HomeMusicReview: The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins “Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits / Judas O) (Virgin Records)For the Smashing Pumpkins fan, 12 previously unreleased songs. A bit arrogant for a Greatest Hits album that boasts a 34 track total. (Billy Corrigan, Arrogant? Say it aint so ) About a third of these hits were never released. But I praise the pumpkins for adding to the obvious inclusion of tracks like Cherub Rock, Today, 1979 and Zero. Most fans have those songs (which is where a lot of Greatest Hits albums fail, they give the fans what theyve already paid for in single album sales). Rhinoceros was a pleasant surprise from the bands earlier work around the Gish era. This two-disk set is actually split between disk one (Rotten Apples) The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits (with only two unreleased songs) and disk two Judas O (rarities and B sides)… and 10 unreleased songs. Thats pretty rare. So again, for the fan, LOTS they probably dont have or never heard. An unreleased version of Rock On is giving a moody make over. I wish they would have included their cover of Alice Coopers Clones. That is brilliant. But not included here. The beginning of the Judas O disk is what Gish to Siamese Dream era fans will dig. The songs are more raw, which contrasts beautifully with Corrigans smoother vocal lilt against his fuzzy guitars. It might be hard to believe to some of the younger whelps, but Billy Corrigan used to play an electric guitar. YES! He did. Really loud sometimes. And scream. Well, that whiney scream he does. But somewhere between shaving his head and (albeit brilliant) but overproduced, over dramatized and overplayed videos, the band seemed to take itself WAY to seriously, and the music got mushy and arty. The Judas O disk tears back into the vintage Pumpkins sound showcasing that trademark Corrigan vocal pout that reminds me of a time that if you had even heard of this band, you were privy to a new movement that was to be stamped Alternative music.
