'In Utero': Classic or Dud?

CLASSIC

"Very Ape" just popped up on my ipod. It's a jam.

my favorite song on this!

This is my top album of all time. So that would make it classic, for me. Pretty much for the reasons given by sundar subramanian 7 years ago.

I thought I read somewhere that the 'additional mixing' was actually pretty minor and only to a few songs? anyway classic, i still listen to this a lot and hardly listen to Nevermind or Bleach.

plus all the sounds to tape were done with albini...it's not like you could make it sound like something totally different.

I was never hardcore enough to really love this record. Though I never would have admitted it at the time, I really loved Def Leppard and Boston and so Nevermind was just right. But I keep trying with this one.

easily my fav nirvana record

I only half liked it at the time -- thought they were trying way too hard to make a point. As a result, it was something of a chore to listen to, like punk rock lesson for you now. Plus, the sound was a bit cold for my taste; would have preferred something warmer and thicker.

In retrospect, I've got no complaints. Gets classicker every year.

my favorite too. i like the sound -- angrier than nevermind but prettier too -- and the songs better than the first two albums. livelier and more diverse, tone-wise. and as a sign-off, intended or not, "all apologies" is gorgeous and sad.

frances farmer is some of his best woe is me i hate being famous style lyrics.

she'll come back as fire
to burn all the liars
leave a blanket of ash on the ground <---this line always gets me

easily my fav nirvana record

-- Jordan, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 20:31

OTM

ever listened to this with the 'recommended' (albini) settings on your bass and treble? it doesn't sound very good.

???

Do tell.

rly what's those settings all about?

i love this, but i like nevermind a little more, i think. seems more playful

check the liner notes! there's something like: "it is recommended that you listen to this recording with the following settings" and there's a little diagram with bass at +1 and treble at like +7.

which i understand makes it sound more like what albini wanted. i don't know my nirvana lore enough to know the story.

and the songwriting strikes me as a bit more natural on Nevermind. but i'm no expert by any means.

@Goole: I see, you're right. I just never thought of adjusting my settings to that 'advice', thinking only that he should've mixed it different if Albini wanted me to hear it that way.

'On a plain', the song, is top notch as far as I'm concerned, but as a whole, In Utero gets to me way more.

wiki has a pretty good rundown of the pre-release disagreements about the mix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Utero

(but no mention of the message in the liner notes)

In Utero is my favourite Nirvana album too. Nevermind is my least favourite, the production is too crisp and the songs are not diverse enough.

yeah, nevermind feels a little too sterile.

Sterile, exactly.

Noticed some love for Frances Farmer upthread, which I second. The chorus is one of his most direct and best.

Also great rock-out instrumental middle eight.

i've always liked In Utero more than Nevermind but it feels like a really challops fest here with everyone leaping up to say it's their fav like that's such a bold position to take

Yeah, what's wrong with you people? Stop agreeing!

I admire the courage in here.

moratorium on "challops"

plus moratorium on ppl challenging the challengingness of challops

I always miss the newsletters telling me whether I'm supposed to be agreeing or disagreeing with everyone this week.

i thought that at this point championing nevermind would be challops-ish. (i like nevermind a lot, fwiw. i've just always liked in utero more. this isn't revisionist or anything.)

xpost: is challops-ish ok? challopsy? challopesque?

if we can't challenge the challops and we can't poll, what are we going to do?

I think we need to poll the other options.

Classic. Way better than "Nevermind". It has the distinct sound of someone who couldn't give a shit while they were recording it, which is the only genuinely authentic r'n'r sound of all.....

I dunno, is it challops-ish or finally the time to just come out and admit In Utero owns Nevermind? I figure most of the people here, including me, vividly experienced Nirvana's birth and death. 'They' made Nevermind the masterpiece. Reading this thread makes me, once again, realise it's time to fiercely disagree.

i'll never not like nevermind, i don't think. it's not like i've listened to either in months if not years.

Same here, this thread spawned me listening to In Utero and right now 'On a plain' on repeat since, well, years ago. 'Tis the way it goes, the way it needs.

I don't like Nirvana. Never been a fan. But viewing them objectively, "In Utero" is more convincing. Much more. It makes me respect them. "Nevermind" never did.

So, I can well understand fans preferring "Nevermind". But for non-fans, "In Utero" makes them harder to dismiss.

It drags on me like "Tonights The Night" and "Closer". I don't like it as much. It isn't as good. But the fact that it bears comparison means that I can't dismiss Cobain as casually as I'd like to.

In 2003 what is believed to be the original Albini mix of In Utero was issued as a vinyl-only release by Universal Records in the UK. This is believed to be the result of a mistake at the factory when the wrong master tapes were used to have the album recut. The discs were manufactured in Germany. They can be indentified by the numbers A33 9124 536 S1 320 pressed into the deadwax, or the catalog numbers 424 536-1 on the disc.

Anybody heard this?

woah no i haven't! i'd love to hear that...

OTM, PhilK. In Utero has got to be one of the most sonically extreme and emotionally visceral records to sell as many copies as it did. They were basically the no. 1 band in the world. The suits wanted more product and In Utero is what the band gave them? I'm still blown away, and it's not as if the album is nothing more than a big "fuck you" to corporate America. Actually, it's quite the opposite. Before all of pop music, the band played out all its guilt, all its anxieties. It hated its audience. It hated its audience. They loved grass roots punk, but hated its isolation. They loved the idea of pop utopia a la the Beatles, but hated its massive and out-of-control it is. And all this stuff is there. If you want an artistic statement that deals with how humanity copes in the age of corporate American, In Utero is it. Of course, you might not like some the band's answers!!!

Sorry, many typos!

hated=loved (second time around)

In Utero has got to be one of the most sonically extreme and emotionally visceral records to sell as many copies as it did.

sometimes it's too much for me.

Me, too.

like right now i think it would scare me to pieces.

it's not as "crazy" as i remember. but some of the stuff, yeah i know what you mean...like it doesn't sound like an album that should have sold 6 million copies or whatever and been all over MTV...it sounds like some band that should have been opening for Jesus Lizard and Tar in a club in Milwaukee.

at least some of it, like Very Ape or Milk It, the noisier stuff

there's also the lyrics. even by the fuck-you-like-an-animal standards of the time, "i wish i could eat your cancer when you turn black" was pretty o_0 for a big rock radio hit.

radio friendly unit shifter

It helped me get through the first week and a half of a study program (in a place known for it's sunny summer weather). It rained and hailed continuously and I was on a lot of buses surrounded by very annoying people. Classic.

