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Bleach6 Blew / Floyd the Barber / About a Girl / School / Love Buzz / Paper Cuts / Negative Creep / Scoff / Swap Meet / Mr. Moustache / Sifting / Big Cheese / Downer “Recorded in Seattle at Reciprocal Recording by Jack Endino for $600,” the booklet somewhat boastingly mentions. And why? Because the album sounds pretty good for such a low budget, that’s why, and they must have realized that. Although the album does sound rather amateurish, its dirty rawness is a nice match for the heavy Melvins/ Sabbath-inspired dirges. People often tend to forget that the pre-Nevermind-buzz Nirvana was just a small outfit of scruffy looking bums. The Melvins were a crucial band in the Nirvana history. Not only had Cobain (in his teens) played in a band with later Melvins-drummer Dale Crover, it was also that band’s singer/guitarist King Buzzo who introduced them to Bambi-eyed Chris Novoselic, who would eventually stay the permanent bass player. |
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| A few years later, Cobain would return the favor by making sure the Melvins got themselves a better record deal with a major label (Houdini (1993)). On this album, Dale Crover fulfils drumming duty on “Floyd the Barber” and “Paper Cuts,” while on the other tracks Chad Channing drums. The booklet also mentions Jason Everman (guitar), but allegedly he doesn’t appear on these recordings. Let’s start with the good things first: “Blew,” in instant Nirvana classic, starts with Novoselic’s heavy bass, and offers a sludgy slab of rock, further characterised by Cobain’s mumbled vocals (obviously inspired by the Meat Puppets’s Curt Kirkwood), and the amateurishly recorded (that bass drum!), but dirty sounding drums. “About a Girl” is the album’s most melodic, accessible and classic-sounding song. It’s not only remarkably melodic and poppy for a ‘grunge’ band (good luck finding pop melodies in albums by Tad, Mudhoney, Soundgarden,… from the same era), it also points out where the band would go on subsequent releases. The album’s two other highlights are firstly “School”, which offers some damn fine guitar soloing, an exemplary instance of typical Nirvana-repetitions (the entire song contains just three different sentences: “Wouldn’t you believe it, it’s just my luck,” “No recess,” and “You’re in high school again”) and a swell building up of tension marked by a thrilling scream; and secondly “Love Buzz,” a dirty – if faithful - cover version of the song by Dutch band Shocking Blue (their other “classic”, “Venus,” was later covered by 80’s pop act Bananarama). A few remarkable things about the song are Cobain’s almost unrecognisable vocals in the first verse, the recognisable repetitive bass lines, and some marvellous guitar freak-outs at the end, clearly inspired by listening to a lot of Dinosaur Jr. “Floyd the Barber”, with its ridiculously loud drums, is one of the better efforts, and I really dig the ending of that song, the guitar and bass disappearing to let the drums finish the song. Sadly enough, the second half of the album offers not one song that can compete with one of those songs. An interesting trio of songs are tracks 8-10, “Scoff,” “Swap Meet,” and “Mr. Moustache.” All these songs are quite brutal and heavy, and have, sadly enough, some weak parts. But, underneath all the muddy violence, some good ideas can be found. “Scoff” features a surprisingly accessible chorus, “Swap Meet” has some twisted, cool-sounding guitar parts and drum-rolls, and is basically recycled in “Mr. Moustache,” which speeds up the previous song. That’s when we get to the bad stuff. Notwithstanding the poppy chorus (with, again, weird bass drums), “Big Cheese” is a letdown because of the weak tuneless verses and truly annoying vocals. “Paper Cuts,” an unbearably slow and heavy Melvins-imitation suffers from the same. Even worse are “Negative Creep” and “Sifting”. The first starts off really powerful, but in the second half of the song, Cobain sounds too demented. Annoyingly demented. The repeated “Daddy’s little girl ain’t a girl no more”-line usually makes me skip it. “Sifting” offers no imagination, goes on for too long (more than six minutes), is underdeveloped and should have stayed off the album. Ridiculously uneven, Bleach is a very frustrating listen. The bad songs are (again) annoyingly bad and repetitive, and therefore it’s a good thing that most of those songs are quite short. On the other hand, the album contains three great songs (two originals “Blew,” “About a Girl,” and the cover “Love Buzz”) some other artists would die for, and a few fine ones (“School,” “Floyd the Barber”), which betray Cobain’s talent for writing his own original songs in a classic reference frame (later efforts weren’t that far removed from powerful pop). More of that was to come two years later, when this band would almost single-handedly (with the help of the music industry and the press of course) change our notion of “rock music”. |
