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Smashing Pumpkins - Greatest Hits Video Collection 
Actors : The Smashing Pumpkins
Studio : Virgin Records Us
by Virgin Records Us
Release Date : 2001-11-20
Publisher : Virgin Records Us
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0724347791291
UPC : 724347791291
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 100 reviews)
List Price : $19.98
Our Price : $10.49
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Description |
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The Smashing Pumpkins' "Greatest Hits" features 20 videos and live performances, behind the scenes footage, and one never-before-released song. Songs: Siva, Rhinoceros, Cherub Rock, Today, Disarm, Rocket, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 1979, Zero, Tonight Tonight, Thirty-Three, Ava Adore, Perfect, The Everlasting Gaze, Stand Inside Your Love, Try Try Try, Geek USA, An Ode to No One, I Am One, Try, Untitled. |
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SMASHING PUMPKINS VIDEO COLLECTION |
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I purchased this DVD for my son who has wanted it for some time. He is thoroughly enjoying it. It helps him to pass the time while he is serving with the Army! |
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Farewell and Goodnight |
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The Smashing Pumpkins as they existed during the height of their greatness (i.e. NOT 2008 and on) remains to be my favorite band. Luckily, the pumpkins were able to produce beautifully relevant videos that were able to perfectly complement their music. This band in both the visual and audio sense, has been able to acheive greatness. I can honestly say I love all their videos. My favorites include: Tonight,Tonight, thirty-three, and stand inside your love. Also, some of the commentary is quite funny. Love it love it :) |
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"As the curtain falls we bid you all goodnight." |
Released as a companion piece to the greatest hits CD Rotten Apples, the Pumpkins' video collection showcases the promotional music videos for all of the bands' commercial singles during their first period of activity, between 1989 and 2000 (with the exception of `The End is the Beginning is the End') with a dose of extras to boot.
Although the medium of music video continues to be viewed with antipathy by some (most notably Pearl Jam during the 90s), the videos of the Smashing Pumpkins for the most part succeed in exposing the specious rationale of many elitists. Although admittedly far too few bands approach the medium with a mindset of wishing to expand upon or enhance the emotional content and/or ideological implications of the actual song itself, this is not a charge that could be levelled at the Smashing Pumpkins, and despite some of their formative videos (`Siva' and `Rhinoceros' from 1991's Gish [itself titled in homage to silent film star Lilian Gish]) lacking the sufficient funding and scope to adequately elucidate their artistic aspirations, they quite deliberately distanced themselves from the intentionally artless approach of their peers.
As many believe to be the case with his songcraft, Billy Corgan's aptitude for visuals and narrative appear to reach zenith around the Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness-era (1995/96) - abetted by Virgin's financial backing following the success of Siamese Dream (1993) - with the band flouting the poverty/decadence dyad in the diamond mine-set video for `Bullet With Butterfly Wings'; or wryly espousing the transitory, conformist rebellion of adolescence in `1979' (and it's sister-song `Perfect' from 1998's Adore); or tracing the processes of cinema back to it's theatrical beginnings in the monumental Méliès-inspired video for `Tonight, Tonight'; to dismantling the very apparatus of film for `Thirty-Three' which is comprised entirely of photographic stills. The gothic video for `Ava Adore' (Adore) is perhaps the most technically and stylistically impressive however, shot to a huge budget ($1million+, which was ultimately exceeded) in what is apparently a single take though incorporating both speeded up and slowed down sequences that demanded the band (minus drummer Jimmy Chamberlin following his drug-enforced exile) appearing to lip-sync in time with the song.
The preceding videos (from Siamese Dream) include the iconic surrealist-Americana `Today' and psychedelic `Cherub Rock', as well as a non-commercial release promo for `Rocket'; whereas Corgan cathartically throws caution to the wind in the face of the band's imminent demise on the Salomé (Oscar Wilde, 1891)-inspired `Stand Inside Your Love' from 2000's MACHINA/The Machines of God, alluding in particular to Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations of the play (1894) in terms of aesthetic.
