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[In the September 1996 issue of Live! Music Review, we took a look at the tremendous number of Smashing Pumpkin bootlegs as they reached peak popularity with Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness. The band, it seems, was ill-equipped to handle fame on that level. In-fighting, drugs, deaths, and a creative drought brought on a quick decline. The popularity of this era of Pumpkins, however, continues with both new CD and vinyl releases from today’s protection gap specialists. At the time, the CD market ruled and vinyl releases were non-existant in the bootleg world. These days, quite a few of the shows once found only n CD are showing up for the first time on vinyl. But that's the subject of a future blog.]
Tidal Wave of Smashing Pumpkins [by Bill Glahn]
The Smashing Pumkins have moved from indie scene hipness (Gish) to chart-busters (Siamese Dream) to superstar status (Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness) with each successive album. When the much anticipated Mellon Collie album finally arrived in October of ’95, the critics divided into two camps; those that listed it among the year’s best, and those that condemned it as an overblown piece of self-indulgence. Containing two full length CDs, a deluxe packaging, and a seemingly endless parade of non-LP b-sides that filled out the singles from the album, the Mellon Collie project was an easy target for the “self-indulgent” tag. But very little of what is contained would be considered “filler” on the works of any other rising stars proliferating on the charts and MTV rotation these days. In fact, Mellon Collie holds up well against even the most highly rated double LP sets.
While it doesn’t have the cohesiveness in theme of The Who’s Quadrophenia or Tommy, it certainly contains a tremendous outpouring of great song writing and creative musicianship not seen by a single band is such quantity since the glory days of The Who (1968-73), The Rolling Stones (1969-72), and The Beatles (1966-70). Dylan is the only rock artist that I can think of that was at the top of his game for a far lengthier frame of time and even he never put out such a massive body of work in one chunk.
Mellon Collie is most often compared to The Beatles’ White Album, another classic double album that contained a diverse selection of styles. While it is true that most of what is on The White Album can be taken as “brillient” when broken down into individual songs, it never really worked as a complete piece of work. It was always too democratic in its approach, whereas Mellom Collie is almost exclusively the vision of Billy Corgan. Mellon Collie is actually a more superior body of work as a result and it will probably end up being viewed as one of the great rock albums of all time.
Bootleggers, with their uncanny ability to recognize great talent, have picked the Pumpkins worldwide tour in support of Mellon Collie as THE tour to document this year. There appears to be a little fandom returning to the bootleg ranks, something we haven’t seen in awhile. For example, Moonraker is quickly gaining a reputation as the label of choice for both Prince and The Smashing Pumpkins as they continue to release every quality recording they can get their hands on both artists. Other labels, such as KTS and Oxygen, are releasing the broadcast recordings as they become available, but it’s Moonraker who is also tracking down high quality recordings from other venues. While Monraker has also shown a tendency to “follow the charts” with their other releases, their Smashing Pumpkins and Prince titles are becoming available at a dizzying rate. Clearly they are operating from a fan’s perspective with these releases. Even the packaging is exemplary.
The first live broadcasts of Mellon Collie material came from a British broadcast of the ’95 Reading Music Festival and a worldwide broadcast from Chicago on the album’s release day (available in its entirety only on the Moonraker 2CD set, Starlight). That broadcast featured only a few numbers from the band’s back catalog and was dominated by material from Mellon Collie. Since that time, the set list has been overhauled several times with some of the obscure b-sides finding their way into the live set and some older songs being resurrected. For a band that questioned even if they would tour at all, the tour has gone on for a lengthy period with several visits to Europe, some time in Asia and Australia, and a journey through the States. Things only came to an end with the tragic heroin-related death of the tour’s keyboardist, Jonathan Melvoin, and subsequent firing of drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, who was in possession of heroin and with Melvoin at the time of his death. Supposedly, the band is auditioning new drummersand will continue to tour in the future.
Other mishaps also happened during the tour such as the death of a 17 year old girl named Burnadette O’Brien who was crushed at a concert in Dublin. The death was attributed to excessive moshing and the band has taken a position against mosh pits.