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Nevermind ( 1991 )8.5 Smells Like Teen Spirit / In Bloom / Come As You Are / Breed / Lithium / Polly / Territorial Pissings / Drain You / Lounge Act / Stay Away / On a Plain / Something in the Way I bought this album in September of 1991. The band had made quite an impression at the annual Pukkelpop festival (Belgium) a month earlier, got quite some buzz, and I (young and inexperienced) wanted the album ASAP. And I liked it a lot. I thought it was a masterpiece, until I’d had enough of it suddenly, and didn’t play it for a few years. Now, a dozen years later, I still like the album, but with more reservations. It is probably a common enough story in music history that albums that appeal to almost a whole generation (like London Calling 24 years ago, or Sgt. Pepper’s 36 years ago), don’t seem to be able to live up to their reputation. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is a winner, though. The guitar that introduces the song still gives me a weird feeling that sends me back in time (too bad I get this feeling less and less). It’s the ideal (teen) anthem: it rocks, it has great hooks, and it’s memorable. People have said parts of it were directly stolen from the Pixies’ “Debaser” or Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” or partly influenced by Hüsker Dü and The Police. |
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| Well, I’m not convinced. I guess some comparisons could lead to a “Yeah, it does resemble…” but it’s no more the case than loads of other songs that are influenced by their peers’ accomplishments. Also, the rest of the songs show that the band had moved much more towards ‘mainstream’ rock since Bleach: “In Bloom” has some catchy verses and a loud, sing-along verse (“Heeeeeeeeee’s the one who likes all our pretty songs…”). All this suggests that the band not only had notorious indie bands like the Wipers, Flipper, and Dinosaur Jr. as prime examples, but also more melodic rock acts such as Cheap Trick and the Beatles. Another great track is “Breed,” which has some great greasy bass work, crunchy guitars, propulsive drumming, and a killer chorus. The album’s other energy-blast is “Territorial Pissings,” which is about the only song on this album that could qualify as ‘punk’ (using the clichéd definition of “fast and aggressive rock song that speeds ahead so fast you’re ruining the seat cover”). Some mighty Hüsker Dü-guitars (the galloping part could very well come from that band’s “Turn On the News”), a drum assault by Dave Grohl, and some riveting vocals by Cobain introduce the song. “Come As You Are” and “Lithium” are, besides the first track, the most well known songs on this album, and rightly so. However, I have really heard these two tracks too much. Certainly “Come As You Are” seems a bit of an annoying song to me now. It has become somewhat of a drag to listen to. “Lithium”, however, has that “Yeah yeah yeah”-chorus that does the trick, but it could have been shorter. Or maybe I’m just forgetting we’re dealing with an anthem, and they’re supposed to go on for too long. A song everyone seems to like is “Polly”, and I can see why: the song offers a nice contrast to the powerful stuff at the beginning of the album, the lyrics aren’t very lightweight (and seem to be dealing with rape), there are some spooky backing vocals, etc., but somehow it doesn’t appeal to me anymore. Instead, I prefer the even more drugged-sounding “Something In the Way,” which is more subdued, moody and enigmatic, and is a great album closer. The rest of the songs on the album (tracks 8-11, the song order could definitely have been better) aren’t that impressive. “Drain You” is catchy and has a great middle part with a cool climax, “Lounge Act” has some nice bass work and leans more towards the folksier guitar-pop of the Lemonheads (or is that far-fetched?), “Stay Away” is raunchy, features some cool call-and-response verses, but an annoying chorus, and “On a Plain” is good, but nothing more than that. Than why the hell is this considered a classic album? Well, I don’t know for sure, but it was probably a good example of “the right album at the right time”. The album is loud enough to annoy those who hate rock (an important factor when you’re 15). At the same time it has loads of pop hooks, and