I only remember Scentless Apprentice, which I played the way 13 year olds masturbate.

you played it into a dirty sweatsock?

while looking at old copies of your mom's cosmo?

I only played it when other people weren't around because it made me feel guilty and weird but also really good, I'd play it really loud, sitting down looking at the speakers and then turn the CD player off and leave the room, closing the door after me.

It makes me feel really weird still just to think of it, I haven't heard it in so long

Every wet nurse refused to feed him
Electrolytes smell like semen

don't

Anybody heard this?

Yes. It doesn't sound tremendously different. Not sure what Geffen felt the burning need to change; not sure what Albini found the burning need to bitch about. Any more than he bitches about anything.

had a buddy who had a short bout w/ cancer, i remember listening to it a lot w/ him during the time period where he was undergoing chemo. not sure if the line about eating cancer was comforting or scary to him, but for those memories alone, i'll always consider it ultra classic. rip

In 2003 what is believed to be the original Albini mix of In Utero was issued as a vinyl-only release by Universal Records in the UK. This is believed to be the result of a mistake at the factory when the wrong master tapes were used to have the album recut. The discs were manufactured in Germany. They can be indentified by the numbers A33 9124 536 S1 320 pressed into the deadwax, or the catalog numbers 424 536-1 on the disc.

Anybody heard this?

-- Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 11:44 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

woah no i haven't! i'd love to hear that...

-- M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 11:46 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

Yeah, I've got this, a download link popped up on Drowned In Sound a few months ago. I'll sendspace it if anyone's interested.

I was just going to say "A likely story" but hey wow.

Yeah, I'd like to hear that.

Like to hear it as well Nate!

Yeah I'll upload it sometime over the weekend. I'll need email addresses though, I don't want to put a direct link here.

i've never heard either version of in utero, oddly - incesticide was the album i heard more than any other nirvana album - but i'd love to start with the albini version and then try the litt version afterwards! starsandheroes at your favourite search engine's email service innit. thanks nate...

Classic--despite the noise or whatever, this album sounds way more "pop" to me because the textures of the songs are more varied than "Nevermind," which in my head = accessibility. Sort of like "Rain Dogs" or "Heart In Motion" or a Beatles album, where the sound changes from song to song. Whereas "Nevermind" is more like a Stones album, still good but all cut from the same cloth. And the slow songs on "In Utero" are groovier than "Something in the Way." And "Scentless Apprentice" somehow manages to turn the verse lines into a catchy atonal hook, which you don't hear a whole lot of. There aren't a lot of albums I like more.

Classic--despite the noise or whatever, this album sounds way more "pop" to me because the textures of the songs are more varied than "Nevermind," which in my head = accessibility. Sort of like "Rain Dogs" or "Heart In Motion" or a Beatles album, where the sound changes from song to song. Whereas "Nevermind" is more like a Stones album, still good but all cut from the same cloth.

That's an interesting point. I hear what you're saying. Like, even though the record is possibly more extreme, it actually is a product of a band that has grown more confident, more skilled at studio work and pop songwriting.

. Sort of like "Rain Dogs" or "Heart In Motion" or a Beatles album, where the sound changes from song to song.

The Amy Grant album? I listened to it last night and also thought it a poptastic Christian miscellany.

The differences between the Litt and Albini versions aren't that obvious to be honest, and it's hard to tell if the difference is down to CD vs vinyl rip. I think Heart-Shaped Box is noticeably different and as far as I know that's the only one that Scott Litt had a major part in remixing. Generally though, the Albini version sounds muddier to me, and the vocals are lower in the mix.

I just listened to a Heart Shaped Box demo and liked it a lot. I find the vocals on this later Nirvana stuff overwrought and prefer less the affected vocals on other stuff.

I once opened a mix CD with "Frances Farmer," and it sounded amazing there. My favorite Nirvana song.

I can't listen to in utero, it is too painful like I am exploiting someone's emotional pain. I think it is good but I am not sure if it belongs on mainstream radio.

I'm always up for exploiting someone's pain, especially if it's tuneful.

TS: House of Pain vs. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart vs. T-Pain.

good grief, what a question. classic.

Haven't heard this album since high school, adored it at the time. Sold it off in the midst of a hipper-than-thou early college years clearing of the shelves. Feel like I should rebuy it, though, and hear it again. Same with all Nirvana, really.

good record

i figured nirvana wasn't an act suceptible to dismissal by the "hipper-than-thou" crowd.

I can't listen to in utero, it is too painful like I am exploiting someone's emotional pain. I think it is good but I am not sure if it belongs on mainstream radio.

― i just like barbecue rib, whatever (u s steel), Thursday, September 9, 2010 10:36 AM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I remember thinking this album was really hilarious when it first came out.

i figured nirvana wasn't an act suceptible to dismissal by the "hipper-than-thou" crowd.

Of course they are! Anything listened to en masse is susceptible. Kinda wish I didn't sell it, but then, I've been busy with Lord knows what other albums since so haven't really missed it. And I can still hum at least half the tunes, anyway...

I was too hip for Nirvana like 3 months after Nevermind came out. I'm back now though.

Anything listened to en masse is susceptible

nonsense. next you're going to tell me that new kids on the block are susceptible to dismissal by the "hipper-than-thou" crowd.

Bleach has supplanted this as my favourite Nirvana in recent years. I still rate it very highly though.

one of my least favorite Nirvana albums. not that it's 'bad', but it seems much more controlled and tame. Nevermind was a very accessible album but it did that in the context of rocking out. In Utero has too many songs like "Rape Me" which is pleasant to the ears but just 'ok' in the context of Nirvana.

Not to say there aren't great moments, but I'd rather listne to Bleach/Nevermind/Incesticide....

For me Bleach>In Utero>Incesticide>Nevermind. Not trying to be all cool and challopsy, I genuinely think Nevermind's their least interesting and three-dimensional record.

Context and hindsight has def generated some skewed perception.. when this shit first came out people were like "fuck yeah," not "omg I'm so fucking miserable time to go lock myself in the closet and draw a fucking bath boo hoo life is so hard."

Honestly I don't even recall anyone getting bummed over nirvana unplugged... not until several months later anyway..

Has anybody heard "Live at Reading"? Remember hearing really good things about it.

Nirvana Unplugged was great, even in spite of the sloppy beyond ridiculousness acoustic guitar stylings. one of the best Unpluggeds.

