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. 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 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.

There is also a bonus disc here: "Judas O," the follow-up to B-sides collection "Pisces Iscariot." Like its predecessor, "Judas O" is a collection so solid that it outshines many proper albums, containing B-sides to "Machina/The Machines of God," "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," and the rare "Machina II," as well as some truly outstanding new songs. They range from gentle acoustics to explosive guitars, and reaffirm that even the discards from the Pumpkins are of excellent quality.

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. For that, "Judas O" takes over.

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. That versatility is one of the things that made the Pumpkins so outstanding.

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." The best-of disc is a good look at their work, but it's "Judas O" which makes this a must-have.

I was more than happy when the Smashing Pumpkins came out with a greatest hits record. The CD "Rotten Apples" comes complete with all of the classic Pumpkins songs from over the years.

From their first CD "Gish", you have the songs Siva and Rhinoceros.
From "Siamese Dream", you've got Cherub Rock, Today, and Disarm.
From the disc of B-Sides, "Pisces Iscariot", there is the cover of the Fleetwood Mac song, Landslide.
From "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness", there is Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Tonight Tonight, 1979, and Zero.
From "Adore", you have Ava Adore and Perfect.
From "Machina/The Machines of God", there is The Everlasting Gaze and Stand Inside your Love
And two songs not released on Pumpkins CD's in the past but put on other soundtrack albums are Drown and Eye.

Some other bright spots are the two previously unreleased tracks that close the album, Real Love and Untitled. Real Love sounds much like the version put on the Machina II album, and internet release that many fans never got to hear. Untitled is a very strong track and a good closing track that has the radio-friendly sound the band masters at.

If you were lucky to get the Bonus CD of rarities and b-sides also known as Judas-O with your Rotten Apples disc, you will most definately enjoy the over 15 previously unreleased songs, that is just as good as the greatest hits disc and is sure to be a hit itself.

The Smashing Pumpkins have come a long way since their first album, and you can listen to the growth and change in sound over the years throughout this disc. It is well worth the money and even if you're not a Pumpkins fan yet or are thinking of giving them a listen, go with this CD, it is sure to be a favorite in your collection for years to come.

When making a Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits collection, the question isn't what to include, it is what you are forced to leave off. The Pumpkins have one of the most diverse portfolios in the history of music, especially considering that the band was only around for about nine years. On one end, you have the grunge-and-punk influenced sounds of Gish, to the acid-rock of Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie, and the electronica of the Chamberlain-free Adore. Add to that several singles from movie soundtracks and the real gems in the Pumpkins' crown - their incredible b-sides - and compiling a Greatest Hits collection becomes a Herculean task.

Thankfully for die-hards and casual fans like, this collection manages to get it just about right. A two-disc set that's rumored to have a limited run, Greatest Hits features all the major singles on its first disc, Rotten Apples, and a healthy dose of b-sides and unreleased stuff on the second, Judas-O. The so-called "radio singles" make up most of Rotten Apples, and these are the songs that most people will instantly recognize - the songs that, rightly, made the Pumpkins famous. There aren't any major, glaring omissions here, although I can hear the fanboys from here yelling, "Why didn't they include x?"

Perhaps the fanboys should take note of the second disc, which collects some of the best b-sides stuff the Pumpkins put out. I've been telling people ever since I first heard the band right before Siamese Dream that the Pumpkins really are a b-side band; some of their very best stuff is also some of their hardest-to-locate stuff. I have my own complaints about omissions - as far as I'm concerned, the entire Zero single could have been included here - but, all in all, it's a satisfying helping. There are several unreleased tracks on here that will probably become nothing but a footnote to Pumpkins history, but they should be given their due.

I have a feeling that, as time progresses, Rotten Apples and Judas-O well become to the Pumpkins what Hot Rocks! was to the Rolling Stones: the summary collection that people of future generations will turn to when they want to add the band to their music collection. Although diehards will shake their heads and proudly spin their copies of Bullet Train to Osaka, the bottom line is that we couldn't ask for a much better representation of one of the greatest musical acts of all time. If, one day, your kid comes home with this album firmly tucked under arm and you still have a complaint about something missing, remember, that's what CD burners are for.