an overall attitude/message of disillusion that appeals to kids looking for answers. Although the band took its energetic conviction from listening to lots of punk music, it replaced idealism with indifference. The amount of self-hatred on this album is massive, but whereas someone like Henry Rollins (whose obsession with pain, hatred and solitude must have influenced Cobain) would turn it into a life force to feed on, Cobain seems to celebrate its fatality and the uselessness of trying to change anything (we’re dealing with an album called “Nevermind”, right?). An album that is guaranteed to appeal to music fans all over the world, because of its clever mix of almost-noise (although the album sounds very ‘clean’ a dozen years after its release, leading to the presumption that the guys at DGC knew they’d just found something new) and catchy choruses, Nevermind is a very good, but somewhat uneven album that has become a classic, but not only on the basis of the quality of the music, since certainly the second part of the album suffers from some unremarkable song-writing. On the other hand, it’s not the hugely overrated album some people claim it to be now (a common backlash). Just try to forget the stories, the hype, all those delirious reviews and enjoy it for what it is: a very good album by a very good band. Note: Most copies around (not mine) seem to have a hidden track at the end, “Endless Nameless.” I heard it, and I’m glad my album ends with “Something In the Way.” |
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Hormoaning ( 1992 )8 Turnaround / Aneurysm / D-7 / Son of a Gun / Even in His Youth / Molly’s Lips An ep that has three songs overlapping with Incesticide (which was released later than this ep I think), Hormoaning is short but contains nothing but good songs. It contains the three covers (“Turnaround,” “Molly’s Lips,” and “Son of a Gun”) that are also on the rarities compilation, and adds another cover they recorded during the same BBC session: “D-7” by the Wipers, from the guitar rock classic Is This Real? (1980). The song starts off with a moody introduction of 90 seconds before transforming into a furious blast of garage punk-energy. Very true to the original version, Cobain once again pays respect to one of America’s unsung guitar heroes, Greg Sage. The two remaining songs are the awesome “Aneurysm” and “Even in His Youth,” which were added to the “Smells Like Teen Spirit”-single. Both songs were recorded by the band (with Craig Armstrong as producer) just before the Nevermind-sessions, and would’ve been strong enough to appear on that album. If it weren’t for “D-7”, this release would be utterly superfluous, but now it’s worth checking out even for that song alone. Moreover, it’s a 19-minute release containing only good stuff. |
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Incesticide ( 1992 )6 Dive / Sliver / Stain / Been a Son / Turnaround / Molly’s Lips / Son of a Gun / (New Wave) Polly / Beeswax / Downer / Mexican Seafood / Hairspray Queen / Aero Zeppelin / Big Long Now / Aneurysm What’s the use of releasing a rarities-compilation after only two studio albums? Well, it’s a way to make easy money of course, and released during the band’s popularity peak it’s guaranteed to sell because of all those fans eager to complete their collection. I have this feeling this might be one of the best-selling (non-singles) compilations ever because of that. The material gathered here can be roughly divided into three sections: early releases (single and ep-stuff), BBC radio sessions (of early material and a few covers), and early recordings never before released. “Dive” and “Sliver” (a single released between Bleach and Nevermind) both are prime Nirvana songs hesitating between the dragging grunge of the debut and the crispy melodic punk pop of the classic album. “Stain,” originally on the Blew ep, could’ve been on the debut album too, plodding sludgy along while Cobain repeats his “And he never…” over and over again. The song also features a chaotic, distorted but cool guitar solo. |
