Reviews (page 9 of 15)
Great album, ambitious and full of bangers. 1979 is a favorite of mine. It’s a bit long and I’m not the biggest fan of the style the vocalist sings in, but still, so many great songs.
even if it doesn’t always work i respect the ambition
After multiple listens, I have to recant and say that I was wrong in my teens. This was a really solid album, filled with varied compositions. Corgan’s voice has grown on me after a few deep listens and I now understand that his singing isn’t my usual cup of tea, but is still great
I wasn't looking forward to 2 hours of the Smashing Pumpkins. I remember kind of disliking them in the 90s. Based on what? I do not know. So there was a lot of music here and I only had time to listen once but I really really liked it. I think I'd like to narrow it down to about 10 songs instead of 28 but I really really like those 10.
I love the album cover. The runtime of this album was a little intimidating. Fortunately, the first two songs’ cinematic quality with the piano and orchestra disarmed me. Perhaps the two hours would fly by... Turns out I've got two issues with this album. 1 - The 2 hour length B - It is stylistically all over the place There are songs that sound like rage metal, 90s grunge, movie soundtrack, love themes. Songs seemed to challenge the mood that had been set just a few minutes earlier. I would have probably enjoyed a lot of this a lot more had this been broken up into a couple of albums. I heard some good songs, some strange songs, some great songs, some interesting songs, and a few tedious songs. But despite the distinctive vocal delivery didn’t get the feel of this as an album. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is an interesting albeit unwieldy album. A good curator could lift and separate this into a few great albums.
too whiny
Niceeeeeee
There are a lot of great songs on this and it works well on the whole, but it really marks the beginning of the end for Smashing Pumpkins in my opinion where everything just gets far too long and overblown. Nowhere near as direct and consistent as Gish or Siamese Dream, to the extent that I was toying with giving this a 3, but when it hits it really hits
Sarà la voce gracchiante di Billy Corgan o il fatto che in radio passano solo tre sue canzoni (tutte incluse in quest’album peraltro), ma non ho mai apprezzato particolarmente gli Smashing Pumpkins. Devo dire che dopo questo lungo (forse troppo) ascolto ho scoperto che se la cavano su più generi, dalle ballatone melense, al grunge, finanche al metal. Bravi. Seriamente però, troppo lungo; potevate pubblicare due album e guadagnare il doppio.
This was actually one of the first albums I ever listened to all the way through without interruption, so I suppose you could say it holds a place in my heart of some kind. I mean, obviously it's a double album, but it's crazy how many memorable songs are on this album. 1979, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Zero, We Only Come Out At Night, Lily, and many more. It's just a really fantastic grunge album that has a lot of variety. I admittedly seem to like the first part more than the second part, but both have great songs and are a joy to listen to. Getting some good albums lately, can't wait for another line of stinkers.
Great representation of 90’s angst in an artful concept album that inspired many into the 00s. Despite the almost 6 hour deluxe edition that came out at a later anniversary, the original 2 CD/4LP release felt forced and a 1 cd/ 2 LP would have made this perfect
Great album, a bit disorganised at times and definitely longer than it should be, but still extremely memorable and full of excellent songs.
A very very lengthy album, mostly really good songs, with their 4 biggest hits, and a few duds too. The Smashing Pumpkins was the first band's cd that I ever bought as a kid. I particularly enjoy the sound of his nasally voice. Great album and band!
A classic. Some songs are a bit lame, but there's enough variety and left-hooks to keep the whole thing engaging despite it's huge length
There are so many iconic songs from this double disc monster of an album, including an all time favorite “1979”. However, it could be said that they went a little overboard on going with essentially two albums for this release. While some interesting deep cuts were rediscovered in listening through this album, there were songs that might have been better left on the cutting room floor. Not trying to invite confrontations from Pumpkin heads, but maybe this could have been really refined and cut down to one ironclad album. But as it is what we have here, I appreciated the lengthy listen and hitting those gems like “1979” how they were meant to be found. If you have the time, the full album is worth it…though obviously it might be worth mentioning for the first time listeners that Billy Corrigan is an acquired taste to say the least. Outside of this, I still think overall this double album is a good way to enjoy the 90s alt rock scene when you get to it.
Overall great album, perfect example of mid-90s alternative/post-grunge rock. Tonight tonight, bullet with butterfly wings, 1979, zero, are all classic tracks off this double album. Songs range from loud, heavy rockers, to soft ballads with orchestras, nostalgic songs about better days, and songs about the angst of the present.
I don't listen to this album often due to its length, but its near perfection every time I do. Billy Corgan seems like a nightmare to work with, but he's a wonderful lyricist and captures the angst, hopelessness, and emotionality of youth well here.
This list is often making me relive my youth.
The only track I was familiar with here was 1979, which I used to include on compilation tapes quite a bit after finding it on a cd single. Great track. Happy to find many great tracks on this album. Bullet With Butterfly Wings is terrific. I listened to the remastered 2012 double cd version. I thought the 2nd cd was outstanding. The music was so diverse and the musicianship of the highest order. I am not big on Corgan’s voice, but despite that, I found the album really engaging. Great listening.
Good music but I can’t take his voice
I liked it!
I’ve heard bits of this over the years but never listened to the whole album, although not sure why cos it’s always seemed like something right up my street. I wasn’t wrong, it’s ace. It’s too long (all double albums are), but editing would take away the grandeur of this record. Love it.
I have tried to listen to this album in full before, but the running time has always prevented me from going further than the first disc. Used to always listen to the highlights on my iPod or later on Spotify. And while I finally listened to all of it, to me the excessive amount of songs has brought it down from a masterpiece to a great overloaded album. That being said, you will gain some fantastic songs if you're unfamiliar with Smashing Pumpkins. The opening title track is a beautiful introduction, only to be followed by Tonight, Tonight which is one of my favourite songs ever. Aside from my familarity with the singles Zero, Bullet the Butterfly Wings and 1979, I really enjoyed Cupid De Locke, To Forgive, Take Me Down, Jellybelly and Lily. This is a better listen if you listen the two halfs at seperate times, or even better if you trimmed the running order further to say 20 songs and have a 5 star double album. There are definitely a few songs that sound repeated over the 2 hrs.
The Smashing Pumpkins are good in little dosages. That's all I'll say. Album was 7/10
4.5
Very melodic rock pretty intresting, very long but a great journey
I completely forgot how great this album is, haven't listened to in full in years. Some favourites from my teenage years and at least one of my all time fave songs (1979). As with virtually every double album, it is a bit bloated and there are a couple of forgettable tunes. Some of the lyrics are a bit cringy now that I'm a 30-something ["God is empty, just like ME! >:(" for ex]. It doesn't quite live up to "Siamese Dream", in my opinion, but it is still a fantastic album.
T3B 1. Bullet With Butterfly Wings 2. Tonight, Tonight 3. Zero
Eerste plaat vind ik geweldig, maar bij de 2e haak ik toch altijd een beetje af.
Lang geleden dat ik deze in zijn geheel heb gehoord. Toch wel een plaatje hor, hoewel Siamese Dream de go to plaat is. Daarom een ster minder
Te lang, en iets teveel opvullers ertussen, maar de rest blijft geweldig. Niet zo goed als de platen voor deze, en die boze neuzige schreeuw-zang is soms tegen het irritante aan. Maar muziekaal echt geweldig!
The vibe/sound of a lot of their songs is similar enough to me that I can't quite give this a 5. But I don't deny that this album is great (even if it is long af, hah) 4.5
Some good tunes. Tonight, Tonight, and 1979 are obvious bangers. Seemed a bit too long though…
Billy Corgan has an annoying voice, but otherwise I'm actually quite liking this. Not sure it needed to be so long though.
One could consider this as the bands magnum opus, though I still prefer Siamese Dream. This album was huge when it came out, and it honestly holds up nearly 30 years later. The songs aren't necessarily linked by any themes or narrative (other than maybe being a 90s teen) but it works as a cohesive unit nonetheless. Does drag a little in parts, but there are more than its fair share of great tracks.