Despite what some might call a jinx, the music remained great throughout the tour. There is an abundant amount of live CDs to choose from and a lot of duplication. Getting the same show twice could pose a problem, so collectors need to be careful. However, the sound quality on recordings from this tour have proven to be consistently well above average, and in some cases, spectacular. Here’s the details on what we’ve located so far, minus a few that we’ve covered in previous issues.
Smashing Pumpkins: The Mellon Collie Demos (Moonraker 123)
Source: Demos & outtakes from Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness plus a radio interview
Sound Quality: Very good to excellent studio recordings
Cover: Dark, fuzzy, and extremely hard to read. Not up to the usual Moonraker standards.
Tracklist: Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness/ Lily (My One and Only)/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Here is No Why/ Galapogos/ Instrumental/ Strolling (1979 demo). Ugly/ Wishing You Were/ Thirty-three/ Beautiful/ Interview
Comments: Fascinating stripped down acoustic versions make this disc a must have. Most of the demos feature just Corgan and his acoustic guitar. The interview isn’t wasted space either. Billy Corgan gives insights into the band and the audience actually asks more interesting than the DJs (KROQ Los Angeles). In fact, one of the jocks makes a complete ass out of himself by trying to be too cute and making a big issue out of Corgan’s new “no hair” look. Thankfully he turns the questions over to the listeners early in the interview.
Smashing Pumpkins: Tune In, Turn on, Rawk Out (Moonraker 115)
Venue: Various TV and radio appearances from the Mellon Collie tour: *Saturday Night Live 11/11/95, **Canal+ (French TV) 12/10/95, #The White Room (BBC) 1/96, ##American Music Awards 1/29/96, ^KROQ Breakfast Roadshow (LA, CA) 2/3/96, ^^Triple J Radioshow (Sydney, Australia) 3/13/96
Sound Quality: All excellent broadcast recordings
Cover: Very cool 10-page fold-out insert with lots of basic biographical information
Tracklist: Bullet With Butterfly Wings*/ Zero*/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings**/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings#/ 1979##/ 1979^/ Landslide^^/ Tonight Tonight^^/ 1979^^/ Cupid De Locke^^/ Thirty-Three^^/ Take Me Down^^/ To Forgive^^/ Muzzle^^/ Interview^^
Comments: Moonraker has managed to compile a complete cD from various short broadcasts that other companies are using for filler. This is probably the best way to get the acoustic broadcast from Sydney and to my knowledge, the KROQ track hasn’t appeared anywhere else. As they often do, Moonraker completes this CD with an interesting intervfiew that fans will find fascinating and scribes can use as reference material, but you probably won’t play it very often. The extensive repeating of songs on this will probably relegate it to fan and hard-core collector interest, but I play it a lot anyway and enjoy it every time.
Smashing Pumpkins: Exit Under Burning Skies (Wired Sounds WSCD 001)
Venue: Reading Festival, UK 8/25/95, *unknown bonus track
Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recording
Cover: Simple, but eye-appealing
Tracklist: Jellybelly/ Zero/ Today/ Disarm/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Rocket/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Siva/ Cherub Rock/ Mayonnaise/ X.Y.U./ Silverfuck*
Comments: The worldwide broadcast of the Chicago release party in October of ’95 may have been most people’s introduction to the music contained on Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness but the band actually had performed many of the songs several months earlier at the world famous Reading Music Festival. Wired Sounds’ version of the performance is the most complete and sonically pleasing to surface so far on CD. They’ve left most of the between-song banter intact and also added a broadcast version of “Silverfuck” (possibly BBC) to fill out the disc.
Smashing Pumpkins: Wrapped Up In The Pleasures of the World (KTS 542)
Venue: The Reading Festival, UK 8/25/95
Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recording. The mix is lacking when compared to later broadcasts of this tour.
Cover: Somebody at the KTS art department got a little over-zealous with their computer imaging.
Tracklist: Jellybelly/ Zero/ Today/ Disarm/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Rocket/ Thru the Eyes of Ruby/ Siva/ Chrub Rock/ Mayonnaise/ X.Y.U.
Comments: The KTS version of this show.
Smashing Pumpkins: Billy The Kid (Flying Tigers FTCD 079)
Venue: The Riviera, Chicago, Il 10/23/95
Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast
Cover: A collection of SP photos from different time periods.
