"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" avoids the pitfalls of many double albums -- too much filler, too few good songs, not enough of the good stuff. Instead, this is in the spirit of the Beatles' "White Album" or Pink Floyd's "The Wall." Billy Corgan's tight writing and the Smashing Pumpkins's brilliant instrumentation make this sweeping double album a must-have.

The first disc, "Dawn to Dusk," builds up slowly with a mournful piano song, only to bounce into the sweeping "Tonight Tonight." Forming the rest are sizzling rockers ("Jellybelly," "Zero"), sparkling softer songs ("Cupid De Locke"), and quiet alt-rock ("Galapagos") and a few songs that stray into unknown musical turf (the sweeping ten minute "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans"). "Take Me Down" ends the first disc on the same quiet note that it began on.

Second disc "Twilight To Starlight" starts off on a very different foot. Jerky guitar riffs and drumming start off, sounding like a warm up, before exploding into the solid "Where Boys Fear To Tread." Having gotten that over with, Corgan and Co. switch into a somewhat quieter collection: gentle acoustics ("Thirty-Three," "Stumbleine," the sweet "In the Arms of Sleep"), catchy alt-rock (new-wavey "1979," "Thru The Eyes of Ruby"), blistering hard rock ("Tales of a Scorched Earth," "XYU"). The gentle "Farewell and Goodnight" rounds off the double album on a quiet note.

"Mellon Collie" has just about every kind of music you can hope to find -- ballads, prog, metal, alt-rock, and so on. A handful of songs feel superfluous, but the vast majority of them just feel like a musical quilt. That is, two musical quilts. The tone of each disc is quite different, with "Dawn to Dusk" being a rockier album more in tune with the past Pumpkins releases. "Twilight To Starlight" has a more experimental, sad feel.

Billy Corgan's reedy voice weaves seamlessly into the complex music, singing songs about loneliness, pessimism and longing for love. His songwriting is exceptional here ("breathing under water, and living under glass..."); his style is best described as poetry set to music. James Iha also dips into songwriting with "Take Me Down" and cowritten "Farewell and Goodnight." Guitar riffs both furious and gentle, sweeping strings, piano, Chamberlin's percussion and D'arcy's good bass work move up and down the scale, from soft to scathing.

With its epic music and tight lyrics, "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" is madly brilliant and among the best work that the Smashing Pumpkins did. Dark, sweet, sad, and angry, this is a modern classic.

When Smashing Pumpkins first came out with the Bullet With Butterfly Wings video, I was 11 years old and my first thought was "Holy S*** this guy is mad!" From then on I had the impression that Smashing Pumpkins were supposed to be a heavy metal band. I used to only listen to the "heavy" songs and the ones that radio played. It was only in my last couple years that I rediscovered this CD and realized how much of a true masterpiece it is, and one of the greatest CD's to ever grace my CD player. Billy Corgan, whether you love him or hate him, is an AMAZING songwriter. His voice may not be that great, but this CD is overpouring with emotion. During the 2 and a half hours of this double set, you go through so many highs and lows, you are left breathless at the end. Smashing Pumpkins were something unique back in their day. This CD was released the year after Cobain died, and it is one of the few I can remember that WASN'T a Nirvana copycat. Smashing Pumpkins have always been a part of my musical life, and I think if you don't own this album already, you REALLY need to go out there and get yourself a copy.

Although a shade less brilliant than Siamese Dream in my book, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness is a magnificent 28-song opus spanning 2-CDs and a multitude of musical styles. At times, the disparate influences and diversity between tracks cause some sprawling, unfocused tracks, but all in all, it's akeeper. One of the great acheivements of the 1990's, that probably won't(and shouldn't) be ever replicated or attempted.

The first disc, Dawn To Dusk, has more of the radio hits. The sweeping, orchestral "Tonight, Tonight," the heavy grunge of "Zero," and the famous 'rat in a cage' line of "Bullet With Butterfly Wings." Other highlights are the rockers "Jellybelly," and "Ode To No One," and the soft, epic soothing songs "Galapogos," and "Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans."

The second disc, Twilight To Starlight, is harder to digest in that many songs are softer than on Disc 1. "1979" is found here, a 90's new-wave song. Other highlights are: the other Disc 2 hit, "33," the epic rockers "Bodies," "Tales Of A Scorched Earth," "X.Y.U.", and a plethora of other tracks consisting of lifting, grand, and sweeping design--all done in the Smashing Pumpkins' signature style. Billy Corgan's high-pitched whine of a singing voice, James Iha's textured guitar, D'Arcy's supporting bass lines, and Jimmy Chamberlain's intricate, progressive, technical drumming.