I think at least some of the sloppiness is attributable to their refusing to do multiple takes and stitching over flubs as was common mtv unplugged practice.

preferring Bleach = willful indieism

preferring Bleach = NEGATIVE CREEP KICKS ASS YOU MO'FO

sick of all this metacommentary. album is wack.

Classic as fuck. This is now and forever one of my favorite albums ever made.

Brilliant piece on the making of In Utero by Keith Cameron here http://www.livenirvana.com/documents/mojoinutero.html

See also the 33/ 3rd book.

gman otm

The screams on Scentless are surely those of a man who knows he will die soon

I like the in utero songs on muddy banks of the wishkah

I think In Utero is an undeniably strong record - I would be interested to hear views contrary to this explaining why etc...It just seems to kick you in the face with a great doomed wild force which is also kind of beautiful- I don't know if I can understand any negative stance a person might take. So yep. Let us know why this record might be dud. Maybe I am on the wrong path.

love In Utero. Warm, screamo, yeah it's fucking great.

Ditto. I was lukewarm on Nevermind, but hearing "Heart-Shaped Box" on the radio for the first time was a moment of "THIS is more like it." It was the first time I heard them sound like a band.

Nevermind I love, but it's wall to wall singles. Which is fine for a certainkind of listening. But In Utero feels more like an ~album~ and I defintely get a lot more enjoyment out of it as a whole. And it sounds so fucking great, ANYWHERE you play it.

i mean, albums don't get much more classic than this.

they should have left off scentless apprentice and very ape, and put on verse chorus verse and i hate myself and want to die. then it would have been pretty close to perfect.

whaat

crazy talk

keep scentless, add verse/chorus/verse (if thats the same song as sappy, off no alternative)

very ape is cool HANDS OFF

keep it all, just make it longer

yes

they should have left off scentless apprentice

wtf?

jesus christ if anything scentless apprentice should be on there twice

Definitely.

In Utero was a big album for me personally -- bought it before Nevermind, was really my gateway drug to Sonic Youth and a lot of other stuff -- but i would be willing to take a somewhat negative stance on it. i basically love "Serve The Servants" and "Heart-Shaped Box" and really like some of the noisier stuff, but am sick to death of "Rape Me" and the trio of slower songs reprised on Unplugged, would find it difficult to put on In Utero and not skip around today.

when "Dumb" comes on the radio i LUNGE for the dial

Frances Farmer still rules

Same experience. That year it competed with Zooropa for #1 on my private best-of-'93 ballot (I liked to think at the time that one's preference said a lot about what you listened for in music). I have less patience for the whining in "Serve The Servants" now but it was a hell of a salvo at the time. "Frances Farmer..." is the track that's deepened imo.

i like that song but am kind of amazed by how little i am able to recall of that song and several others from an album that i must have listened to dozens of times when i was 12 (xp)

can't remember if i posted about it here, but my parents got me In Utero for christmas---which ruled---but i was scandalized (scandalized!!) by "Rape Me," and always turned the volume way down when it came on, thought i was gonna get busted

millions of adolescents were scandalized by "Rape Me," i think that was kinda part of the point of the song?

then again they took me to see Pulp Fiction in the theater (after seeing it themselves), and my mom's favorite quotable was "bring out the gimp!" so who knows

yeah the more i think about it over time, the early/mid 90s was such a fucked up time to be a tween, even more than now in many ways

I remember thinking this was a funny album on my first listen, it didn't seem as depressed until in retrospect after Kurt died.

Like starting off your big follow up album with "teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old" is hilarious

I think I've heard four of the songs on this record

n/a otm, "Servants" is so funny and self-aware that i was annoyed by Alfred characterizing it as 'whining'

It shared attitudes with the good songs on Zooropa -- conscious of putting one over on their adoring audiences -- which made my agonizing at the time over which album I preferred that much stupider. I think I'd find "Rape Me" funnier now though.

Zooropa was a favorite of mine then, too. I still think it's one of their best, second only to Boy. It felt like a 90s take on Stranded.

p sure i loved zooropa when it came out. haven't heard it in ages, but i distinctly remember buying a bootleg cassette in blackpool and feeling AWESOME about it

never loved In Utero, was disappointed from release day on, because already I'd tired of the "woe is me, I'm famous" 90s 'tude. made being a fan "work". some good tunes, "Pennyroyal Tea" the best, but when someone tells me "fuck you" then I'm gonna walk away

loved Zooropa from the start though, never heard it as fuck you but rather, join us angels, we go down together

closer to "Let's be cool in wraparound shades while we stagger to a 7-11 for smokes."

I preferred The Flea

they should have left off scentless apprentice and very ape, and put on verse chorus verse and i hate myself and want to die. then it would have been pretty close to perfect.
― Poliopolice, Saturday, February 16, 2013 3:31 AM (10 hours ago)

keep scentless, add verse/chorus/verse (if thats the same song as sappy, off no alternative)
― SOYLENT GREEN IS SHEEPLE (stevie), Saturday, February 16, 2013 3:35 AM (10 hours ago)

disagreeing due to flawless sequencing.

I'm disappointed in utero did not inspire any weird al parodies.
re: zooropa -- weird al reciting green eggs and ham over numb was transcendent

tried to listen to in utero last week, it was very hard, it's so boring

The thing about In Utero is that anytime someone talks about it, I want to listen to it.

The thing about In Utero is that anytime someone talks about it, I want to listen to it Jesus Lizard.

listen to

Buy the oh the guilt / boilermaker 7"

my favorite nirvana picture is on the back cover of that split single:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TCi-H8BXmlo/T2oK_PLUOpI/AAAAAAAACRY/gqn-SozXvOA/s1600/kurt-cobain-and-a-chihuahua.jpg

the differences between the Albini mixes and the final release; not as big a deal as folk often say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWuBxN8r860

The Albini mix sounds horrible!!

Where is the proof this is his final mix?

Scott Litt only mixed a couple of the tracks on the record, if I recall... the rest were Albini mixes.

i've never been clear on the mixing/mastering distinction but apparently there was some sweetening done in the mastering step as well. i honestly never heard an appreciable difference except for the light saber effects on heart shaped box. (which i personally think is cool -- pew pew pew!)

The Albini vocals, in that YouTube at least, sound much more buried in a swarm instead of above it. I think there's a new Deluxe Reissue of this on the way, offering both mixes.

fwiw '93 I was mostly into Rounder Records and dance music.

So what was albini getting so hot under the collar about?

'Heart Shaped Box' and 'All Apologies' had some further recording done on them before being mixed by Scott Litt, the rest of the album were Albini mixes. There was a little bit of sweetening done at the mastering stage, but all they did was boost the level of the vocals and changed the bass sound.

