Thanks (half) a million!

Sometime later today, I anticipate that this blog will cross the 500,000 visitors threshold.  I find it simply amazing that so many people have found their way to my site over the past eight years! For all of you who have read my rambling stories here about the music and events which have shaped and affected my life, I hope that I have interested, entertained and (possibly) enlightened you... and in the process you've come away from here with some great tunes to boot. I've appreciated all of the requests and comments received from you all over the years - I look forward to more in the coming years! Thanks for spending some time in my little corner of the Web!

And a special "thanks" to the many, many visitors who, through this site, have become my good friends and correspondents during this time - Dexter, Adrian, Jonder, Nick, Sean, Colin, and so many more; you all are the best!

To celebrate this upcoming milestone, I thought that over the next couple of days I'd post a couple of things that I think the masses will be interested in, but without one of my usual long-winded screeds attached to them. Presented au natural... well, as au natural as I can make them!

Here's today's offering: Smashing Pumpkins' Mashed Potatoes bootleg box set. This was a 5-disc collection of live and demo tracks from the band's voluminous archive that band leader Billy Corgan put together for a small group of friends in the early 90’s. The 76 tracks cover the Pumpkins from the years 1988-1993.

From the Smashing Pumpkins' FAQ site (www.spfc.org):

Mashed Potatoes is a 5-disc box set containing many rare and unreleased Smashing Pumpkins songs, including: early compositions from 1988-90, Gish and Siamese Dream outtakes and demos, live covers and originals, a couple of interviews, and live stage banter.

Billy gave Mashed Potatoes to a few of his friends, band members and management as gifts - allegedly for Christmas 1994.  The number of copies pressed range anywhere from 5 to 10, depending on the source; 9 is the number most often mentioned.

...As the story goes, D'Arcy's copy of the box set was stolen around February 1995, and the thief attempted to sell it to a local record store. Even though the thief originally asked for $500, it was eventually sold to the store owner for $50, for the owner said he wouldn't pay that much for "home made shit." Judging from the short amount of time the store owner had possession of Mashed Potatoes (about 24-48 hours) and the fact that he did not realize what it was, it is believed that the store owner did not make any copies.

A few tracks from the stolen copy were put online in the late 1990s, but it wasn't until late 2002 that the entire set was leaked onto the Internet. Here's the track lineup:

CD 1:
Happy Fucking Valentines
Tristessa (live 92)
There It Goes (demo 88)
With You (demo 89)
Jesus Loves His Babies (outtake 91)
Stray Cat Blues [Rolling Stones] (live 90)
Snail (radio 91)
Bob Speaks
Window Paine (live 90)
Wave Song (demo 91)
Blue (acoustic 91)
Lie I Lie (live 89)
My Eternity (radio 88)
Jesus Is the Sun (demo 90)
Sookie Sookie [Steppenwolf] (live 90)

CD 2:
Slunk (live 92)
Rocket (live 93)
Under Your Spell (demo 88)
Honeyspider (live 90)
STP (demo 91)
Snap (demo 89)
Rhinoceros (live 93)
Let's Meet the Band
Bleed (live 88)
Opal (live 90)
Worship (live 90)
Drown (live 92)
Fat Man Blues (live 89)
Try to Try (live 90)
Venus in Furs [Velvet Underground] (radio 88)
WNUR interview (radio 88)

CD 3:
And from the West Side...
Girl Named Sandoz [Animals] (live 92)
365 (live 90)
Spaceboy (outtake 93)
The Joker [Steve Miller] (live 92)
Suffer (live 92)
Coming Attractions
Egg (demo 89)
Bury Me (live 92)
Moleasskiss (demo 92)
I Am My End (live 90)
My Dahlia (demo 88)
Vanilla (demo 89)
East (demo 88)
Kill Your Parents
Terrapin [Syd Barrett] (live 91)
Cinder (live 91)
Luna (acoustic 91)

CD 4:
Interview Nozems a Go-Go
Morning Jam (live 90)
I'm Free [Who] (live 90)
Jennifer Ever (demo 88)
Plume (live 92)
Disarm (live 93)
Siva (live 92)
Translucent (demo 90)
Not Worth Asking (live 89)
Over You (live 90)
Where's Vince? (outtake 93)
Smiley (acoustic 91)
Geek U.S.A. (live 93)
Crush (live 92)
C'mon (live 90)

CD 5:
Hello Kitty Kat (demo 92)
Nothing and Everything (demo 88)
Mayonaise (outtake 93)
Out of Focus [Blue Cheer] (live 92)
Offer Up (live 92)
Silverfuck (live 92)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer [traditional] (live 93)
Stars Fall In (demo 89)
Godzilla [Blue Öyster Cult] (live 90)
Bye June (live 92)
Spiteface (demo 88)
Daydream (demo 89)
I'll Never Change (live 90)
Infinite Sadness (outtake 93)


Track info:

Disc 1:
Track 4: 1989 - Reel Time Studios
Track 13: 1989/03/16 - WZRD-FM Studios; Chicago, IL, US
Track 1: 1992/02/14 - Astoria Theater; London, UK
Track 7: 1992/01/15 - VPRO Radio; Hilversum, NL
Track 3: 1988 - Billy's father's home studio
Track 5: Dec 1990 - Mar 1991 - Smart Studios (Gish recordings)
Track 10: 1991 - Chicago Demos [?]
Track 14: 1990 - Chicago Demos [?]

Disc 2:
Track 6: 1989 - Reel Time Studios
Track 13: 1989 - Reel Time Studios (acoustic session)
Track 15: 1989/03/16 - WZRD-FM Studios; Chicago, IL, US
Track 2: 1993/07/26 - Tower Records; Chicago, IL, US
Track 3: 1988 - Billy's father's home studio

Disc 3:
Track 8: 1989 - Reel Time Studios
Track 13: 1989 - Reel Time Studios (acoustic session)
Track 14: The Smashing Pumpkins
Track 12: Light Into Dark
Track 10: Spring 1992 - Soundworks

Disc 4:
Track 4: The Smashing Pumpkins
Track 8: 1990 - Chicago Demos [?]

Disc 5:
Tracks 8, 12: 1989 - Reel Time Studios
Tracks 2, 11: The Smashing Pumpkins
Track 1: Fall 1992 - Chicago Studio [?]
Tracks 3, 14: Dec 1992 - Mar 1993 - Triclops Sound Studios

So, in honor of my 500,000th visitor to this site, I proudly offer as a "thank you" to you all Mashed Potatoes, the Smashing Pumpkins internal "bootleg", compiled in December 1994. Enjoy, and keep on comin' back! And as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email