This album made no sense when it came out but the singles were huge hits. I listened to this when it was first released and but didn't dig much deeper than the singles. There are some good tunes here but its a little too long. Typical Billy Corgan production that seems to be improved on the 2012 remaster.
Great album. Was a very instrumental grunge album
This album fucking takes me back. I remember really liking it when I was younger, and then in my typical oppositional defiant disorder way, I became much less interested in it when I found out that a lot of other people liked it. As a result, I didn't listen to this album nearly so much as a lot of its contemporaries that were slightly less popular. Now I get to listen to this album fresh after many years. One of the things that stands out now is the influence of the shoegaze genre on this band. I wasn't familiar with bands like My Bloody Valentine in the 90s, and it's cool to hear some of the influences of those works on the Smashing Pumpkins. It's also interesting to see little bits of Industrial and Electronica in the music, especially since those influences would become more prominent in their future works. Overall I like the album, it feels a bit long as a double album, but at the same time it's not easy to pick out songs that I would cut from it to make it tighter. There's so many different flavors here, and the album wouldn't feel as complete if it focused more around fewer sonic ideas. Some of the lyrics are a bit on-the-nose, which I think also contributed to my abandoning the album as I got older in high school. Overall, it's a really good album 4/5
Liked it a lot
Lots to absorb here. Probably would have helped if I was 22, directionless, and needed a friend in Billy. Sounds great and a good reflection of mid 90s rock.
Already happier with these instrumentals- piano and maybe violin? Much softer and sweeter to my ear on the first song. Oh the deception… I like the whimsicalness of Cupid de Locke I also like Galapagos Porcelina is nice I just wanna feel like i’m travelling through outer space like this. Take me down is pretty 1979 slaps We only come out at night is interesting, definitely catchy and captivating I want a mashup bw beautiful and we only come out at night tbh
This album has some all time classic songs. It also has quite a bit of filler. But for a grunge album from 1995 it surprisingly does not get tiresome after 45 to 60 minutes. It holds up for the whole two hours. The filler isn't bad, but if it was just the highlights this would easily be a 5 star album. The filler drops it to a 4 and Billy Corgan being such a dick makes me want to drop it to a 3 or a 2, but if we are separating the art from the artist this stands as a 4 star album.
Such a fantastic album and a must listen to.
A double album, enjoyed parts of it
Soooooo looooong. Definitely some great tracks that have aged well, but the album is just so long without much justification and that holds it back for me
Fantastic album. Love a large amount of the tracks on it. I'm not big on giant double albums like this one as they usually have a few tracks which come across as filler-ish that I could/would usually skip. Would love to cut the track amount down.
I’d go back and listen
Pas mon album préféré des Pumpkins mais un album incroyable tout de même. Trop long à mon avis. Certaines des "ballades" sont moins intéressantes, mais les pièces "rock" restent des classiques de ma génération. Une mine de positivisme! 😂
2 hours. .... bloody hell
Some great tracks on this. Particularly enjoyed Disc 1.
Very good!!!
Very intersting!
As I usually say; there’s a fantastic single album here! There has never and there will never be a perfect double album!
This one evokes a lot of memories from the high school, so is an instant classic in my mind. Objectively it's a good album, regardless though, I will always enjoy it and turn it up, but it's got it's flaws.
There are some great songs. There are some good songs. and there is a good chunk of filler. This album was everywhere when i was in high school so it hits that nostalgia button for me. Zero still hits pretty hard. While I'm not sure if this needed to be 2 hours long, it's still worth a listen.
It's a very good album. But it would be a stellar 45 minute album. Why is this thing two hours long? No one needs that much, especially since there are a few duds in that extra time.
Bastantes temas buenos, pero larguísimo...
Could have have been a 5/5 if they cut the filler down to 1 CD. Standout tracks - Mellon Collie and the infinite sadness - tonight tonight - muzzle - zero - bullet with butterfly Wings - where boys fear to tread - 1979
Sharon Osborne and Billy Corgan. I think about this a lot
A very long listen but well worth it. I think there are a handful of songs that could have been cut or re-ordered to make this double album a smoother listen but overall it's a phenomenal album.
One of the nineties
Aptly named. Nostalgia aside, the vocals were never well balanced, something they did fix in the remastered versions.
Beloved racket
What a great listen, and a flashback to youth. But it holds up! Mostly. A little too long, but still a banger.
4.25
Never been a massive fan of Corgan's vocals when he goes overly nasal but apart from that, this is a fantastic album if a little long. Ambitious, powerful and heavy.
It’s funny, I namedropped Billy Corgan in yesterday’s review and he shows up today. Hmm, something something Neurosis. But no, I did rock with Smashing Pumpkins in my youth. I never really connected with Nirvana or Radiohead, so it took some time for me to embrace the other 90’s alt rock giants. But I did gravitate to most of the other ones in due time, and I played the fuck out of my Mellon Collie CD. In hindsight, it’s way too long, and the pattern is basic- heavy song, slow song, repeat with minor exceptions. But I can still feel the primal aggression in Bullet with Buttefly Wings, even if it’s pretty silly in hindsight, and I dig how weird some of the non-hits get while appreciating the softer tracks. It’s an imperfect thing, but I feel like this should still be essential listening for teenagers. B
The same age as me, the album is remarkably diverse, so there is no chance not to like at least one track. Anyway, as a whole it's not working for me, at least for now.
Diverse and chaotic, just like me.
So good
On NME500. Nostalgic favourite.
Rating: 7/10
Looking down the barrel of a 28-song record, I was surprised that it wasn't that hard to get through. I had a break at one point, but did still enjoy the record, despite the fact that there's some fat to trim here. The range of influences is nice, from the psychedelic-shoegaze of the Pumpkins' early careers, to some Spiritualized-esque near-ambient music, and even some dabbling in country, of all genres. That being said, the record can be a little schizophrenic, jumping from some extremely heavy songs to some very hushed, light songs with reckless abandon (see "Bodies" to "Thirty Three"). Favorite tracks: "X.Y.U.", "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans", "Bodies", "Zero"
Didn't realize it was a double album! Smashing Pumpkins does a great job of going for ethereal slow stuff to abrasive hard grungy punk without having it feel weird. I thought this album would be okay Liked this a lot more than I expected! 4.5 for sure!
Erg divers album, heerlijk
Superou as expectativas, nunca curti muito o som deles mas é um bom CD.
There's a LOT here, but it's mostly good.
ook
I didn't know Smashing Pumpkins contained such multitudes. A wild, sprawling album with a track sequencing designed to give you repeated whiplash. One moment they're playing dreamy ballads, the next they're thrashing through blistering hard rock and even metal. It's hard to predict what's coming next. The band seems to want to disorient you, even at the expense of a better flowing album. Once you open yourself up to the experience though, there are some terrific highlights. They can spin alt-rock gold like "Tonight, Tonight," "Muzzle," and "1979." They can turn up the aggression on tracks like "Jellybelly" and "Zero," or push their rage to the limits like on "Tales of a Scorched Earth" and "X.Y.U." And then there's the sweet spot for me, "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," which has huge hooks but doesn't skimp on the hard rock sound. Other favorites were the "An Ode to No One" (epic!) and "Love" (I love that drenched in fuzz sound). Dizzying and definitely too long but that's the point, right? Really impressive overall.
I had this album & saw this tour & rocked the Zero shirt for several years!
Loads of great songs but pretty long, I did go back and forth whether or not this should be 3 or 4 stars as it's not as good as as Siamese Dream which I'd give 4 stars to but in the end I decided it's better than a few of the albums I've rated 3 stars.