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The BBC-sessions feature “Been a Son,” an unpolished early pop-gem (also from the Blew ep), and a speedy electric version of “Polly” that sounds as if the early Meat Puppets are playing it. There’s also a version of “Aneurysm,” one of the best songs the band ever recorded, which is not very different from the original studio version (added to the “Smells Like Teen Spirit”-single), but remains a classic nevertheless. The covers the band chose are quite surprising and work very well; there’s a jerky version of Devo’s “Turnaround” (which sounds rawer, but also as geeky as the original song), and two sublime cover versions of “Molly’s Lips” and “Son of a Gun”, songs written by Scottish band the Vaselines. Both are incredibly infectious (how can you not sing along to “Kiss kiss Molly’s Lips”?) and are given a suitably raw and sober treatment. Maybe this is also the right moment to point at that Cobain’s support of other bands was admirable. Even after he’d achieved true star status he kept pushing many of his beloved bands/artists (the Raincoats, Daniel Johnston, Dinosaur Jr., Flipper, etc.), some of which were also important influences. The rest of the album consists of songs recorded before and during the Bleach-session (all of them with Dale Crover on drums). After hearing those it’s easy to understand why these songs (except for “Downer”) never made it to the album. Apart from a few good ideas that are scattered around, these songs aren’t very appealing, as they seem underdeveloped, lack imagination or wallow in their own tuneless impenetrability. Suffering from the same problem as Bleach, Incesticide shows that not everything the band touched turned into gold. On the one hand it’s very frustrating that the excellent first half of compilation isn’t maintained throughout the rest album. On the other hand, a compilation like this shows the band progressed with gigantic leaps and bounds at a time. The question remains who’s interested in sub-par stuff when there’s no time to waste. |
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In Utero ( 1993 )8.5 Serve the Servants / Scentless Apprentice / Heart-Shaped Box / Rape Me / Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle /Dumb / Very Ape / Milk It / Pennyroyal Tea / Radio Friendly Unit Shifter / Tourette’s / All Apologies Everyone knows the story by now, the updated version of “rags to riches,” the American Dream come true. Before the release of their sophomore album, no one predicted these scruffy guys would become one of the biggest bands in the world, selling millions of albums, selling out all the venues and leaving their mark on pop culture (remember how even all those pop acts and 80’s hair metal bands suddenly restyled themselves?). But it did happen, and it probably wouldn’t have been such a problem, had not Kurt Cobain loatheed himself so much because of his superstar status. He had always admired (and supported) independent and idealistic rock acts, and I guess he hated himself because of becoming bigger than them. This, combined with his self-deprecating nature, of course. Well, I’m not trying to claim I was a personal acquaintance of the guy, but that’s pretty obvious, right? Anyway, like so many other people, I do think that Nirvana’s third studio album, In Utero, was an attempt to alienate the largest part of their public and to regain some ‘indie credibility’. |
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Produced by Steve Albini, In Utero is a much harsher and emotionally draining album than Nevermind, with a far less polished production, and less accessible songs to match. The album starts off with one of the best tracks, an unsung Nirvana classic. A mid-tempo rocker that seems to drag itself lazily along, “Serve the Servants” is nevertheless a fine track with a semi-mumbled chorus, ragged solo, and (oh, surprise) self-deprecating lyrics, that also ridicule the band’s status (“Teenage angst has paid off well, now I’m bored and old, self-appointed judges judge, more than they have sold”). “Scentless Apprentice”, which takes its cue from Das Parfum by Swiss author Patrick Süskind, is one of the first loud tracks on this album, with noisy drums, concrete riffing, and Cobain’s mad screaming. It’s weird, but initially these songs didn’t seem interesting at all, but gradually I had to admit that they rock. “Very Ape,” “Milk It,” and “Tourette’s” are dominated by seemingly chaotic musicianship, alternations of soft, loud and very loud sections, and disgusted vocals, but in the context of this album, they work well. For some reason (overdose?), the album’s most famous tracks, “Heart-Shaped Box,” and “Rape Me” have become somewhat of a drag to listen to, but they remain very good tracks that combine the melodic elements from the previous album with the rawness of the current. “Rape Me” has an introduction that reminds me of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” but I can’t imagine “Rape Me” on Nevermind. That can also be applied to “Frances Farmer,” which has quite accessible parts, but also contains reminders of Bleach’s heaviness. “I’m not like them, but I can pretend” are the first lines of “Dumb,” In Utero’s very own “Polly”. It’s a gentle track, sung