Hear Diddy’s Unreleased Smashing Pumpkins Remix, ‘Ava Adore’
Puff Daddy’s remix to the 1998 Smashing Pumpkins single “Ava Adore,” is finally seeing release after 16 years. The track appears on the fourth disc of the six-CD, one-DVD Adore “super deluxe edition,” a reissue of the band’s fourth album that’s scheduled for a September 23rd release on Virgin/UMe.
“Puffy has lent his Midas touch to ‘Ava Adore’ and ‘Perfect,’ both of which turn up in their original form on the Pumpkins latest effort, Adore,” MTV News reported in 1998. “There’s no word yet on when the Puffy-flavored Pumpkins tracks might surface, but we’ll keep you posted.”
While Puffy’s “Perfect” remixes leaked to the internet years ago, this release marks the first time we can hear his version of “Ava Adore,” a tight edit that adds crisper drums and a string intro, that can also be streamed below.
In Rolling Stone’s original review of Adore, critic Greg Kot contemplated the relationship between it and its 1995 precursor, Mellon Collie: “What’s an auteur to do for an encore? In [Billy] Corgan’s case, he makes a weird little album that turns its back on the band’s previous strengths and shrinks the Pumpkins’ sound. This isn’t just a transitional record; it’s a complete break with the past. Instead of stadium-size bombast, Adore dials down the volume to lullaby level. Instead of rat-in-a-cage rage, the new album overflows with heartsick valentines.”
The new reissue combines the stereo and mono verisons of the LP, demos, alternate takes, B sides, live recordings and a full concert the band performed at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre. It can be pre-ordered here (physical) or here (digital).