Pros: - some real bangers on here. "Tonight, Tonight", "Zero", "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" "1979" - Very ambitious - 1979 is one of my favorite songs from the 90s and I think even with all of it's hype it's still one of the most underrated 90s tracks. - production is clean when it needs to be clean, and dirty when it needs to be dirty - orchestral elements are so good and don't overtake the foundational strengths of the songwriting - "Cupid De Locke" has some spoken word in it which is cool as heck Cons: - flow of the album is a little weird right? "tonight tonight" into "jellybelly" is a stark contrast, and "to forgive" is a sad boy track right in the middle of two slammers. Misc: - The only spotify version is the deluxe version which is 92 songs long and 6 hours. I don't really have an interest in "Tonight Tonight's strings parts but pitched down 1 semitone and 3bpm lower v6 FINAL.wav", but I get it- that's for the mega fans. - To me they are the Kings of 90s Cringe. "Love is suicide" is a lyric that is repeated over and over in the track "Bodies". It's cringey; like "wow this is so profound"
// And someone will say, "What is lost can never be saved." //
THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE And suddenly I'm 15 again, cycling through the woods on my way to my horrible summer job at the cactus plantation at 6am, where I would be holding out all day to listen to more Smashing Pumpkins on the way home.
Lite mycket filler och sången är outhärdlig, men hitsen är så satans starka? Också fler bra album tracks än jag väntade mig? Tonight, Tonight och 1979 är såna tokdängor.
4.5/5
Featuring 28 songs and a duration of over two hours this sure is an epic album. Back in the day I did prefer the grunge (just a misspelling of punk) songs. Over 25 years on I now prefer the more melodic songs. It is certainly one of he most definitive alt-rock album of the 90's if not ever. Had I been a teenager in the 90's I would have been boring all my friends about how wonderful this was.
Liked it better than expected. Time has been kind to it. Hits sound great. Enjoyed the quiet and pretty album tracks too. Didn't like the loud distorted stuff. Too long too, at least to hook me in on first listen, didn't make it all the way through.
Godt album... Men please kill your darlings. Det er simpelthen for langt
This is a fascinating album. I really enjoyed listening to it. It’s musically ambitious, hearkening back to the golden age of rock albums in the 70s, but fully in tune with the vibe of its time. Nobody else was putting this kind of effort into an album in 1995. Some of the arrangements are beyond gorgeous, tempered with some equally blistering harder songs. Smashing Pumpkins have a musical range few other bands can touch and this album was the band at their creative peak. I’m partial to the more melodic songs on the album, but the hard rocking songs are also wickedly good. This band has the wonderful ability to turn on a dime from artful to raging that’s pretty impressive. The experience of listing to this album is a bit overwhelming though. It’s packed with some really excellent songs. The ones that were released at singles (“Tonight,” “1979,” “Bullet,” “Thirty-Three, “Zero”) are all pretty much modern classics, they’re so good. But it’s just so long, so very, very, very long. This album is suffering from double album syndrome like I have never seen before. It meanders, it lacks much of a coherent tone or point of view, packing in some of the best songs of the 90s with a lot of other songs that are high quality, but fairly forgettable. There aren’t really any bad songs on this album. But the sheer volume makes it hard for any but the absolute best to stand out. In a way, this feels like two albums, the melodic album and the noisy album. But it’s not arranged that way. Oddly though, had they released this as two separate albums, it would have been far less impactful. Fave Songs: Tonight, Tonight; 1979; Love; An Ode to No One; Bullet with Butterfly Wings; Thirty-Three; Lily (My One and Only); Cupid de Locke; Zero; Galapogos; To Forgive; Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
Makes me feel like I'm lying on my hot bed in the summer w dusty air filtering through the window, kind of mad
1979!
Huh, olipa hyvä. Odotin jotain masistelua mutta sieltä tulikin just sopivasti hevikitarablästiä ja tarttuvia biisejä.
Very long, various music
melodious, also rocking
The second album we've got that I'm familiar with! I'm going into this very biased as I had a big Smashing Pumpkins phase back in middle/high school, so nostalgia is definitely going to factor in to my score. Can confirm: Georgie still loves him some Smashing Pumpkins. Is this a perfect album? No, it definitely has its flaws and Corgan's vocal style is not for everyone. Is it an album I thoroughly enjoy despite imperfections? Absolutely! I like me some grunge and I always appreciate Corgan's use of other instruments such as the keyboard - I like the juxtaposition of jumping from slower, almost ballad-like tracks right into hard-hitting rock.
Really good album, just a bit long innit. gave it 4 but wish it was possible to give 3.5 in here.
Ah - the good ol' days of 2 disc sets. I personally love the Pumpkins, but this wasn't my favorite album. It's definitely got all of the best bits of them, but it feels a bit like a 'throw everything at the wall and see what sticks' approach. Knowing the history, I know this isn't really the situation, it's more how it feels in modern music release schedules. Similar to Iggy Pop's album we listened to the other day, this is a clear passion project and didn't have much of a commercial influence. That makes it important - if not incredibly engaging. An artist being given the chance to create what they want to create is a special thing.
Great atmosphear, great cunchy sounds. Heavy and soft
4/5, classic
Not as heavy as I expected.
Critically, a very good album. I just don't think I'll ever listen to it again.
Not that sad. Enjoyable.
Very good album with lots of standout individual songs. I did take a break half way through. Though, I feel like a 2 hour album should flow better to prevent zoning out or getting bored.
Interesting mix of mellow and screaming tracks. Rates a 4 because of the breadth of musicality across the double album
Classic 90’s
4/5
Interesting album. If you took the best 10 songs or so and made an album out of it I'm pretty sure it would be a 5 star effort. As it is though, there are a few duds. Still overall a really good album.
Pretty great
Some songs are certainly weaker on their own, but when listened to as a whole it all comes together.
First things first: "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" is a 10/10 perfect title. As for the actual music: I'd heard this album quite some time ago and I remembered it being a bloated, grossly self-indulgent affair. Listening to it again, I still feel that way, but I was reminded how good some of the songs are. The highs are high and the lows are never worse than "pretty good", but it just drowns in its own length. Worth listening to once (if only to say you've listened to it), but I can't imagine listening to it over and over again.
Big commitment to listen to the full double album, I wasn't inspired by the songs I hadn't heard before to be honest, but still this is a solid 4. In general I like the Smashing Pumpkins (3.5/5), this is one of their better works
No me explayaré mucho. Es un disco excelente, canciones emblemáticas, originales, bien escritas, a ratos se siente sencillo tras sencillo de una época en la que fueron de las más grandes bandas de su momento. La voz de Corgan a pesar de su chirrido siempre se me ha hecho correcta para su tipo de música y manera de componer. Letras bien escritas, música fuerte cuando debe serlo y suave cuando debe serlo... y tremendamente LAAAAAAAAAAARGO. No se que tiene este disco pero escuchar los dos de corrido siempre se me ha hecho muy difícil. Puedo escuchar uno y tiempo después el otro pero los dos completos como obra entera me es tedioso y no entiendo el por qué, la calidad está ahí, hay muchísimos discos dobles que escucho de corrido sin problema, he escuchado discos triples sin problema y Mellon Collie and the blabla simplemente nunca he podido. Canciones que me encantan en un paquete extraño que no puedo digerir de una. Ah por cierto sí también hay que mencionar, es de los títulos de disco más estúpidos que se me pueden ocurrir, su juego de palabras si siempre se me ha hecho bastante idiota y "the Infinite Sadness" solo me hace pelar los ojos.
Después de tantos años y por lo largo del disco me pasó que escuchar las que conocía fue súper bueno, las disfruté y fue muy bueno recordarlas. El resto continuamente perdió mi atención y no es que sean canciones malas pero se quedan en buenas y ya. Estuve debatiéndome entre subir o bajar el 3.5. Tiene canciones muy buenas, la banda no me desagrada, tiene su importancia histórica pero es demasiado largo y varias son relleno. Al final, decidí subirlo porque ninguna canción es terrible, es más lo que disfruto las canciones que conozco que lo que estorban las demás canciones y pese a lo largo tampoco es que corra a quitarlo. No afecta la calificación, sólo quiero mencionar que aunque está clasificado como grunge y tiene momentos muy pesados, en general el disco se me hace melódico, demasiado "lindo" para ser grunge. Songs: Zero, 1979, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Tonight Tonight
Billy Corgan is One of the 90s best songwriters, and a masterpiece like Tonight, Tonight really shows it. Atleast a third of this almost is some really quality songwriting that gets lost in a poorer harder rock songs that extend the album unnecessarily hiding what could be a masterpiece and perfect 5 star album. Had he ignored the heavier riffs for this album, focused on the softer tunes and ballads, it would have been more effective.