Tracklist: Tonight Tonight/ Zero/ Today/ Disarm/ Fuck You (An Ode To No One)/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Geek U.S.A./ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Cherub Rock/ X.Y.U./ If You Want My Love/ Auf Weidersein (listed as Mayonnaise)
Comments: Yet another version of the Mellon Collie album release party. KTS, Oxygen, and Moonraker were all quick out of the chute with this show that leaves Flying Tiger playing the mop-up role. For the casual fan who missed out on the previous releases of this show, this version is now readily available at many bootleg outlets with an inferior cover – but there still is a hot show contained on the disc. Flying Tigers has made some odd choices in their editing, choosing to edit out the blackout that occurred near the start of the show. I guess Flying Tigers couldn’t find the last song on any Smashing Pumpkins album and weren’t familiar with the Cheap Trick song, so they just called it “Mayonnaise.” You can rest assured that Flying Tigers didn’t somehow score an unbroadcast version of “Mayonnaise” from this show. There is a level fluctuation in “Cherub Rock” that doesn’t appear in other versions of this show.
Smashing Pumpkins: Disconnect (Oxygen OXY 046)
Venue: The Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland 12/12/95, *Reading Festival 8/25/95, **Universal Amphitheater, 12/12/93 (says Europe ’95), +American Music Awards, Shrine Auditorium, LA, CA 1/29/96 ++Studio outtake 1995
Sound Quality: All excellent broadcast recordings except ** (very good audience) and ++ (very good studio
Cover: Typically professional job by Oxygen, listing tour dates from January to May 1996. We’ll forgive them for the error on the recording information for “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” We had to track that one down ourselves.
Tracklist: Jellybelly/ Zero/ Disarm/ Today/ Fuck You (Ode To No One)/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Where Boys Fear To Thread/ Cherub Rock/ X.Y.U./ Geek USA/ Silverfuck/ Siva*/ Mayonnaise*/ Rudulph The Red-Nosed Reindeer**/ 1979+/ Jackie Blue++
Comments: The primary feature here is the broadcast from the Milky Way (Melkweg). Although excellent in quality, the mix is a little substandard from that presented on the Rockpalast broadcast. “Rudolph” is more than a novelty. “Jackie Blue” is a cool cover of a song originally by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. However, this version is officially released as a non-lp b-side. High marks all around for this one, but still not pick of the litter.
Smashing Pumpkins: Twilight (Moonraker 039)
Venue: Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland, *Saturday Night Live 11/11/95, ** Canal (French TV), #unknown
Sound Quality: All excellent broadcast recordings
Cover: Another fine twist on the Mellon Collie artwork by Moonraker
Tracklist: Porcelina of the Vast Oceans#/ Jellybelly/ Zero/ Disarm/ Today Fuck You (Ode to No One)/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Where Boys Fear to Tread/ Cherub Rock/ X.Y.U./ Geek USA/ Silverfuck/ Zero*/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings*/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings**
Comments: “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” is not from the Amsterdam broadcast. Moonraker has edited onto the front of “Jellybelly” by starting the first notes during the feedback/fade-out of “Porcelina.” Anyone with a taped copy of the broadcast knows that it just didn’t happen that way. This practice of creating your own “unique” version is bogus and I wish these companies would stop doing it. However, I know some tape traders who make claims to “complete soundboard versions” of some broadcasts who court bootleg companies with their “insider” copies “straight from the soundboard” in exchange for money or copies of the finished product as payment. Sometimes the labels simply don’t know they’re getting bogus tapes and with Moonraker’s reputation for fine SP releases maybe the benefit of the doubt is deserved here. In any case – a pox on the house of the perpetrator of this hoax. Leave the shenanigans to the official labels.
Smashing Pumpkins: Dusk (Moonraker 063-64)
Venue: The Phoenix, Toronto, Canada 1/3/96
Sound Quality: Very good audience DAT recording
Cover: Moonraker uses the “magic show” theme for this one, but provide little more than a track listing and date. One of their weaker efforts.