Yeah, I suspect he was mostly upset about the mastering, which (in relative terms) squashed/compressed everything.

A good comparison is his work on PJ Harvey's Rid Of Me, from around the same time.

There is a Scott Litt mix of 'Pennyroyal Tea' which came out elsewhere, but the version on the album is Albini's mix!

RE polly ridofme: That's got a very raw sound but lacks warmth

Thinking today, not sure I've ever heard this album. At that point in my life, and that point of the Nirvana cycle, it was the last thing I wanted to hear. Will remedy the oversight asap.

The Litt "Pennyroyal" was delegated to be the single mix, but that release got quashed after the suicide. It was finally released on the s/t comp.

So what was albini getting so hot under the collar about?

can't speak for him but almost any young band can be convinced that their album needs to be mixed according to the record company's wishes - the guys you hang out with from the label are guys you're talking w/ all the time, they're your buds, they're backstage when you come off stage all full of adrenaline and you're probably high or a little tipsy and you're having all these peak-experience moments with them along - all it'd take to get a band thinking "we need a remix here" would be a room full of the friends who pulled them from relative poverty and made them very, very rich now shaking their heads or looking glum as they listen to the stuff you just emerged from the studio with. playing new shit to the label is a headfuck position to be in in the first place and artists are super-vulnerable at that point; the more they have riding on it, the less genuinely confident they're likely to be. so my guess, which I'd call an educated guess but ymmv/caveats in place, is that when Nirvana heard the initial mixes, they fucking loved them and went ape, "fuck yes this is exactly what we wanted," etc. then after they play them for the suits, they call the guy they spent 24-hour days with working and eating and living through the recording up in the wilds of MN: "hey, we've decided we don't love this," and dude in question thinks "I smell suits" and is kinda pissed.

all guessing as I say but that seems a likely thought process. occam's razor though would say "they loved the mixes until they went home and then they listened alone and thought 'fuck, I don't know,'" which is something I have had happen - shit that sounds very cool in the just-finished-recording-and-mixing environment through studio monitors can sound more "you had to've been there" once you get home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUyuXN93GmA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2KTFGATlrg

I think there's a bit of personality retrofitting going on here (generally). Cobain complained about the gloss on "Nevermind," but people have been consistent and on-record saying he wanted that pop sheen all along. Likewise he complained (or was it just Albini?) about Scott Litt remixing certain tracks, but no doubt Cobain was likely well within his rights to say no; if he could get Albini to record it, he could do whatever he wanted at that point. Whether or how hard he had to be convinced we may never know, but Cobain was apparently totally, totally convincible, and very self-conscious (if perhaps belatedly "tortured") about his pop prospects. He was torn between his pop instincts and his scene-conscious distrust of the same.

Now Albini, he truly doesn't give a shit. He's severed ties with friends over lesser infractions. It's just his personal bugaboo, that he doesn't want anyone fiddling with his mixes. He's been pretty consistent.

lol i totally saw that when it originally aired, great find xp

josh in chicago otm -- cobain was probably more conflicted and self-contradictory about pop polish vs. not than any artist of his generation, i could totally see him changing his mind from day to day about mixes with or without label people or whoever influencing him

Cobain complained about the gloss on "Nevermind," but people have been consistent and on-record saying he wanted that pop sheen all along.

probably true, but there are also those clips of butch vig saying that he never wanted to double-track vocals or guitars and that he had to trick cobain into doing so.

I've always liked Albini better in theory than in practice. As someone who had to record CDs to tape to play in my car during that time, those songs like "Rid of Me" and Breeders' "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" -- (very quiet intros followed by) LOUD EXPLOSIVE CHORUS -- were frustrating to hear on my Cavalier's dashboard speakers.

So I like the Litt stuff alright, but they were correct in keeping the Albini "Pennyroyal Tea". Litt's made it sound like Urge Overkill or something.

probably true, but there are also those clips of butch vig saying that he never wanted to double-track vocals or guitars and that he had to trick cobain into doing so.

producers who trick artists into accepting creative decisions should be stabbed in the throat imo

So said Butch Vig in the "Classic Albums" doc, but Cobain was obviously cool with the results. He (Cobain) was probably just being lazy. No one likes to do a dozen takes of the same thing. It's exhausting.

double-tracking is more of an aesthetic decision than an "i don't feel like putting in the work" one imo but then again I have very strong anti-doubletracking allergies

i have had so many debates with studio friends about vocal doubling, i'm usually the only person who wants to avoid it unless clearly necessary/beneficial

In the doc Vig basically says they had him do several takes of a guitar track, each with a slightly different distortion or some other tweak, then at the end Vig combined all seven takes or whatever and played it back for Cobain's approval. And he approved.

Vocal-wise, there are a couple of places where Cobain was "tricked" (whatever that means) into doing a couple of extra takes, which Vig stacked to punch up some choruses. Also, Grohl is often doubling vox.

Not the same as Lanois locking Gabriel in a barn until he finished his "So" lyrics!

huge disappointment after nevermind. unplugged was a return to form and it sucks that he blew his head off before they could capture that caustic rustic vibe in the studio, which could have been the great leap forward in utero seemed to want to be

Litt mix of PennyRoyal Tea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w3klfX0SOc

the best behind-the-scenes story about In Utero i've read was this from Mojo 12 years back

http://www.livenirvana.com/documents/mojoinutero.html

I picked up their other records and listened to them. It didn't really change my impression. Their weakest album is obviously Nevermind.

what a clown

"obviously"

Relistening to this today. Tourette's is still my favorite song on the album.

"moderate rock..."

Goggling 'tourette's nirvana lyrics' brings some hilariously off base results.

Not the same as Lanois locking Gabriel in a barn until he finished his "So" lyrics!

I want to hear this story!

The version I heard was Lanois locked PG in a cupboard, but...

http://www.theartsdesk.com/tv/classic-albums-peter-gabriel-so-bbc-four

The album took almost exactly a year to make, which was fast for Gabriel. “I’m a master of distraction when I have a deadline,” he admitted. Struggling with the lyrics towards the end, he would procrastinate by making endless telephone calls, to the point where a furious Lanois was moved to grab the phone and smash it to pieces. On another occasion the producer “nailed Peter into the barn" and then went off for lunch. Gabriel eventually smashed through the door frame and asked for a quiet word. “I almost got fired but I think he got the idea...” muttered Lanois.

