Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness

I have just finished listening to the remastered version of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness all the way through with all the bonus material and all I can say is: WOW! As with Gish and Siamese Dream, the remastering of this one is well down. The sound recording is much clearer and the drum sound is much more defined. Like all remastering these days, there is much more emphasis on high end and mid range and in many ways, that changes the sound of a record the first you heard it and will always change it. For some, that's not always a good thing and many of them will go back to the original CD or vinyl. I have all SP stuff in both formats and will be getting all the remasters, but I will keep my originals in order to have something to reference the remasters to.Most people that listen to the new SP remasters tend to believe that the job was well done and I have to agree. With MCIS, I read one review where the remastering was kind of unnecessary. After listening, I know what that person is talking about because the volume levels are about the same, which was not the case with with Gish and Siamese Dream, the remasters being hotter for sure. But, I found the sound is much clearer and defined. The only thing I do miss, and people that have heard the original will know what I am talking about, is the bassiness (I don't know if that's a proper word) of the original. Siamese Dream and MCIS are truly two of the most bassiest (again, not sure if it's a word) albums ever recorded. On songs like "Tales of a Scorched Earth" and "Jellybelly" are where this becomes really apparent and I kind of miss the muddy sound of the original release, especially on "Tales of a Scorched Earth." However, the intro of "Love" has a slightly different flanging sound on the remaster which I thought sounded kind of cool. I always wondered were the DOOM explosion was and can hear it clearly on "Where Boys Fear to Tread." For the most part in my opinion, any one will really enjoy the clearer sound of the remasters. And that's what remasters are based upon, other people's opinions. Some people really hate remastered recording and some people love them. I personally have not been disappointed with any of the Pumpkins's past remasters and MCIS is no exception.The reason most of us hardcore fans couldn't wait to get out hands on the reissues were the bonus material. No SP fan with be disappointed and will find it interesting how they created such as unique, complex and utterly beautiful record that will stand the test of time. I believe people will be listening to MCIS forever and it's fascinating to hear many of the songs in their stripped down and simple acoustic forms or all out jamming by the band. Those familiar with MCIS Demos will find that the reissues have been cleaned up and sound as if Billy recorded them with his Tascam 8 track cassette recorder yesterday in his bedroom. They are amazing and I love the bonus takes and mixes of many of the songs that are included. I always wondered where the they got the end of "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" and now I know. Again, maybe some of the mixes were unnecessary and there are some track that do not need repeated listening, but I found them intriguing and any SP fan will find them an excellent addition to their collection. The only track that is missing from the bonus CD is "Infinite Sadness." It should have been included in the bonus material.I have not listened to the vinyl reissue of this one yet as I live in another country and have only ordered it. I have have had a chance to listen to both the Gish and Siamese Dream remasters on vinyl and all I can say again is: WOW! In some ways, they sound better than the original. And this is from some one who own both (I own 2 copies of each on both labels if that makes sense) the Caroline and HUT versions of both records as well as a South Korea (the country I'm living in now by the way) issue of Gish. I also own 2 copy of the 90's HUT pressing of MCIS (one signed by the band believe it or not) The remasters sound excellent. And this is from someone that has the originals on both label (the HUT release for Gish is remastered fromt he Caroline release and the Siamese Dream on HUT is superior to the Caroline release) and thought there was no way to improve on them. Again, I do miss the bassy sound of the originals, but there is much more depth of sound. When I do get back to the States and have a chance to listen to the vinyl, I will submit a new review. As of now, I will have to go on my experience with the past remasters of the vinyl and all I can say is that they sounded great. As mentioned, I have 2 copies of MCIS and will listen to both back to back. The original vinyl issue sounded awesome and are 2 of the jewels of my vinyl collection. I hope that the remasters will sound just as good. If nothing else, at least I have another copy on hand, and a remastered copy at that. The original HUT release of MCIS was one of the most flawless pieces of vinyl pressed and I'm eager to compare the two.*Note: I've read a lot of reviews of the vinyl and have been hearing that most people are really unhappy with the sound quality of the remastered vinyl. Unfortunately with a lot of pressing plant these days, this is starting to become more and more common. I've purchased vinyl that was just horrid. It seems like it's just like hitting a baseball, some times you hit the ball right on the mark, sometimes you hit a foul ball, and sometimes you strike out. From what I've been reading, it's more of a foul ball. Some people are just glad to have the new remasters on vinyl for the first time, while others are so disappointed that they are willing to return the record even though it's finally their chance to own this record for the first time on vinyl. Fortunately enough, I have the original HUT pressings and I can tell you they sound awesome. My suggestion for people that what to return their new remastered copy of the vinyl is to attach a note telling them manufacturer why you are returning the vinyl and that the sound quality is horrible. Hopefully, this will insure that if there is a second string of presses for this record in the future, they will take a lot more care for the sound quality of the press. I am very happy with the sound quality of the remastered CDs and hope that I can hear the excellent job they did on the CD on pressed wax. I know they can because the pressing that came out in the 90s were excellent. Also, I have the copies of remastered Gish and Siamese Dream and they sound awesome (I just ordered Pisces Iscariot but haven't had a chance to listen to since, again for the same reason I haven't had a chance to listen to MCIS on vinyl, I currently live in another country). It's a shame that they don't take the same care they use to when pressing vinyl these days. They really need to raise the quality standard when pressing vinyl or people are going to get fooled into thinking that vinyl sounds like garbage and CDs sound better. Both have their advantages and I actually love CDs for their clarity and definitely prefer them over MP3s, but nothing beats fresh vinyl when pressed right. I still prefer that vinyl over CDs any day.

Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness was the most significant and influential record for me growing up as a wayward youth. To this day, it is still my favorite. I actually purchased a new record player purely for the reason of buying this MCIS reissue. The quality of the recording is outstanding, and I absolutely vouch for this as the best record of all time.First thing that is on everyone's mind, the order of songs is that of the CD, not the original 1995 UK vinyl. In a way, this disappoints me as I was hoping to hear it in the new order. Infinte Sadness and Tonite (Reprise) are not included.This slipcase is absolutely gorgeous! The artwork featured on the case is the artwork shown in the product thumbnail. The surface is a nice gloss, with the art itself being raised slightly to give it a texture. It is very well made, and each record has it's own sleeve. On one side of the sleeve is a pattern of the MCIS dingbats and song listing, the other side has a large version of some of the original MCIS booklet artwork. Newly packaged, each vinyl comes packed in a lined paper sleeve. Additionally packaged are smaller sleeves within the sleeves, all of which have a monotone pattern akin to the original MCIS artwork. The assumption is you can remove the paper sleeves and house them in the rigid cardboard sleeves that have the artwork. (See image)There are two books that accompany the music. One is basically a large version of the MCIS lyric sheet from the CD version. However, it is in a different typeface. A minor change. The woodcut artwork remains the same. The second booklet is an all new booklet that features a small recent article written by David Wild in which Billy talks about MCIS and the significance it had on him and the band, and where it lies as far as the "best time" in the history of Smashing Pumpkins. Also in this booklet are notes by Billy on each song and how it evolved, the meaning, what he thinks of it, which is incredible insight much of which has not been revealed until now! Amazing content! Though it seems as if the booklety was designed fore the CD version, as the songs are divided between the classic "Dawn to Dusk" and "Twilight to Starlight" There are also concept sketches for much of the MCIS artwork, done by Billy. Much of this eventually evolved into the John Craig collages that MCIS is well known for. The only thing that drives me crazy about this book is that they include some stills from some of the music videos (usually in the columns) but they are shown letterboxed (black bars on each side) WHY would the person doing the layout let this happen? I understand that the change to widescreen changes the aspect ratio, but black bars could have very easily been removed and would make the appearance of these stills more appealing. However. Good news guys, there's a blown up version of the band with D'arcy holding the carrot!This is definitely a collectors item. MCIS being my favorite, I had to have it. And it is absolutely worth it.Edit: To address the issue of the sound quality, it was not until I played it back and listened closely that I noticed some "sonic artifacts" in parts of the recording, namely Zero (certainly not audible "all the way through"). Hardly a distraction while listening to, and goes largely unnoticed. I listened to these records in their entirety and I feel as though the recording is of a good quality. It sounds the way vinyl should sound. I dunno how much different you'll find the CD version to be, but you might as well just download an mp3 or a FLAC if you're going for "digital flawlessness"

I've loved this album since I was in high school, and owned copies in several formats. The vinyl pressing sounds amazing, and the presentation is very cool.

Great set!