Tracklist: 9(disc 1) Tonight Tonight/ In The Arms of Sleep/ Cupid De Locke/ Thirty-three/ Today/ Lily (My One and Only)/ Take Me Down/ Beautiful/ Rocket/ Galapogos (disc 2) Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness/ Where Boys Fear to Tread/ Zero/ Fuck You b(Ode To No One)/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ 1979/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Jellybelly/ Disarm/ Cherub Rock/ Geek USA/ X.Y.U./ Farewell & Goodnight
Comments: The complete show displays the band’s decision to expand the style of their live presentation past the all-out rock style of the record release party. Moonraker has come up with a fine audience recording from a part of the tour that hasn’t received much coverage elsewhere. The dynamics of a two-hour show prove to be more interesting than the truncated broadcasts, despite the less spectacular sound quality.
Smashing Pumpkins: Turpentine Kisses (KTS 531)
Venue: Sydney, Australia 3/13/96, *Reading Rock Feswtival, UK 8/25/95
Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recordings
Cover: Not up to the usual KTS standards and the catalogs are back in place after a short absence.
Tracklist: Landslide/ Tonight Tonight/ 1979/ Cupid De Locke/ Thirty-three/ Take Me Down/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ To Forgive/ Today*/ Disarm*/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings*/ Siva*/ Mayonnaise*/ Cherub Rock*
Comments: The Australia broadcast is acoustic. These shorter sets don’t usually hold up well against the longer shows but the acoustic performance offers something off-beat for the more serious fan. The Pumpkins have always been very adept at presenting excellent acoustic versions of even their hardest rockers. Check out the acoustic “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” done as a dirge. Very cool! Corgan may not like his own voice, but it works just great here. The six Reading Festival tracks are also available on another KTS release, Wrapped Up In the Pleasures of the World, making almost half of this disc worthless to fans who bought that one. “Landslide,” which opens other versions of the Sydney radio broadcast, is missing here.
Smashing Pumpkins: Secret Destroyers – Unplugged in Oz (Oxygen OXY 076)
Venue: Sydney, Australia 3/13/96, *live b-side, ** Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy 4/24/96
Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recordings
Cover: Attractive fold-open insert in typical Oxygen fashion with quotes from Billy and D’arcy
Tracklist: Landslide/ Tonight Tonight/ 1979/ Cupid De Locke/ Thirty-three/ Take Me Down/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ To Forgive/ Tonight Tonight*/ Zero**/ Fuck You (Ode to No One**/ To Forgive**/ By Starlight**/ Muzzle**/ Cherup Rock**/ Mayonnaise**/ Bodies**
Comments: Although different locations are listed on the KTS and Oxygen versions of the Sydney broadcast (KTS falsely states “The Request Lounge” and Oxygen correctly states “Triple J Studio) both of these releases feature the same performance. Some of the between-song commentary has been edited differently. The recording from Milan contains many splices and audience cross-fades. Almost all between-song banter has been deleted, running one song into the next with hardly a pause.
Smashing Pumpkins: (We Salute You) Naked Man (Oxygen OXY 068)
Venue: Philipshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany /7/96
Sound Quality: excellent broadcast recording
Cover: Outstanding effort this time on the part of Oxygen. Their liner notes are probably the best written for a Smashing Pumkins bootleg giving “the story so far.” A list of May 1996 tour dates is also included. A selection of cool photos is spread around the booklet and tray card, most coming from the Rockpalast TV broadcast from which this recording was pulled.
Tracklist: Tonight Tonight/ Zero/ Fuck You (Ode To No One)/ Today/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Disarm/ Muzzle/ Cherub Rock/ 1979/ X.Y.U.
Comments: The mix for this show was as good as any others that you may come across, but that is to be expected from a Rockpalast broadcast. The performance is equally dynamic and the long extended “rawk” ending to “Thru The Eyes of Ruby” is absolutely incredible. Consider this show the one to have if you’re having only one.
Smashing Pumpkins: Dawn (Moonraker 104)
Venue: Philipshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany 4/7/96
Sound Quality: Excelent broadcast quality
Cover: Almost as nice as the Oxygen release featuring this show. Lots of pictures from the Rockpalast broadcast including full frontal male nudity of “The Naked Man.” If you’re a prude, don’t open the booklet.
