Disco de The Smashing Pumpkins: “Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits”

I was more than happy when the Smashing Pumpkins came out with a greatest hits record. The CD "Rotten Apples" comes complete with all of the classic Pumpkins songs from over the years.

From their first CD "Gish", you have the songs Siva and Rhinoceros.

Some other bright spots are the two previously unreleased tracks that close the album, Real Love and Untitled. Real Love sounds much like the version put on the Machina II album, and internet release that many fans never got to hear. Untitled is a very strong track and a good closing track that has the radio-friendly sound the band masters at.

If you were lucky to get the Bonus CD of rarities and b-sides also known as Judas-O with your Rotten Apples disc, you will most definately enjoy the over 15 previously unreleased songs, that is just as good as the greatest hits disc and is sure to be a hit itself.

The Smashing Pumpkins have come a long way since their first album, and you can listen to the growth and change in sound over the years throughout this disc. It is well worth the money and even if you're not a Pumpkins fan yet or are thinking of giving them a listen, go with this CD, it is sure to be a favorite in your collection for years to come.

As a fan of every Pumpkins record in varient degrees, I have always seen the Pumpkins as an album band rather than a singles band. Sure, they released great singles but those songs were always better in the context of the records that housed them. So I initially felt that a Pumpkins greatest hits record would be pretty useless. But to my surprise, "Greatest Hits" works surprisinngly well as a record onto itself.

You pretty much know what you are going to get here. You get all the major Pumpkins singles from the mid-ninties such as "Today", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "Tonight, Tonight", in addition to a few lesser known singles("Stand Inside Your Love", "Thirty Three"), a couple of new tracks("Real Love" and "Untitled", neither of which assist the Pumpkins legacy) and a few question marks, both good(the inclusion of "Eye" from the "Lost Highway" soundtrack is a cool choice) to the not-so-good("Siva" instead of the excellent "I Am One", not inclduing "The End is the Beginning is The End", an excellent song from the otherwise worthless "Batman and Robin" soundtrack). But what is so surprising is how well all the songs fit togather.

The arena heavy hits like "Rocket" and "Zero" sit perfectly next to quieter ballads like "Disarm" and the Pumpkins good cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" next to electro-pop ditties like "1979", "Ava Adore" and "Perfect". This is a definte compliment to the songwritting of Corgan, who fits nearly every song on here with a memeorable melody and mood and this helps the feel of the record better. Where most greatest hits records feel scattershot this one gels togather surprisngly well which is all the more shocking because of the scope and ambition of Corgan's songwritting.

If you can find it, this C.D. was origanelly released with a second disc of B-Sides, odds and ends and tracks from the "Machina 2" record that was only released online(this second disc was the reason I purchased this record), and most of the songs on this disc show another side of the Pumpkins, a more ambitious and artsy side that their singles rarely showed(a few albums tracks on the greatest hits might have helped with this). Though the disc, called "Judas O", is a bit scattershot, it is still an excellent addition to your C.D. collection.

Obviously "Greatest Hits" was released for casuel fans and future generations of people who didn't grow up with the Smashing Pumpkins constatnly blaring out of their radio speakers. I can respect this. This disc wasn't made for the die-hard fans like myself. But surprisngly, this disc works well for anyone who likes the Pumpkins. And that is a true testament to the Pumpkins song.

Rotten Apples does exactly what it's supposed to do, it lists the Smashing Pumpkins most notable hit songs. Most of the best are here, including Tonight Tonight, Disarm and 1979, but it's some of the better album songs, such as Mayonaise, Thru The Eyes of Ruby and some of the gems on Machina 2 that we miss here. I'm gonna be one of those people that lists a more appropriate tracklisting here, which is a composite of all albums, many reviews and my own personal opinions. It is a 2 CD, 30 track effort and I have made it myself and find it great.

DISC ONE

1. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

2. Tonight Tonight

3. Glass' Theme (Machina 2)

4. Today

5. The Everlasting Gaze

6. Eye

7. Zero

8. Rocket

9. The End Is The Beginning Is The End

10. 1979

11. Luna

12. Galapogos

13. Perfect

14. Le Deux Machina (Machina 2)

15. Untitled

DISC TWO

1. Cherub Rock

2. Bullet With Butterfly Wings

3. Drown

4. Disarm

5. Thru The Eyes of Ruby

6. Landslide

7. Thirty-Three

8. Here Is No Why

9. Rhinoceros

10. Stand Inside Your Love

11. Where Boys Fear To Tread

12. Mayonaise

13. Siva

14. Ava Adore

15. Farewell and Goodnight

Obviously not chronological, but much more comprehensive and encapsulating than the original.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is by far their greatest album, and my compilation reflects that, though the solid nature of the Siamese Dream songs is also impressive.

Hope this is of help to those thinking of buying this CD or making their own alternative track listing.

My advice to those with a casual interest in this band: get Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie. For whatever reason, their sound and style changed on every release. Therefore, the songs on this comp, while excellent, work better in the context of their original albums. That said, the diversity of their work is one of their greatest strengths. What binds it all is romance, virtuosity, and if you look close enough, honesty and integrity.

Four tracks on this cd are non-album tracks. Eye (from the Lost Highway sndtrk), Drown (from the Singles sndtrk where it is unedited, longer), Real Love (from the internet release "Machina II/the friends and enemies of modern music". better sound quality here as M2 is only available as vinyl-to-mp3), and Untitled which was the final single released by the band (a great song which radio ignored *sigh*. perhaps it should've been given a title)

I feel I should add that the song "Glynis" (from the No Alternative comp) is one of Billy Corgan's best songs and should've been a hit, and on this cd. The song has an effect on me unlike anything else. Absolutely beautiful.

