THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
All music and lyrics by Billy Corgan except
"Take Me Down" music and lyrics by James Iha
& "Farewell and Goodnight" music and lyrics by James Iha and Billy Corgan
Produced by Flood, Alan Moulder and Billy Corgan
Released October 24, 1995
I sincerely wish that this posting reveals to you just how much this album means to me.
Whenever a listener chooses music or when music chooses the listener, the bond in undeniably powerful. But when the listener and the music meet right at the exact same time, as if the two have been waiting to join each other forever, the effect is undeniably cosmic!
The alternative music scene of the 1990's was actually not a genre that I fully embraced immediately. Yes, and despite the media driven generational labels of "grunge" and "Generation X" that I and my contemporaries vehemently rejected, I did have several musical touchstones during that period that I do remember vividly. I remember the very first time that I had heard Nirvana (long before their sonic boom mushroomed around the world) in a State Street liquor store while on my way home from work as well as when I saw the release of Pearl Jam's debut album during my brief record store days. But during those post college days in the early 1990's, I was very happily satisfied with the musical wonderlands created by the likes of Prince, World Party, Jellyfish and Lenny Kravitz to name a few, and I was captivated not solely with the musical creativity but primarily with the colorful, euphoric melodicism that felt, to me, to be authentic and pure. To that end, I was indeed extremely skeptical to the alternative music scene as the media airwaves of television and radio were overrun with flannel adorned bands and what appeared to be faux malcontent with plastic snarls that felt to be as "punk rock" as The Gap (especially as I had already lived through the authentic punk rock era). Frankly, I was just not sure as to which bands were "real" or was the entire bunch all just a lot of feedback and attitude, a concept to which I suffered absolutely no patience. I kind of dismissed every single one of them because if this scene was all filled with poseurs and no musicians, then why should I give any of it any of my attention? But still, I did pay attention.
As for The Smashing Pumpkins, I was very much aware of them and their songs but as stated, I didn't pay them much mind initially. It was not until the release of their B-sides compilation album "Pisces Iscariot" (released October 4, 1994) that I began to listen. One album review mentioned their earnest cover of Fleetwood Mac's timeless "Landslide" and that made my ears perk upwards in curiosity. At this time, Fleetwood Mac had not reformed with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks back in the fold and also, there was absolutely no sense of "coolness" attached to them during this musical period overall. But if The Smashing Pumpkins, at the forefront of what seemed to be the new "industry of cool," would begin to not only reference but embrace a band that I beloved, then perhaps there was more to this alternative music scene than I had initially thought. I received "Pisces Iscariot" that Christmas, I had asked a friend to tape a copy of the gargantuan "Siamese Dream" (released July 27, 1993) for me and I also stumbled upon a blistering, and now infamous, Rolling Stone cover story about the band during which they, and their musical aesthetics were not only referenced with the likes of Boston (another 1970's band I beloved), but their behind the scenes but now public troubles made then the Fleetwood Mac of the 1990's.
Drummer extraordinaire Jimmy Chamberlin's drug addictions and disappearances. Guitarist James Iha and Bassist D'Arcy Wretsky's failed romance and still bubbling tension. And then, at the epicenter of this dramatic storm sat Guitarist/songwriter/singer/band leader Billy Corgan, the mad genius who was barely holding the band and his own psyche together yet somehow produced a masterpiece by seemingly sheer force of will combined with frenetic creativity...and by also playing all of the layers upon layers of guitars and bass guitars all by himself, a tactic that certainly caused even more tension between himself, Iha and Wretsky. Over time, I slowly found myself captivated by The Smashing Pumpkins' brutal force, whirlwind energy and studio wizardry but I also found myself enveloped by the emotional fragility of the songs--even the roof raisers--and it was that essential and crucial quality that alerted me that The Smashing Pumpkins were unquestionably REAL.
