Review: Smashing Pumpkins' 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' 30th Anniversary Set

Just four years after a super-cool and stripped down debut, and two after a more elaborately produced alternative-radio hit-machine, Smashing Pumpkins unleashed the kind of madly ambitious set a group usually reserves for much later in their career. But, in the heady alternative rock hey-day, one never knew how long their band would last, especially a band as a volatile as Smashing Pumpkins, so I guess Billy Corgan figured he'd better not fart around too much.

The kind of elephantine project Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness turned out to be tends to be full of farting around, and yet, as gargantuan as this set is, it's short on pointless noodling, a much bigger hit-delivery vehicle than Siamese Dream (four of it singles went Top Forty on Billboard's Hot 100; nothing on the previous album pulled that trick), and shockingly consistent. That's saying a lot because in a lot of ways, the Pumpkins' third album almost plays like a parody of ambition. While releasing a double-album is traditionally a band's way of making a big, serious, artistic statement, releasing a triple-one is more like announcing a serious break from reality (just ask The Clash). Releasing a quadruple one? There isn't even an armchair-shrink assessment for that kind of folly. But that's basically what Smashing Pumpkins did in 1995. Sure, the CD release fit on just two discs, but those were two jam-packed CDs. They made a triple-disc set necessary when Mellon Collie was released on vinyl in Europe the following year, but only a quadruple-disc set would allow the album to play out in its intended running order and without any sides piling on so many tracks that they started to ooze out of audiophile territory.

For this wildly ambitious album's thirtieth anniversary, only a wildly unwieldy four-LP format for the core album would do. But that's hardly all, as there are another two discs worth of live recordings caught during the Pumpkins' Infinite Sadness tour of 1996; a hardback version of the original CD's booklet, with appropriately florid new liner notes courtesy of Corgan; a packet of seven lithographs with stills from the "Tonight Tonight" and "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" videos; a heavy slipcase with gilt graphics; a deck of Mellon Collie-inspired tarot cards; and, perhaps most excessively of all, a tiny velvet bag for the tarot deck and a great big velvet sack for the whole box, presumably so you can take it with you to a friend's house to enjoy it away from home, because that's exactly the kind of thing a crazed record geek who'd just spent hundreds of dollars on this thing would do.

So, the question is, is it all worth it? I'm not talking about the price tag—that's a question only you and your accountant can answer—I'm talking about the lavishness. Well, as far as spreading the album across four LPs goes, all I can say is: yes. These songs are full of details and textures, and the generous vinyl yardage, the mastering and pressings, really allow the music to shine. It's also an album with a lot of loudness, and these records convey that with all due power and no unintended distortion, no sibilance, and no fatiguing, excessive boominess. This is a perfectly smooth mastering and pressing. The live material's audio is a tad more varied.

Live Infinite Sadness Tour is a compilation taken from various dates in 1996. The track selection favors the Mellon Collie album, sidestepping half the hits and only makes room for one  number from Gish and one from Siamese Dream (the fragment of "Rocket" in a medley centered around "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" doesn't really qualify). It mostly highlights the Pumpkins' heavy side and finds them in fiery form, putting paid to any mumblings that James Iha and D'arcy couldn't really play. Guitars and Jimmy Chamberlin's ever snappy and lyrical drums are clearly articulated. The bass gets slightly fatiguing on Side A. It didn't seem as overwhelming on the other sides, either because it wasn't or because I just started getting used to it. Billy Corgan sounds pretty crazed on stuff like "Geek U.S.A.", "X.Y.U.", and an awesome "Where Boys Fear to Tread". He even takes it close to the edge on "Here Is No Why" and "Muzzle", which weren't quite so intense in the studio. There are a few moments of respite, such as an intimate "Cupid de Locke" complete with acoustic guitar, synth, and harp loop. That "Porcelina" medley is pretty much as good as live music gets. 

A couple of the LPs are very, very slightly bowled at the label, but it doesn't affect the sound, and didn't require clamping. The vinyl itself is almost totally quiet across all six LPs. My LP2 has some ticks on "Porcelina" due to a small scratch, but after perusing other reviews of this set, I'm convinced this is a flaw particular to my personal copy.

As for the rest of it, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness has been a crazy project since its first dropped like an alt-rock H-bomb thirty years ago. It has the screamest metal, the most delicately baroque ballads, orchestras, psychedelia, unapologetic tweeness, tumultuous guitar solos, epics, miniatures—you name it. This is an excessive, pretentious, fabulously varied, and thrilling album made by a guy who set out to make just that, a guy weaned on records like Quadrophenia, Physical Graffiti, and All Things Must Pass, with their own welters of incredible songs and maniacally elaborate packages. Will you use the tarot deck or even take it out of its velvet glove more than once unless you're considering a new side career as a bunco artist? I doubt it, but it's kind of awesome that it's in here and it's beautifully designed. The hardback book version of what was once a tiny jewel case-size booklet is probably unnecessary, but it's also beautiful with its gilt printed cover. Same goes for those useless velvet bags. 

The packaging is high-quality, lush, gorgeous, and over-the-top, just like the music it houses. Billy Corgan was always a competitive guy, and if his ultimate goal with this box set was to beat all else in the big, ambitious, multi-LP set sweepstakes, at least in terms of packaging, I'd say that three decades down the road, he and Smashing Pumpkins have definitely prevailed with their thirtieth anniversary edition of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness .