Smashing Pumpkins Give Fans Something to “Adore”

The next installment in The Smashing Pumpkins’ ongoing catalogue campaign has been announced – and in traditional Smashing Pumpkins fashion, it’s accompanied by a typically Billy Corgan moment.

Released in 1998, the follow-up to the band’s acclaimed double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Adore found the Pumpkins enduring some structural and personal changes: drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was out, and frontman Corgan endured a divorce, the death of his mother, and a shift in musical direction. Gone were the distorted, alt-rock staple guitars, replaced instead with folk-inspired, electronic-based songs. Despite critical high marks and modern rock hits in “Ava Adore” and “Perfect,” Adore was disliked by some fans, and Corgan’s responses toward that backlash didn’t make him many friends.

So now the time has come for Adore to be rediscovered, as a seven-disc box set featuring the album in stereo (and mono, as heard on the original vinyl release), four discs of outtakes and live material plus a DVD from a stop on the band’s An Evening with The Smashing Pumpkins, which found the band playing mostly new material in unusual venues for charity. The announcement was not without its controversy, as seen in Corgan’s online missive criticizing Amazon for leaking the track list before the box was officially announced.

After the jump, you’ll find that track list, as well as a link for just the full box set thus far (additional formats will be expected over time). It’s due out September 23.

Release Round-Up: Week of July 23

Otis Redding, The Complete Stax/Volt Singles (Shout! Factory)

A triple-disc set featuring every one of Otis’ single sides in mono – a striking statement on a short but iconic soul career. (Amazon U.S.)

Smashing Pumpkins, The Aeroplane Flies High: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/UMe)

The Pumpkins’ 1996 box set of Mellon Collie-era singles is massively expanded, with bonus tracks on each of the five original discs and an unreleased live CD and DVD.

CD box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Dionne Warwick, second wave of expanded reissues (Rhino/WEA Japan)

This week, 11 Dionne Warwick titles come out on CD in Japan; three of these titles, released between 1969 and 1977, are making their CD debuts, and nearly all of the titles feature bonus tracks! (The order links are in the post linked above.)

Ella Fitzgerald, The Best of the BBC Vaults (Universal)

This CD/DVD set, released as an import in 2010, features four complete shows from 1965 to 1977, newly unearthed and released to video, and a disc of audio highlights from the same sets. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Buckaroos, The Buckaroos Play Buck and Merle / Don Rich and The Buckaroos, That Fiddlin’ Man (Omnivore)

It’s back to Bakersfield for Omnivore with two new sets featuring Buck Owens’ iconic band: Play Buck and Merle collects The Buck Owens Songbook (1965) and The Songs of Merle Haggard (1971) on one disc, while That Fiddlin’ Man (1971) appears on CD for the first time.

Play Buck and Merle: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
That Fiddlin’ Man: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

The Idolmaker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)

The cult classic film, directed by Taylor Hackford and featuring original songs written by Jeff Barry, sees its soundtrack released on CD for the first time. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Aeroplane Flies Even Higher: Smashing Pumpkins Singles Box Gets Generous Expansion

Details for the next title in the ongoing Smashing Pumpkins reissue series, a new edition of the box set The Aeroplane Flies High, have been announced.

Originally released in 1996 after the success of the diamond-certified double-album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (itself the latest notch in the Pumpkins’ reissue campaign, with a six-disc box set edition released last year), Aeroplane collated and expanded all of the CD singles released to promote that album, featuring “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” “1979,” “Zero,” “Tonight, Tonight” and “Thirty-Three” with their many respective B-sides. Initially intended as a limited edition set, the box’s high chart placement (No. 42 on the Billboard charts) in fact generated more copies.

This deluxe edition, unsurprisingly, follows suit with the rest of the band’s extensive catalogue project, piling bonuses heavy atop the original program. What was a five-disc, 33-track set is now seven (six CDs and one DVD) with some 57 bonus tracks, including demos, outtakes, rough mixes and live cuts. The additional discs in the set are a CD, “Live from the Dark Globe,” recorded at various dates on the band’s 1996 tour, an a newly-released DVD of a live show in France from 1997.

The package, newly remastered by Bob Ludwig, features a 48 page book featuring liner notes by David Wild and track-by-track notes on the box’s original track list by Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. The redesigned set features an embossed foil wrap for the box itself and mini-jackets for each disc printed on twinkle stock. Additionally, the original box will be available as a five-LP set, with both versions made available for digital download, as well.

