Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
2. Tonight Tonight
3. Jellybelly
4. Zero
5. Here Is No Why
6. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
7. To Forgive
8. Fuck You (An Ode To No One)
9. Love
10. Cupid De Locke
11. Galapogos
12. Muzzle
13. Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans
14. Take Me Down

Disc 2:

1. Where Boys Fear To Tread
2. Bodies
3. Thirty Three
4. In The Arms Of Sleep
5. 1979
6. Tales Of A Scorched Earth
7. Thru The Eyes Of Ruby
8. Stumbleine
9. XYU
10. We Only Come Out At Night
11. Beautiful
12. Lily (My One And Only)
13. By Starlight
14. Farewell And Goodnight

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6872 in Music
• Released on: 1995-01-01
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.co.uk Review
Emotionally over-the-top pop extravaganzas like the string-swelling "Tonight Tonight", the Metallica-influenced alternative rock of "Zero", the techno via new wave of "1979"--the 28 songs on this swell two-disc album are as eclectic as their themes are epic and ambitious. Billy Corgan's thin whine isn't much of an instrument, but he makes the most of it by writing smart songs that take emotional chances that more-typical alt rockers would deem uncool. Pessimistic and feeling trapped but still wanting to believe in love, in a future, in something--this is the sound of Gen X at the millennium, with all the self-indulgence and power that would suggest. --David Cantwell

CD Description
For all the criticisms levied on head Pumpkin Billy Corgan,one thing he can't be accused of is being narrow in his artistic vision. On the breakthrough SIAMESE DREAM, he and co-producer Butch Vig built a landscape of layered, corrosive guitars that shimmered brighter with each additional glance. On MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS, Corgan turns his eye to the dreariness of modern existence and comes up with abroad alterna-rock opus that plays out like an offspring ofRoger Waters and Kurt Cobain--verbose and angst-ridden, bleak in its view, cathartic in nature.
With its two distinctly titled song-cycles and overture-like title track, there is no doubt that MELLON COLLIE is meant to be approached as a concept album, and Corgan's lyrical musings only reiteratethe point. The songs explore alienation in the physical andspiritual worlds, generally concluding that it can seldom be overcome. Only the early "Tonight, Tonight" offers a glimmer of hope ("believe that life can change, that you're not stuck in vain"), on the wings of a soaring, string-laden production. Far more constant are spiritually depleting images of "the world [as a] vampire, sent to drain" ("Bullet With Butterfly Wings"), of love as "suicide" ("Bodies'") and of heaven's unresponsiveness ("Zero").
The constant din of guitars that illuminated GISH and SIAMESE DREAM has been replaced with a varied sonic palette that reflects MELLON COLLIE's operatic nature. Piano interludes connect the opening title track and the closing "Farewell And Goodnight"; harps, harpsichords and other heavenly sounds trim "Cupid De Locke"; synthetic, Cars-like drums and a general faux-New Wave feel spur on "1979"; and "X.Y.U". explodes with distorted guitar wallops and yelped vocals that scream post-modern confusion. The 28 tracks are as motley and disconcerting as the world they describe, and MELLON COLLIE is a dispiriting glimpse from the eyes of a man whose last vestiges of hope seem lost.

Customer Reviews

I feel Mellon Collie
"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" avoids the pitfalls of many double albums -- too much filler, too few good songs, not enough of the good stuff. Instead, this is in the spirit of the Beatles' "White Album" or Pink Floyd's "The Wall." Billy Corgan's tight writing and the Smashing Pumpkins's brilliant instrumentation make this sweeping double album a must-have.

The first disc, "Dawn to Dusk," builds up slowly with a mournful piano song, only to bounce into the sweeping "Tonight Tonight." Forming the rest are sizzling rockers ("Jellybelly," "Zero"), sparkling softer songs ("Cupid De Locke"), and quiet alt-rock ("Galapagos") and a few songs that stray into unknown musical turf (the sweeping ten minute "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans"). "Take Me Down" ends the first disc on the same quiet note that it began on.