"How can I smash through this door frame? Hmmmm.... that sledgehammer might work..."

Butch Vig says in the nevermind doc that he got kurt to go along with double tracking his vocals by telling him that John Lennon also double tracked his vocals. One weird trick.

Most of the sheen on Nevermind is due to the way Andy Wallace mixed it, rather than the way Butch Vig recorded it.

Wonder what Litt could do with the songs off Bleach.

Most of the sheen on Nevermind is due to the way Andy Wallace mixed it, rather than the way Butch Vig recorded it.

really really? short of unmixed tracks in evidence this seems like a bold assertion

What is Scott Litt up to these days? I mean, his association with R.E.M. undoubtedly got him a lot of work for a while (especially post-Automatic), but I haven't heard his name mentioned for quite some time. The last Litt productions I'm really aware of are Incubus' Morning View and Warning by Green Day... since then, I have no idea!

he did the new Dylan album

The "Andy Wallace made it slick thing" might be wrong but it's what I've heard all these years.

http://nirvananews.tumblr.com/post/9493546503/nevermind-20th-the-mixes

Vig: "The first mixes we did, before Andy Wallace came in, were really raw, which is how the band wanted them."

Short piece in the New Yorker (not online):

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2012/10/01/121001ta_talk_paumgarten

The "Andy Wallace made it slick thing" might be wrong but it's what I've heard all these years.

Ironic, since the story goes that the band was given a list of approved mixers, and they picked Wallace since he had mixed Slayer.

It would be interesting if they did what Pearl Jam did with Ten and released a new mix with most of the effects and sweetening stripped off. It would give a new take on the album, I think. Having said that, I have no problems with the way Nevermind was handled and I actually think the original mix of Ten has aged worse.

Well the big ol 20th anniversary box has a Pre-wallace Butch Vig mix but I have not heard it.

Yeah, "Nevermind" mix is fine. New "Ten" mix was an improvement; the original sounds like it was artificially crafted like it was recorded in an empty arena's locker rooms.

yeah god the new Ten mix was a joy. that old mix was just weird and bad. all that weird echo, the guitars buried way down in the mix. nice to not have to listen to live versions anymore, lol

Interesting to note that the band started recording In Utero on Valentines Day 1993... 20 years ago today they would have been on their fifth day out of the twelve days it took to record the album!

I remember listening to Ten for the first time and thinking "fucking hell, this sounds like a Bryan Adams record!"

really really? short of unmixed tracks in evidence this seems like a bold assertion

aren't we talking about the so-called "Devonshire Mixes" that were released last year?

xpost

Cobain was a walking contradiction. He wanted wanted the record sales and acclaim as much as he wanted the indie cred. he was constantly conflicted in almost every aspect of his life. aggressive egotism riddled with crippling self doubt. not to mention his intense physical pain. nothing he says can be taken at face value.

Also, he was a drug addict. It's true!

iirc, in his diary, he talked about how he was tripping one night with Chris Novoselic and basically cajoled him into breaking 250 of his records after he found some Joni Mitchell and Carpenters and stuff. So he's also a TERRIBLE TRIP BUDDY.

back then it wasn't cool to pretend that you like that shit

j/k ilm police

lol

IIRC part of the reason that Albini got so steamed over the remixing was the one stipulation he gave to the band would be that it wouldn't be messed with after the fact without his knowledge becuz of what happened when Andy Wallace remixed Helmet's "Meantime", which Albini also recorded.

Sounds like Albini and Andy should open a studio together!

Would be interesting to know how much Andy Wallace has earned form points on this.

Would watch that reality show.

xpost

Listening to this now for the first time in ages. Sounds fucking great, including songs I kinda wasn't that into at all the first time around, especially "Serve the Servants" and "Milk It." Such an icy, mean sound on this, like metal dragged across concrete.

his voice is so ragged, too

I listened to it today too. Still a great album.

Lots of "punch-ins, punch-outs" though.

Yeah the wracked-ness is great. I was listening to NIN and skinny puppy and stuff at the time.

change the singer and maybe get the drummer high and 'serve the servants' could've been on crooked rain, crooked rain.

could've been on an weird album

ugh weird al album

...and it would have been about self-serve soft-serve ice cream ("serve the soft-serve with nuts...")

that legendary dessert is such a bore

Such a huge fan of this album, my favorite from the 90s

better than nevermind.

Cufk tish sips

IIRC part of the reason that Albini got so steamed over the remixing was the one stipulation he gave to the band would be that it wouldn't be messed with after the fact without his knowledge becuz of what happened when Andy Wallace remixed Helmet's "Meantime", which Albini also recorded.

i was under the impression that the opening track was the only track albini produced on meantime...

Bleach is still their best album. But I love In Utero too. Still can't sit through Nevermind, though I don't actually dislike any of the songs on it.

<i>IIRC part of the reason that Albini got so steamed over the remixing was the one stipulation he gave to the band would be that it wouldn't be messed with after the fact without his knowledge becuz of what happened when Andy Wallace remixed Helmet's "Meantime", which Albini also recorded.

i was under the impression that the opening track was the only track albini produced on meantime...

― SOYLENT GREEN IS SHEEPLE (stevie), Tuesday, 19 February 2013 08:17 (8 hours ago) Permalink
</i>
That's what I thought too, couldn't find confirmation one way or the other in my brief scan of the internet yesterday, either way it's part of the reason he got so pissed.

I think both Nevermind and In Utero are very strong records, and I've never liked the way that discussing the merits of those albums always seems to turn into a "which side of the fence are you on?" kind of debate. They're two records that serve very different functions to me. Nevermind is still an album I can enjoy as a very hooky collection of very catchy songs, even though I've heard the songs on the album a million times, whereas In Utero works for me on a different level... I find it much more of an emotional experience, whereas in its the resignation and beauty of 'Dumb', 'All Apologies' and 'Pennyroyal Tea' or the flat-out "I'm seriously fucked off and I want to blow off some steam" of 'Scentless Apprentice', 'Radio Friendly Unit Shifter', 'Milk It', 'Tourette's', 'Very Ape' etc.

Albini chimes in to say he wasn't that steamed (though confirms hating what is likely the helmet thing):
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/high-end/810746-comparing-mixes-nirvana-utero-scott-litt-mixes-vs-steve-albini-mixes-hd-5.html#post8753295

xpost:

And if we're throwing Bleach into the mix, then that record works for me on a different level again... for me that's just all about the sound of a young band enjoying making a racket.

