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Billy Corgan Calls Old Pumpkins Demo ‘A Marriage Made in Hell’

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There’s a Grammy-winning Smashing Pumpkins tune from the soundtrack to the godawful 1997 flick Batman and Robin titled “The End Is the Beginning Is the End.” For Billy Corgan and Co. this week, the new is the old is the new. The newest old material to surface via the SPRC is an alternate version of the shimmery slow-rocker “Rhinoceros,” originally from 1991 debut Gish.

To get to “Rhinoceros Version 2,” you’ll first have to enter your e-mail address on SmashingPumpkins.com. Then you’ll see a video of Corgan explaining the track, which was recorded at Chicago’s Reel Time Studios, and how it ended up with its wonky keyboard solo in place of a guitar spazz-out. “A marriage made in hell,” he says of the take. And yeah, the resulting MP3 is definitely more of a curiosity than a must-listen, but to hear it, you’ll want to click one of the Easter Eggs scattered around the site (SPOILER ALERT: look for the wedding ring).

https://www.youtube.com/embed/7H8hfP0968Y

Meanwhile, SP have been debuting songs from their upcoming LP, Oceania, on tour. Corgan recently revealed the LP will run “approx 60 minutes and nine seconds” over 13 tracks. Our reviewer had kind words for the new songs during SP’s tour opener earlier this month in Los Angeles, and now you can watch clips from the performance. Listen to “Oceania” below (via Antiquiet and YouTube user ChesterCopperPot5).

SP debuted two more Oceania cuts, “Pale Horse” and “Pinwheels,” in Oakland, Cailfornia, which you can check out atHipsters United via YouTube users montelds and brightinterest), or hear audio of the entire set at archive.org. First impression: Corgan may be the only original member left, but delicately soaring anthems like these are a big reason people took notice of his band in the first place.

A release date for the new record has yet to be announced, but as Hipsters United points out, a new SP FAQ document indicates the band’s massive reissues series will begin arriving digitally on November 28, with the first physical products shipping around November 29.

For a bonus Corgan-related quote, via Judy Berman, here’s Courtney Love on seeing Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video at a hotel in Minneapolis (as transcribed by New York): “I’d flown there to fuck Billy Corgan, who still had lots of hair.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bCcWAGDZaG4%3Fversion%3D3