As a fan of every Pumpkins record in varient degrees, I have always seen the Pumpkins as an album band rather than a singles band. Sure, they released great singles but those songs were always better in the context of the records that housed them. So I initially felt that a Pumpkins greatest hits record would be pretty useless. But to my surprise, "Greatest Hits" works surprisinngly well as a record onto itself.
You pretty much know what you are going to get here. You get all the major Pumpkins singles from the mid-ninties such as "Today", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "Tonight, Tonight", in addition to a few lesser known singles("Stand Inside Your Love", "Thirty Three"), a couple of new tracks("Real Love" and "Untitled", neither of which assist the Pumpkins legacy) and a few question marks, both good(the inclusion of "Eye" from the "Lost Highway" soundtrack is a cool choice) to the not-so-good("Siva" instead of the excellent "I Am One", not inclduing "The End is the Beginning is The End", an excellent song from the otherwise worthless "Batman and Robin" soundtrack). But what is so surprising is how well all the songs fit togather.
The arena heavy hits like "Rocket" and "Zero" sit perfectly next to quieter ballads like "Disarm" and the Pumpkins good cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" next to electro-pop ditties like "1979", "Ava Adore" and "Perfect". This is a definte compliment to the songwritting of Corgan, who fits nearly every song on here with a memeorable melody and mood and this helps the feel of the record better. Where most greatest hits records feel scattershot this one gels togather surprisngly well which is all the more shocking because of the scope and ambition of Corgan's songwritting.
If you can find it, this C.D. was origanelly released with a second disc of B-Sides, odds and ends and tracks from the "Machina 2" record that was only released online(this second disc was the reason I purchased this record), and most of the songs on this disc show another side of the Pumpkins, a more ambitious and artsy side that their singles rarely showed(a few albums tracks on the greatest hits might have helped with this). Though the disc, called "Judas O", is a bit scattershot, it is still an excellent addition to your C.D. collection.
Obviously "Greatest Hits" was released for casuel fans and future generations of people who didn't grow up with the Smashing Pumpkins constatnly blaring out of their radio speakers. I can respect this. This disc wasn't made for the die-hard fans like myself. But surprisngly, this disc works well for anyone who likes the Pumpkins. And that is a true testament to the Pumpkins song.

Smashing Pumpkins were the one of the most definitive alternative bands of the 90's. They provided songs that were complex, yet fans could relate to them. They provided songs that will forever be remembered. They were an amazing band. However, in the late 90's, into the new millenium, music was changing, and the future plan didn't seem to have a place for the Smashing Pumpkins. Their last studio album, MACHINA: THE MACHINES OF GOD, was one of the best albums from their catalog, its my favorite, yet it didn't get any promotion from their label and didn't fare too well in terms of sales, which is a shame. At the end of 2000, the Smashing Pumpkins broke up. Maybe it was because D'Arcy quit the group shortly around MACHINA, or maybe it was because they didn't feel they fit with the music of today, but whatever the cause, it was a great shame to lose an amazing band.

GREATEST HITS spans the 10 year career of this band. The Limited Edition features two discs, disc one "Rotten Apples" which is their Greatest Hits, and disc two is "Judas O", a bsides and rarities album. For JUDAS O alone, its worth getting. ROTTEN APPLES includes many hits from their albums GISH, SIAMESE DREAM, MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS, ADORE and MACHINA: THE MACHINES OF GOD. As well included, is the cover of the Fleetwood Mac song "Landslide", the collab with Marilyn Manson "Eye", from the LOST HIGHWAY SOUNDTRACK, and two unreleased tracks "Real Love", and "Untitled", which was their last song ever recorded.

JUDAS O features some amazing bsides, that well deserved to be on the albums. It further reminds me what an amazing musician/songwriter Billy Corgan is. This one is definately worth checking out, the highlights include "Sparrow", "Lucky 13", "Because You Are", and many others. Its worth buying the CD for this limited CD! Overall this is a nice career retrospective, my only complaint is they did not include "Thirty Three" on the ROTTEN APPLES disc, but other than that it's flawless. A nice reminder of what an amazing band the Smashing Pumpkins were, a good retrospective of their career, and a reminder of what great music is.