I know the theme of this blog is supposed to be more punk/metal driven, but I fucking love The Smashing Pumpkins, and this is huge news for anyone who's a fan.
So starting later this fall, and continuing until 2013, Smashing Pumpkins will reissue remastered editions of every album in their entire catalog. Billy Corgan has apparently been trying to secure the rights to his own music since the late 80s and is now finally able to do what he wants with his own work. If this sounds familiar, Nine Inch Nails recently went through a similar situation with their debut album Pretty Hate Machine.
Apparently, labels are bleeding cash so fast these days that it's only NOW that they'll allow the artists to do whatever they want with their own material. People are illegally downloading like mad. Googling "Smashing Pumpkins download" provides you with a buffet of places to get anything they've ever released, and several things they've never released. So the labels said, "Alright, maybe we can make a few bucks off this. What have we go to lose?"
Each reissue is said to contain bonus tracks as well, which is excellent. Smashing Pumpkins are sorta known for their B-sides and rarities. In fact, their 2005 digital compilation album titled Rarities and B-sides contains 114 hard-to-find tracks. But there are many more. They're one of those bands that write about 50 songs for one album, then select their favorite 12 for the finished product.
Two of the biggest gems in this scheme would easily be the box-set The Aeroplane Flies High and Machina II. The box set was highly limited and hasn't been around since the mid 90s. Unless you're willing to pay $500 on ebay, you're SOL. And Machina II has somewhat of an interesting story. Apparently the Pumpkins' final album before breaking up Machina was written and recorded to be a double-disc concept album similar to their best-selling album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. But the label wasn't interested in forking out the dough for a double album after Adore was a commercial failure. So Machina was apparently just the better and most complete of the bunch, and the rest were released as Machina II -- originally twenty-five LPs and free downloads through Corgan's website. Apparently there's some cool story line that's lost unless the songs are in the right order, and the current speculation is that they'll be in the correct order on the reissue.
It's also exciting because I've personally never heard an original recording next to a remastered recording. I've always want to hear a side-by-side comparison. But I suppose that's just nerdy little me.
The next few years will be expensive times to be a SP fan. Not only is the band reissuing their entire catalog, but they've also slowly been releasing the 44-song concept album Teargarden by Kaleidyscope in limited edition box sets. At about $25 for each part, times 11 parts, that's a $275 album. PLUS about $15 for each of their remastered single-disc albums, and about $20 for the double-disc, and maybe $50 for the single's box set... I'm estimating that by the end of 2013 I'll have spent $440 on new/old Pumpkins albums. Maybe they should offer an $18/mon payment plan or a frequent buyer punchcard or something. My wallet felt a little violated just now.
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