If you become a fan of the albums, there are many, many unreleased/demo/b-side/otherwise non-album tracks to be found. The songlist/bootlist/discography on spfc.org will point you to them (you can choose to view only unreleased songs if you want). As far as obtaining this stuff, check out starla.org for the various message boards/trading community and good luck to ya.

I'm behind on this Bit Torrent thing and that may also be a good way of obtaining this stuff. There is a torrent site/tracker whatever on the same site as a message board i frequent (the-zomb.com...called zomb b/c it was formerly the zwan online message board/zwanonline.com, but now is not, lol :shrug:)

If you do not already own this CD, I suggest you go out and buy it. I own two coppies, and have given three out as christmas presents. I believe it is one of the best CDs released this year. Yes, the smashing pumpkins are my favorite band, but they are my favorite for a reason: They're good. Below is a song by song review of the GH:

Siva - (8 - 10)

Siva is a very good rock song. Yet it, and other songs like it, is one of the reasons The Pumpkins have been labeled as a grunge band from the start. It has lots of wailing guitars, power chords, and fast-quick pace changes. A typical rock song, but still above average.

Rhinocerous - (9-10)

This is a beautiful song. Billy Corgan shows his soft side with soothingly smooth vocals and soft guitar strumming. The whole band follows suit to bring a lovely song to an astounding level of life.

Drown - (7-10)

Though Drown is a very popular SP song, i'll have to admit it is not one of my favorites. For one... It's too long. Even amazing song's will get boring if they are dragged out as long as this on is. Second... Billy has a habit of sounding too nasaly for his own good, and he does that in this song. And third, Drown was previously unreleased on an official CD, making it very hard to find, this angers me. Not one of their best.

Cherub Rock - (9-10)

Another one of their more popular songs, Cherub Rock is more than deserving of it's fame. The only flaw in the song is the somewhat childish chorus of "who wants honey? as long as there's some money." Of course, being a great song, that can be overlooked. Definately an SP classic.

Today - (10-10)

Today is one of those songs you can never get tired of, no matter how many times you hear it. I have heard Today many many times, yet each time I hear it, I love it more and more. It is deceiving, do not be fooled by the upbeat melody and the chorus. The meaning goes much deaper than it may seem to. Sure, there's the whole "Today is the greatest day I've ever know" Part, but that is backed up with "Can't live for tomorow, I might not have that long." Not exactly cheery... and there is of course "Pink ribbon scars, that never forget, i tried so hard, to cleanse these regrets, my angel wings were bruised and misled, my belly stings"... but many listeners skip right past that. That is the beauty of Today, there is always soemthing to be learned in every listen.

Disarm - (9-10)

Seeing as this is a song about Billy's childhood, I can't comment on the content of the song and be correct. I will say that this is a beautiful song with a beautiful video to go along with it. A classic.

Landslide - (9-10)

I can't see how this song got on the greatest hits, seeing as it isn't even their song, but Stevie Nick's, and it's only Billy and James playing in the recording, but it's there. Landslide is a pretty song, but its a cover so it dosen't take much originality to perform.

Bullet With Butterfly Wings - (8-10)

Ah, "rat in a cage", the song poser fans love and anti-fans love to make fun of. Most people completely miss the point of BWBW, asuming the the song is written from Corgan's point of view, when it is not. The album it originally comes from, Melon collie and the infinite sadness, is all about life for a teenager. Thus, the song, is also about teenage life, the anger and rage it conveys is that of a child who feels like an adult but cannot act upon his feelings. A very well written and empathetic song.

1979 - (9-10)

This is a song you can get sick of because it is way overplayed by radio stations. It is still musically and lyricaly a work of art, it has just been butchered by the airwaves and their slaves.

Zero - (9-10)

Seems to be a prequel to The Everlasting Gaze and talks about the character 'Glass' long befor GATMOG was even heard of. A very interesting song, fun to analyze, hard to understand.

Tonight, Tonight - (8-10)

This song is pretty overrated, as far as pumpkin's go. Yes, the intro is beautiful, the violin is quite nice, the lyrics are pretty... but I just can't get into it like other people do. It dosen't strike me as phenomenol, though it is beautiful. it's not anything life changing just a pretty song... plus, it was used in a baseball commercial. That's just not cool.

Eye - (10-10)

I also wonder how this got on the GH... but I'm sure as hell glad it's there! Eye is from the Lost highways soundtrack, a strange strange film by David Lynch. It's probably the most techno / electronic pumpkins song ever released. Most fans, after hearing it, were expecting tsp to make a switch to electronic, kind of like radiohead. but alas, we never got anything else quite like Eye.

Ava Adore - (9-10)

Ava Adore is much better in video format. I say this because the video is the sexiest thing I have ever seen in my life, the song alone (the album version, that is), is kind of iffy. You have to see the whole thing to get the true Adore experience. The acoustic version of this song is very lovely also, but extremely hard to find in a full version, it is only available in MP3 format.

Perfect - (8-10)

A sequel to 1979, and a prequel to Try, Try, Try, it is a really nice addition to the story. Lovely song to listen to when you're in a relationship, it looks at things through such simple eyes.

The Everlasting Gave - (9-10)

Another song that was greatly enhanced by it's music video, this song is apparently a sequel to Zero. It pokes fun at rockstars, and rock in general, not quite as much as Heavy Metal Machine... but enough so that you get the point.

Stand Inside Your Love - (10-10)

This song was written for Billy's *fabulously cool* girlfriend, Yelena Yemchuk, who did the photography for the Adore booklet, and directed the music video for Zero. It's a gorgeous peice of work, and a song that describes love i nall it's splendid beauty, in a simple, soft worded way. A tribute to love, Billy's love fot Yelena, and the lvoe between any two people.