Nevermind is still a neat candy pop record I listened to during my senior year. I hear a song from that and I think I know how my dad feels when he hears a Jay & The Americans song.

In Utero on the other hand is a different journey. I can't listen to it outside of the context that it's performed by a guy who committed suicide a year later. Maybe same kind of level as hearing Joy Division after 1980. I honestly can't remember what my opinion of the record was when it first came out.

xxpost:

*whereas=whether

What do hearing demos and different sessions of songs do for you guys in terms of divorcing them from the album?

Nevermind is still a neat candy pop record I listened to during my senior year. I hear a song from that and I think I know how my dad feels when he hears a Jay & The Americans song.

In Utero on the other hand is a different journey. I can't listen to it outside of the context that it's performed by a guy who committed suicide a year later. Maybe same kind of level as hearing Joy Division after 1980. I honestly can't remember what my opinion of the record was when it first came out.

― pplains, Tuesday, February 19, 2013 5:34 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, it's been very hard to listen to In Utero at times without being very aware that it was Kurt's last studio album before he went and blew his head off, and certainly the content of the record doesn't help. It's very obvious that this was an album written by a person who wasn't a very happy man. I think fame made it even worse... not in a "oh no, we're famous now and people I don't like are buying our records" sense, or a "oh no, our cool underground friends may not take us seriously anymore" sense, just more generally. I think the intrusive nature and the pressures of fame were very very uncomfortable for him. This is why it's so interesting for me to listen to Bleach these days... you get a snapshot of the band during a simpler time when things seemed to be a lot less of a drag. There's a humour to some of those Bleach songs even if Kurt actually meant some of the more pissed off moments on the album. But compare that to the "GO AWWWWWAY"'s on 'Scentless Apprentice' or the attack on the likes of Lynn Hirschberg in the middle 8 to 'Rape Me', and my god how much things changed in those four or five years.

What do hearing demos and different sessions of songs do for you guys in terms of divorcing them from the album?

― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, February 19, 2013 5:43 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not a lot, to be honest. I know there's a couple of tracks on In Utero which had been around for quite some time before they were recorded as musical ideas or as nearly-finished things, but the lyrics weren't finalised on any of the songs until the In Utero sessions.

As far as I know: 'Dumb', 'Pennyroyal Tea', 'Radio Friendly Unit Shifter' and 'All Apologies' were around in some form or another in 1990, well before Nevermind came out. 'Rape Me' dates from roughly 1991.

'Servants', 'Scentless', 'Heart-Shaped Box', 'Frances Farmer', 'Very Ape', 'Milk It' and 'Tourette's' were the newer tracks.

The lyrics to all the songs wouldn't have been settled upon until the actual recording process for the album, though.

tourette's is actually from 1992 or early, as they played it at Reading 92 (introduced as "The Eagle Has Landed"). The lyrics to Milk It date back to the beginning of Kurt and Courtney's courtship.

I was thinking about how many of the songs on In Utero were written before Nirvanamania, and how it's a clearing of phlegm from the throat rather than a totally new sound. Cobain was so fucked up after the band became popular. He almost died the night of their SNL performance in January 92, spent the rest of that spring strung out, detoxed painfully in the summer, but only remaining sober for a week or two at a time. he was an absolute mess for the entirety of Nirvana's brief time in the spotlight. I mean, look at this video from February 94, it's so sad, he's so worn out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=988Cst8qXGo

tourette's is actually from 1992 or early, as they played it at Reading 92 (introduced as "The Eagle Has Landed"). The lyrics to Milk It date
back to the beginning of Kurt and Courtney's courtship.

By "newer", I mean songs written between the release of Nevermind (September 1991) and the beginning of the recording sessions for In Utero (February 1993), so 1992-1993 I would consider to be the writing period for the newer stuff for In Utero. Whereas tracks written in 1990 would of course be pre-Nevermind or at least around the time of Nevermind (the tracks on that record dating from between 1989-1991, but no earlier or later).

God its still fucking tragic what happened..

they were on fire here with the Pat Smear assisted line up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0CVB8Ej_oo

I mean, look at this video from February 94, it's so sad, he's so worn out

Indeed! I was thinking this when I was watching Nirvana videos on youtube last night and it's notable how, as you go through their career, the videos become better and better shot (the earliest stuff being grainy home video dubbed-from-VHS stuff), and the band look more and more "professional" (see the In Utero-era stage sets, or the elaborate stage set of Unplugged and compare that to them playing in small, sweaty places in 1991 and prior to that), but Kurt just looks more and more dead on the inside. Like the video you posted, a lot of the early-'94 footage that's available is pretty depressing to watch. It's this weird feeling of you know that guy is about to kill himself, but you look at the other band members in the footage and they all seem to be none the wiser, and are just carrying on as usual.

And my god, the vocal on 'You Know You're Right' (recorded early 1994) is really cracked and mournful, much much more so than any of his singing on In Utero.

there were some horrible photos of him pre-Rome where he was just so junked out and grey looking, I just remember that 6 months before his death being a horrible rollercoaster ride, him just getting sicker and sicker combined with them being the hugest thing in the world.

albini response was p cool:

Originally Posted by RKrizman
You're right, this issue is being way oversimplified. This from Wikipedia for the "intelligent majority".
... Albini vehemently disagreed, and claimed he had an agreement with the band that it would not modify the tracks without his involvement. Albini initially refused to give the album master tapes to Gold Mountain, but relented after a phone call from Novoselic.
I've never bothered to read this, but this scene absolutely did not happen. I proposed from the beginning (before we ever recorded a note) that I do all the work on the songs I record, and the band agreed. I had just had the unpleasant experience of having a few songs remixed by the latest crush and hated the results, and wanted to avoid that if possible. When they decided to remix some songs, I listened to the masters and decided I couldn't do better, then gave them my blessing to do whatever they wanted.

I'll reiterate what I've said a hundred times elsewhere. Whatever my concerns at the time, the record in the stores is the one the band wanted you to hear, and I'm totally fine with that. It's their record. It's not my place or anybody else's to say they were wrong about their own music.

If ever a band can be given complete credit for an album, it's this band and this record.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzi18vC7e81qf2twwo1_400.jpg

2/16/1994

http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2010/03/10/entertainment/photos_galleries/kurt_cobain120843--500x380.jpg

27 going on 45

i don't think he looks bad there

I'll cross post my anecdote from last week here:

There was an older black man sleeping behind me on the train this morning, snoring away. He suddenly wakes with a start, coughs, then loudly proclaims:

"Smells like Teen Spirit! Smells like Teen Spirit! Entertain us! The grunge generation! The GRUNGE generation!"