Aeroplane indeed flies high on July 23. Hit the jump for the full track list and pre-order links for the expanded box!

Release Round-Up: Week of December 4

Johnny Cash, The Complete Columbia Collection (Columbia/Legacy)

Perhaps the biggest box set of the quarter (maybe the whole year?), this 63-disc set collects all of The Man in Black’s Columbia albums from The Fabulous Johnny Cash (1959) to Live at Madison Square Garden (recorded in 1969 and released in 2002), plus an expansion of the Sun album Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar (1957) and two discs of non-LP singles and other odds and ends.  Here’s Joe’s review of the whole set!   (Amazon U.S. / U.K.)

Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/EMI)

“Tonight, Tonight” (or today, today) is the day to get the latest Smashing Pumpkins catalogue project: four discs (three CDs and a DVD) of bonus material appended to the original double LP! (Amazon U.S. / U.K.) A triple-vinyl remaster of the original album is also available (Amazon U.S. / U.K.), as is a basic remaster of the album on two discs. (Amazon U.S. / U.K.)

The Who, The Studio Albums (Geffen/UMe)

Every one of The Who’s 11 main albums, newly remastered and replicated for vinyl. (Amazon U.S. / U.K.)

KISS, The Casablanca Singles 1974-1982 (Mercury/Casablanca/UMe)

Every A and B-side from KISS’ Casablanca years, replicated on CD (Amazon U.S. / U.K.) and, allegedly, vinyl singles, though we’ve never found a retail link for that version, outside of an outsize expensive link from Universal itself.

T. Rex, The Slider: 40th Anniversary Edition Box Set (Edsel)

A super-deluxe take on T. Rex’s iconic LP, featuring the original album remastered by Tony Visconti, two discs of B-sides, demos and outtakes, a DVD, two books, a vinyl LP and three 7″ singles. (Amazon U.K. / U.S.)

Mary Wells, Something New: Motown Lost & Found (Hip-O Select/Motown)

Two discs of rare and unreleased Mary Wells tunes from the fabled Motown vaults! (Amazon U.S. / U.K.)

Johnny Mathis, So Nice/Johnny Mathis Sings / John Hatford, Aero-Plane/Morning Bugle: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings / The Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 26–4/26/69 Electric Theater, Chicago, IL 4/27/69 Labor Temple Minneapolis, MN / Gene Harris, Gene Harris/The Three Sounds/Gene Harris of The Three Sounds / Bobbi Humphrey, Dig This / Jeremy Steig, Wayfaring Stranger (Real Gone)

Real Gone’s December slate includes the last of the Johnny Mathis/Mercury two-fers, another Dick’s Pick reissue and three Blue Note selections reissued on the resurrected Dusty Groove imprint! (Head here for pre-order links on all these sets.)

The Prodigy, The Fat of the Land: 15th Anniversary Edition (XL)

The Prodigy’s breakthrough album remastered and expanded with Added Fat, an EP of new remixes of tracks like “Firestarter,” “Breathe” and “Smack My Bitch Up.” (Amazon U.S. / U.K.) That EP is available separately on vinyl (Amazon U.S. / U.K.), as is a vinyl reissue of the original LP (Amazon U.S.).

Alice Cooper, Old School 1964-1974 (Bigger Picture)

Remember this box set? This is a condensed version – just CDs, no vinyl or extra swag. (Amazon U.S. / U.K.)

The Hooters, Nervous Night/One Way Home/Zig Zag (BGO)

All three of The Hooters’ Columbia albums on one handy two-disc set. (Amazon U.K. / U.S.)

And here are some vinyl reissues for your enjoyment!

Love, Forever Changes (180 Gram) (Elektra/Rhino)

The Moody Blues, Days of Future Passed (180 Gram) (Friday Music)

Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like a Wheel (RockBeat)

Sade, Promise (180 Gram) (Audio Fidelity)

“Mellon Collie” to Get More Infinite on Six-Disc Deluxe Set

Iconoclastic Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, never one for subtlety or restraint, is continuing the ongoing Smashing Pumpkins reissue campaign this holiday season with a humongous six-disc edition of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

The Pumpkins’ most ambitious project at the time, the double-album Mellon Collie was described by Corgan as “The Wall for Generation X.” Produced Corgan with Flood and Alan Moulder, Mellon Collie attempted to showcase the band closer to how they were heard live. Songs were more thoroughly rehearsed before recording, and guitarist James Iha and D’Arcy Wretzky had a greater role in the recording process. Despite the sprawling nature of the album, Corgan has resisted calling it a conceptual piece, and the diversity of styles and sounds on the record, from straightforward rock to baroque orchestral stylings, does a good job of letting the album elude characterization.

