The Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness on 2 CDs

"Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness", das 1995er Doppelalbum der Smashing Pumpkins, das die Karriere der Band entscheidend geprägt hat, ist von der Recording Industry Association of America für mehr als 10 Millionen verkaufte Tonträger mit dem Diamond Zertifikat ausgezeichnet worden, dem höchsten Verkaufszertifikat der US-amerikanischen Musikbranche. Die erfreuliche Meldung steht in Koinzidenz mit der umfangreichen Wiederveröffentlichungskampagne, mit der EMI Music das Vermächtnis dieser namhaften Alternative-Band würdigt. Im Rahmen dieser Kampagne erscheint "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness", das vierte Album der Band, nun zum allerersten Mal komplett remastered. Das Werk setzt damit die Chronik der gefeierten Wiederveröffentlichungen fort, von den ersten zwei bahnbrechenden Alben Gish (1991) und Siamese Dream (1993) im letzten Jahr bis hin zu Pisces Iscariot (1994), dem dritten Album der Band, das diesen Sommer erschien.

Erstmals veröffentlicht wurde "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness" am 24. Oktober 1995 – es belegte umgehend Platz 1 der Billboard Top 200 Charts. Das in der Folge in den USA neunfach mit Platin ausgezeichnete Album brachte einige wichtige Hits hervor, darunter "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", kurioserweise der erste Top-40-Hit der Band, das exquisite "1979" und das epische "Tonight, Tonight" sowie eine ganze Reihe höchst inspirierter Videoclips. Produziert wurde das Album von Billy Corgan, Flood und Alan Moulder. Das Album wurde mit einem Grammy Award ausgezeichnet (1996 in der Kategorie Best Hard Rock Performance für "Bullet With Butterfly Wings") und wurde für insgesamt sieben nominiert. Jenseits seiner Hitqualitäten sticht "Mellon Collie" als beeindruckender Songzyklus von ungewöhnlicher Tiefe und beachtlicher stilistischer Bandbreite hervor. Es ist schlichtweg eine wunderbare Ansammlung berückend schöner Momente.

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Hollywood, California – October 2, 2012 - The Smashing Pumpkins’ career-defining 1995 double album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness has earned Diamond certification by the RIAA for sales of 10, 000, 000 discs and digital equivalent per disc (5 million copies of the double album). This news comes in the midst of EMI Music’s extensive reissue campaign honoring the legacy of the iconic alternative band. It continues December 4 in North America and December 3 internationally with the Pumpkins’ fourth album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness receiving the fully remastered treatment for the first time. This follows last year’s acclaimed reissues (*see quotes below) of the band’s groundbreaking first two albums, Gish (1991) and Siamese Dream (1993), as well as this past summer’s Pisces Iscariot (1994), the band’s third album.

Originally released October 24, 1995, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness would debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified 9x platinum by the RIAA. It yielded major hits like “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”–the band’s unlikely first Top 40 hit–the exquisite “1979” and epic “Tonight, Tonight” as well as a thoroughly inspired series of videos.

Produced by Billy Corgan, Flood and Alan Moulder, the album would also earn a Grammy Award (1996 Best Hard Rock Performance for “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”) as well as seven nominations. Beyond the more obvious hits, though, Mellon Collie is a song cycle of unusual depth and considerable range. It is a collection of stunningly beautiful moments when everything lined up--a moment in time that’s still here to be treasured.

Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness is being released in multiple physical and digital configurations, including an expanded 5CD+DVD Deluxe Box Set (also available digitally) and the remastered original album in 4LP Vinyl, 2CD, and digital formats. The Deluxe Box Set’s 5 CDs include 64 bonus tracks of previously unreleased material or alternate versions of Mellon Collie era songs, and its DVD features a live show filmed at the Brixton Academy, London (1996) and bonus performances from the German music television show Rockpalast (1996). It all comes housed in a 12 x 12 lift-top box with magnetic closure, reimagined cover art and velvet-lined disc holder. The package includes 2 books containing personal notes, lyrics, new collage artwork, plus a Decoupage kit for creating your own scenes from the Mellon Collie universe. The bonus content and special features were curated from the band’s archives by Corgan, and have been painstakingly remastered for the first time from the original master tapes by Bob Ludwig. *See all track listings below.

“What strikes me now about Mellon Collie is that we were coming off of making Siamese Dream with Butch Vig--which was a very idealized statement,” Corgan tells writer David Wild in the liner notes. “Siamese Dream was very successful and very much at the forefront of how records are made now with a strong perfectionist streak. Yet coming off of that success, we went completely in the opposite direction working with Flood and Alan Moulder. We headed into a much darker, funkier and more visceral terrain. Revisiting Mellon Collie for this edition, that’s what struck me--that we made this kind of dramatic ‘about face”’ at a time when most people would have made an even more expensive idealized statement. We went deep, and we went for something expansive sounding--not just expensive sounding.”

The decision to work with the respected British producer and audio engineer Flood--AKA Mark Ellis--and his longtime collaborator Alan Moulder--was a significant one for The Pumpkins. The group had admired Flood’s work with artists from U2 to Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode. “I loved Butch Vig very much then, and I still do,” Corgan explains. “The decision to switch things up was based on the sense that there was some whole other thing that could be gotten to by us, but that a more radical approach was going to be necessary to get to it. We knew we wanted to continue our evolving consciousness, but we were not quite sure how to do it.”

With the full support and guidance from The Smashing Pumpkins--who’ve created one of the most acclaimed bodies of work in musical history, selling over 30 million albums--EMI’s global catalog reissue campaign will last through 2013; it will encompass all the band’s albums and B-sides from 1991-2000, with other release dates to be announced. The pivotal group’s many hits defined the alternative music era and continue to resonate on modern rock radio, influencing a whole new generation.

As The Smashing Pumpkins get the fully remastered treatment via these reissues, the band is excited to be moving forward by creating new music. Released June 19, 2012, the acclaimed album Oceania (Martha’s Music / EMI Label Services / Caroline Distribution) was created by the band---singer / guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist Jeff Schroeder, drummer Mike Byrne and bassist Nicole Fiorentino--at Corgan’s private studio in Chicago as a true album experience for listeners to fully immerse themselves in. The powerful 13-song collection was produced by Corgan and Bjorn Thorsrud and mixed by David Bottrill. It entered the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart at #4 and earned the #1 spot on the Independent Albums Chart. Marking The Smashing Pumpkins’ 7th studio record, it is “an album within an album,” part of their 44-song work-in-progress Teargarden By Kaleidyscope. The band is touring worldwide in 2012, with a North American arena tour this fall.

Rezensionen

,,Die Musik immer noch pendelnd zwischen himmelhoch jauchzend, spartanisch zurückgenommen und kompromisslos rockend, machen diese zwei Stunden am Stück gehört auf Grund ihrer zeitlosen Klasse immer noch sprachlos."(Good Times, Februar / März 2013)

,,"Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness" gehört zu den Monumentalwerken der 90er-Jahre zwischen bombastischem Prog-Punk und feinsinnigem College-Rock. (...) Endlich hat die remasterte Doppel-CD auch den Sound, den sie damals schon verdient hätte und der die Platte hoffentlich unwiderruflich in die erste Reihe der Jahrhundertalben katapultieren wird." (stereoplay, Februar 2013)

,,Einmal nur ,,Tonight, Tonight" oder ,,Bullet With Butterfly Wings" hören, und schon ist die Gänsehaut wieder da - so wie im Herbst 1995, als dieser Doppeldecker als drittes Album der US-Alternative-Rocker erschien." (Audio, März 2013)