Awesome. Some bangers and lot of cerebral mong-out tunes. Dour 2013, missed them at Reading 2007.
But long
Es un d'aquells discos que representen una década, i totes les seves particularitats: en quant a so, en quant a actitud, imatge, missatge... No tots els temes (sí, hi ha massa) estan a l'alçada dels millors, però la gran majoria no queden lluny, i els que més destaquen ('1979', 'Tonight Tonight', 'Zero', 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings', 'We Only Come Out at Night') també es troben entre el millor de la década
This is a banger for sure not sure why 1979 is such a big hit.
Over long in parts but one i will return to
Still can’t forgive Billy Corgan his voice or lyrics, but a wondrous album all the same.
9,0/10
7/10 pretty good
3.5
Awesome rock album, some parts I didn't care for but some 5 star songs
I rlly liked the concept of this album with the sections relating to time of day. I think I preferred the 1st half
I'd never listened to this whole album before. When I was younger, Corgan's voice got on my nerves so I never gave Smashing Pumpkins a fair chance. I have to say, I'm glad I gave this a listen. The music is dynamic and interesting. I will definitely listen again. It runs a little long... but none of the songs feel like "filler."
But bloated. But what’s good is great
Sí me gustó bastante, aunque claro que no terminé de escucharlo, sí suena dark. Creo que necesito oir con más calma las canciones de los 2 primeros cds que se supone son las que cuentan (?)
Disco de largo aliento, sin embargo, creo que todo suena bien, con mucha cohesión y hay canciones que me gustaron particularmente. "Zero", "Here Is No Why", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", "Love", "Muzzle", "Bodies", "1979" y "Stumbleine", esta última de las baladitas. No sé qué más decir, que es el primer disco de los Smashing que escucho completo y está bien, todo oc. 7.5/10
I absolutely love this album and the pumpkins. There is definitely some filler though lol
Just fantastic. Part of my music education, although I didn't really take it into account at the time. Amazing songwriting. Amazing drumming! Just too long and dips in parts so not quite 5 stars Does drag in parts and is insanely long. hence 4 starts, not 5
dreamy, weird, obscure, like any pisces would dig. don't really like billy corgan's persona, can't help but love his music tho.
Some poor tracks, but some surprisingly good ones too.
Thoroughly enjoyable, but only as a whole album experience
wow - I literally transcended. Some songs are a bit too hard rock but this album is incredibly beautiful
Jedan veoma kvalitetan dvostruki album. Velim ja da je uvijek rizično raditi dvostruki album ako nećeš biti konzistentan. Naravno daleko od toga da mi se svaka pjesma sviđa, ali toliko ima kvalitetnih pjesama na ovom albumu da jednostavno nije fer dati lošiju ocijenu za album od 28 pjesama, a gdje većina albuma valja. Album ima svoje neke padove, gdje nije toliko interesantno, ali to je samo u nekim sitnim dijelovima (čitaj pjesmama). Odlične pjesme poput: Tonight, Tonight, Zero, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Bodies, 1979, Stumbleine, Cupid De Locke i tako dalje. Od ovih pjesama što sam nabrojao bar 3 pjesme su mi u njihovih top 10 - pametnome dosta. Hvale vrijedan album Smashing Pumpkinsa te po mom mišljenju je album ipak iza meni njihovog najdražeg Siamese Dreams. Ovaj album ima shift prema agresiji pa vraćanje na pasivu i vice versa. Neke predivne balade, lijepi instrumentali, ali isto tako i divlji vokali sa pojačanim gitarama.
Last great grunge album
Still can't stand Billy's voice, however this is pretty solid stuff.
Could have been a five star album if they’d picked the right 12-14 songs. Just too much bloat here.
Brilliant in its scale and variety of themes. Loads of great songs interspersed with a full albums worth of filler. Nobody wants to listen to Billy Corgans shrill voice for 2+ hours.
There’s a five star album hidden in here once you cut through the filler
Cut about 10 tracks from this and you could make one very solid album
Some great, some meh, too long overall
Its decent enough, but could make it a perfect single album rather than a double album to be fair.
It's a double album and clocking in at 2 hours, I found it difficult to digest in one sitting. To start, they make great fuckin' bangers with wild riffs, maxed distortion, and superb composition makes the heavier songs pack a serious punch. Contrast that to the more soft and tender songs like Tonight, Tonight that give the album breathing room and variation. This makes for a wholly strong album, giving great credence to the legendary status of this alt-rock treasure. Rarely did I feel like there was a low point, but the length of this titan makes it hard not to get at least a little burned out. Closer to a 4.5 than a 4.
Blast from the past. Enjoyed it quite a lot.
Thought this was going to be my first 5* but on listening back, not as perfect as I remember. Still a worthy 4!
really beautiful and moving album. the vocals got a little whiney for me at certain points. insane length but the variety in tempo and style helped to keep me interested. 8/10
A good one to get back into the albums with. Really not a bad song, excellent vibes. Emo without making me feel bad. 9
Some good hits, but too many songs
1/3 = 5* :) 2/3 = 2* at best :(
Love this album. Fantastic melodies. Hit after hit. Sweeping soundscapes. Nostalgia. So good. Favorite track: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Tails off but four stars just for the first six or so songs on disk 1.
Good, but, like most double albums, if they'd taken their best songs and made a single album it would have been even better.
Awesome album, if a bit erratic and superficially moody
Off the bat, I love the album title, the album art. Reminds me of Melancholia, I wonder if Lars took inspiration from this gals green dress and the name when he was doing his movie poster. I could see Lars Von Trier being a Smashing Pumpkins fan. Even beyond that, this is an even bolder album because it is two hours long over twenty eight songs and two CDs. Very impressive especially for that time period. You look at just a few years earlier when Nirvana came out with Nevermind and that album was very short compared to this. I loved the instrumental song to start and didn’t realize that “Despite all my rage, I’m still just a rat in a cage” was from Bullet with Butterfly Wings! I thought it was from a Doors song or something. That was a pleasant surprise. As the album goes on, many of the songs drifted into the background, not because they were bad but they play really well as background music. Most of the stand outs for me came from the beginning of the album but I liked this album much more than Siamese Dream. Standouts were the first track, Tonight, Tonight, Zero, and Bullet with Butterfly Wings.
I don't know where I was in the '90s, but I know that I like Smashing Pumpkins much more than I tough before this album. A great piece of art with a lot of different styles, but still connected, even the more "experimental" songs are great and in line with the rest of the album. Definitively worths it
Maracas
I forgot this was a double disc! Or was this just for the remaster? Anyway, this was such a great album growing up. To me, this is SP's pinnacle, and my favorite of their. Too bad Billy is such a cuck.
Always disliked the Smashing Pumpkins, but after listening through this album I may need to reevaluate. There were songs that I didn’t care for (it’s a two hour album, how do you avoid that?), but on the whole I was really impressed by it. Some really great music in here.
I forgot how much I enjoy The Smashing Pumpkins. Great album!
Several of those songs are on my playlists sooo...
love classic rock
I forgot this was a double disc! Or was this just for the remaster? Anyway, this was such a great album growing up. To me, this is SP's pinnacle, and my favorite of their. Too bad Billy is such a cuck.
Classic, classic. Still rocks. I have a bias against double LPs though.
❤️
Tonight, Tonight is great, the first song is really nice orchestral song.
1979😍
Great album. A "classic" for me. So many hits.
Solid album. Unique sound that's enjoyable, even for 28 songs.
One of the grunge classics
Too much filler in the first half billy
7.1
it was good. "Despite all my rage I'm still just a rat in a cage". That's the line that's most fun to sing.
Cool, versatile alt rock. Some of it's a little heavier than my taste, but good nonetheless.
1979
Obviously a great album
Never really listened to smashing pumpkins, not sure why as definitely style of music I like. this is a great album if not a bit too long. His voice can also come across a little whiny
Deluxe edition is 6 hours of straight angst and sadness =, with highlights of 90s bops
very pog band
cool album need more time to listen
1995. Key Songs: 1979, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Tonight Tonight
not a bad album, was a big hit when i was a kid and i remember a good few choons off it
This should have split up into two days.
