The Aeroplane Flies High

Amazon.com A five-disc set of all the singles from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, plus their B-sides, outtakes and a bunch of covers, The Aeroplane Flies High is the Pumpkins' rock OD. Bloated? Of course it's bloated. Bloat is the idea. But, for those who are fascinated with Billy Corgan's mind already, it's a curious glance at the man behind the curtain: There are some perfectly good rockers that were excluded from Mellon Collie only because there were already functionally equivalent songs on it; there's the insane 23-minute "Pastichio Medley" of half-grown riffs and works-in-progress, and, in covers of Cars, The Cure, and Missing Persons songs, there are hints of the new wave ideas at the Pumpkins' heart. --Douglas Wolk