Billy Corgan, James Iha, D'Arcy Wretsky and Jimmy Chamberlin were not poseurs in the least. They were musicians (Chamberlin was and remains especially awe inspiring) and most of all, these four individuals were fans. They were fans of the very same music that I was a fan of, and then I realized that these people, plus so many of the artists that were part of this explosive musical era, were all around the same age as myself, thus making them my contemporaries. These people, despite their highly unusual circumstances with being globally famous, were embarked upon the same life journey with some of the same reference points as myself and my friends and that was also a crucial element that made me connect so passionately to their music. Where Nirvana and Pearl Jam represented the twin peaks of that era for so many, while I love both of those bands, for me it was The Smashing Pumpkins (and Nine Inch Nails). And once I became a fan, I was quickly anxious to see where this band would head next.
On MTV, and near the end of The Smashing Pumpkins' victorious headlining stint at the 1994 Lollapalooza festival, Billy Corgan announced in an interview that the next album from The Smashing Pumpkins would be a double album. This announcement that made my mouth drop open because, and as I have stated before on this site, I am just one of those people who loves double albums and the greater journey a musical artist can take the listener upon if they utilize the lengthier format correctly. So many of my favorite albums happen to be double albums and the idea that this band, on their third official album would swing for those kind of fences, especially during a time when NOBODY was releasing double albums, I was intrigued to say the least. Yet still, and even as excited as I was, I was also skeptical as again, NOBODY was releasing double albums at that time and the only thing even close to a double album was the short lived period where artists would release two albums simultaneously, like Guns N' Roses' "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II" (both released September 17, 1991) and even Bruce Springsteen's "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town" (both released March 21, 1992). Frankly, releasing a double album during a period where the rock star excesses of years past were considered to be long and buried in the past would be a significantly ballsy move on the part of The Smashing Pumpkins, a band who have always traveled down their own creative path, no matter what the trends happen to be, and I really, really wanted to see this feat happen and succeed. But, I would only believe it once the album hit its release date.
The longer I waited for the release of the new album, the more anxious I became because unlike with the previous albums, this time, I would be ready! My appetite was significantly whetted with an MTV special previewing the album, now carrying the official title of "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," featured interviews with the entire band and gave fans a behind the scenes look at the album making process. Al ready, it appeared that this new album would present itself as an evolution from the band's previous works. First of all, instead of working with Producer Butch Vig, as they had for their first albums, the band decided to work with Producers Flood and Alan Moulder who worked on several pivotal releases by the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode and U2. Flood desired to capture a suond that was representative of The Smashing Pumpkins as a live unit so instead of Corgan serving as essentially a one-man-band (aside from the drums), the full foursome recorded what would eventually become many of the albums basic tracks together, writing, jamming and recording in the studio. For even more intensive work, Flood collaborated closely with Corgan and Chamberlin in one studio while Alan Moulder worked with Iha and Wretsky in a second studio, thus giving all four members more than enough opportunities to add to the creative recording process. Over the six month recording period, nearly 60 songs were completed, providing a wealth of material to sift through, choose from and release to the world. By the end of the TV special, the release date could not come soon enough.
In the very early morning hours of Tuesday, October 24, 1995, and some time before I was scheduled to work at a children's book store later that day, I ventured down to the new defunct Discount Den on State Street, a convenience store open for students and city denizens which also sold compact discs. Entering the store, I made a bee-line straight for the "S" section of the CDs and was overwhelmed to find exactly what I had been waiting for. The absolutely stunning album cover (which is pictured above) transfixed me and made me anticipate what I would soon hear even greater than ever. I plunked down my loot, left the store and raced back home to begin listening.
"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" as promised by Corgan, was indeed a double album. A 28 song, two hour plus listening experience split into two subtitled halves ("Dawn To Dusk" and "Twilight To Starlight") and complete with ornate artwork and a lyric booklet that appeared as a libretto. Before I heard even one note, holding the CD in my hands took me back to the days when, as a child, I would lay across my carpeted basement floor, listening to records with the liner notes sprawled out in front of me. When I heard the very first song, my journey began...