Then he falls back asleep. Two minutes later, he springs to life again:

"91, 92... I love that era! I LOVE THAT ERA! Ha! Kurt Cobain. Kurt Cobain!!!! Pow. 27 club. Something 'bout that age. Something bout THAT AGE!"

This is verbatim, btw. I wrote it down!

the between song banter on unplugged show everyone still in high spirits, very jovial. my favorite part is when they start to play sliver in full on rock mode tempo then they realize where they are.

sliver is not on unplugged...?

odd but in utero never evokes cobain's suicide to me, i'm always instantly transported to fall of 93, driving around listening to it loud as possible, playing 'scentless apprentice' and 'radio friendly unit shifter' on repeat the most cuz they were the most OMFG YES, demanding whoever was stuck in my passenger seat LISTEN TO THOSE DRUMS, LISTEN TO THOSE FUCKING DRUMS. i was in boot camp when he did it, we had very little contact w/ the outside world, no tv and the only radio we heard was when the company commander would have it on in his office. occasionally (very sporadically) we'd get these one page print outs that would have a few headlines, sports standings, and maybe a corner w/ entertainment headlines. what i can remember is COBAIN IN DRUG COMA IN ROME, then NIRVANA PULLS OUT OF LOLLAPALOOZA, then a few days later suddenly the radio was playing nothing but nirvana and that's how i found out. a few days later i'd get letters from friends telling me the details etc, but as soon as i heard 'something in the way' and 'all apologies' and 'dumb' in regular rotation i knew and i was pretty sure it was suicide. unplugged has always been the one that evokes his death to me though, his death lingered the rest of the year w/ hole blowing and that line in 'natural born killaz' and then sleeps w/ angels and r.e.m. doing 'let me in' about cobain and pearl jam doing 'immortality' not about cobain but ppl thinking it was anyway and finally unplugged getting an actual release and being all over afn radio and every beq, felt very double fantasy. within a year of his death we'd get everything zen and frogstomp. not really sure i'd take either over 'valotte'.

cobain was also throwing up bile and blood beforehand and said afterward "no one liked it." the way the set's decorated, i think even by then he had made his mind up about killing himself.

is that why he sang a cover of sweet home alabama in a mummy voice?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxB0ajiM1pQ
great wfmu product placement, too!

well i think anytime you have someone who suffers from pretty crippling depression, a serious heroin addiction, and has access to guns the extent of premeditation is almost irrelevant, the situation is so predisposed to tragedy.

meat puppets!

[playing sweet home alabama on unplugged, i mean]

sliver is not on unplugged...?

― Poliopolice, Tuesday, 19 February 2013 20:08 (1 hour ago) Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv7S1cTfBk0

oh how funny would scentless apprentice unplugged have been!

oh how funny would scentless apprentice unplugged have been!

― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, February 19, 2013 9:20 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Especially if he'd sang it in his 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' Top Of The Pops voice.

Right, I think I'm going to put In Utero on... again. Like I have done for the last three fuckin' nights.

in utero never evokes cobain's suicide to me
yeah, same. the unplugged doesn't either, nor does the "live and loud" performance. anything in '94 does, however.. "you know you're right," "do re mi," and most of the live clips from that time don't feel the same as everything prior.

There was an older black man sleeping behind me on the train this morning, snoring away. He suddenly wakes with a start, coughs, then loudly proclaims:
"Smells like Teen Spirit! Smells like Teen Spirit! Entertain us! The grunge generation! The GRUNGE generation!"

I really hope that by saying "older," you don't mean that he was 39.

On A Pplains

Ha, 39 is just barely older than me. No, like in his 60s or so.

20th Anniversary Re-Issue due in September.
http://pitchfork.com/news/51473-nirvanas-in-utero-getting-20th-anniversary-reissue-watch-the-band-give-birth-in-vintage-promo-clip/

Full tracklist (including what looks like a remix of the whole album)
http://theseconddisc.com/2013/08/13/nirvana-to-serve-the-servants-with-anniversary-reissue-of-final-lp-in-utero/

sad that there is nothing left in the vaults but 'forgotten tune'

who's behind the mix? who's behind the mix?!?

Will.i.am

I wish they could have found another show besides "Live & Loud," because IIRC Kurt was really not feeling it at that show and not bothering to hide it.

Are many people really that dissatisfied with the original mix?

It's probably not compressed enough for modern ears.

Hopefully we will get an Albini rant.

Like, I wouldn't even say I'm a huge Albini fan but I think it's probably one of the best-mixed major label rock albums of its time.

otm L&L looking and feeling like an obligation. and it's already widely available in good quality. i always thought the very end was really dark, clapping like a monkey with this insane look on his face.

the bosnian rape victims benefit at cow palace in april 93 is a much better show, career spanning setlist and it's an incredible performance all the way through, to the end when kurt jumps off 20 feet speakers into the drums like a mannequin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUdYwNydoy0

I was there, great show. I haven't seen anything other than (crappy) audience recordings show up. I wonder if Nirvana did much taping of their shows?

The 3CD/DVD edition is absurdly overpriced at $150. With the Lights Out is the same configuration and lists for $40.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/inside-nirvanas-rarities-packed-in-utero-reissue-20130813

OK so the NEW mix/ remaster is by Albini. anyone else confused?

The reissue will also include Cobain's handwritten lyrics, a four-page letter Albini wrote the band prior to recording detailing his plans for In Utero, plus liner notes written by comedian and occasional In Utero tour opening act Bobcat Goldthwait.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh0U4SM7yGs

supposedly the "clapping like an insane monkey" thing (which always freaked me out too) was him doing his Ozzy impression. makes sense i guess. i must watch this Cow Palace show never seen it, cheers spazzmatazz.

Like, I wouldn't even say I'm a huge Albini fan but I think it's probably one of the best-mixed major label rock albums of its time.

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, August 14, 2013 4:00 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yup. I'll probably give any different mixes of this album a listen out of curiosity, but ultimately I feel no need at all to replace my original CD copy. They should give Albini the tapes for Nevermind and see what he comes up with; I think that would be far more interesting, even though I don't have (and never have) had a problem with the way that album sounds either.

LOL @ SLTS skating performance

A MOSH PIT POWER ROLL

Could become an ongoing series--de-radio-fying rock albums of the 80s/90s.

OK so the NEW mix/ remaster is by Albini. anyone else confused?

