Tricky business. The MI/single B-side version of Speed Kills is in my mind the number one overlooked gem in their catalogue. One of the best tracks from the original band's twilight years, and I applaud them for including it in at least one of the album's formats and on the Japanese version of the CD. Something tells me the JP CD and LP tracklisting was a late-game decision by Billy to try and get the running order both a little closer to how he wanted it with a better flow.
We don't know the full intended Machina double-album tracklist, but Billy did say the album was supposed to end on 'With Every Light'. It's the 'happy ending' track for the Glass character, so I appreciate it being closer to the end. Age of Innocence was written and tacked onto the album at the last minute. Since he mentioned the whole original concept as having a "concert section", I've become used to the notion of it being the fictional GATMOG band's last song for their audience as much as I've become very used to it as the album closer. Something tells me Billy regretted making it the closer and shuffled things around to get a running order a little closer to the way he envisioned it - but I personally don't think he ever really decided on a finalized tracklisting.
I can only assume that since the whole thing was mangled anyway, Billz figured it'd be more interesting to close things out with the distorted cry of "Blue Skies Bring Tears!!" for effect. That one's another of the tracks whose place in the album's intended plot he explained - it's supposed to be an apocalyptic nightmare the character of Glass has, one of the things that sets the character off of the path of self-destructive rockstardom. It's unquestionably closer to where it should be on the normal CD versions.
So in my mind neither tracklisting is ideal, just serviceable. It's flawed in any form. I suppose I'm just used to the original, as that's how I listened to it for years, but nowadays but I go with fan-created tracklistings (including my own) that blend it and selected tracks from Machina II. Until Bill puts down his cards, it's up to interpretation, though I think a rough running order is fairly easy to figure out.
I spent a pretty penny to get my hands on this baby, over $100. If Corgan's serious about the theoretical Machina reissue being remixed and sounding 'darker', there might not be another way to hear these versions of the tracks on LP. I don't regret the purchase.
Originally Posted by Shadaloo
Tricky business. The MI/single B-side version of Speed Kills is in my mind the number one overlooked gem in their catalogue. One of the best tracks from the original band's twilight years, and I applaud them for including it in at least one of the album's formats and on the Japanese version of the CD. Something tells me the JP CD and LP tracklisting was a late-game decision by Billy to try and get the running order both a little closer to how he wanted it with a better flow.
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