Tracklist: Tonight Tonight/ Jellybelly/ Fuck You (Ode to No One/ Today/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Disarm/ Muzzle/ Cherub Rock/ 1979/ X.Y.U.
Comments: Moonraker has chosen a slightly different track list is trimming this down to a single disc.
Smashing Pumpkins: Secrets of Your Dreams (KTS 545)
Venue: Philipshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany 4/7/96
Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recording
Cover: KTS covers are beginning to get a bit too arty with computer enhanced graphics but virtually no substance. But their covers still beat the hell out of those cheap one or two page inserts found on the vbudget labels.
Tracklist: Tonight Tonight/ Zero/ Fuck You (Ode To No One)/ Today/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Disarm/ Muzzle/ Cherub Rock/ 1979/ X.Y.U.
Comments: KTS has used the heaviest hand when editing this Rockpalast TV broadcast (4 minutes shorter than both the Oxygen and Moonraker versions) making it the least desirable of the versions available so far. This show may end up being one of the all time most bootlegged recordings, rankinf up there with Led Zeppelin’s 1971 BBC show, the Beatles 1966 Budokan show and Nirvana’s 2/94 Rome broadcast. And why not? It’s a great recording by a band that may be the late ‘90s most important.
Smashing Pumpkins: The Berlin Bullet (Moonraker 124/5)
Venue: The Arena, Berlin, Germany 4/1596
Sound Quality: Very good to excellent audience recording. Monoesque, but good dynamics. The interview is an excellent broadcast recording.
Cover: Elegant with attractive designs on the discs as well
Tracklist: (disc 1) Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness/ Tonight Tonight/ Zero Fuck You (Ode to No One)/ Here is No Why/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru the Eyes of Ruby/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Disarm/ By Starlight/ Geek USA/ Cherub Rock/ Muzzle (disc 2) 1979/ X.Y.U./ Interlude/ Today/ Mayonnaise/ Bodies/ Silverfuck/ Farewell and Goodnight/ Interview
Comments: A full concert with some great audience interaction from Corgan. He apologizes for comments about “Rudi,” a German football (soccer) striker that he made during the Rockpalast show a week earlier. Apparently Rudi didn’t have a very successful world cup. “Fairwell & Goodnight” makes a great set closer with a beautiful duet between Corgan and D’arcy. The Band seems to genuinely bond with this audience and also seem to grow closer as a band the longer the tour goes on. The unlisted interview that appears at the end of disc two is with a German commentator and again proves to be very interesting. It’s this kind of examination of the artist’s thoughts, motives, and driving forces that leads me to believe that these Moonraker releases come more from fan interest that simply an interest in profits.
Smashing Pumpkins: The Live Devine (Moonraker 12)
Venue: Tracks 1-4 are from the Brixton Academy, London, UK 5/15/96* and tracks 5-13 are from Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy 4/24/96. There is another unlisted interview segment at the conclusion of this disc.
Sound Quality: All excellent broadcast recordings.
Cover: Bizarro world photos of the band. Also included in the 12-page insert is a photo of the poster for the Brixton gig and a backstage pass.
Tracklist: Tonight Tonight*/ Cupid De Locke*/ Thirty-three*/ 1979*/ Tonight Tonight/ Fuck You (Ode to No One)/ By Starlight/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Cherub Rock/ X.Y.U./ Mayonnaise/ Bodies/ Silverfuck/ Interview
Comments: A very cool Hawaiian style guitar is featured in “Tonight Tonight” during the Brixton show. It’s very prominent in the mix. The Milan recording features different tracks than what appeared on Secret Destroyers (Oxygen) but the between song edits are still cut very tightly. It makes it appear as if the band is racing to the finish. The interview featured on this disc is with British radio and Corgan explains in no uncertain terms the band’s problems with the British media.
Smashing Pumpkins: Fishing Blue (Mic Records MIC 150)
Venue: The first 13 tracks are a re-scrambling of songs found 0n the Shine bootleg (Bullseye CD-EYE-05). The source is Madison, WI 6/16/90 and 10/16/91. “Hello Kitty Kat,” “Today,” and “Obscured” are from official singles.
Sound Quality: The manufacturer as re-eq’d everything on this disc to bad effect. The result is a harsh sounding disc which fluctuates in quality.