with controlled intensity by Cobain, containing once again depressing lyrics. By the time you’ve reached this song, the message’s probably clear: this guy ain’t too happy. The album’s crammed with lines such as “I think I’m dumb,” “I am my own parasite” (“Milk It”), “I’m a liar and a thief” (“Pennyroyal Tea”), “I love you for what I am not” (“Radio Friendly Unit Shifter”), etc. Even more painful than this is the obsession with bodily decay (references to sores, burns, cancer), bodily fluids (semen, shit, laxatives), and life/death (birth, abortion, afterbirth), which makes it obviously clear that Cobain no longer seemed to believe there was anything to enjoy in this life, because everything ultimately leads to death. “All Apologies,” one of the album’s highlights, and, like “Dumb” a moving song with an awesome guitar melody and oddly intense atmosphere, is a final negative note. “Everything is my fault, I’ll take all the blame” sounds a bit weird in the light of his suicide the next year. An album that is a bit uneven and contains some disappointing songs (“Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” is monotonous and boring, while “Pennyroyal Tea” is no match for a later version they’d record), In Utero is hard to take in. However, it may very well be the quintessential Nirvana-album, capturing their complicated essence. Nevermind may be a better sounding and more consistent album, but it doesn’t have this album’s gut-wrenching honesty and emotional resonance. On the other hand, Nevermind is probably the ideal way to get acquainted with Nirvana, as this album really sounds as if they were on the verge of a breakdown, and it is a bitter chapter in a tumultuous and harrowing book. |
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MTV Unplugged in New York ( 1994 )8 About a Girl / Come as You Are / Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam / The Man Who Sold the World / Pennyroyal Tea / Dumb / Polly / On a Plain / Something in the Way / Plateau / Oh Me / Lake of Fire / All Apologies / Where Did You Sleep Last Night Released half a year after Cobain’s suicide, Unplugged in New York was the document that proved once and for all that the band could play their instruments, and that they could turn in quite some great stuff that also works well in an acoustic setting. Nevermind and In Utero already contained their share of quieter and more introspective moments, but if it weren’t for this unplugged-craze (I often really regret someone ever started this), we might never have heard this side of Nirvana. So, thank you MTV and David Geffen (yes, this is the first and last time I’m going to say that) for providing us with this satisfying and often remarkably intense collection of songs, consisting of eight originals (one from Bleach, four from Nevermind, and three from In Utero) and six remarkable covers. |
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| A faithful version of “About a Girl” sets off the album and benefits from a very nice sound, with especially the guitar and the bass very full and warm, and the drums suitably muted. Most of the songs taken from Nevermind are quieter songs in the first place, so these versions aren’t all that different. “Come As you Are” still benefits from that watery guitar sound, “Polly” and “Something In the Way” stay as creepy as before, and a calmer version of “On a Plain” perhaps even surpasses the studio version. For some reason, I do enjoy the In Utero-songs even more in these acoustic versions: Cobain gives a solo performance of “Pennyroyal Tea” (quite a drag to listen to in the studio version) and succeeds in making it more directly emotional, without loosing the morbid tone underlying the song. Both “Dumb” (is that the bass line of The Rolling Stones’ “Live With Me” at the end of the song?) and “All Apologies” are given superior treatments here, and benefit immensely from the cello (played by Lori Goldston) that adds some more drama, and are as good as any other unplugged performance I’ve heard so far. Early during the set, the band plays covers of The Vaselines’ “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” and David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” (with Cobain mumbling before the song “I guarantee you I will screw this song up”). Both are sublime versions and album highlights. Novoselic makes the first one (which I never heard before) with even more melancholy on accordian, while the second one, with a sweeping combination of electric (!) guitar and cello, is nothing short of stunning (personally I think it surpasses Bowie’s original). Cris and Curt Kirkwood join the band for three songs from