Second disc "Twilight To Starlight" starts off on a very different foot. Jerky guitar riffs and drumming start off, sounding like a warm up, before exploding into the solid "Where Boys Fear To Tread." Having gotten that over with, Corgan and Co. switch into a somewhat quieter collection: gentle acoustics ("Thirty-Three," "Stumbleine," the sweet "In the Arms of Sleep"), catchy alt-rock (new-wavey "1979," "Thru The Eyes of Ruby"), blistering hard rock ("Tales of a Scorched Earth," "XYU"). The gentle "Farewell and Goodnight" rounds off the double album on a quiet note.

"Mellon Collie" has just about every kind of music you can hope to find -- ballads, prog, metal, alt-rock, and so on. A handful of songs feel superfluous, but the vast majority of them just feel like a musical quilt. That is, two musical quilts. The tone of each disc is quite different, with "Dawn to Dusk" being a rockier album more in tune with the past Pumpkins releases. "Twilight To Starlight" has a more experimental, sad feel.

Billy Corgan's reedy voice weaves seamlessly into the complex music, singing songs about loneliness, pessimism and longing for love. His songwriting is exceptional here ("breathing under water, and living under glass..."); his style is best described as poetry set to music. James Iha also dips into songwriting with "Take Me Down" and cowritten "Farewell and Goodnight." Guitar riffs both furious and gentle, sweeping strings, piano, Chamberlin's percussion and D'arcy's good bass work move up and down the scale, from soft to scathing.

With its epic music and tight lyrics, "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" is madly brilliant and among the best work that the Smashing Pumpkins did. Dark, sweet, sad, and angry, this is a modern classic.

Fantastic
This is one of the greatest albums of the 90s and only a couple of others come close. When this was released, the UK was in the middle of the Britpop explosion and this album was entirely out of step with the current scene. Despite the grunge origins of the band, this is closer in spirit to Black Sabbath or even early Genesis (check out the ultra-prog artwork and the title track) than to Nirvana, though there are plenty of trashy tracks in there.

The reason this is a masterpiece is because it is so multidimensional. On first listen it is a sprawling confusing mess and it took me many listens to appreciate exactly how good it is. In fact every time you play it you notice something new and interesting. How many albums can you say that about?

This album has everything - delicacy (the title track), full on metal attack (Jellybelly, XYU), rock (Tonight, Tonight), prog rock (Porcelina of the Vast Oceans, Thru the eyes of Ruby) and even Beatles style pop (Lily). Smashing Pumpkins' White Album? - oh yes.

The sad thing is how few bands have been inspired by this album to make innovative, risk taking music of their own. Perhaps only Radiohead come close to making this kind of adventurous rock music these days.

All the other Pumpkins albums are worth getting. The most accessible one is probably Siamese Dream, though Adore is underrated and excellent in an entirely different way to this.

Magic...
This has become a very personal album to me. I can remember the day i bought it and coming home and playing it for the first time and being blown away. I'd never heard an album like it and i don't think i have since.
The first song (the title track)is a gorgeous opener and will seduce you right away with its beautiful piano melody. It's then followed by tonight, tonight, again a beautiful song and then just as you've started getting comfortable you're greeted with the crushing heaviness of the opening riff from jellybelly.Of course Corgan never just relies on heavy riffage alone, the chorus in jellybelly (particularly the last one) soars and confirms what a brilliant and ambitious songwriter he is. Probably the best of his generation at the time he wrote this album.
This whole album is about balance, for every hard riff there is a beautiful melody. There is so much depth to this album, no emotion seems to be left out and it really is a journey of many ups and downs. I personally love the way that at the end of the album as the dying chords of the last song begin to melt away you hear a similar piano melody to the one at the beginning of the album so that you feel you've come full circle, only this time you have this whole journey behind you, and all the emotions you have felt from listening to these songs, from this journey. Somehow it all sounds different now.
This is truly an album, rather than a collection of songs. Although each song is individually enjoyable it is the overall impression this album leaves you with. Every track is very different, varying in pace, style and sound and yet there seems to be a common thread that links them all. a common message. what that is I dont know. The only think i can link it to is life itself, all the different moods and the journey that this album seems to evoke only to end up at the beginning again. but thats just me. I get the feeling that billy corgan would want this album to mean something specific to whoever hears it as i'm sure it all means something specific to him.
I love this album and it astounds me everytime i think about it and everytime i hear it. This is what music is supposed to do, tap into your soul and make you feel something beautiful inside of yourself, something thats too wonderul to describe in this review but i hope i have at least given you a glimpse.