Critics and fans loved it, though; the album topped the Billboard charts and spawned four Top 40 hits, including the band’s highest-charting single, “1979.” The LP was also nominated for seven Grammys, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year.

For the deluxe Mellon Collie – following in the footsteps of expanded presentations of studio albums Gish and Siamese Dream and rarities compilation Pisces Iscariot – Corgan has raided the vaults to present three extra discs of almost entirely unreleased material, including the first-time release of Corgan’s oft-bootlegged demos recorded at his home (“Sadlands”) in Chicago. Additionally, two European shows from 1996 will be featured on an accompanying DVD. All tracks have been remastered by Bob Ludwig.

The package features a 12″ x 12″ lidded box featuring newly-redesigned cover art, a decoupage kit to create your own Mellon Collie album art scene and two booklets. For vinyl enthusiasts who missed the original triple-disc pressing of the album, a 180-gram quadruple vinyl remaster of the original album will be made available, as well. The whole thing is ready to go December 3.

Hit the jump for a look at the exhaustive track list!

Smashing Pumpkins’ “Pisces Iscariot” to Be Expanded with Bonus Discs, Cassette

Having treated fans last year to lavish expanded versions of the Smashing Pumpkins’ first two LPs, Gish and Siamese Dream, Billy Corgan is again working with EMI to release a deluxe edition of the band’s Pisces Iscariot compilation.

Released at the end of 1994, after the band’s wave of success off the Top 10, quadruple-platinum Siamese Dream through 1993 and 1994, Pisces Iscariot collated the best of the band’s many non-LP B-sides (most of which were only available on import singles) as well as three “new” tracks from the Siamese Dream sessions. Audiences were excited to have more of Corgan and company in their CD players, and, with the help of a hit rock single (a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart), the set was a Top 5 hit – at that point, the band’s best placement on the U.S. charts.

Ever the fastidious archiver, Corgan is pulling out all the stops for this expansion of Pisces Iscariot, adding a bonus CD, a DVD and a cassette(!) to the package. The bonus disc includes more original non-LP B-sides and rare, period-appropriate compilation appearances, some of which are newly remixed for this edition, as well as eight newly-released outtakes, many from the band’s earliest sessions in their native Chicago in the late 1980s.

The band’s early Chicago period colors the rest of the bonus material, too: a live performance at Roselle Music in Roselle, IL in 1988, recorded by local access music show The Pulse, features on the DVD (no clarification yet on what the rest of the tracks listed on the DVD entail). Finally, a replica of a self-released cassette the band created in 1989 will round out the set.

Rest assured, more Pumpkins expansions and archival projects will be released after the deluxe Pisces Iscariot. Corgan – who took the Pumpkins back into the U.S. Top 5 with Oceania, an album culled from his 44-song Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project, last week –  has announced his intentions to expand and reissue the band’s entire output (having confirmed work on expansions of the highly acclaimed Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness and The Aeroplane Flies High box set), and in April created The Lucky 13, a specialized production team that will, with fan input, “review archival material, identify possible pricing models, and propose methods and formats of distribution for selected audio and video releases.”

The Pisces Iscariot reissue is out July 17 and can be ordered after the jump. The track listing is also there, too; a huge hand to SP fan site Crestfallen for breaking that story.

Release Round-Up: Week of November 29

Now begins the drought. A couple of respectable catalogue titles, but it’s going to be shorter round-ups from here through 2011.

The Monkees, Instant Replay: Deluxe Edition (Rhino Handmade)

Three discs and 87 tracks worth of this underrated entry in The Monkees’ catalogue, featuring stereo and mono mixes and session takes galore.

Smashing Pumpkins, Gish / Siamese Dream: Deluxe Editions (Virgin/EMI)

The first releases in a planned three-year reissue project for Billy Corgan and his Pumpkins, the first two studio albums are augmented with rare, mostly unreleased material on a bonus CD and vintage live concerts on DVD.

The Rolling Stones, Some Girls Live in Texas (Eagle Rock)

Eagle Rock complements the recent Stones reissue with an unreleased live CD/Blu-Ray of a 1978 show.

