Smashing Pumpkins to Re-Release Lost Aeroplane Flies High Box Set

I was very fortunate to grab one of the orignal versions of the Pumpkins’ The Aeroplane Flies High when it came out in November 1996.  Although billed as a “limited edition,” more than 300,000 were sold and tickled the bottom end of the top 40 of the Bilboard album chart. 

That’s a lot of boxes, but Pumpkins mania was so great back then that every single copy was snapped up and it’s been reasonably difficult to come across one at something approaching its original retail price.

But now as the march of Smashing Pumpkins reissues continues, The Aeroplane Flies High is getting the remastered treatment–and even if you have the original edition, you may want to spring for this one, too.

The original was a five-disc box set featuring expanded versions of singles from their acclaimed 1995 double album, Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadess.  That included “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” “1979,” “Zero” “Tonight” and “Thirty-Three.

These new limited edition box sets (well, we’ll see how limited) feature the original 33 track version that’s been expanded to 104 tracks (90 audio and 14 audio-visual). This means unreleased demos, alternative versions and live recordings. There’s also a 6^th disc which contains live recordings from the 1996 Mellon Collie tour, while the DVD content is taken from a July, 4 1997, performance in Belfort, France. 

If that’s not enough, there’s a 46-page book with liner notes written by David Wild, plus extensive track-by-track notes by Billy Corgan—for the original release’s 33 tracks.

The box set has special packaging with embossed foil wrap & twinkle stock for jackets. To view the full tracklisting of each box set and DVD, go here.

I don’t have a price yet, but the collection will be in stores July 23.