With a band title as silly as this, it's quite ironic that they've become GODS of the alternative scene...although can you really call it "alternative" when it's a mainstay on trashy pop radio stations and that horrible video creation known as MTv??

"Gish"

1. "I Am One" (4:06)
2. "Siva" (4:22)
3. "Rhinoceros" (6:31)
4. "Bury Me" (4:48)
5. "Crush" (3:34)
6. "Suffer" (5:11)
7. "Snail" (5:11)
8. "Tristessa" (3:33)
9. "Window Paine" (5:51)
10. "Daydream" (1:57)
11. "I'm Going Crazy"--unlisted, end of track 10 (1:01)

The video for "Siva" popped up late one night on MTv's Headbanger's Ball, though I didn't give it much notice...in fact, it wasn't until I was a salivating fan of Siamese Dream when I finally bought this one. Fantastic music throughout, full of psychedelic riffs and dreamy melodies. "Tristessa" stands head and shoulders above the rest.

"Lull"

1. "Rhinoceros" (5:57)
2. "Blue" (3:22)
3. "Slunk" (2:49)
4. "Bye June" (2:09)

Basically a single for "Rhinoceros", which was one of the weaker songs on Gish anyway...(what's it about, a woman who consorts with prostitutes? "And she knows, and she knows, and she knows hoes/And she knows, and she knows, and she knows hoes...") The other three tracks are similarly unexceptional.

"Peel Sessions"

1. "Siva" (4:54)
2. "Girl Named Sandoz" (3:37)
3. "Smiley" (3:32)

What in God's name is this "Peel Sessions" crap all about? Seems like nearly every band has one, although this is the first one I've ever bought. "Siva" sounds like a demo recording, while "Girl Named Sandoz" is identical (as far as I can tell) to the version on Pisces Iscariot. "Smiley" is exclusive to this CD, and in fact I only bought it because I couldn't find a decent-quality mp3 of it. :)

"Siamese Dream"

1. "Cherub Rock" (4:59)
2. "Quiet" (3:42)
3. "Today" (3:19)
4. "Hummer" (6:57)
5. "Rocket" (4:07)
6. "Disarm" (3:18)
7. "Soma" (6:40)
8. "Geek U.S.A." (5:13)
9. "Mayonaise" (5:49)
10. "Spaceboy" (4:29)
11. "Silverfuck" (8:44)
12. "Sweet Sweet" (1:39)
13. "Luna" (3:20)

Interestingly, I became an instant fan of "Cherub Rock" long before I knew who did the damn song! You see, MTv was constantly playing this commercial featuring snippets of various music videos, including "Cherub Rock", but they didn't say who the band was (although they did say who the other video clips were from...weird, huh?) Finally, when I got to see the whole video, I tricked a friend into buying this CD -- and the rest is history! Billy Corbin's little-boy voice soars throughout (though I could do without "Disarm", I am SO DAMN SICK of that song by now!), and the band's finest moments shine on the all-out rock tracks "Quiet" and (especially!) "Silverfuck".

"Cherub Rock" (single)

1. "Cherub Rock" (4:59)
2. "Pissant" (2:31)
3. "French Movie Theme" (3:49)

Just got this one because "French Movie Theme" wasn't included on Pisces Iscariot...kind of a nothing song, really.

"Pisces Iscariot"

1. "Soothe" (2:36)
2. "Frail and Bedazzled" (3:17)
3. "Plume" (3:37)
4. "Whir" (4:10)
5. "Blew Away" (3:32)
6. "Pissant" (2:31)
7. "Hello Kitty Kat" (4:32)
8. "Obscured" (5:22)
9. "Landslide" (3:10)
10. "Starla" (11:01)
11. "Blue" (3:19)
12. "Girl Named Sandoz" (3:34)
13. "La Dolly Vita" (4:16)
14. "Spaced" (2:24)

How nice it is for bands to put out compilations of their rare B-side material, instead of forcing you to track down all their obscure singles, eh? Of course, a lot was omitted from this album..."French Movie Theme", for one, and also their cover of Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down", which I spent a bit of time searching for until it was finally released on the DM tribute album For the Masses (and was instantly disappointed with it, once I finally heard it...) This is still a nice compilation, though, and I really like most of the songs here (which is more than I can say for their future B-sides!!) -- my favorites are probably "Starla" (hey, I'm a sucker for extra-long songs, what can I say?) and their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide".

A couple other non-album Pumpkins songs include "Drown" from the Singles soundtrack, "Eye" from the Lost Highway soundtrack, and "Jackie Blue" (which I scored on my Digital Puppies in Cyberspace custom CD) from some obscure tribute album.