Just by reading the song titles and their cryptic lyrics, looking at the front and back of the mammoth CD case, and the pictures inside the two booklets, I get a feeling of magic and wonder. A feeling of surrealism, as if this is more than just a piece of music. It's art. More so to me than any Tool or Pink Floyd album. Each person is entitled to their own interpretation. You can find the music boring, or Corgan's voice annoying, or the whole thing too long. It might be laughable to compare it to Pink Floyd or Tool. Fine. But you'll never know until you try it...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know, Billy Corgan's an arrogant jerk who can't sing...insert your favorite nit-pick here. The juggernaut that is MCIS will roll right over them and never even notice. We're talking about 28 songs, nearly two-and-a- half hours of music here. Even back in '95 it was a gutsy move; double-albums do for most bands' album sales what the Jonestown Kool-Aid did for kid's soft drinks. But the ever-dysfunctional Pumpkins pulled it off in grand style, even dethroning the so-called King of Pop in sales.
Musically, this album is all over the map, covering basically every impulse the Pumpkins have ever even hinted at in their previous two albums. Want alt-rock? MCIS offers up the moody, blistering "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and the surging, groovy "1979". Metal? Try the menacing "XYU" or the defiant "An Ode to No One" or the blitzkrieg "Bodies". Glam rock? The gorgeous "Thru The Eyes of Ruby" or the arena rock anthem "Muzzle" sparkle like sequins on Ziggy Stardust's stiletto heels. Prog rock? "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" has the kind of weird time signatures and start-stop dynamics that would make Rush green with envy. Tripped out, psychedelic ballads? The swooning "Beautiful" and the playful "Cupid de Locke" should satisfy your sweet tooth. Oh and there's James Iha's shimmering, lovely twin contributions of "Take Me Down" and "Farewell and Goodnight". And let's not forget "Where Boys Fear to Tread", which sounds like the soundtrack to some sort of weird vampire motorcycle gang movie as directed by Joel Shumacher during his Batman tenure. And the industrial bite and scratch of "Love" and the subtle "In The Arms of Sleep" And...Well, you get the point.
Nirvana may have been the most talked-about and critically celebrated, Pearl Jam the most earnest, and Soundgarden the hardest but for sheer substance, for my money, even their best works can't hold a candle to what the Pumpkins achieved on MCIS. It's a feast for the ears and easily one of rock's true masterpieces.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is a flawless example of an epic. Rather than an epic book or movie, it's an epic rock album. It has many facets and they all shine brilliantly, like a diamond held up to the light. Ranging from screaming brutal metal (Zero) to soft melodic beauty (Galapogos), this album has it all.

Some of the highlights from the first disc, Dawn to Dusk: "Tonight, Tonight" is one the best songs of the 90s, period. "Jellybelly" is uptempo, albeit heavy and distorted. "Zero" is a brilliant, VERY dark rock song. "Here is no Why" is unbearably catchy and has some great (and a bit funny) lyrics. "Bullet with a Butterfly Wings" is very heavy and hits like a bat out of hell. "An Ode to No One" is dark and distorted. "Love" captures the emotion very well, but still manages to be very much a hard rock song and is almost techo-oriented. "Galapogos" is soft and beautiful. "Muzzle" is, in my opinion (and Billy's apparently) the best song on the album. The title of this review is a line from the song. I also think it's one of the best songs the Pumpkins have ever made. Great lyrics and searing melody. Amazing.

The second disc, Twilight to Starlight, is also very good. "Bodies" is a very emotional, screaming rock song. "Thirty-Three" is quite a change, slower and less heavy, but very good. "1979" is a classic. "Tales of a Scorched Earth" is a bit incomprehensible, but has (In My Humle Opinion) some of the most effective lyrics Billy has ever written - they're very blunt and powerful. "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" is indescribably beautiful. "X.Y.U." is vicious anger translated into song form. Very strong.

Although on later albums (actually only Machina as of now), the Pumpkins have manages to fuse the soft songs and the heavier ones together into one. Even so, Mellon Collie stands as a beautiful piece of art and an amazing portrait of youth. I think youth is really the theme of the album, and it's almost a concept album about life from birth to death. Buy it - NOW.