25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful companion to one of the decade's best albums..., January 1, 2000
This review is from: The Aeroplane Flies High (Audio CD)
The Smashing Pumpkins have always been known for their amazing catalogue of non-album songs. Some of their best tracks are hidden amongst various singles and compilations. Still, only the most devoted of fans run out to buy every European import and obscure tribute album, and SP realizes this. Released during what was undoubtably the peak of their success, "TAFH" was the band's second "odds and sods" compilation (check out "Pisces Iscariot" for some wonderful "Gish"- and "Siamese Dream"-era b-sides and outtakes). It compiles the five "Mellon Collie" singles, containing a total of 28 b-sides (mirroring the 28 tracks on "MCIS") and five exclusive new-wave covers.
As to be expected with any b-sides collection, there are ups and downs throughout the box set. The hidden treasures are there, though--I've always believed that the "1979" single is ohe band's best releases, proving that SP has power-pop down to an art. The single also contains one of the greatest Pumpkins songs around, "Set the Ray to Jerry," a track that was at one time slated to appear on "Siamese Dream."
So...excessive? You bet. That's always been the name of the Pumpkins' game, and they pull it off masterfully. "TAFH" is a must-have for any music fan, and sits beside "Mellon Collie" as one of the great rock releases of the latter 1990s.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing, October 19, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Aeroplane Flies High (Audio CD)
Buy this if you liked every single song on Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and you're very into the soft smashing pumpkins songs. Don't buy it if you just want something that rocks. The Zero single is the only one of the five that really rocks. Not that that's a bad thing. There are a lot of amazing songs on here, but unless you're a really big fan, don't buy this. If you liked James Iha's "Take Me Down" then you'll like this set, there are 5 more James Iha songs on here, and they're just as good, especially "The Boy" and "Said Sadly". There are also some cool covers. "My Blue Heaven" ends the collection in a very strange, surreal way. Don't expect this to be as good as the album. After all, these are all the songs that the Smashing Pumpkins didn't want to put on Melon Collie because they liked the other ones better. If you're a big fan of their soft stuff, you'll love this. My favorites are "Marques in Spades", "Meladori Magpie", "The Last Song", "The Boy" and "Pennies". Most of the songs on here are love songs that show you how shallow and phony most love songs you hear now really are.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mellon Collie Phase II, June 20, 2003
If you loved Mellon Collie, then you must listen to its necessary companion. It includes 33 tracks (5 of them are the Mellon Collie A-sides), out of which you can find all the B-sides. There are 6 covers, 2 James Iha compositions, 1 Corgan/Iha instrumental, and one huge, mostly instrumental, 23-minute collage of bits and snippets of outtakes and rehearsals of 1993-1995 sessions. The rest is pure Corgan. It all makes an almost 2-hour set.
Seems excessive? Maybe so. But it shows a breathtaking span of styles, moods and qualities. There's screaming heavymetal ("God"), distorted guitars a la 70s ("Tribute to Johnny"), naive charming pop ("The Boy"), simple but intense ballads ("Cherry"), country-ish attempts ("Meladori Magpie"), anthem-like serious songs ("The Last Song", a ballad, or "The Aeroplane Flies High, Turns Left, Looks Right", a rocker), acoustic straightforward confessions ("Blank"), devastatingly tender chants ("Medellia of the Great Skies", "Rotten Apples"), and even a 1920s song, "My Blue Heaven", with only voice, piano and cello. In "...Said Sadly" James Iha sings with the then-Veruca Salt vocalist Nina Gordon.
I think more or less one half of the songs could have made it into yet another album; the other half is for the curious or the die-hard fans. But the best part is really worth it. Some of the songs could have been great singles, such as "Transformer". It's a pity many of those tracks aren't listened to in the radio.
The covers show some influences on the group: The Cure, Blondie, Alice Cooper, The Cars, Missing Persons and George Whiting & Walter Donaldson (the 1920s guys).
There's an assorted mixture of approaches, but it is truly amazing those 28 tracks were recorded at the same time as those 28 found in Mellon Collie. More than 40 written by Corgan only!
The packaging is lush, and the 44-page booklet includes all the lyrics, plus many b/w photos of the Mellon Collie tour (taken by Corgan's girlfriend, Yelena Yemchuk), plus all the complete discography of the group until 1996, plus a literary Corgan introduction (a short text).
(By the way, the booklet's page 1 opens with a beautuiful b/w photograph of a black swan, no doubt one of the earliest hints to the name of Corgan's current band, Zwan.)
All in all, I love this box set.
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