Cover: Ugly and irrelevant.
Comments: A look at the early Pumpkins but the manufacturer has botched this one so badly that it isn’t even worth the price of a bad cup of coffee.
Smashing Pumpkins: Tribute to BOC (Sugarcane SC 52004)
Venue: Cambridge, MA 2/9/91
Sound Quality: Harsh and distorted audience recording
Cover: bare bones picture of D’arcy
Tracklist: Ride On/ Siva/ Rhinocerous/ Bury Me/ I am One/ Window Paine/ Snail/ Slunk/ Tristessa/ Godzilla
Comments: Another audience recording that has been eq’d into an ear-piercing mess. You’d have to be a masochist to listen to this one with any kind of regularity. Skip it.
Smashing Pumpkins: Retrospective (Sugarcane SC 52019/20)
Venue: Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ 2/8/91, Madison, WI 6/16/90*, Toer Records, Chicago, IL 7/26/93**, Milwaukee, WI 10/22/91+
Sound Quality: The Maxwell’s show is another distorted audience recording from Sugarcane. Ditto, Madison. The Tower Records show is a very good FM broadcast that has been done better and the Milwaukee show is a decent audience recording, but with Sugarcane’s typical eq flubs.
Cover: Grainy photo of James Iha.
Tracklist: (disc 1) Tritessa/ Ride On/ Rhinoceros/ Bury Me/ I am One/ Window Paine/ Siva/ Godzilla/ Tritessa*/ Snail*/ Rhinoceros*/ I am One* (disc 2) Rocket**/ Cherub Rock**/ Today**/ Mayonnaise**/ Hummer**/ Blue+/ Siva+/ Smiley+/ Suffer+
Comments: A cheap and not very impressive package.
Smashing Pumpkins: We Can Work It Out (Vivid Sound Productions VSP 51009)
Comments: Vivid Sound Productions are the same people that bring you Sugarcane Records and this is just a duplication of disc 2 of Retrospective. Mark under scam. The cover sucks just as bad, too.
Smashing Pumpkins: Daydream Kisses (Hawk 013)
Venue: Whiskey A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA 12/12/91
Sound Quality: Good to very good audience recording. Some loud mouths and screamers in the audience.
Cover: Unflattering grouping of pictures
Tracklist: Rocket/ Bury Me/ Window Paine/ Snail/ Siva/ Drown/ I am One/ Crush/ Silverfck
Comments: Not the most enjoyable audience recording you will ever hear, but with so many bad ones from this period finding their way onto CD, this might not be a bad one to pick up. Contains some good extended versions. File this one under “average” for both performance and fidelity.
Smashing Pumpkins: Versions (Not Guilty NG480594)
Venue: States “live in USA” but some of these tracks are from Europe.
Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recordings
Cover: Cheapo cheapo with nothing to do with this band
Tracklist: Cherub Rock/ Disarm/ Rocket/ Cherub Rock/ Today/ Disarm/ Spaceboy/ Dancing In The Moonlight/ Rocket/ Quiet/ Today/ Rhinoceros/ Geek USA/ I am One/ Disarm/ Cherub Rock
Comments: A copy of the Mayonnaise Dream (KTS), an excellent bootleg which didn’t give source information either. Acostic and electric broadcast recordings.
Smashing Pumpkins: Dream (Moonraker 138)
Venue: Crosby Auditorium, San Diego, CA 102693
Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recording, the mix is a little dense
Cover: Attractive 8-page fold-out insert which gives the entire tour schedule for 1993 & 1994
Tracklist: Geek USA/ Rocket/ Today/ Disarm/ Drown/ Hummer/ Quiet/ Cherub Rock/ Mayonnaise/ Bury Me
Comments: While every other company is jumping on the latest broadcasts of Mellon Collie gigs, Moonraker is also digging for older archival material such as this recent release. To my knowledge, this one hasn’t surfaced on any other bootleg. The band’s dynamics are still not as well developed as on later shows and the Pumpkins basically try to pulverize their audience with volume on this one. However, Corgan’s fabulous sense of melody doe emerge on songs such as “Today,” “Dream,” and of course “Cherub Rock.”
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