts exactly (specifically glass and the ghost children, wound, imploding voice, everlasting gaze, with every light, try, i of the mourning), can't wait to hear the resequenced reissue with combined MACHINA 1 & 2 tracklist and possible remix of the whole thing.

oh is that the plan for those? i would be curious at a chance to hear that stuff in a new light

It amazes me how Courtney Love managed to get through so many prominent figures in "alternative rock"... I mean, you're in a successful band, you probably have chicks throwing themselves at you every night, and you choose to go with Courtney Love? Christ, I wouldn't even touch her with the cock of my worst enemy!

yeah those poor defenseless guys at the mercy of Courtney Love, putting bunnies in microwaves.

xpost:

Is Corgan actually going through with that? I mean, I've heard talk about him wanting to revisit the project and 'do it properly', but do you think that'll actually happen? I hope so, I'd be very interested in hearing what would come out of it...

The MACHINA/The Machines Of God tracks you've listed are mostly the ones I'm particularly fond of - especially 'Wound', 'With Every Light' and 'Glass And The Ghost Children'. I'd definitely add 'Stand Inside Your Love' and 'Age Of Innocence' to the list too.

The three on there that I'm the coldest on would have to be 'Heavy Metal Machine' (I understand it's meant to be colossally heavy, but I just don't think it's much of a song), 'The Crying Tree Of Mercury' (meh), and 'Blue Skies Bring Tears'.

this is the only place i've seen muzzle love. song rules

this is the only place i've seen muzzle love. song rules

― fauxmarc, Thursday, November 29, 2012 2:55 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Really? I've always found it to be one of the more favoured non-single tracks from Mellon Collie whenever the album has been discussed elsewhere?

i always think that but then there are so many lists of the best SP songs where it's not even mentioned and i'm like what the hell

how do we feel about "Bodies"? That's one that'll just jump in my head.

(just the chorus; I don't remember the rest)

Stepping back a bit:

Today I listened to an Arising! tour bootleg which previewed a lot of scattered Machina tracks from both albums, reminding me why I liked that final active year of the actual band. It just felt like a good extended conclusion, pureeing their entire past and going out with a slew of new songs that just kept coming from all over the place, in combination with the various bootlegs Billy more or less officially sanctioned via net distribution. A lot of the best songs seemed very elegiac, a knowing look back and wrap up, and I still wish D'arcy had been able to hang around that one year just for the full lineup to see it all out. Probably one big reason why the 'reunion' pissed me off when it happened!

"Bodies" is pretty cool

Yeah, I agree Ned - in hindsight when the band finished the first time around it would have ended on a pretty much near-perfect note. I feel it was probably the right time for them to do so, and I thought 'Untitled' (with its look back to a more Siamese Dream-like sound) was a great song to go out with. Also agree about the whole D'arcy thing, it would have been nice for them to finish up with the original four.

A friend of mine saw them on the Sacred And Profane tour and had nothing but good words to say about the gig, and if I recall, he wasn't particularly fond of MACHINA/The Machines Of God, so they were clearly still kicking all kinds of ass live!

"Bodies" is pretty cool

― some dude, Thursday, November 29, 2012 3:41 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Agreed - one of my favourite songs on the second CD!

any love for Tales of a Scorched Earth? the most angsty and tortured vocal of the entire Pumpkins oeuvre!

also, 1979 into Tales of a Scorched Earth has got to be one of the most jarring transitions ever on a major rock record

'Tales Of A Scorched Earth' was the last-minute inclusion on Mellon Collie, wasn't it? Yeah, I like how overloaded and furious that one sounds!

http://bystarlight.org/photoarchive/albums/Group/mcis%20era/groupmcis16.jpg

I saw them on one of their last shows before the split and I was less than impressed, but I remember it as a sound issue - Billy's guitar sounded buzzsaw-thin for some reason.

Hey, I had no idea the Rumpies made a new album this year. Any good? I still haven't listened to Machina!

While I don’t mind some of the music they put out towards the end my feelings about that period of the Pumpkins before they split are severely embittered by a gig I saw at the Glasgow SECC in 2000 which probably ranks amongst the worst performances I’ve seen by any band. From what I remember the tour was sold to fans as a ‘final farewell’ and as such expectations were high that we would be treated to some of the hits. What we got instead was Billy dressed in a frock ranting unintelligibly at the audience for extended periods, a set list made up primarily of Machina II tracks and, when they finally did play something recognisable, a slowed down version of Bullet with Butterfly Wings and a sped up take on Today.

Brutal experience that really tainted my opinion on the band. The gig itself is the stuff of legend on account of how bad it was. Throughout the years I’ve met several others who were there that night and they’ve all felt the same.

Anyway, regardless of that I’m picking this up on vinyl. I’ve been after a copy for years but it’s been selling for stupid money. Managed to snag the reissue from Amazon.ca for £26 delivered.

Managed to snag the reissue from Amazon.ca for £26 delivered.

Wait, what? I'm not seeing that on there!

yeah, amazon.ca fucked up for a while and was offering the boxset for 26 bux but they fixed it a week or so ago, but all orders placed under that price are valid because of their store policy. altho iirc a lot of people on netphoria got their orders cancelled and had to get em again under the regular, insane price

also, does anyone have the bonus discs in non-watermarked form and is willing to share?

I've been listening to this since the thread revive, and I've changed my mind. I was ten years old when the Smashing pumpkins were huge, and my first exposure came from my older brother's cd collection. He had Gish and Siamese Dream, so I suppose I had sentimental reasons for favoring those two so heavily over Mellon Collie. I also had a friend in high school that would make Jack Black-esque hand gestures and faces to "Here Is No Why" in his car. That always bugged the hell out of me.

hahaha weird, one of my fave songs!

here is no why might have the best sp solo

The "Here is No Why" solo is very melodic. Corgan's solos on Gish are amazing, though they unravel into rapid fire muscle memory at times. The first part of the solo in "Bury Me" is great, but the part after the 3000 bpm picking of the same note sounds more like a fretting exercise than a contribution to a song. The "Tristessa" solo has an interesting mixture of 80s guitar virtuoso and melodic Corgan guitar solos. He does many interesting things while keeping it melodic. It's possibly my favorite.

Okay so here's one for everyone -- who here tuned into the radio broadcast of the album release show in Chicago, with Cheap Trick (who opened) joining them on the encore to do three of their songs?

I also remember them or something blowing out the power about five seconds into "Zero" so they had to pause the show and say something to the audience and/or the listeners about the glitch. I think they played the studio version of "By Starlight" as a stopgap on the broadcast.

'Here Is No Why' is definitely a gem - like 'Muzzle' I definitely feel that could have been a single too. The solo on 'Soma' from Siamese Dream is probably my favourite solo of his overall.

who here tuned into the radio broadcast of the album release show in Chicago

KROQ simulcast it, didn't they? I listened to it.

http://archive.org/details/tsp1995-10-23.flac16

ha, listening now to "4. (power failure) 7:51"

"people will remember it as like a mythic show, even though we didn't play"

and she was right

Hahah. I should go back and relisten.

The Cheap Trick choices were inspired too -- "Baby Loves to Rock," "If You Want My Love" and "Auf Wiedersehn."

Giving MACHINA/The Machines Of God right now. 'Glass And The Ghost Children' is a masterpiece, isn't it? Yes, it is! Some incredibly Jimmy Chamberlin drumming in the first part... and I love that weird section that links the two parts together.

*incredibly good

man waiting for this to leak suuuuhckxs

I feel like there's a Louis C.K. bit to be written about that