Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
by The Smashing Pumpkins

From paladisiac TOP 100 COMMENTER 12/13/2011 17:57 | #32829 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

mellon collie is huge and is often knocked for being too bloated. Many critics say, if it was trimmed to a single album, it'd be even better than siamese dream. Even if it were bloated, that statement itself says that mellon collie based on some of its parts is better than siamese dream, and i'd agree. Where siamese dream is great because of great songs and the freshness of the pumpkin sound, mellon collie is even better because it has more great songs and perfects the pumpkin sound. They rock harder here than on SD -- check out "zero" or "an ode to no one" or "where boys fear to tread" or "x.y.u.". (These songs rocked harder than most of roblee's metal/rock.) They're more beautiful than on SD. They've written just as catchy pop songs as SD -- mellon collie even topped "today" with "1979". They capture frustration and pain and love perfectly.

Since this is one of my favorite albums of all-time, i'll give a track-by-track review.

DAWN TO DUSK [disc 1]

MCATIS: Pleasant intro track.

Tonight, Tonight: Sweeping and epic. Lovely and delicate. "Time is never time at all / you can never ever leave / without leaving a piece of you". I'm a fan of even-better-than-the-rest-of-the-song endings and this song has it in its particular grand summation. Believe in me...tonight.

Jellybelly: Situated between two radio releases, this song holds its own between the epic and the fiery self-deprecation. It's a little overreaching with its lyrical emptiness stating "living makes me sick", but the rocking riffwork and vocal delivery makes up for the little lyrical inadequacy here. I like this wordplay: "give in to your forevers / and live for always".

Zero: The shrieking "YOU!" ending "jellybelly" leads into this song which i basically have memorized. Interesting metaphors/analogies in here, like "i'm the face in your dreams of glass" and "my reflection / dirty mirror / is no connection to myself" and "emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness and cleanliness is godliness, and god is empty just like me ". And this song has a mad rush of terror at the end punctuated by loneliness.

Here is no Why: The loneliness continues here as billy sings about "the lonely towers of long mistakes /to forgotten faces and faded loves ". Nice song to bridge the power of "zero" and "bullet".

Bullet with Butterfly Wings: Interesting metaphor. Song starts out "the world is a vampire" and is about "betrayed desired" culminating in a chorus that says "despite all my rage, i'm am still just a rat in a cage". (Take "rat in a cage", remove almost all the inside letters, and you end up with "rage". Was this intended?)

To Forgive: This song is a beautiful comedown from "bullet" starting "ten times removed / i forget about where it all began / bastard son of a bastard son of / a wild eyed child of the sun ". About "holding back the fool again" where "i forget to forget nothing is important".

An Ode To No One: I think the "i'd never be the shine in your spit" lyric sums this song up. It's grating, pissed off and in your face. And it rocks. "This message is for anyone who dares to hear a fool". "Destroy the mind / destroy the body / but you cannot destroy the heart". A lot of fun lyrics. This song shreds at the end screaming "I DON'T NEED YOUR LOVE TO DISCONNECT!".

Love: Another great comedown with the foreboding synths of "love" about "my mistakes of cowardace". It sounds offhanded and simple, but the lyric of "love, it's who you know" is generally appropriate. The guitar licks sound synth-lick too. It's like he's saying love has an artificial quality.

cupid de locke: This song sounds sweet but is full of mischief and unfulfilled desires. "Your world be shattered with nary a note / Of one cupids arrow under your coat " ending in what sounds like a first-person insight upon the world of love: "And in the land of star crossed lovers / And barren hearted wanderers / Forever lost in forsaken missives and Satan's pull / We seek the unseekable and we speak the unspeakable / Our hopes dead gathering dust to dust / In faith, in compassion, and in love".

galapagos: "Aint it funny how we pretend we're still a child". Soft-sung at first, this one gracefully builds into a confessional where billy pleads "rescue me from me and all that i believe". It's a song questioning whether to love at all basically saying to believe in love is to be as innocent and naive as a child regarding all the (negative) possibilities of love. In the 3 song suite about love, this concluding number is the most beautiful and endearing.

muzzle: Another song with a Tnotch ending with some revealing lines like "my life has been extraordinary / blessed and cursed and won / time heals but i'm forever broken " where "the world so hard to understand / is the world your can't live without / and i knew the silence of the world ". Love unrequited.

take me down: James Iha sings this one where "all i see is you". It's a nice little number by itself and doesn't seem out of place on the album, but IMO unnecessary in the grand scheme of the album. There's enough of a comedown in "muzzle" to seque well into the first track of the next disc.

