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Smashing Pumpkins 1991-2000, The
Virgin // Unrated // November 20, 2001
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
The Smashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain, and D'Arcy Wretzky, later replaced by Melissa Auf Der Maar) set themselves apart from their peers both musically and with their visual presentation. Their videos, collected here, often showed a fiercely unique sense of cinematic sophistication and ambition. From early videos like "Siva" (from 1991's Gish) and "Cherub Rock" (from 1993's Siamese Dream) on they were obviously open to expanding the form from the typical performance / cheap storyline structure of so many music videos. Their best videos came from their enormously successful 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: "1979" is a whimsical and energetic romp through suburban restlessness and "Tonight, Tonight" is a extremely satisfying tour through turn-of-the-century filmmaker George Melies' fantastic science fiction imagery. "Tonight, Tonight" is, in fact, one of the most visually stunning music videos ever produced. With beautiful costumes and sets, jerky hand-cranked cameras, and the song's orchestral heft, the piece does in a few short minutes what many feature films cannot do in two hours: It creates a fascinating and bizarre, yet fully believable world.Their interest in images of classic cinema infected a number of their videos, from Corgan's Nosferatu look in "Ava Adore" to the Caligari make-up and backdrop of "Thirty-Three". The latter video was created by shooting thousands of still photos in rapid succession and stringing them together to get beautiful stuttering motion. "Stand Inside Your Love" features a real classic look, with iris effects, deep, high contrast blacks, and surreal sets and costumes. Even relatively straight forward performance clips like "Cherub Rock" and "The Everlasting Gaze" achieve unusual levels of cinematic elegance through lighting, editing, camera angles, and the band's energy. Some of these videos won awards on MTV and there is good reason for that. They are far more visually interesting than the norm. Not all the experiments work, however. "Today" may be a great song and the sunny video is interesting, but it doesn't quite add up, while "Rocket" is a bit too literal. "Try, Try, Try", their last video (and one of Corgan's favorites) tells the story of a homeless couple and a heroin and booze fueled day. Corgan may be proud of the excessively grim clip for not taking a moral stand on this life, but it feels like it is basking in their misery just for shock and coolness factor. Still, at their best, whether floating over rooftops in "Disarm" or at the bottom of a hellish mud pit in "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" the Smashing Pumpkins offered some of the most memorable and eye-catching imagery of 90's music videos. There are two live clips included, one of "Geek USA" taped at a Siamese Dream-era club gig with the band surrounded by clowns on stage. The energy here his terrific and it shows how the band rose in popularity so quickly. The other live clip is of "An Ode to No One", taped at the band's 2000 farewell show. It is a loud, harsh, heavy rendition that makes the band's disbanding seem a bit premature. This was not some group of fogies who couldn't coordinate their attack anymore. Whatever internal strife drove them apart (Wretzky was gone at this point and the band had undergone some heavily covered drama including the fatal overdose of a touring musician and the firing and rehiring of drummer Chamberlain) didn't diminish their ability to make a big noise. Track List:
From Gish:
Siva
Rhinoceros
From Siamese Dream:
Cherub Rock
Today
Disarm
Rocket
From Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness:
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
1979
Zero
Tonight, Tonight
Thirty-Three
From Adore:
Ava Adore
Perfect
From Machina:
The Everlasting Gaze
Stand Inside Your Love
Try, Try, Try
Live:
Geek USA
An Ode to No One
Extras:
I am One
Try - A Short film by Jonas Akerlund
VIDEO:
The video quality varies by clip, given that they all were created for different effects (some slick, some grungy) but the masters all appear to be in top shape. The images are clear and the colors are vibrant. AUDIO:
The music is available in a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack and sounds great. The Pumpkins' recordings have always included multi-layered textures and complex musical arrangements. They are handled wonderfully here. EXTRAS:
Most videos are also available with commentary from the band (Corgan, Iha, and Chamberlain) and the directors (recorded individually and edited together). This commentary adds a terrific insight into the creative process, especially since this wasn't one of those bands that just filmed concerts and cut together quickie clips. The difference between Corgan's original visions, as he tells them, and the final videos helps illustrate the relationship he had with his directors and how those collabortaions affected him. Many of the videos also feature alternate video channels filled with outtakes and behind the scenes footage, especially useful for a video like "Thirty-Three" which featured such unusual cinematic techniques. This is a really cool feature, especially since you can mix and match the music/commentary tracks with the video/outtakes channels. The amount of user interactivity is similar, if somewhat less complex, than the Criterion Beastie Boys disc. Fans will have a great time piecing together all the components that make up this disc. Additionally two clips are included as extras. A performance clip of "I Am One" (which features the band in their early psychedelic wardrobe) and a fifteen minute recut of the "Try, Try, Try" footage, retitled "Try" by director Jonas Akerlund. He was so in love with the grim footage that he fashioned a short film of it, although other than a different ending it adds nothing of note to the shorter version. There is one easter egg, as far as I can tell: A behind the scenes look at the Pumpkins recording process accessible by clicking "left" when the extras button is highlighted. FINAL THOUGHTS:
Fans of the Smashing Pumpkins will definitely enjoy this disc, although the short live sequences are only a hint at what could be released. A disc of the band's epic farewell show needs to hit the market. This would make the perfect complement to that, since while the Pumpkins put a lot of emphasis on their videos and visual presentations, their brutal live performances were the other half of their story. Email Gil Jawetz at [email protected]
The Smashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain, and D'Arcy Wretzky, later replaced by Melissa Auf Der Maar) set themselves apart from their peers both musically and with their visual presentation. Their videos, collected here, often showed a fiercely unique sense of cinematic sophistication and ambition. From early videos like "Siva" (from 1991's Gish) and "Cherub Rock" (from 1993's Siamese Dream) on they were obviously open to expanding the form from the typical performance / cheap storyline structure of so many music videos. Their best videos came from their enormously successful 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: "1979" is a whimsical and energetic romp through suburban restlessness and "Tonight, Tonight" is a extremely satisfying tour through turn-of-the-century filmmaker George Melies' fantastic science fiction imagery. "Tonight, Tonight" is, in fact, one of the most visually stunning music videos ever produced. With beautiful costumes and sets, jerky hand-cranked cameras, and the song's orchestral heft, the piece does in a few short minutes what many feature films cannot do in two hours: It creates a fascinating and bizarre, yet fully believable world.Their interest in images of classic cinema infected a number of their videos, from Corgan's Nosferatu look in "Ava Adore" to the Caligari make-up and backdrop of "Thirty-Three". The latter video was created by shooting thousands of still photos in rapid succession and stringing them together to get beautiful stuttering motion. "Stand Inside Your Love" features a real classic look, with iris effects, deep, high contrast blacks, and surreal sets and costumes. Even relatively straight forward performance clips like "Cherub Rock" and "The Everlasting Gaze" achieve unusual levels of cinematic elegance through lighting, editing, camera angles, and the band's energy. Some of these videos won awards on MTV and there is good reason for that. They are far more visually interesting than the norm. Not all the experiments work, however. "Today" may be a great song and the sunny video is interesting, but it doesn't quite add up, while "Rocket" is a bit too literal. "Try, Try, Try", their last video (and one of Corgan's favorites) tells the story of a homeless couple and a heroin and booze fueled day. Corgan may be proud of the excessively grim clip for not taking a moral stand on this life, but it feels like it is basking in their misery just for shock and coolness factor. Still, at their best, whether floating over rooftops in "Disarm" or at the bottom of a hellish mud pit in "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" the Smashing Pumpkins offered some of the most memorable and eye-catching imagery of 90's music videos. There are two live clips included, one of "Geek USA" taped at a Siamese Dream-era club gig with the band surrounded by clowns on stage. The energy here his terrific and it shows how the band rose in popularity so quickly. The other live clip is of "An Ode to No One", taped at the band's 2000 farewell show. It is a loud, harsh, heavy rendition that makes the band's disbanding seem a bit premature. This was not some group of fogies who couldn't coordinate their attack anymore. Whatever internal strife drove them apart (Wretzky was gone at this point and the band had undergone some heavily covered drama including the fatal overdose of a touring musician and the firing and rehiring of drummer Chamberlain) didn't diminish their ability to make a big noise. Track List:
From Gish:
Siva
Rhinoceros
From Siamese Dream:
Cherub Rock
Today
Disarm
Rocket
From Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness:
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
1979
Zero
Tonight, Tonight
Thirty-Three
From Adore:
Ava Adore
Perfect
From Machina:
The Everlasting Gaze
Stand Inside Your Love
Try, Try, Try
Live:
Geek USA
An Ode to No One
Extras:
I am One
Try - A Short film by Jonas Akerlund
VIDEO:
The video quality varies by clip, given that they all were created for different effects (some slick, some grungy) but the masters all appear to be in top shape. The images are clear and the colors are vibrant. AUDIO:
The music is available in a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack and sounds great. The Pumpkins' recordings have always included multi-layered textures and complex musical arrangements. They are handled wonderfully here. EXTRAS:
Most videos are also available with commentary from the band (Corgan, Iha, and Chamberlain) and the directors (recorded individually and edited together). This commentary adds a terrific insight into the creative process, especially since this wasn't one of those bands that just filmed concerts and cut together quickie clips. The difference between Corgan's original visions, as he tells them, and the final videos helps illustrate the relationship he had with his directors and how those collabortaions affected him. Many of the videos also feature alternate video channels filled with outtakes and behind the scenes footage, especially useful for a video like "Thirty-Three" which featured such unusual cinematic techniques. This is a really cool feature, especially since you can mix and match the music/commentary tracks with the video/outtakes channels. The amount of user interactivity is similar, if somewhat less complex, than the Criterion Beastie Boys disc. Fans will have a great time piecing together all the components that make up this disc. Additionally two clips are included as extras. A performance clip of "I Am One" (which features the band in their early psychedelic wardrobe) and a fifteen minute recut of the "Try, Try, Try" footage, retitled "Try" by director Jonas Akerlund. He was so in love with the grim footage that he fashioned a short film of it, although other than a different ending it adds nothing of note to the shorter version. There is one easter egg, as far as I can tell: A behind the scenes look at the Pumpkins recording process accessible by clicking "left" when the extras button is highlighted. FINAL THOUGHTS:
Fans of the Smashing Pumpkins will definitely enjoy this disc, although the short live sequences are only a hint at what could be released. A disc of the band's epic farewell show needs to hit the market. This would make the perfect complement to that, since while the Pumpkins put a lot of emphasis on their videos and visual presentations, their brutal live performances were the other half of their story. Email Gil Jawetz at [email protected]
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