A two hour album - on a Monday?! It’s a lot of album to handle, but it’s pretty decent. Favourite track: Tonight, Tonight
Some good, some bad. Not too shabby
Some really good songs - overall kind of long though
The Pumpkins' third record is a massive double album clocking in at around two hours, featuring a blend of both louder, angst-filled, raucous rock and quieter, atmospheric moments. The quality of the songs ranges from mediocre to good (except for Tales of a Scorched Earth - I hate that song), and the musicianship is stellar. While the music is otherwise pretty good, Corgan's nasal vocal style takes some getting used to after a long break. I would enjoy this album more if someone else were singing. The lyrics are at times quite cryptic (or just random whiny nonsense, depending on how you look at it), though not as abstract as in Corgan's later work.
I enjoy it, its my type to music so that helped
Billy Corgan might just be my least favourite '90s vocalist, which is a shame, because he's obviously a top-tier songwriter. It's almost impressive how much he sucks the life out of the often brilliant music the moment he opens his mouth. Put anyone else on these tracks and I could easily imagine enjoying them, even loving them. I still really enjoy a decent amount, regardless. I usually don't mind when a singer has a more bratty vocal delivery, but Corgan somehow sounds both obnoxious and timid at the same time, without any charisma to back it up, and he's way too prominent in the mix to ignore. Anyhow, well-written tracks, but I just can't get over that particular factor. This is my second listen of the album and my opinion didn't change over the years. Hopefully, I will enjoy Siamese Dream more. Favourite track: 1979
An sich ziemlich gut, aber auf diese Länge verliert es mich dann doch teilweise.
Before listening to this album, my mindset was "The Smashing Pumpkins is a prerty overrated band" After listening to this album tho, I still believe that they are. But at least I know which is overrated in their music. If they strip away the symphonic, dream, chamber, and some parts of their grunge sounds. They'd be a pretty good alternative rock band. That's not the case here so this album was only decent in my opinion. 3.5/5
I recognize the impact, but this album sprawls too much and makes me sick of listening to them.
I owned this cassette and album. Bullet with butterfly wings forever altered my musical tastes. I appreciate this album now after listening with my old ears. Still not a huge fan of the ballads
Infinite? Sadness? Better say infinite maniac
Liked the first one. Didnt really vibe with the rest.
Whew ... That was about an hour and a half too long! I guess if they didn't have all of these songs, we couldn't have found the good ones. But still, too much.
The thing about The Smashing Pumpkins is that if you don't love Billy Corgan's singing voice, you're going to have a rough time. There's some good songs here, and I ended up enjoying more of the non-singles than the singles (maybe because I'm burned out on them), but I still can't really fall for Billy's singing style.
It's 3.5
I wanted to like this album a lot more than I did… it was really long which would have been fine if a lot of it didn’t feel that same? The stuff that was good was really good it just got lost in a lot of mid
Me, listening politely I've said it once, I'll say it 1001 times, there's good material on here, but need to cut out the rubbish and get themselves down to a normal album length. Once again, cost themselves a point in doing so
I smashed a pumpkin
There are a wide variety of sounds here and some strong moments, but unfortunately I can't take Billy Corgan's voice for two hours straight.
classic, but doesnt need to be 2 hours.
Nothing about this justifies the length.
I don't recall any bigger news in all the world the day this album was released. I think me and everyone else I know had a passionate 3-year marriage to the Pumpkins, followed by a bitter divorce (in other words: it wasn't mutual, and Corgan blamed us). The breakup drama was followed by several decades of general indifferent forgetfulness. Revisiting this certainly reminds me of that love affair. Hilariously overlong and overblown and overwrought, but still full of some truly wonderful moments. In the end, this is an album made by people who did not believe there could ever be consequences for their actions. But they were wrong.
This reminded me of a few things: This was the first album I ever bought. It was purchased at the same time as Everclear’s So Much for the Afterglow, which I suspect and hope is not on this list. Fast forward 30 years, a period of minimal Smashing Pumpkins listening, and even less Everclear listening, to 2026 where we have a little family tradition of watching music videos after dinner. The five-year-old and the two-year-old were both delighted and a little scared of Tonight, Tonight. It really is a triumph of a video - a beautiful homage to Méliès. I saw the Smashing Pumpkins and QOTSA in Wellington a long time ago. Billy Corgan was wearing this sequined dress thing. He came back out, alone for an encore. This consisted of him announcing it was his birthday, getting the crowd to sing him happy birthday, then walking off stage and never coming back. So what do I think of the album? Well, much like my darling daughter: when it was good, it was very, very good, but when it was bad, it was horrid. And perhaps there is no finer example of the golden rule: bloated it be, one must give it a three.
Unas buenas otras no tantos, unas increíbles y unas para el olvido.
Good
Gemoedelijk begin album, rustige piano. Verder heel wisselend. Soms wel wat te veel geschreeuw.
I’ve kind of avoided listening to this for years. I thought this was actually quite good. I think my issue is I just get tired of Corgan’s vocals. They work on some songs but 2 hours worth just gets on my nerves. Still enjoyed this though.
Good stuff is so good. But a lot of it is kind of mid for me.
Good album. Could be a 4.
Gostei das músicas mais cantantes mas das outras n
The problem with most double albums is that there simply isn’t enough amazing music to allow for a fully enjoyable listening experience. Those that are consistently good all the way through (White Album, Keys of Life, Sign o’ the Times etc) are incredible feats of musicianship as well as great albums to listen to on their own for this reason. Most double albums begin to drag without a compelling concept or simply brilliant music for an hour plus. Now w this album, I understand why the Pumpkins wanted to get grander and more expansive after their brilliant album Siamese Dream. But two hours is simply unnecessary; that’s 3 entire sides of an LP - almost no album could be great all the way through. And indeed, this isn’t. Had this album been condensed into a Siamese Dream-length album it could be a brilliant effort, but a lot of the heavier tracks just do not hit for me and they drag this album down.
First thoughts no album needs to be this long. If you have this material you think is so good release two separate albums. I can see why live albums would be doubles but this takes the mick. Now can I listen to it all in a day. It's soooo long. I liked a good number of songs but the length is a killer
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long
I know the Smashing Pumpkins for one song, "1979", which I like, but I'm also not a big grunge fan, including Nirvana. To me, it all sounds very "teenagery", immature, garage-rock-sounding, like a lot of 90s music. Probably the point, but still. However, the music here doesn't annoy me like other bands do. There's a weird bland of hard-hitting distorted grunge erupting with energy, and softer ballads that are at times beautiful, and other times schmaltzy. This would all be fine if the album had the decency to shut the fuck up after an hour. Instead, it's this bloated, over-long double (triple??) LP. And look, there are incredibly good double albums out there. London Calling and Songs in the Key of Life come to mind. But this is not it. There are some great songs, but they're drowning in an ocean of fine songs. Overall, this was boring, not gonna lie.
Individual songs are great, but in full it's a glorious, hot mess. Plus it drags on forever.
An album in need of an editor. Billy Corgan says they were making the "White Album" of 90s alt which, ok sure- but whereas the White Album already was arguably a bit too long at 90 minutes, this one is a ridiculous 2 hours. A frustrating 2 hours too, as it pinballs from some absolute bangers to useless filler.
So much going on here. A grunge White Album. Some great tracks but far to long.
Never ends.
not really my type of genre but not bad music
The hits are hits, the rest...Billy Corgan's voice can grate on my ears.
Sounds good I’m just not listening to over two hours of anything not gonna lie.
It was really ok, too long though. Some good drumming and some flashes of brilliant guitar. Vocals irritating. Not as bad as I was expecting for such a long album.
Surprising range of styles. Instrumental opening, then alternative classic in Tonight Tonight followed by metal drums and baseline...drums on this album stand out. Tonight Tonight, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, 1979 all bring heavy mid 90's MTV nostalgia, great songs. Not a huge fan of Bill Corgan's vocals, though his voice in these songs is iconic. Besides the old hits nothing really stood out as amazing.
