Aeroplane Flies High

There are two reissues of Aeroplane Flies High: the standard 33-track collection and the deluxe edition, which tops off at 90 tracks. The deluxe set adds demos, live tracks, and rehearsals that hardcore fans will surely find of interest, while the standard issue is more for the moderate fanatic who misses the band but doesn’t think that lower-fidelity recordings or songs in their primitive states are necessary to understand the final versions. Either way, each “chapter” of the collection starts with a single from the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album—“Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” “1979,” “Zero,” “Tonight, Tonight,” “Thirty-Three”—and then follows with the b-sides and other rarities from the period. The deluxe version goes further into demos, rehearsals, etc. Especially interesting are the covers of The Cars (“You’re All I’ve Got Tonight”), The Cure (“A Night Like This”), and Blondie (“Dreaming”). The deluxe edition has an 8-track demo of “Zero” and the expanded version of “Silverf***,” which includes a few surprises in its 34-minute duration.