Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness is turning the big 3-0 this year, and Smashing Pumpkins are celebrating with a deluxe reissue this November. In addition to the seminal double album's original tracklist, the reissue will feature 80 minutes of recently-uncovered recordings from the band's 1996 tour.
The physical editions of the Mellon Collie reissue include a limited-edition 6xLP box set, new liner notes in a hardbound book, a custom tarot card deck, and seven framable lithographs, which all come in a velvet slipcase with a cloth carrying bag. It'll also be available in both a four-disc deluxe edition CD and a 4CD SHM-CD package, featuring new liner notes from Billy Corgan.
One of those previously unreleased live recordings, "Geek U.S.A.," is out today as a preview. Here's what Corgan has to say in a press release:
Unearthing these live recordings from the original lineup’s true, last large-scale tour was a labour of love, and for me certainly a bittersweet as once we blew apart in 1996, we were never quite the same: be it emotionally, or spiritually. Thankfully, I can say this as the band is now enjoying our greatest public success since that time, and one can hear in these tapes the raw power that such nascent faith afforded us, then, and the will and wisdom to persevere that followed.
The Pumpkins will also celebrate Mellon Collie’s 30th with a series of special shows at Chicago's Lyric Opera, spanning Nov. 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, and 30. Those performances will see Corgan sing along with some newly commissioned orchestral arrangements of Mellon Collie classics. (The band is also doing a Mellon Collie-themed collaboration with Vosges Haut-Chocolat this month, if sweet treats are more your thing.) Check out the "Geek U.S.A." performance from January 1996 below.
In other Corgan news, he's just crowned the next generation's Elton John:
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (30th Anniversary Edition) is out 11/21 via Universal. Pre-order it here.