Their instrumentals are so good but Corgan’s vocals have always been atrocious. If he weren’t singing, I would have given it like a 4/5. Really, even a 3 is pushing it with both his terrible vocals in addition to the TWO HOUR length.
The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the most memorable bands of the 1990's for me as I had limited exposure to 90's alt rock and they were on heavy rotation at the radio station I listened to when I was visiting my sister. They are quite distinctive, with Corgan's vocals and distorted guitars. I only owned their debut album, and probably should have had this one in my collection as well. But a double disc of the Pumpkins is a LOT of Pumpkins in one sitting. I like them better in small doses.
- A bit too loud and screechy for my taste
Hitjes zijn top. Duurt gewoon te lang. En voor eens heb ik het lastig met zijn stem
The first track lowkey is misleading to what the rest of the album sounds like. This one was a banger for sure tho.
5/10 Best songs: Tonight Tonight, Jellybelly, Thru the Eyes of Ruby I tried for years to get into Smashing Pumpkins but they never quite clicked for me, despite being a huge fan of musicians and bands said in the same breath. Upon this listen, I think I've figured out why their music never worked for me: Billy Corgan's voice is godawful. The music is terrific, but the man just can't sing. On occasion I can overlook his singing when a song particularly stands out (Jellybelly is outstanding, for example). In addition, this double album is unnecessarily bloated. Either it should have been released as two separate projects or there should have been judicious editing to cut it down to a single disc, because man, this album is a drag.
A very involved effort on this triple LP. The longest so gs are the worst. Billy covering several genres of music. Several really good songs. Probably should of been condensed into 2 separate albums.
A bloated, self-indulgent corpse of an album convinced of its own profundity. I bought this when it came out because I had loved Siamese Dream and Gish, yet this one never struck a chord with me. It always felt too long with lyrics inspired by magnetic poetry kits.
good 90s rock album. it has a lot of new influences and I could hear it at a teen party in 2005
It’s good but not 2 hours good
Este ya lo había oído anteriormente La voz de Billy Corgan me parece horrenda, en especial sus screams, fuera de eso la música está bien aunque con la duración es fácil olvidarse de tantas canciones
It was ok liked it still Album cover was so good
To the user who's 1-star review is currently at the top of the pile, I see you and I hear you. You're not wrong in your assessment, though, I don't know if you were alive or old enough to be aware of this album when it came out. It was a massive record in it's heyday. Anyway, yeah, this album suffers same as a lot of double albums in the sense that had they left maybe half on the cutting room floor, it would have been better for it. Billy Corgan was honestly a great song writer (I say "was" since none of the stuff he released this century was all that good), but a great frontman he is not. His voice is nails on a chalkboard at best. Despite that shortcoming, there's some all time bangers on this record, but there's also a lot of fluff they could have scrapped and this would have been all the better for it.
I like these guys but this album was too long to take in properly - and maybe a bit too long for its own good too, from what I was able to take in.
We have had smashing pumpkins before and I remember being really pleasantly surprised and in fact I think I did deem it "smashing" pumpkins. This one was more like squashing potatoes. Har Har har
I actually really like The Smashing Pumpkins. And I like a lot of these songs… I just feel like this album was all over the place as a whole.
2,5
Ok
I’ve owned "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" for years, yet rarely pull it off the shelf - and I’ve often wondered why. It isn’t a bad album by any stretch; I can appreciate the quality and craft behind it. But, to me, none of the tracks trigger that visceral reaction that facilitates repeated listens, a deep affection for the material or a five-star rating. It’s a solid collection of good-to-very-good songs, but nothing here truly grabs hold of me. Three stars. Disc one – Dawn to Dusk 1 "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" (Instrumental) (3/5) 2 "Tonight, Tonight" (3/5) 3 "Jellybelly" (3/5) 4 "Zero" (4/5) 5 "Here Is No Why" (3/5) 6 "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" (3/5) 7 "To Forgive" (3/5) 8 "Fuck You (An Ode to No One)" (4/5) 9 "Love" (4/5) 10 "Cupid de Locke" (4/5) 11 "Galapogos" (4/5) 12 "Muzzle" (3/5) 13 "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" (4/5) 14 "Take Me Down" (3/5) Disc one total - 48 Disc one average - 3.4 Disc two – Twilight to Starlight 1 "Where Boys Fear to Tread" (4/5) 2 "Bodies" (3/5) 3 "Thirty-Three" (3/5) 4 "In the Arms of Sleep" (3/5) 5 "1979" (4/5) 6 "Tales of a Scorched Earth" (3/5) 7 "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" (3/5) 8 "Stumbleine" (3/5) 9 "X.Y.U." (4/5) 10 "We Only Come Out at Night" (3/5) 11 "Beautiful" (3/5) 12 "Lily (My One and Only)" (3/5) 13 "By Starlight" (3/5) 14 "Farewell and Goodnight" (3/5) Disc two total - 45 Disc two average - 3.2 Total - 93 Average - 3.3 395/1001 206/395 albums reviewed were new to me.
Massive respect for the ambition and the era it defined, but the theatricality and sonic whiplash make it a tough listen for me.
Side One is an easy 4 close to a 5, great driving riffs and crunching songs. I'm already a bit fatigued by side 2 which is nice but a bit sleepy in comparison. A shame because taking maybe 5/6 of the best songs from each and you could have a 5 star album TBH
The problem with most double albums is that there simply isn’t enough amazing music to allow for a fully enjoyable listening experience. Those that are consistently good all the way through (White Album, Keys of Life, Sign o’ the Times etc) are incredible feats of musicianship as well as great albums to listen to on their own for this reason. Most double albums begin to drag without a compelling concept or simply brilliant music for an hour plus. Now w this album, I understand why the Pumpkins wanted to get grander and more expansive after their brilliant album Siamese Dream. But two hours is simply unnecessary; that’s 3 entire sides of an LP - almost no album could be great all the way through. And indeed, this isn’t. Had this album been condensed into a Siamese Dream-length album it could be a brilliant effort, but a lot of the heavier tracks just do not hit for me and they drag this album down.
Just ok
Ugh this one is so close to being higher on this list, potentially even a 5, but there are so many things holding this album back. First off, when I discovered this band in highschool, a big reason I fell in love was because I was the perfect age for this dramatic amount of angst. But also because a lot of their song so liked the most from them came from this album. This is definitely Smashing Pumpkins magnum opus. The biggest problem though, is it’s WAY too fucking long. 2 hours is just too much time with this limited amount of variety. There is variety but that’s just going back and forth between loud angsty music and soft angsty music. And it’s not as simple as, too much soft or too much heavy music. It’s just a lot of what they are trying to say and do is accomplished on the first half of the album which is more than long enough to be its own album. And while I do love 1979, a lot of their song second half feels like they were starting to run out of original ideas and started just adding more of the same. The other massive problem with this band is Billy Corrigan. I used to really like him and I though the fact why he was a big professional wrestling guy made him more endearing and grounded. But then he completely undermines that by being impossible to work with, firing a lot of the musicians that made his music memorable and special, as well as being a massive douche bag now. Like he has become everything he hated, and he’s completely oblivious to that because his head is lodged so securely up his own ass. It’s sad to see talented artist lose everything that made them special. For what it’s worth, “zero” is easily one of the greatest alt rock songs of all time! Thanks The Simpsons hulabalooza episode for turning me onto them as well as Peter frampton, sonic youth, and cypress hill.
It's ok
6/10
nice beats
Paar mooie nummers, teveel gekrijs en te vaak irritante gitaaruithalen
Interesante.
Quite hard rocking but didn’t leave much of an impression
It was pretty good. It wasn't my usual style of music but it definitely wasn't bad!
I prefer the songs that weren't hits. And improved outlook on the band noow that I've listened to the full album.
Musically the songs are quite good but damn it's basically impossible for a 2hr album to be engaging the whole way through. So yea 3 stars but on the higher end of 3 stars cause the songs are for the most part pretty good
3.41
✸ Okay! Another banger album from an annoying man. ✸ Tonight, Tonight is so good. ✸ Zero!!! So angsty (complimentary). ✸ Bullet With Butterfly Wings!! ✸ With only a half work day today, there's no way I'm going to get through this two(!!) hour long album.