TWILIGHT TO STARLIGHT [disc 2]

where boys fear to tread: this slow-build shredder kicks off the "twilight to starlight" second disc. It's an ominous beginning musically detailing the "king of horseflies, dark prince of death" telling of the remnants of a love lost with "A veiled promise to never die / On dead highways".

bodies: "bodies" ups the ante of devastation, both lyrically and with the guitar, stating plainly "love is suicide". Those who perish to love?: "The empty bodies stand at rest / Casualties of their own flesh / Afflicted by their dispossession". You can feel the pain when he screams "no bodies!". "love is suicide" indeed.

thirty-three: The above shreadfest couplet slips into 3 more georgeous songs anticing us back to the arms of love. "33" starts "speak to me in a language i can hear / humor me before i have to go". He's forgiving everyone accepting love's end yet still in denial, self-deprecating in honesty professing "tomorrow's just an excuse away". Beautiful anguish captured in this beautiful lyric "I know I'll make it, love can last forever / Graceful swans of never topple to the Earth". Another tune that can tear me up.

in the arms of sleep: love is a dream. this song continues the sentiments of "33", shuffling along slowly through the residual pain. "peace will not come to this lonely heart" ending wonderfully/tragically "suffer my desire".

1979: You've heard this song. It's a trip along memory lane across a simpler time of youthful fancy. This may be the dream alluded to in the previous song. Upbeat and catchy (it's fun when the drum (machine?) kicks in), a more foot-tapping version of "today". a lot of fun lyrics in here. "on a live wire right up off the street / you and i should meet" for "Justine never knew the rules, / Hung down with the freaks and the ghouls". But no matter what happens regarding the blues or one's destiny "we don't know / Just where our bones will rest / To dust I guess / Forgotten and absorbed to the earth below". Love this song. Upbeat and yet somewhat despondant.

tales of a scorched earth: you can instantly tell this song's gonna kick your ass, with the train wreck of guitar and billy's distorted screams of "farewell goodnight last one out turn out the lights" proclaiming an answer to his torturous question "why do the same old things keep on happening? / because beyond my hopes there are no feelings ". And just when you think the song is losing momentum it kicks your ass again 2/3 of the way. The line "i lie just to be real, and i'd die just to feel" is a little overdramatic, but affective in the context of this slayer.

thru the eyes of ruby: an eerie calm awaits on the other side of "scorched earth". it's the surreal aftermath speaking in tongues like "wrap me in always and drag me in with maybes" and "i believe in never, i believe in all the way" but "belief is just some faith / and faith can't help you to escape". Guitars rise throughout the song following in the momentum of "scorched earth". then it trails off into pretty dreamland as an intro to...

stumbleine: this is the breather between rockers singing "Boredoms in the bathroom shaking out the loose teeth" where, if you were at their concert performing the whole album straight-through, this is where you'd exit for a quick bathroom break. Not saying it's not a good song though. Some more interesting lyrics like "Mommy's in the manger with the little kids / She's got her reasons, got my forgets / Of tears and idle threats / Misplaced". While the album as a whole doesn't really tell a cohesive story, each song seems to tell its own unique story, as "stumbleine" is an example of.

x.y.u.: you know your arse is in trouble again! love this song. always wish i could've seen this done live. This is a masochistic billy singing "i said, i wanna fill you up, i wanna break you, i wanna give you up " and "i couldn't feel her, and it was just a game, / cause i was lonely and she was crazy ". There are some silly lyrics, but they drown under the ferocity. There's a mild break before it ends staring into the eyes of a jackyl frantically singing "now we begin descent, to where we've never been / there is no going back, this wasn't meant to last / this is a hell on earth, we are meant to serve ". This is the last rocker on the album ending the rockfest superbly.

