I went through a phase of the music side of my life where I frequently said that I really liked double albums. This was when my experience with them was primarily the best stuff: London Calling, The Beatles, etc. It was only until I got around to listening to more double albums that I realized the vast majority of them were exhausting exercises of self-indulgence.

I still say that Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is one of the great double albums—one that actually uses its large space to its advantage to showcase a bunch of good songs that couldn’t fit on just one album. Not a whole lot of truly great songs, but enough good ones that approach that level to make it a commendable effort and mostly compelling listen.

My problem with Mellon Collie is not with the amount of tracks, but rather the track order itself. It’s so sporadic and random with no seemingly logical thought process to the order. I feel this way about a lot of rock albums, but it’s actually a problem here, because while most people will claim the variety of songs from track to track are what make Mellon Collie interesting, I have to disagree, because it’s not really there.

The Smashing Pumpkins, like a lot of early ’90s alternative rock bands, have two modes: walk and kill. They slam you with a pummeling riff or soothe you with a lullaby-like ballad. That has never been more apparent than on Mellon Collie. The problem is that they’re so good at them that the moment I start to get immersed in say, the nostalgic dreaming of “1979,” I have my ass kicked by the next song, the shearing rock of “Tales of a Scorched Earth.”

Because of this Mellon Collie to me seems like it’s constantly trying to pull in two different directions and fails to reach its potential on either side because it can’t remain complacent. There’s not enough variety in moods or styles to make the shifts from songs particularly interesting, so Mellon Collie makes itself a frustrating listen by not being more reasonable and placing the atmospheric, calming songs and grunge-y hard rockers where they belong (with one another). Imagine if disc one did contain most of the rocking songs to kick things off, and disc two slowly settled down and allowed you to drift off. Then the album would actually accomplish its claimed concept of each disc representing day and night. This primary issue is what makes Mellon Collie not a sprawling double album, but an aimless one.

So, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness or Siamese Dream? A music question for the ages. There was also a point in my life where I would say without question that I preferred Mellon Collie to Siamese Dream. Now, it simply depends on what day you ask me. But I’m positive of my love for both, regardless of any flaws that are easily outweighed by their strengths.