In an effort to get some of the longer entries from the 1001 albums to hear before you die challenge out of the way before I get exceptionally busy on Monday for the next 6 months, I wanted to listen to what is arguably the band's biggest album (commercially) in their discography, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. This 2 hour double album was a cultural statement when it released, and should have never succeeded with the length, genre, and experimentation this album had all over it and yet it became a cultural zeitgeist. This album isn't just a Grunge album like Siamese Dream or Gish, it is a much more lively collection of all sorts of different genres mixed together under one big 2 hour long umbrella. Personally I have never been big on this album and never really got the hype behind it all, and even still to this very day I do not. This album is extremely bloated and only really has a few highlights worth mentioning out of the 28 songs here. The complaint of Billy Corgan sounding "nasally" when singing really shows itself to be true all over this album and can definitely get under your skin if you let it do so. I was definitely feeling the rage boiling up inside me at By Starlight even though that is a highlight of the album for myself. The music is so all over the place that it is both admirable and sloppy in the same breath. I get Billy wanted to reach for the stars here but I really think he overshot his abilities when Siamese Dream does exactly what he wants with a much better sound/style/runtime. This album is good but should not even be close to considered a classic in my eyes as it truly lacks a much deeper focus and style I think that would make it something close to one.
One of the dumbest album + opening track titles of this entire list. Not as bad as Chocolate Starfish, but it's up there. 121 minutes is also definitely going to test my patience. The Smashing Pumpkins aren't looking too smashing, at least not off the bat. But there's a ton of excellent material here. Of course, it's balanced out by an equal amount of passable-to-mediocre music, but when you insist on releasing two hours of content, what else could you really expect? Still, I'd like to see some sort of concept tying this together. Other than the concept of melancholy. That ain't cutting it for me. But man, you have to give it to them. They can record a stunningly pretty instrumental. That combination of strings, Mellotron, and piano, with an uncertain yet gorgeous melody... wow. With Tonight, Tonight, you begin to understand why they launched us off with an instrumental. The singer resembles a really off-brand Mick Jagger. Fortunately, all the big orchestral stuff in the background more than makes up for it. It helps that Corgan doesn't try to belt anything. My ears might just waddle away if that were to happen. Props to the drummer – there are some solid fast fills, recorded cleanly and complimenting the strings nicely to create an almost cinematic, musical-esque feel. Then with Jellybelly we hear a complete stylistic left turn: metal. Who knew? A great jolt of energy that suggests these guys know what they're doing with album sequencing. Which is an extremely important factor in judging album-based listening. Zero takes a similar approach but with less focus on dark, distorted riffs and more sort of Ozzy-like "weird" vocalising. Here Is No Why and Bullet WIth Butterfly Wings continue the general hard-ish rock sound, with the latter once again boasting some excellent drumming (especially at around 2:30!) but not much otherwise. To Forgive breaks the streak, though, reminding us that the Pumpkins can pull off a strong, powerful slow-tempo bluesy number. Disc 1 drags on a lot in the middle, but I'll mention points of interest. Cupid De Locke is exactly what I'm looking for in the midst of a bunch of goofy anonymous rock. Great riff on a string instrument that I can't quite place, along with some violins, (electronic?) harps, and an airy, refreshing atmosphere that contrasts hugely with preceding songs. Galapogos acts nicely as a sort of extended coda to Cupid De Locke. Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans worried me from its 9-plus-minute runtime, but it (in fact) kind of slaps. Especially that 2-minute ambient intro. A cool dark riff-rock intro to disc 2 with Where Boys Fear To Tread. But the quality completely flops as soon as the vocals come in. Overall, the second disc kind of drops the ball in terms of quality. Plenty of forgettably heavy, melody-less songs to go around, including Tales Of A Scorched Earth, Thru The Eyes Of Ruby, Bodies, and Beautiful. The song 1979 is good enough, but disappointingly tame and un-experimental considering it's the band's biggest song. Maybe I'm being a little unfair since I had this disc on in the background with a group of friends complaining about how bad it was. 3/5 Key tracks: Tonight, Tonight, To Forgive, Cupid De Locke
I bought this album when it came out back in the day as I was in the thick of grunge love. At first I was a little put off by it for sure, it seemed a lot softer, more artsy than Siamese Dream. Not sure why I thought that at the time as there are still a lot of heavy tracks here. Probably I just didn't like that there were softer moments on the album at the time. Now, some of those softer tracks sound pretty solid for me. I still don't think it's as good as Siamese Dream--the song writing isn't quite as good overall and the album is bloated. They could have easily dropped a few tracks from this to make it more killer single album. Zero is among the group's best tracks ever, and Bullet with Butterfly Wings is solid. I've even come to like 1979 more. Still not sure about Tonight, Tonight. Other tracks like Bodies are great. Thirty-Three is an example of a softer track I enjoyed more now. Underlying all this is probably my hate for Billy Corgan and his singing. He's a good song writer when he wants to be, I'll give him that. But man, as much as I listened to Siamese Dream back in the day, his personality and voice always still kind of annoyed me. High 3, could be a 4 but let's be real, I owned this album and barely listened to it when I was a teenager with all the time in the world.
Overlong and pretentious but with some great moments.
3.5/5
Well, that was epic. I never believed I could endure two hours worth of Billy Corgan's shrill whining, and as I've noted on Siamese Dreams, his voice drags down some pretty good musicianship. The lyrics are often mysterious, but they seem to point toward isolation and a vain attempt to find one's way in the world. And, while Corgan's vocals are grating and hard on the ears, I feel like they're perfectly suited for Bullet With Butterfly Wings.
вайбовый рок
The generator is bombarding me with double and triple albums lately. First disc is honestly pretty fire. Some of the Pumpkins biggest hits mixed with some nice deep cuts. This is much more metal than I expected. Corgan's voice and lyrics can be grating but it's also part of the band's charm. Porcelina has no business being as good as it is for a 9 minute track and Take Me Down is a nice come down closer. 4/5. Break for a few hours. Second disc starts hot. Less hits on this side besides 1979, but it's a good mix of hard and soft. Their drummer is a beast. X.Y.U. is a sludgy highlight followed by a softer closing stretch that didn't do much for me. 3/5. I will always be a stickler for excessive album lengths so despite some high highs, this rounds out to a strong 3. I want a rap album next.
