Monday, January 19, 2009

791. The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)




















Track Listing

1. Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
2. Tonight Tonight
3. Jellybelly
4. Zero
5. Here Is No Why
6. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
7. To Forgive
8. Fuck You (An Ode To No One)
9. Love
10. Cupid De Locke
11. Galapogos
12. Muzzle
13. Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans
14. Take Me Down
15. Where Boys Fear To Tread
16. Bodies
17. Thirty Three
18. In The Arms Of Sleep
19. 1979
20. Tales Of A Scorched Earth
21. Thru The Eyes Of Ruby
22. Stumbleine
23. XYU
24. We Only Come Out At Night
25. Beautiful
26. Lily (My One And Only)
27. By Starlight
28. Farewell And Goodnight

Review


I must say that I quite like this album. It's one of those that you love or hate and does have its very strong cons, but its pros are good enough to make it stick with you. I like that it is such a ludicrously ambitious album and that it is for the most part successful. I like that it is such a self-indulgent work, almost harking back to the days of those great prog albums that were too long and a bit silly.

The cons are side-effects of the pros, it is too damn long. It's longer than two hours, it comes in two CD's of unequal quality, the first being much better. It suffers from a clear lack of editing, it is too self-indulgent in parts. Billy Corgan is a whinny, miserable man.

Still, all the tracks of the first album with a couple of exceptions could have been great singles, they are just that good, and even if the second album lets down the side, it is still pretty good. Honestly, however, how many times is anyone going to listen to this thorugh from beginning to end for pleasure? You might put one or the other on but both do get trying.

Track Highlights


1. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
2. Tonight, Tonight
3. Take Me Down
4. Galapogos

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

When the recording sessions concluded, the band had 57 completed songs which were up for contention to be included on Mellon Collie. The album was going to have 32 songs, but this was cut back to 28 songs.


Tonight, Tonight:



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