Although you can't beat the sound and image quality of the DVD, the rise of YouTube now means that the videos are far more accessible than they originally were, meaning that not many will now approach this set having not seen the videos in years. The commentary tracks however, are engrossing with both his own remarks and the testimony of various directors consolidating the celebrated image of Corgan as an auteur. As ever, Billy is refreshingly honest about the highlights and disappointments of each of the videos, avoiding tedious diplomacy (a trait which has seen him constantly labelled an egomaniac throughout his career) but also shouldering his share of responsibility for certain failings. Disappointingly, bassist D'arcy has no involvement in the commentaries but Jimmy Chamberlin and (second guitarist) James Iha colour Corgan's more analytical observations with amusing asides and unassuming critique.
The highlights of the DVD extras include a ferocious performance of `An Ode to No One' from the `final' Metro show and a hidden candid in-studio montage video for `Untitled' (accessible by selecting `Extras' from the main menu and pressing the Left button on your DVD remote, and also through Windows Media Player), as well as the fact that there are a multitude of alternative ways to view and listen to each video (original/outtakes/documentary). One negative is that the Jonas Åkerlund short film `Try' (an extension of the `Try, Try, Try' video) is a tepid inclusion of little consequence to the set, but hey - if the DVD set out to please everyone it would be no good at all. |
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Great dvd |
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Nice collection of all SP music videos as well as commentary and documentaries on the making of each video. A must-have for any Smashing Pumpkins fan! |
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An excellent video retrospective |
The Smashing Pumpkins' 1991-2000 Greatest Hits Video Collection includes all of the band's music videos, as well as a couple of extras (one of these extras being the video for "Untitled," which only appears on the disc as a hidden "Easter Egg"). The DVD is split into the following categories: "Gish" ("Siva" and "Rhinoceros"), "Siamese Dream" ("Cherub Rock," "Today" (which includes an introduction to the video that wasn't aired on MTV), "Disarm," and "Rocket"), "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" ("Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "1979," "Zero," "Tonight, Tonight," and "Thirty-Three"), "Adore" ("Ava Adore" and "Perfect"), "Machina" ("The Everlasting Gaze," "Stand Inside Your Love," and "Try, Try, Try"), "Live" ("Geek USA" and "An Ode To No One"), and "Extras" (a previously unreleased video for "I Am One," and a short film by Jonas Akerlund called "Try," which includes footage that appears in the "Try, Try, Try" video).
The videos are split up into their respective albums, and each link includes the video plus either outtakes or a documentary (with two exceptions: "Rocket," which is the music video and the "performance cut" of the video and "Try, Try, Try," which is only the video). For the audio, you can choose either the music for the video or an audio commentary (the video for "1979" actually has two audio commentaries). The videos with documentaries are "1979," "Tonight, Tonight," "Thirty-Three," "Ava Adore," "Perfect," and "Stand Inside Your Love." For the live tracks, only "Geek USA" includes an audio commentary. The audio commentaries and the documentaries were very well done; both of them explained the ideas behind the videos, what happened behind the scenes, and also explained some of the techniques used for filming the videos. For the audio commentaries, the only thing I didn't like was the fact that only three of the original band members (Billy, James, and Jimmy) did the commentaries; I wish D'Arcy had been involved with that. For the outtakes, there were some videos where it was very hard to tell that any outtakes were includes; it looked more like you were seeing the music video again.
When you first put in the disc, the opening contains images from the various videos cut together, with a "TV static" effect. While this introduction is kind of interesting, it does run a little on the long side; I tend to skip ahead to the main menu. The menu interface can be a bit cumbersome at times, although I understand the reason why the menus are done as they are.
Overall, this is a very well-done DVD video collection, and I would highly recommend it to a Smashing Pumpkins fan. This disc would also be good to show someone who isn't familiar with the band, so they could see the various aspects of the group throughout their career. |
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