There is no reason for this to be two hours??? I’m so sorry?? Look the fact there’s a nearly 6 hour version of this is silly :(
Smashing pumpkins always sounded like something Nigel Thornberry would say. Never listened to them as far as I'm aware. 1) Gentle piano opener. Technically competent. 2) **** [Tonight] Oh, pretty sure I have actually heard this one. The music is great, nice soaring strings. Those vocals are definitely an acquired taste. 3) ** [Jellybelly] Thrashy instrumentation. Can I swap the vocalist out? This would be way better with some gutteral growls. Or someone with pipes. Feel bad for the band this song is excellent otherwise. 4) **** [Zero] Heavy. Really like the drums. Fuzzy. The vocals are a bit more hidden in the mix. I like the bridge riff. 5) *** [Here is no why] Kinda dreamy vibes. Reminds me of something that might have come out around mid 2000s. 6) ***** [Bullet With Butterfly Wings] - Southern rock? Lars ulric drumming. Almost nu-metal. Has good energy. Vocals waay better when he's yelling rather than "singing". 7) ** [To Forgive] Organ led Ballard. It's a nice change of pace. Nothing inherently wrong with it. 8) **** [An Ode to No One] Tempo shift. More punk-y. The riff is kind of anxiety inducing. A crescendo song. 9) *** [Love] Space rock. 10) ** [Cupid de Locke] - Art rock. Tells a story. Harp? is a nice tone/riff. 11) * [Galapogos] - Does sound like I'm on an island. Shame Billy's singing. 12) *** [Muzzle] Alternative rock track. Perfectly listenable. 13) ***** [Porcelina of the Vast Oceans] Pink floyd worship? Dreamy fantasy vibes. Can see this being one of my favourites. It's very dynamic. 14 ** [Take Me Down] Oh. They found a different singer? An acoustic closer. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Side A Experimental, varied, prefer the heavier tracks. The vocals are difficult when they are put to the fore on the calmer songs. Need a break. Overall: 3/5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) *** [Where Boys Fear to Tread] - Aww I thought it was going to be an instrumental only piece. Would make a nice grungy/post rock ditty. do-do-do-do! 16) *** [Bodies] Proto KoRn energy. I like the drumming on this one. 17) *** [Thirty-Three] Acoustic, dreamy pop returns. A great contrast to bodies. 18) ** [In the Arms of Sleep] - Floaty rock. 19) ** [1979] - Appears to be one of their more popular tracks, for me this is quite sparse feeling. 20) ***** [Tales of a Scorched Earth] Opening riff captured my attention and brought me back awake after the last two tracks. Appeals to my metal sensibilities. 21) *** [Thru the Eyes of Ruby] - Dreamy Grunge. Enjoy the crescendo's pre chorus. Quite a lot of the tracks on this album have a soothing, wistful quality. This contrasts well with the heaviness. 22) * [Stumbleine] Acoustic track. Feels a bit like something the guy with a guitar would sing at a party. Probably more soothingly than Billy. 23) ****** [X.Y.U.] Desert rock/stoner! Lets go. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees. Save me from the ballards! The section from 4:20 is SUBLIME. 24) **** [We Only Come Out at Night] I am a vampire and I've lost my fangs. Finally a new song for the Halloween playlist. Feels like a 60s/70s ditty. Beatles-esque - the vocals are very good (a rarity). 25) ***** [Beautiful] Cute song, nice duet with D'arcy. Can't she sing more often? Feels like it belongs in a coming of age movie. 26 *** [Lily (My One and Only)] Wait - when did we enter the Beatles zone? Track 24? Not too much going on here. Some nice piano twinkliness. 27 * [By Starlight] Ok, we are winding right down now. Feels like a radiohead or coldplay song. Very passive. DEAD EYES - nearing the end now. 28 **** [Farewell and good night] - The end. D'arcy is back. Nice duet by them again. The piano adds a element. Hypnotic/drone-y rhythms soothe. Feels like when the boys used to fall asleep on me. The fading to just piano at the end is beautiful. Part 2: 3.5/5 (rounding up) Vocals are better on the calmer songs. Or Billy is growing on me. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Overview: Inject [X.Y.U.] into my veins. That's the jam on this album. Now, this was a mission to complete. Breaking it in two definitely helped. There are a few songs that did nothing for me, a few that were really good and then a proportion that I'd happily listen to, but not choose to. This is a hard one to give an overall rating to. I don't think I'd put the full album on again so by my own rules it maxes at a 3. ....Yet, I think I just might one day. Who knows, maybe Billy's vocals will grow on me.
I just wasn’t crazy about this one. A lot of the songs blended together and Billy Corgan’s voice is so harsh. I felt like the colours of the one were a muddy blue grey mostly
Whole bunch of 5/5 songs here, but the album is just too long.
First impression: Surprisingly nocturne-esque in the opening and heavily contrasts itself with a sonic avalanche as you go along. Overall the album possesses a drastic range of dynamics and tone. Favourite track: Tonight Tonight One sentence: I love them, but admittedly this must be their most overrated album Will I revisit? Maybe a few songs but not the entire album
I'm not too opposed to the length on this one, they do a great job at keeping it fresh and varied in sound. Great pacing, too, as even if it's impossible to tell what they're singing, it does feel like there's a complete narrative within the whole thing. I enjoyed the ballads a lot more than I did the heavier songs though, in fact the latter started grating on me quite a bit by the end. Still a lot to like! Standouts: Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness • Here Is No Why • To Forgive • An Ode To No One • Galapogos • Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans • 1979 • We Only Come Out At Night • Lily (My One And Only) • Farewell And Goodnight
W tym ukropie, ciężko słuchać przez 2 godziny grunge'a z lat 90. Głos wokalisty trochę mnie denerwuje. Nie zachwycił mnie ten album.
Trochę nudy
całkiem ciekawy blend grungowo rockowych brzmień, momentami zaskakujący ale długość trochę wkurwia
The songs are okay-ish, but repetitive and hard to listen to as a whole album. Too long of an album and the vocalist's voice is very hard to listen to for 2 hours. It's not bad, classic 90s grunge songs, but I didn't enjoy it or want to listen to it again.
its good but fuck its such a long album
Some good elements within most tracks, but the record felt rapidly too repetitive and two hours feels waaaay too long for any type of record.
6/10 pas habitué au hard rock mais c est sympa. Alternance de musique chill et venere
If this was edited down to 10 or so songs it would be an instant 5/5, but it’s just so long.
Semi-regularly when listening to Generator albums, I'll have a couple of runs through a record so I can really make sure I'm happy with my marking. But when your (double) album is this long, that ain't happening! Each of the records that make up this album are longer than I generally want an album to be (58 minutes and 63 minutes respectively) so my patience wore very thin by the end. Which is a shame because there are a number of tracks which I genuinely love. I owned Bullet With Butterfly Wings on a cassette single and 15 year old me adored that thing. It's still a fantastic song all these years later, as are a number of the other singles from this album. Tonight Tonight and 1979 I also remember very fondly. But while I love those tracks, I never bought the record in its heyday and I genuinely can't imagine listening through it all again. I will give it credit for being pretty varied in terms of sound (to the extent that a couple of times I had to check my music app hadn't somehow skipped to another artist) and when it leans into the distorted rockier end of their spectrum, I really enjoy it. But it's just so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so unnecessarily long. 3/5 P.S. Billy Corgan is an egotistical arsehole.
I never liked the singers voice or kind of singing, but the album is musically more diverse than I gave them credit for before hearing it. I wouldn't have needed to listen to 739 songs, though, most double albums are bloated, this is no exception.
I heard this in a new way. This is a good and extensive album, by Smashing Pumpkins. I honestly have not enjoyed their sound before, but after listening to the complete album, I have a new appreciation for this band and album.
El álbum indicado si querés desconectar un poco del mundo...
Bit soft
2 hours and only maybe a small handful of songs i liked... thats rough
I liked Disc 1 better. One scream song in the second half I did not care for. Some songs I like to listen to, the rest I didn’t care for. Would I listen again? Potentially
The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon collie yada yada Infinite is right. I’ve just listened to this album for what seems like a week. First half much stronger than the second half in my opinion. They could’ve dropped half of this thing and had a really strong 4 or 5* album but as it is, too many average tracks pulled the score down. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Enjoyed this not usually the type of music I listen to so a pleasant surprise
I've always had an attitude about this record because I think the title is dumb. But let's do this anyway! Because I have to! So the problem for me with the Smashing Pumpkins is that Billy Corgan's voice is so distinctive and the music so consistent from track to track that at some point it all dissolves into an indistinguishable Smashing Pumpkin slurry. This record isn't terrible - while the music is samey, it's at least samey grungey rock jams with a compelling bassline, and there were some proggy bits here and there. But still, there is no reason in the world for an emo Smashing Pumpkins album to be 2 discs long. 3 stars
Billy Corgan has one of the hardest listenable voice ever. The guitarist is carrying this whole entire band ON his back. The album is fine if I ignore Billy's voice and the fact that it's so long.
Too long!
Multiple Smashing Pumpkins albums means there are too many Smashing Pumpkins albums on the list. Frankly, one is too many. Maybe I like this album? Billy Corgan's whiny voice still irritates the hell out of me. There they are! Back to being a band I hate. Zero is terrible. Bullet With Butterfly Wings is one of the most overrated songs ever. His voice is inescapable. I bet Creed loves these guys. The less "rock" songs are generally better. I think I just don't like 90s rock. And maybe that's a hangover from living through it and being more into hip hop then. This album is better than Siamese Dream and not as bad as I thought going into it.
interesting, not heard any lyrics so far, sounds like a movie ost got to the lyrics, eh ok vocals so far very background music to do work to, i see myself putting this on and just studying and stuff, and its 2 hrs total so yk
Would have done better with just 1 disc