Mellon Collie and the... Finite Sadness?

[Zoots]

Over the years people have complained about this album being too bloated. So let's see YOU squeeze the best bits into a nice little package, eh?

 

[mikal]

i actually think some of the B-Sides were better than some of the tracks that made the album. like "Set The Ray To Jerry, Mouths Of Babes, Believe, Ugly, and The Aeroplane Flies High.

 

[Zoots]

i actually think some of the B-Sides were better than some of the tracks that made the album. like "Set The Ray To Jerry, Mouths Of Babes, Believe, Ugly, and The Aeroplane Flies High.

I think out of those I have only listened to Set The Ray. And even that one I'd have to go back and listen in order to remember. But damn, this album has such diversity between something like Cupid De Locke and Tales Of A Scorched Earth.

 

[mikal]

very good album. really, Gish all the way through to Adore were pretty brilliant.

 

[lazarus]

I was a pretty big Pumpkins fan before this came out, but this has got to be one of the most pretentious things ever released. The separate booklet of IMPORTANT artwork, Corgan calling it "The Wall for Generation X", the overreaching lyrics...

If any double album calls to be cut down to a single disc, it's this one.

 

[LMP]

Suck it, Corgan:

1. The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)
2. Zero
3. Bullet with Butterfly Wings
4. Fuck You (An Ode to No One)
5. Muzzle
6. Here Is No Why
7. 1979
8. Set the Ray to Jerry
9. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
10. Tonight, Tonight
11. Thirty-Three
12. To Forgive
13. The Last Song

I would've added their gorgeous cover of "My Blue Heaven," but I'm averse to including covers in mixes like this. And for shits n' giggles, here's one I made for the Machina albums:

1. Raindrops + Sunshowers
2. This Time
3. Stand Inside Your Love
4. Try, Try, Try
5. Slow Down
6. I of the Mourning
7. Age of Innocence
8. Let Me Give the World to You
9. Wound
10. With Every Light
11. Glass and the Ghost Children
12. If There Is a God (Piano and Voice)

I call it Glass and the Ghost Children.

 

[phanan]

If any double album calls to be cut down to a single disc, it's this one.

Yes.

 

[lazarus]

Am I the only one that prefers Machina I to Mellon Collie? I think the first 7 or 8 songs are all very good to great.

And I have a copy of Machina II but it's pretty poor quality. Need to find a better one.

 

[LMP]

Am I the only one that prefers Machina I to Mellon Collie? I think the first 7 or 8 songs are all very good to great.

And I have a copy of Machina II but it's pretty poor quality. Need to find a better one.

No, you're not.

"Stand Inside Your Love" is probably my favorite song of theirs and I'd chalk it down as one of their best, too.

 

[Salome]

the only problem with Mellon Collie are the teenage angst lyrics
so basically the same problem as other Pumpkins albums
musically a great one though

 

[lazarus]

Yeah but I don't find the lyrics on Siamese Dream to be very angsty, with a couple exceptions. On Mellon Collie he was TRYING to fill some kind of "voice of a generation" hole that was left with the death of Kurt Cobain, and needless to say, Melon-Head wasn't the person to do it.

 

[Zoots]

the only problem with Mellon Collie are the teenage angst lyrics
so basically the same problem as other Pumpkins albums
musically a great one though

The rockers here rock so fucking hard that those lyrics don't bother me.

Jimmy Chamberlin for the muthafucking win!

 

[djerdap]

This album ain't got shit to the great record that is Siamese Dream. I can admit that one was a masterpiece without even being a fan of the band.

 

[UberBeaver]

I don't think I've made it all the way through. I see no need for all of these songs in one place. A lot of them are real good, but sorta the same.

Billy Corgan always annoyed the fuck out of me. He was so self important and in love with himself. Jimmy Chamberlain did rock the fuck out though. I think Silverfuck may be the official theme song of Rock the Fuck Out Stadium.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Billy Corgan always annoyed the fuck out of me.

this is the reason why I could never get into SP...

 

[UberBeaver]

this is the reason why I could never get into SP...

That + They sucked live.

I saw them once at Roseland when SD came out and they f'ing rocked*, and then a year or two later somewhere else and they sucked so bad** that I really lost interest in them.







*I was quite unsober. I also thought Dave Matthews was amazing, and would have sworn, at the time, that the Spin Doctors were the greatest band ever due this whole unsober business I used to run with a lot. So there's that....
** They were headlining a festival and by the time they came on I was pretty sober.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

That + They sucked live.

I saw them once at Roseland when SD came out and they f'ing rocked*, and then a year or two later somewhere else and they sucked so bad** that I really lost interest in them.







*I was quite unsober. I also thought Dave Matthews was amazing, and would have sworn, at the time, that the Spin Doctors were the greatest band ever due this whole unsober business I used to run with a lot. So there's that....
** They were headlining a festival and by the time they came on I was pretty sober.

*I had this same experience with Sonic Youth, I was so high that I thought they were awesome, when I actually listened to their CD sober I was like wtf??

**Lollapalooza? Thats the only time I saw them...

 

[UberBeaver]

*I had this same experience with Sonic Youth, I was so high that I thought they were awesome, when I actually listened to their CD sober I was like wtf??

**Lollapalooza? Thats the only time I saw them...

* I do think Sonic Youth is a much better live band than a studio band.

** I believe it was, yes. They sucked. And then he gave the most ridiculous speech about nothing. And on top of that, when they played Disarm he sang, "I used to be a little GIRL" and he really emphasized "girl" and it was just so fucking stupid. Ugh.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

* I do think Sonic Youth is a much better live band than a studio band.

** I believe it was, yes. They sucked. And then he gave the most ridiculous speech about nothing. And on top of that, when they played Disarm he sang, "I used to be a little GIRL" and he really emphasized "girl" and it was just so fucking stupid. Ugh.

*Yes you could be right

**

 

[lazarus]

Also, and I'm definitely going to be in a minority here:

Zwan -- Mary Star of the Sea > Mellon Collie, Machina, Adore, & Gish

 

[LMP]

I have a hard time putting the Zwan album ahead of Adore, but that's really it.

 

[No spoken words]

Am I the only one that prefers Machina I to Mellon Collie? I think the first 7 or 8 songs are all very good to great.

And I have a copy of Machina II but it's pretty poor quality. Need to find a better one.

I'm a HUGE Machina fan.

I also liked Zwan a lot.

But that's just me, kids!

 

[lazarus]

I have a hard time putting the Zwan album ahead of Adore, but that's really it.

There's something just really joyful in the music on the Zwan album, if I may borrow a Bonerism.

Corgan's singing is also less grating than normal. I also love the interplay of the guitars, and Lenchantin's bass playing is a big improvement on D'Arcy and Auf der Mar. Plus, Chamberlain is one of the best drummers in the business, so it was nice to see him on board as well.

Lyric, Settle Down, and Honestly are three of the catchiest tunes of Corgan's career. I also like Ride a Black Swan, Heartsong, and then there's that brilliant Desire near the end. Of course the big epic overstays its welcome, but it's certainly not any more indulgent than what Corgan normally does.

Very underrated.

Adore has its pleasures, but it's way too uneven by comparison. And no Chamberlain. Machina as I said before is very good, but the album's second half pales in comparison to its first, with the exception of With Every Light. Ghost and the Glass Children in particular is laughable.

 

[No spoken words]

I agree with the bulk of what you just wrote, but, I think that Age of Innocence is a great song, so the album at least ends well.

Spoiler

IMHO

 

[lazarus]

Marty's version is better.