"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"

A double album?? Holy shit, NOBODY'S done a non-live double album since the Seventies!!! You gotta have a lot of balls to pull this off...but in this case it succeeds, and how! Music styles vary widely here...the sweet piano intro of "Mellon Collie" leads right into "Tonight, Tonight", a soaring musical number filled with string arrangements, choral melodies, everything! "Jellybelly" and "Zero" are fantastic, bare-bones rockers ("Zero", in particular, literally DEMANDS twisting the volume knob all the way to the right! Also was cool when they played that song in the "Homerpalooza" episode of The Simpsons...) "Bullet" may be an overplayed, standard grunge/pop hit, but I love the lyrics ("The world is a vampire...Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage..."). "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" is soaring, majestic and epic, although I dislike the 1-2 minutes of silence before the intro finally fades in, it always makes me think my CD's stopped playing or something... Disc Two starts of strongly with the monstrous rockers "Where Boys Fear to Tread" and "Bodies", eventually sliding effortlessly into the beautiful, nostalgic-feeling "1979", easily the band's best "slow" song. (An interesting story behind that song -- apparently it almost was cut from the album, because they just couldn't get it to sound right, until the eleventh hour when they finally nailed it -- and, of course, it went on to become one of their most recognizable hits.)

Not every song here is a classic, however...there's quite a bit of "filler", in particular the junk tracks "Cupid de Locke", "Take Me Down", and "Lily". In addition, "We Only Come Out at Night" sounds like some joke song the Munchkins would be fond of singing...but the good news is, cut out those four songs and the album fits perfectly onto a 100-minute tape, which makes for some excellent road music.

By the way, of all the Simpsons episodes, there's only one that I crank the volume to MAX about halfway through. Can you guess which one?? :)

"The Aeroplane Flies High" (5CD box set)
"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" (4:16) "...said sadly" (3:09) "You're All I've Got Tonight" (3:10) "Clones (We're All)" (2:43) "A Night Like This" (3:36) "Destination Unknown" (4:14) "Dreaming" (5:11)	"1979" "1979" (4:28) "Ugly" (2:52) "The Boy" (3:04) "Cherry" (4:02) "Believe" (3:15) "Set the Ray to Jerry" (4:10)
"Thirty-Three" "Thirty-Three" (4:10) "The Last Song" (3:55) "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" (8:31) "Transformer" (3:25) "The Bells" (2:17) "My Blue Heaven" (3:20)	"Tonight, Tonight" "Tonight, Tonight" (4:15) "Meladori Magpie" (2:41) "Rotten Apples" (3:02) "Jupiter's Lament" (2:30) "Medellia of the Gray Skies" (3:11) "Blank" (2:54) "Tonite Reprise" (2:40)
"Zero" "Zero" (2:39) "God" (3:09) "Mouths of Babes" (3:46) "Tribute to Johnny" (2:33) "Marquis in Spades" (3:17) "Pennies" (2:29) "Pastichio Medley"--instrumental (23:00)

As far as my collection is concerned, Smashing Pumpkins is one of the few bands that has reached "completist" status -- namely, collecting as many of their B-sides and rare stuff as possible. Thankfully, they've made it quite easy to keep up, with compilation releases such as Pisces Iscariot and this box-set monstrosity. All five singles (well, six if you count both releases of "Tonight, Tonight") are included here, all with their original packaging & jewel cases. (I already had "Zero" and one of the "Tonight, Tonight" singles when I bought this but what are you gonna do...) Musically, the non-album songs aren't that exciting, which is really no surprise considering how lame the worst songs from Mellon Collie were. But what makes this collection worthwhile is the last five tracks on the "Bullet" single...previously unreleased cover versions of songs by The Cars, Alice Cooper, The Cure, Missing Persons, and Blondie! Of course, that sentiment is just because I'm a cover-song freak...the only real standout is "Clones", which is FANTASTIC...the others are too damn slow and boring.

"The End is the Beginning is the End" (CD single)

1. "The End is the Beginning is the End" (5:08)
2. "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" (5:01)
3. "The Ethers Tragic"--instrumental (2:47)
4. "The Guns of Love Disastrous"--instrumental (4:11)

Yup, it's that dumb song from Batman & Robin...well, "The End" really isn't so bad, although it's definitely more in the Adore vein which they were plummeting towards at full speed. "The Beginning" is the same song made into a disgusting hip-hop remix, and the two instrumentals are unexceptional. This one's definitely a collection-filler.