Gorillaz, The Singles Collection (Virgin/EMI)

An animated (ho!) overview of Damon Albarn’s famous post-Blur multimedia project, featuring the band’s singles and a few rarer remixes.

Richard Thompson, Strict Tempo! (Omnivore)

Thirty years on, a remastered CD of Thompson’s self-released second solo album (released a year before the final Richard and Linda Thompson album, Shoot Out the Lights), consisting of traditional tunes and favorites almost entirely performed by Thompson (with Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention on drums).

No Longer a “Siamese Dream”: First Wave of Smashing Pumpkins Expanded Reissues Announced

Anyone worried that Billy Corgan’s muse would take him away from the long-promised expanded reissues of The Smashing Pumpkins’ catalogue can breathe a sigh of relief. The first two entries in the reissue campaign – 2 CD/1 DVD editions of Gish (1991) and Siamese Dream (1993) – have been announced for a November 28 release domestically (December 5 for the rest of the world).

These albums – produced by Butch Vig and remastered by Bob Ludwig – are the first in a lengthy salvo of reissues promised by EMI through 2013. Featuring new interviews with frontman Corgan conducted by journalist David Wild and bonus material curated by Corgan, the packages follow the tradition of deluxe editions by David Bowie and Duran Duran, with lift-top boxes holding the three discs and additional artwork.

As for bonus material, Gish and Siamese Dream boast a healthy amount of unreleased demos and session material. (Gish uses some already-released material, featuring new Butch Vig-commissioned mixes of some single and B-side tracks, including the band’s original version of “Tristessa” released by Sub Pop Records, but most of the B-sides are likely being saved for an expanded version of Pisces Iscariot, the band’s original B-sides-and-rarities set.) The sets will each come with newly-released vintage live shows on DVD, both recorded at Chicago’s Metro club and featuring new introductions from club owner Joe Shanahan.

Hit the jump for the full scoop on track lists for each set!

The Aeroplane Flies Higher: EMI Preps Three Years of Smashing Pumpkins Reissues

For Generation X, fewer names inspire emotions quite like Smashing Pumpkins. The Chicago-based alt-rock outfit, anchored primarily by singer, songwriter and sole remaining original member Billy Corgan, made rock music that was dark, atmospheric and ambitious – and yet somehow maintained commercial as well as critical success – before splintering in 2000 and reforming some six years later.

While Corgan continues to lead Smashing Pumpkins through some interesting projects – he’s been working on a 44-song cycle, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, since 2009, mostly releasing one song at a time (save for a planned “album within an album,” Oceania, this fall) – the pages on the calendar indicate that it’s been 20 years since the band’s first LP, Gish, was released in 1991. To celebrate, Corgan took to the Internet to announce that this fall, EMI/Virgin will begin the first step in a series of ambitious reissues for the band.

By the holiday rush of 2011, EMI will unveil remastered editions of three Pumpkins albums – 1991’s Gish, 1993’s Siamese Dream and 1994’s B-sides and rarities compilation Pisces Iscariot. Then in 2012, the label will prep reissues of the ambitious double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1996), the coveted 1996 box set The Aeroplane Flies High (featuring expanded versions of the singles from Mellon Collie) and the electronica-tinged Adore (1998). The program will conclude in 2013 with an expanded version of 2000’s Machina/The Machines of God – which will feature the first physical release of the online-only sequel, Machina II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music – and a new greatest hits package.

It remains to be seen whether the reissues will feature any of the vast amount of non-LP material not accounted for on the discs that will be remastered. (A 2005 digital-only box set, collating nearly all of the band’s EMI-controlled B-sides and rarities, totaled some 114 songs!) Corgan, in a video posted to Facebook, explained that the band is in total control of any extra material they wish to release – including unreleased rehearsal tapes, outtakes and live material. (This was apparently the linchpin of the band’s agreement with EMI; Corgan proudly said in the video that the label was “thinking forward into the future” over the rights management of these vault tracks. Not a statement to be taken lightly by such an outspoken artist over a troubled label!)

This author would speculate (all the more to incite purchases) that some of the discs may be partially expanded – perhaps adding EP tracks or certain rarities where applicable – and the band will handle the rest of the material as agreed with EMI. While Corgan’s motives have often been questioned before – remember Zwan? – things are looking pretty interesting for Pumpkins fans in the next couple of years.