The album begins with the title track, a poignant instrumental that would not sound out of place on a 1970's Elton John album. From there, we reach "Tonight, Tonight," an orchestral fanfare that just sounds like the golden rays of the sun blasting through the clouds to welcome a new day and next, the pummeling speed metal guitar army of "Jellybelly." Just three songs in and the musical diversity of the material was head spinning and for the remainder of the album, I was absolutely overwhelmed with the breadth, the scope, the Herculean swing for the fences approach the band took as a musical unit and Billy Corgan took as a songwriter. "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" is indeed front loaded with hard rock songs that fully represent the musical tonality of the era ("Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "Zero") plus songs that harken back to treasured bands and artists like Cheap Trick and David Bowie ("Here Is No Why"). The album featured several touchingly fragile ballads ("To Forgive," "Galapogos," "In The Arms Of Sleep," "Take Me Down," "Thirty-Three") alongside dalliances into baroque dream pop ("Cupid De Locke"), electronic textures ("Love," "Beautiful"), anthems ("Muzzle"), songs of punishing brutality ("Tales Of A Scorched Earth," "Bodies," "X.Y.U."), and several widescreen studio epics and one nine minute underwater wonderland ("Thru The Eyes Of Ruby," "Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans") and of course, there was the New Wave influenced, power pop classic blast of "1979," the final song recorded for the album. By the album's monumentally beautiful and Beatle-esque closing selection "Farewell And Goodnight," on which all four band members sing, I was blissfully spent as it exceeded everything I could have ever hoped for this album to be and all I wanted to do was to just listen to absolutely all of it all over again.
And listen to it all over again is exactly what I did.
The more I listened to "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," the deeper I fell in love with it as it was precisely the right album at the right time. In 1995, I was 26 years old and this magnum opus completely hit me where I was emotionally, and therefore spiritually, as I believe music, and our relationship with it, to be entirely sacred. One friend even referred to the entire album as my "theme song," as I was listening to it repeatedly. While not the only music I was listening to at that time, I dove into "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" either in part or in full nearly every single day for almost two full years for it spoke to me so seismically. I bought the album many, many times and gave it to people as gifts as I felt that nothing else could represent a piece of me being given to them any better than that album as it said all I ever needed to say that I just could not quite express on my own.
For me, I feel that this album is a masterpiece exploring the nature and states of love, forgiveness, rage, redemption, agony, anxiety, aloneness, community, fury, empathy and compassion. It is a work that has continuously revealed itself to me, allowing me to make connections and discoveries just in the same way I had with all of the music I treasured growing up. It spoke to my heart, it found my soul, it filled my life and fantasies as it inspired me, consoled me, and undeniably rocked me!!! It represented the band at their very best, an artistic peak they never quite reached again in the same way as tragedies and band implosions forced the foursome to not work together as the same unit for very much longer after this stratospheric achievement. Now that is not to say that I am a Smashing Pumpkins "purist" or one who feels that Billy Corgan's best songwriting days have long eclipsed him. Quite the contrary, I feel that subsequent albums from The Smashing Pumpkins including "Adore" (released June 2, 1998) and "MACHINA/the machines of God" (released February 29, 2000) just may be even better albums due to their greater artistic reaches and ambitions. Furthermore, the outstanding "Oceania" (released June 19, 2012) featuring Corgan working in full collaboration with new bandmates Guitarist Jeff Schroeder, Bassist Nicole Fiorentino and Drummer Mike Byrne points to a wonderfully exciting new future. But, to this day, "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" remains my favorite.
These days, I have to say that I hardly listen to this album quite possibly because I listened to it enough for a lifetime during a lengthy spell. But, for all of the albums I have listened to and purchased throughout my life, I cannot even begin to explain that almost inexplicable feeling I have when I see "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" sitting within my collection. Just last year, I purchased the newly remastered version of the album complete with loads of bonus unreleased material, a DVD of concert footage and gorgeous artwork and yes, the package and sound is incredible, and fully representative of the treatment I feel this album deserves. Now that I have this version, I certainly have no need to keep the original version I bought back in 1995, do I?
Maybe not...but when I place my hands upon it, I cannot even begin to conceptualize a reason for ever having it leave me because the day it came into my life, completely changed my life.
"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" by The Smashing Pumpkins, without question, is one of my favorite albums of all time.
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