their own second album Meat Puppets II, and while these songs are certainly satisfying (certainly “Lake of Fire”) they are not album highlights, though they probably gave the Meat Puppets quite a boost for a while (which is a nice gesture of the hosts). The album’s masterpiece is undoubtedly their version of Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” with which they finish the set. Cobain had already contributed to a version of that song on Mark Lanegan’s debut album, The Winding Sheet (1990), but this version eclipses it, as it is turned into an incredibly emotional and harrowing tale of adultery and defeat, with Cobain giving the performance of his career during the song’s climactic ending. A strong overall collection, with a few outstanding tracks and no misses, Unplugged in New York doesn’t offer any new insights or amazing Nirvana-tracks we hadn’t heard yet, but it’s a nice document nevertheless, that proves that the band not only could create an immense racket if they wanted, but also some moments of sheer beauty. |
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From the Muddy Banks of the Whishkah ( 1996 )7 Intro / Drain You / Aneurysm / Smells Like Teen Spirit / Been a Son / Lithium / Sliver / Spank Thru / Scentless Apprentice / Heart-Shaped Box / Milk It / Negative Creep / Polly / Breed / Tourette’s / Blew After the release of Unplugged In New York, there was still one element missing in the Nirvana-output: a regular live album by the band that would satisfy both those who’d witnessed them on stage and those waiting to catch a glimpse of the band in its messy live magnificence. It took several quarrels and two years to come up with the requested album, but the result is quite satisfying. The sound isn’t always top-notch. The guitars and bass sometimes sound all too samey, and the vocals come and go, but that wasn’t a prerequisite in the first place. It ain’t Steely Dan we’re dealing with. Muddy Banks does offer confirmation that the band was a very competent live outfit and took no prisoners on stage. Much more ragged and raw than the Nevermind-recordings, this album sounds exactly like what you would expect after listening to In Utero. |
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It’s a good thing that the performances gathered aren’t just live versions of a best of-compilation. Several of the band’s most famous songs are indeed missing from this album, while few ‘obscure’ ones replace them. The album contains three tracks from the muddy Bleach: “School,” “Blew,” and “Negative Creep”. Especially the latter is given an exciting treatment, easily surpassing the studio version with an extra shot of adrenaline. From the classic Nevermind, “Drain You,” and “Lithium” are given a faithful version, while “Smells Like Teen Spirit” stands proudly among the rest of the tracks. “Polly” and “Breed” are taken from a gig recorded in December of 1989, and are thus versions that pre-date the studio takes with more than a year. And while “Breed” proves the band had started honing its sound before the nineties, the mediocre version of “Polly” shows they also knew how to get a maximum result from a song. The songs that are taken from In Utero are, apart from “Heart-Shaped Box,” about the loudest on the album: both “Scentless Apprentice” and “Milk It” sound as aggressive as their studio versions, but suffer a bit from the production. “Tourette’s” (announced as “The Eagle Has Landed”), on the other hand, recorded during the 1992 Reading festival (UK), sounds as utterly deranged and wild as it’s supposed to be. Also on the album are the melodic “Been a Son,” the early Nirvana-classic “Sliver,” the exciting b-side “Aneurysm,” and, for the completists, the garagey “Spank Thru,” one of the band’s earliest songs, and the album’s only ‘unknown’ song. Although I mentioned the songs from each album, they’re not grouped like that (although the non-album tracks are in the first half, and all of the In Utero-tracks in the second half). Instead they’re all mixed up, and the performances are taken from ten (10!) different shows, recorded between December of 1989 and January of 1994, spanning the largest part of the band’s history. Therefore, the album lacks a certain homogeny. However, the songs are sequenced and pasted in a clever way, so that you’ll never be really bothered by this. From The Muddy Banks Of The Whishkah might be a blast to those who worship the band, but more neutral and unbiased listeners are given proof of what they already knew: Nirvana were a damn good band with loads of unfulfilled potential. Please resign, Phil Collins. |
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