Album of the Week - Vol. 11

The Aeroplane Flies High THE SMASHING PUMPKINS (1996)
Week(s): Wed 27th March to Tue 9th April 2019
Format: 5CD Box Set
Producer(s): Billy Corgan, James Iha, Flood, Alan Moulder, D'arcy Wretzky
Track listing:
CD 1. BULLET WITH BUTTERFLY WINGS
1. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
2. Said Sadly *
3. You're All I've Got Tonight
4. Clones (We're All)
5. A Night Like This *
6. Destination Unknown

7. Dreaming *

CD 2. 1979
1. 1979
2. Ugly
3. The Boy *
4. Cherry
5. Believe *
6. Set the Ray to Jerry *

CD 3. ZERO
1. Zero
2. God *
3. Mouths of Babes
4. Tribute to Johnny *
5. Marquis in Spades
6. Pennies *
7. Pastichio Medley

CD 4. TONIGHT, TONIGHT
1. Tonight, Tonight
2. Meladori Magpie
3. Rotten Apples *
4. Jupiter's Lament
5. Medellia of the Grey Skies
6. Blank *
7. Tonite Reprise *

CD 5. THIRTY-THREE
1. Thirty-Three
2. The Last Song *
3. The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)
4. Transformer
5. The Bells *
6. My Blue Heaven *
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 138:53

I noticed on March 26th, that it was James Iha's 51st birthday. To mark the occasion, I decided to give Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness a spin. It had been a while since I listened to the whole thing in one go. It really is one of the best albums to come out of the nineties, and one of the greatest double albums ever released. It stills holds up so well. I love the mix of feels and genres.

I was working at a music shop in Albany called Southern Sound when Mellon Collie... was released. I remember opening the box from EMI and excitedly feeding the first disc into the store's CD player. We were quite puzzled by the opening instrumental piano track that opened the album, which shared its name with the title. When Tonight, Tonight followed I couldn't tell if it was Billy Corgan singing or not. Had we received a dud batch with another random recording on it? Jellybelly sounded more like the Pumpkins we knew, and Zero further solidified that this was indeed their new record.

As listening continued I was struck by the shifts in tone and production. We were certainly warned from the beginning, but I really dig the fact that this album jumps from heavy sludge rock to acoustic ballad so suddenly. The different emotions evoked as the album rolls on is fantastic.

Anyway, after enjoying my revisit of Mellon Collie..., I remembered that I had a copy of the expanded singles collection The Aeroplane Flies High. I also remembered that there were some great tracks on there too. The sessions for Mellon Collie... must have been hugely prolific, as the purpose of the box set was to house each of the five singles from the album in their expanded form. So, rather than one or two B sides per single, there are six or seven. I'm basically ignoring the five singles, because, let's face it, they're all terrific songs and we love them.

For the most part, it's all pretty good. The first disc features five covers, which are covered quite well. I don't know what the reasoning behind those particular songs were, whether to pay homage to their influences, or just have a bit of fun. It's a fab mix of artists: The Cars' You're All I've Got Tonight, Clones (We're All) was a single by Alice Cooper in 1980, The Cure's A Night Like This, Destination Unknown by Missing Persons and Blondie's Dreaming. The latter features lead vocals by the band's rarely-heard bassist D'arcy, and James Iha does a lovely understated job of singing A Night Like This. For a time, I thought the two of them were sharing lead on Iha's wonderful Said Sadly as well, but the female part is actually Nina Gordon from Veruca Salt.

The second disc is a mellower affair, with 1979 setting the tone nicely. The two tracks penned by Iha, The Boy and Believe, are big highlights for me, particularly the latter. Corgan's B sides are a little more ominous, but Set the Ray to Jerry is terrific. Sharing that sense of menace, it manages to feel like it is building to a climax that never comes.

Disc three features the longest and most challenging listen with Pastichio Medley; a twenty-three minute collection of pieces of songs that were recorded after Siamese Dream, but before Mellon Collie... was completed. The riff-tastic Tribute to Johnny is a very fun instrumental track, while the distinctively softer Pennies provides another standout. Overall, the disc is a little sludgy, and probably my least favourite.

Tonight, Tonight's disc features a couple of big highlights for me, namely Blank and Rotten Apples. Both are stripped-back affairs and feature Corgan in introspective acoustic mode. The whole disc is quite mellow, with Jupiter's Lament and Medellia of the Grey Skies also fitting the overall vibe. It's nice to have Tonite Reprise here too, which is included on the original Mellon Collie... triple disc vinyl release. If you track down a copy of Infinite Sadness, which is an outtake from Siamese Dream, you can create a playlist of that version, which features a different track listing from the double CD we all love.

The box set finishes off with the Thirty-Three disc, which includes B sides of varying mood and genre. The Last Song is probably my favourite song here, with a nice string arrangement giving it a nice sense of finality, but I also really like the slightly melancholy cover of My Blue Heaven too. While the title track has some nice Pumpkins riffage, it does go on for a few minutes too long.  Once again, James Iha provides a nice ballad with The Bells that also features D'Arcy on backing vocals. 

For a collection of outtakes and B sides, it is quite remarkable how strong these songs are. Particularly when you consider that Mellon Collie... had a track listing of twenty-eight songs. I really enjoyed listening to this again. And again.

(NB: In 2013, The Aeroplane Flies High was reissued and expanded as a massive 6CD box with a total of 90 tracks. A live DVD was also included.)