we only come out at night: Vampiric tale drumbeat pulsating with angelic harp. Cool song. Great contrast to "x.y.u.". Another example of great sequencing on this album (for the most part). Billy tries to comfort: "once again, you'll pretend to know that / There's an end, that there's an end to this begin / It will help you sleep at night".

beautiful: Pretty song. One of the few songs that actually sounds like a love song and not a facade for lovelorn torment. There's an appreciation for (a) love, as familiar as a comfy bedtime pillow. "i'll be under your stars forever ". (Beware, the beauty might be a facade hiding a stalker song!)

lily (my one and only): Pretty song. Another ode to love. This song reminds me of the someone i met in 1996.

by starlight: At this point, i'm on the ballad breaking point. Good song questioning love again. This would make a nice album closer into the deep, dark night. "dead eyes, are you just like me?"

farewell and goodnight: Pleasant goodnight featuing iha & d'arcy singing us out as well, but either this or "by starlight" could've been left off to ease the long nighttime passing. (Edited)

This is a daunting one. Taking up a spot in the top 20 most renowned albums of the 90's is this huge beast of the night. The first thing I like about this album is that it feels like a world onto itself. The packaging is superbly decorated and sets the tone well for the music to come. Half the album is called 'Dawn To Dusk' the half 'Twilight To Starlight'. Does give the impression that the night will be sung of a lot doesn't it? Well... we are half way there. It does for the most part but the concept is not entirely stuck to. Half concept album are you madam? Let's begin! Right at the start you have an instrumental which would fit easily on Classic.fm. Grandiose aims ahead indeed! Despite the size, this isn't a slap it on your iPod and hit shuffle. From the connections between the title track and 'Tonight, Tonight' and 'Jelly Belly' into 'Zero' it is clear they wanted you to listen from start to finish. So what are we give n in this album? Violent music coupled with sweet serenades. That's right. Serial killer music. 'Lily' the tender ballad and possible highlight of the second half reeks of it. He almost caught her smile? Almost? I do hope it is because she can smile. I hope she smells nice. I know this album doesn't. Don't smell bad either. Well there is like this faint smell. I got it from a market in Keswick what... 5 years ago now? Yes, the album has a faint smell of damp books I suppose, the inside not the plastic. Other highlights on the album you say? '1979' the ghostly whispers of an arcade burned to the ground with a fantastic bass riff. 'Jelly Belly' comes charging like the cavalry, full on distortion. It is one of the heavy ones here alongside the bile spitting 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings', the rabid 'X.Y.U.' and Stone Temple Pilots esque 'Bodies'. When they turn it down they perform just as well. Ditties such as 'Thirty Three' and 'Lily (My One and Only)' will prove that. Massive collection containing almost every All the twilight dwellers and ghouls between. "We only come out at night, the days are much too bright' indeed.

I finally listened to the album in one sitting, in its entirety. For 23 years I’d only listened to the hits and bits of other songs.

I was floored by this album. It is certainly greater than the sum of its parts. For instance, the final 5 songs (including “We Only Come Out At Night” which is my favorite song on the album) make much more sense in the context of the album, whereas they aren’t that strong listened to individually. The whimsical nature of these closing tracks remind me a great bit of the closing medley of Abbey Road.

Speaking of the Beatles, I get strong White Album vibes from this. I know Billy Corgan called it “The Wall for Generation X” but it has much more in common with the self-titled Beatles album in my opinion.

Intense, varied, and sprawling, Mellon Collie does what so few double albums do: encourage you to immediately dive back in for more.

It's hard to rate this against Siamese Dream, because Siamese Dream is almost a perfect album. I think it's better just because there's so much more to choose from though. Pop songs, soft songs, synth songs, heavy songs, grunge songs, etc. Not to mention, when I really think about it, I like the singles off Melon Collie better than the singles off Siamese Dream. This is the essential Pumkins album, and one of the greatest albums ever penned. An absolute masterpiece. I think it's underrated just because of the length, which for me is honestly a plus. If you like 90's music you can find something here, as mentioned above. Take the time and listen to both discs all the way through. You won't be disappointed.

From ExTeaSea TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/08/2019 03:33 | #231546 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

The White album of the 90s.