Greatest Hits

1	Siva 4:21
2	Rhinoceros 5:53
3	Drown 4:30
4	Cherub Rock 4:59
5	Today 3:22
6	Disarm 3:18
7	Landslide 3:10
8	Bullet With Butterfly Wings 4:17
9	1979 4:23
10	Zero 2:41
11	Tonight, Tonight 4:15
12	Eye 4:54
13	Ava Adore 4:21
14	Perfect 3:22
15	The Everlasting Gaze 4:02
16	Stand Inside Your Love 4:13
17	Real Love previously unreleased 4:10
18	Untitled previously unreleased 3:51

Barnes & Noble

Billy Corgan has always fueled his music with dichotomy: His dueling drives -- grandiosity and self-loathing -- are what propelled his songs and what connected his Smashing Pumpkins to their disenfranchised audience. This nicely constructed collection traces these qualities throughout the Pumpkins' career. At the band's onset, Corgan was clearly gunning for the top spot on Rock's Most Alienated list, and songs like the white-knuckled angst anthem "Cherub Rock" quickly vaulted him to that apex. Over the course of the decade that followed, Corgan and company covered plenty of ground, airing out beatific melodies like "Today" alongside churning rockers like "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" -- and even dipping into the well of pure pop for ditties like "1979" and their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide." The first disc winds down with the previously unissued track "Untitled." The limited edition adds a generously appointed bonus disc housing 16 previously unreleased tracks, largely outtakes from later albums like Adore and Machina. While largely spare and subdued in comparison to the expansive, techno-friendly albums that they were initially intended for, songs like "Sparrow" and "Winterlong" emphasize the fragility at the core of Corgan's best material. Fans of the Pumpkins' more ear-damaging side will find plenty to crank up here as well, thanks to thumping rockers such as "Marquis in Spades" and "Saturnine." David Sprague

Barnes & Noble

Billy Corgan has always fueled his music with dichotomy: His dueling drives -- grandiosity and self-loathing -- are what propelled his songs and what connected his Smashing Pumpkins to their disenfranchised audience. This nicely constructed collection traces these qualities throughout the Pumpkins' career. At the band's onset, Corgan was clearly gunning for the top spot on Rock's Most Alienated list, and songs like the white-knuckled angst anthem "Cherub Rock" quickly vaulted him to that apex. Over the course of the decade that followed, Corgan and company covered plenty of ground, airing out beatific melodies like "Today" alongside churning rockers like "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" -- and even dipping into the well of pure pop for ditties like "1979" and their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide." This 18-song collection peruses all that territory, adding the edge-dwelling, previously unissued track "Untitled," making it an ideal summation of the stalwart alt-rockers' career. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Like many alt-rock bands, the Smashing Pumpkins sound better than expected as a singles band -- probably because their high points were singles, no matter how carefully created their albums were. The Smashing Pumpkins fit this bill particularly well for two reasons. For one, they rose up through the ranks in indie rock circles, where limited-edition singles on Sub Pop meant as much as a full-lengths on Caroline. Then, after they made it through the indie jungle, they had to fight their way onto MTV airwaves with songs and videos that sold their intricate albums. This was a good, even prosperous, situation when the Pumpkins (OK, when their leader, Billy Corgan) could balance their knack for great singles with their desire to make sweeping neo-concept albums like Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. They did for a few years, conquering the alt-rock pack after Nirvana imploded, but the group itself eventually turned in on itself -- either because of Corgan's own hubris or the group's complacency. They had more than enough great material for a good compilation, and Greatest Hits almost fits the bill, although it gives too much credence to the music made after the group's peak. Essentially, anything that most listeners will want to hear wraps up 11 tracks into the 18-track album, when the collection dives into material from Adore and MACHINA -- although even these two albums aren't embarrassments. Still, it does have many of the cuts that fans will want on one disc, including the non-LP "Drown" and "Landslide." Stephen Thomas Erlewine