If Steve did the new remix this it might explain why he was hanging out with these dudes earlier this yr

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/dave-grohl-enjoys-some-ch_n_3392038.html

Could become an ongoing series--de-radio-fying rock albums of the 80s/90s.

― only dogg forgives (Eazy), Wednesday, August 14, 2013 8:24 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, Pearl Jam did it already with Ten, didn't they? I always thought the production on that record was much more slick and tied down to its era than Nevermind's ever was. I have this memory of putting Ten on at some point in the late '90s and thinking "holy fuck, this sounds like a Bryan Adams record!"

The original mix of Ten was very gauzy and reverby. The recent remix definitely gives it more bite and grit.

the thing that the new remix has that the original one doesn't is that it now sounds more like they were all in the same room together. the original didn't have any warmth at all.

The original mix of Ten was very gauzy and reverby. The recent remix definitely gives it more bite and grit.

is this the brendan o'brien remix?

yup!

"Nevermind" already has an "undeluxe" mix doesn't it? On the "Deluxe" edition...

interesting to read some of the Albini letter that he sent to the band prior to accepting the gig. especially considering what came after re the Scott Litt re-mixing and what have you.

"I think the very best thing you could do at this point is exactly what you are talking about doing: bang a record out in a couple of days, with high quality but minimal “production” and no interference from the front office bulletheads. If that is indeed what you want to do, I would love to be involved.

If, instead, you might find yourselves in the position of being temporarily indulged by the record company, only to have them yank the chain at some point (hassling you to rework songs/sequences/production, calling-in hired guns to “sweeten” your record, turning the whole thing over to some remix jockey, whatever…) then you’re in for a bummer and I want no part of it.

I’m only interested in working on records that legitimately reflect the band’s own perception of their music and existence. If you will commit yourselves to that as a tenet of the recording methodology, then I will bust my ass for you. I’ll work circles around you. I’ll rap your head in with a ratchet… "

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/absolute_nirvana_new_steve_albini_mixes_push_in_utero_anniversary_set

the litt mix of pennyroyal tea is better

^^^ front office bull-litt head

http://31.media.tumblr.com/b22308e4442fd4cdaee976d76241268f/tumblr_mtqy175XK21qel2y1o1_1280.jpg

LOL

That "All Apologies" demo has an almost Byrds-like thing going on.

very vaselinesy too

DOLL STEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE

not to nitpick but you misspelled STEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK

what if the band wanted to remix/sweeten it? What then?

TEST MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

Listened to the compare of the Litt and Albini mixes of Heart Shaped Box and All Apologies, and I think I favor Litt's mixes by a good bit. If anything, Litt managed to keep some of the original stripped-down trio feel while beefing it up just enough to make it more radio-friendly.

what was the point of albini doing a NEW mix of this album? I like it, because I'm a sucker for things that sound different, but I'm not sure what was gained by it.

i just listened to a podcast with albini where he explained it--basically because they worked so fast they made a lot of mixing decisions on the fly and dave/krist wanted to do a mix that showed some of the possible paths not taken.

tell me which podcast plz

Loved the new remaster. If only they could've found a 50-year-old Steve Albini in the first place.

Vish Khanna's Kreative Kontrol: http://vishkhanna.com/2013/08/16/ep-24-steve-albini/

It's pretty fascinating.

xp

Paths not taken to get more money.

the interview up on Spotify is great too, Albini's mellowed in his old age!

oh and the full 4 page letter he wrote them is here http://vanyaland.com/2013/09/25/read-steve-albinis-incredible-letter-to-nirvana/
".. you can't design a car around the upholstery.. your experiences are specific to your records.. i'll rap your head in with a ratchet" sage advice left right and centre.

xpost thanks tarfumes!

there are countless formulas for pressing flowers

i thought it was called "Endino Jam" but apparently it's just called "Jam"

what a fucking boring song title

guh that albino interview/podcast was so full of nerdery and excellenly worded albini-asides, i was in albini-heaven!

I love that Albini drops a Jerky Boys reference in that letter.

"Forgotten Tune" is kind of a stinker.

So anyways (obv point coming up)

this 3CD set consists of the album as was, the mixes that got mixed, and CD2 is the album again, a bit remixed. And a live CD. Nice.

But when Fleetwood Mac remastered "Rumours" recently, the 3CD edition was £10. Even the superdeluxe one (4CD, 1DVD and an LP as well) is £50 new or thereabouts.

Makes yer fink.

I'm guessing £10 wasn't the rrp for the 3cd rumours tbh, though I think this Nirvana box is the sound of a barrel being scraped.

Well, that's the price I always saw it at, in shops. Fairly sure it wasn't being discounted.

so has anyone purchased this since the last time the thread was bumped? thoughts?

I just got the 'deluxe' cd thingo today, (2disc) today, am kinda curious what y'all make of it

does it have the albini mix?

got the 3xlp. albini mix is great. wonder where my bought 90s bootleg tape of the og albini demos is to compare.

it's the weirdest sensation

the cd has the original remaster and the 2013 mix

listening to the remaster, cant really tell much difference yet except that the um, the music seems to be less in the background, so kurt blends more with the music and the whole thing is a bit noisier. maybe, idk

who did the 2013 mix?

albini as well

i said to mr veg that i was hoping it'd have good liner notes so that i could remember why I wanted to buy this so bad 3 months ago

but it didn't?

nope. just a story by bobcat goldthwait about he knew nirvana when which is nice n all but cmon pony up with the nerdnotes jeez

yeah sounds like a let-down

it's still In Utero so letdowns are relative, at least :)

the 2013 rmix is no no way a letdown!

hearing almost-the-album is a p. much unprecedented opportunity imo

the 2013 albini mix is superior to the original in pretty much every way, I think.

you can also buy it on vinyl by itself which I recommend.

I haven't listened to that one yet - that will be my treat for today.

we were talking about the sleeve notes not the music

^^^

Great Conan Needs A Friend episode up this week w/Grohl, Novoselic and Albini discussing In Utero. There's a hilarious section where Albini recalls crank calling Gene Simmons, Evan Dando and Eddie Vedder during the production.

oh shit i need to listen to that

the evan dando call is widely available, but has anyone heard the simmons and vedder calls?
they would have been neat to put on the reissues save for the prospect of paying off gene simmons to be on a nirvana record...

albini’s kurt impression cracked me up
that laconic “do you know the Wipers”

also loled at kris saying that the first line of scentless apprentice was originally “..now i’m bald and old” when Kurt first sang it but kris shot him a look & he changed it to “bored” <3

for anyone else who was struggling to obtain this, here's a download link