"Adore"

1. "To Sheila" (4:46)
2. "Ava Adore" (4:20)
3. "Perfect" (3:23)
4. "Daphne Descends" (4:39)
5. "Once Upon a Time" (4:05)
6. "Tear" (5:53)
7. "Crestfallen" (4:09)
8. "Appels + Oranjes" (3:35)
9. "Pug" (4:47)
10. "The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete" (4:35)
11. "Annie-Dog" (3:38)
12. "Shame" (6:40)
13. "Behold! The Night Mare" (5:13)
14. "For Martha" (8:17)
15. "Blank Page" (4:58)
16. "17"--instrumental (0:17)

Oh NO! NO NO NO NO NO!!! What happened?? Well at least I was pre-warned...read an article some months before where the Pumpkins said their next album would be a lot more laid-back and poppy. And boy, they weren't kidding! Totally comprised of slow, boring songs mixed with a few upbeat, hip-hop tracks (if you've heard "Ava Adore" and "Perfect", which I'm sure you have by now, you've heard the two heaviest tracks on the album.) I guess this CD isn't *that* bad, but it certainly breaks no new ground. (Note: in the interview mentioned above, the Pumpkins said the album after this one is supposed to get back to their heavy stuff. One can only hope...)

"Machina/Machines of God"

1. "The Everlasting Gaze" (4:00)
2. "Raindrops + Sunshowers" (4:40)
3. "Stand Inside Your Love" (4:14)
4. "I of the Morning" (4:38)
5. "The Sacred and Profane" (4:22)
6. "Try, Try, Try" (5:09)
7. "Heavy Metal Machine" (5:53)
8. "This Time" (4:43)
9. "The Imploding Voice" (4:25)
10. "Glass and Ghost Chicken" (9:57)
11. "Wound" (3:58)
12. "The Crying Tree of Mercury" (3:44)
13. "With Every Light" (3:57)
14. "Blue Skies Bring Tears" (5:46)
15. "Age of Innocence" (3:55)

What a relief to hear the hard-rock strains of "The Everlasting Gaze" blaring out the speakers on this one. Unfortunately, the CD is a schizophrenic mix of rock, industrialized hip-hop and psychedelic pop, and in many places Billy can't decide whether to use his angst-ridden voice or little-boy falsetto, often switching between the two in the same verse! The album manages to hold together fairly well until about halfway through, when the whole thing falls apart. And despite some very good songs, nothing here is as instantly gripping as "Cherub Rock" or "Zero".

Although considerably better than Adore, this album is actually a much bigger disappointment -- you see, going off on a musical tangent, and failing miserably, just means you should have stuck to what you know. But sticking with what you know, and failing miserably, speaks of a much deeper problem. Apparently Billy realized that the Pumpkins had indeed run their course, as he announced the band's breakup shortly after this release. I guess, like Sampson, his musical talent really was in his hair.

(And something weird that I just can't figure out -- the playing surface of this CD is LUMPY!!! Not just this one, but EVERY disc I've seen. It plays just fine, but I can't figure out why it would look this way...does anyone know??)

"Machina II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music" (2CDR; mp3 source)

Talk about a class act -- the Pumpkins' final album, released directly to the fans. (You can get the mp3s from The Smashing Pumpkins Homepage.) Let this be a lesson to every multi-platinum band out there! If you want to earn your fans' eternal respect, THIS is the way to do it! (Of course, it's too late for Metallica...) Believe it or not, the first half dozen songs are actually far superior to anything released since MCIS, even though "Cash Car Star" blatantly rips off the lyric to Grand Funk's "American Band". The rest of the tunes are also good, although they definitely feel "thrown together", and contain a high percentage of reworked tracks from Machina and its B-sides.

The full album didn't quite fit on one 80min CDR, so I packed on all the B-sides from their other five albums that never made it onto any box set. (And in some cases, it's pretty clear why...) All of them (disc two, tracks 1-17) come from mp3s scored from Napster, and before you chide me for rewarding the band's generosity by ripping off their music, remember that S.P. is a band that FULLY endores mp3-trading...SO THERE!!! (Man, do I love guilt-free mp3s!) I wonder if I should sell copies of this? Lotta scam artists on eBay are getting $50-100 for burning copies with only the Machina tracks, and I could certainly use the money... (hint, hint...)

"Greatest Hits"

Considering how generous Smashing Pumpkins have been with making their rare tracks available, both on CD compilations and mp3-trading, it's amazing that they actually found about half a dozen songs for the "bonus" disc that I've never even HEARD of before! Plus, "Here's to the Atom Bomb" is a NON-hiphop mix which is far different (and BETTER) than the version "released" on Machina II. The other rare tracks are a mixed bag..."Rock On", a cover of that old David Essex song, fails to thrill me, despite quoting a few Van Halen songs in the mix. "Untitled" is the last song the band ever recorded. Oh, and I simply love how the bonus disc is made up to look like a CDR!! (Except it says "80min/700mb" when it only has about 72 minutes of material...what's up with that shit?)

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