The Smashing Pumpkins Release Vinyl Box Set Of Album 'The Aeroplane Flies High'
Thursday, 04 July 2013
Written by Jon Stickler
As part of the continuing series of reissues of the Smashing Pumpkins' acclaimed catalogue via Virgin/UMe, the iconic alternative band is set to release four separate versions, all fully remastered, of their platinum-selling 1996 box set 'The Aeroplane Flies High': 6-CD +1 DVD; 5-LPs and Deluxe Digital and Standard Digital editions. The CD/DVD, 5-LP version and digital configurations will be released July 23.
The original 'The Aeroplane Flies High' was a five-disc box set that featured expanded versions of singles from their acclaimed 1995 double album 'Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness', including Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 1979, Zero, Tonight and Thirty-Three. 'Mellon Collie...' achieved Diamond certification by the RIAA for sales of 10,000,000 discs and digital equivalent per disc (five million copies of the double album).
These new limited edition box sets of 'The Aeroplane Flies High' feature the original 33 track version— remastered by Bob Ludwig — and expanded to 104 tracks (90 audio and 14 audio-visual) encompassing unreleased demos, alternative versions and live recordings. In addition to expanded versions of Aeroplane’s original five discs, a sixth disc contains live recordings from the 1996 Mellon Collie tour, while the DVD content is taken from a July, 4 1997, performance in Belfort, France. Included is a 46-page book with liner notes written by David Wild, plus extensive track-by-track notes by founder-singer-songwriter-guitarist Billy Corgan—for the original release’s 33 tracks. The box set has unique packaging with embossed foil wrap and twinkle stock for jackets. To view the full tracklisting of each box set and DVD, visit smashingpumpkins.com
As David Wild writes: “The Aeroplane Flies High is a trip, and perhaps fittingly for Billy Corgan, it was an exciting, exhausting and scary one that reveals a lot about the Smashing Pumpkins at this point in their musical journey.”
Notes Corgan in the 46-page book: “What I like about The Aeroplane Flies High is that it’s almost the existential backwater of the Mellon Collie album. Listening to the music gathered here is a little bit like seeing what goes on behind the walls of Disneyland. I’ve always been fascinated with places that are very well constructed, and finding out what’s really going on just over the fence. You look over that gate and notice that things on the other side are not well painted—or maybe you spot that guy dressed as some character sneaking a smoke on his break. At least for me, the behind the scenes feel heard on The Aeroplane Flies High represents something revealing not found on the main album. In retrospect, it’s a nice document of how we arrived at the apex of Mellon Collie—and also what standing on that apex did to us personally.”
The Aeroplane Flies High follows 2011’s acclaimed reissues of the band’s groundbreaking first two albums, 'Gish' (1991) and 'Siamese Dream' (1993), as well as 2012’s 'Pisces Iscariot' (1994), the band’s third album, as well as their fourth album, 'Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness' (1995).
As The Smashing Pumpkins get the fully remastered treatment via these reissues, the band is excited to be moving forward by creating new music. They will soon start recording the follow-up to 2012’s acclaimed album 'Oceania' (Martha’s Music/EMI Label Services/Caroline Distribution).
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The original 'The Aeroplane Flies High' was a five-disc box set that featured expanded versions of singles from their acclaimed 1995 double album 'Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness', including Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 1979, Zero, Tonight and Thirty-Three. 'Mellon Collie...' achieved Diamond certification by the RIAA for sales of 10,000,000 discs and digital equivalent per disc (five million copies of the double album).
