Audio CD review:
The Smashing Pumpkins - Smashing Pumpkins - Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits

The Smashing Pumpkins - Smashing Pumpkins - Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits

Band: The Smashing Pumpkins Title: Smashing Pumpkins - Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits Rating: Release Date: 26 November, 2001 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Siva 2: Rhinocerous 3: Drown 4: Cherub Rock 5: Today 6: Disarm 7: Bullet With Butterfly Wings 8: 1979 9: Zero 10: Tonight, Tonight 11: Eye 12: Ava Adore 13: Perfect 14: The Everlasting Gaze 15: Stand Inside Your Love 16: Try, Try, Try 17: Real Love 18: Untitled

Customer Reviews Far from "Rotten" And "The Smashing Pumpkins - Greatest Hits" almost lives up to its name -- there are one or two songs that don't quite fit here, but most of them are indeed the "Greatest" that the band produced. The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the greatest bands of the 90s, a mixture of dreamy pop and stark grungey metal, set against Billy Corgan's poem-like songwriting. The songs are pretty much arranged in chronological order, starting off with the hard-rocker "Siva" and heading off into the mixture of hard rock/metal, and eerie dreampop, climaxing with the rich offerings from "Mellon Collie And the Infinite Sadness. " With the songs of "Adore," there's an obvious shift in tone, becoming a bit more gothic and less rockish, only to swing back in the slow-burning songs from "Machina," their swan song. Long after disbanding, the Smashing Pumpkins are still a towering presence in rock -- they debuted in the era of Nirvana, but with a very different kind of music. Their creative use of basic instruments and Billy Corgan's rich songwriting made them much more complex and deeper than almost all rock bands of the time. And "Greatest Hits" follows them through the band's entire lifetime -- from their surprisingly polished debut to the panoramic "Mellon Collie" to their gothic art-rock. The songs included on "Greatest Hits" are not just the most commercially known, but also several of the best -- "Ava Adore," "Siva," "1979" and "Tonight Tonight. " An additional track is stuck on, "Real Love," but somehow it just isn't up to the standards of the other songs. It's nice, but not up to the level of the "Greatest" Smashing Pumpkins songs. Corgan was without a doubt the creative center of the Pumpkins -- he wrote the songs, filling them with doubts, anger and anguish, and also provided some mind-blowing guitar riffs and his vocals. His high, reedy voice is woven well into the music, giving his poetic lyrics an unusually heartfelt quality. He's singing about love, death, bombs, loneliness in a metaphorical wasteland. The guitar and bass provide sizzling soundscapes and dense walls of sound, while the percussion is complex and lightning-fast. At the same time, we get the sweeping dreampop (like the haunting "Rhinoceros") and gentler songs, where Corgan slows his guitar down to a gentle acoustic strum. Rock doesn't get much more original than the Smashing Pumpkins, and several of their greatest hits -- both among fans and critics -- are compiled in "The Smashing Pumpkins - Greatest Hits. " A good place for beginners, but also a good collection for fans. . Amazing i've known about them, who they were more exactly, my whole life pretty much. well, let me tell you all my little history with the smashing pumpkins. up until a few short monthes agao, i never really had intentively listened to the music. i mean, i had heard the singles and whatnot on the radio, but i wouldn't just pop in an album and enjoy. so my best friend is a HUGE pumpkin's guy, been into them since he was a boy. he started to play the cds alot in his car (mainly the infamous mellon collie and the infinate sadness). i must say, at first it all sounds quite boring and monotonous. well, let me tell you how wrong i was to assume as much. as soon as i REALLY listened, opened my mind to corgan's incredible world, i really connected. i'd say this is one of the best cds to sum up the pumpkins experience. it has all the hits, mainly the landmark songs from each studio album, plus a few stellar extra tracks. this record is really amazing and i would reccomend it to anyone who appreciates incredible music that really is a work of art. <^gReAt cD!^> You should definately add this to your cd collection!!!. This whole cd is awesome! My favorites are "1979", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", and the last track which is untitled. . You can see a complete list of all The Smashing Pumpkins discography, or go back to the The Smashing Pumpkins tabs