Post by Salem6 on Nov 2, 2004 15:12:18 GMT
Set will include 68 previously unreleased recordings; 18-track DVD.
by Joe D'Angelo, with additional reporting by Jem Aswad
Kurt Cobain (file) (Photo: MTV)
There's something missing from Nirvana's "new" video to promote the band's upcoming box set: drummer Dave Grohl.
That's because Grohl was still hitting the skins for DC punk band Scream when the video for "In Bloom" was shot in April 1990, with Chad Channing behind the drum kit. The vintage clip, which first appeared on 1991's "Sub Pop Video Network Program 1," will resurface the week of November 8, two weeks before Nirvana's long-awaited four-disc box set, With the Lights Out, drops on November 23.
The original "In Bloom" video was filmed mostly in New York. Performance footage is intercut with scenes of the bandmembers goofing off around Manhattan a day before they were to play a show at the Pyramid Club that ended with mixed results. According to Michael Azerrad's "Come As You Are," the definitive Nirvana tome, the show was far from the band's best: One of the few who refrained from heckling was Iggy Pop, who cheered encouragingly. After the show, bassist Krist Novoselic was so disappointed with the performance that he shaved his head bald in the Jersey City, New Jersey, motel where the band was staying. This explains why, in the video, he's seen with hair in some scenes and resembles Kojak in others.
Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon stitched in the story's silver lining by bringing A&R man Gary Gersh to the show. Not long after, Gersh signed the band to Geffen Records, the company that released Nirvana's breakthrough, Nevermind, in 1991, after Moore convinced Kurt Cobain that signing to a major label wasn't selling out. The video, however, offers no indication that the band was on the verge of a bad night. The trio parades through New York's East River Park wearing creepy clear-plastic masks and goofing around in the city's Financial District. After the band checks out the clipper ships in the South Street Seaport, Cobain even munches on a street-vendor hot dog.
While the version of "In Bloom" used in the video sounds similar to the one that appeared on Nevermind, it was actually recorded in 1990, a few weeks before the video was shot, with producer Butch Vig at the helm (Vig was also responsible for producing Nevermind). A second studio version of "In Bloom" was later recorded with Grohl on drums, and another video was shot with director Kevin Kerslake, who also directed clips for Nirvana's "Come As You Are," "Lithium" and "Sliver," and later worked with Ryan Cabrera and Velvet Revolver.
The 81-track With The Lights Out, which takes its name from the first line of the chorus of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," includes 68 previously unreleased tracks, including rehearsals, outtakes, demos and covers that include Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker," the Velvet Underground's " Here She Comes Now" and four Leadbelly songs. Five tracks come from an overseas promotional sampler: a 1987 radio performance of "White Lace and Strange," a 1988 demo of "Blandest," a 1990 solo acoustic version of "Lithium," a 1993 demo of "Heart Shaped Box" and a 1994 solo acoustic version of "You Know You're Right," the song that served as the single from 2002's Nirvana greatest-hits set.
A DVD features live and rehearsal footage (including an eight-song rehearsal filmed at Novoselic's mom's house in 1988), home movies, and 20 full-length videos. Thurston Moore reprises his role in Nirvana lore by penning the liner notes to the set's 60-page booklet.
Track list for With the Lights Out, according to Geffen Records:
Disc One:
"Heartbreaker" (live, 1987)
"Anorexorcist" (radio performance, 1987)
"White Lace and Strange" (radio performance, 1987)
"Help Me I'm Hungry" (radio performance, 1987)
"Mrs. Butterworth" (rehearsal, 1988)
"If You Must" (demo, 1988)
"Pen Cap Chew" (demo, 1988)
"Downer" (live, 1988)
"Floyd the Barber" (live, 1988)
"Raunchola/ Moby Dick" (live, 1988)
"Beans" (home demo)
"Don't Want It All" (home demo)
"Clean Up Before She Comes" (home demo)
"Polly" (home demo)
"About a Girl" (home demo)
"Blandest" (demo, 1988)
"Dive" (demo, 1988)
"They Hung Him on a Cross" (demo, 1989)
"Grey Goose" (demo, 1989)
"Ain't It a Shame" (demo, 1989)
"Token Eastern Song" (demo, 1989)
"Even in His Youth" (demo, 1989)
"Polly" (demo, 1989)
Disc Two:
"Opinion" (solo acoustic, 1990)
"Lithium" (solo acoustic, 1990)
"Been a Son" (solo acoustic, 1990)
"Sliver" (home demo, 1989)
"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (home demo, 1989)
"Pay to Play" (demo, 1990)
"Here She Comes Now" (demo, 1990)
"Drain You" (demo, 1990)
"Aneurysm" (demo, 1990)
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" (demo, 1991)
"Breed" (rough mix, 1991)
"Verse Chorus Verse" (outtake, 1991)
"Old Age" (outtake, 1991)
"Endless, Nameless" (radio session, 1991)
"Dumb" (radio session, 1991)
"D-7" (radio session, 1990)
"Oh, the Guilt" (B-Side, 1992
"Curmudgeon" (B-Side, 1992
"Return of the Rat" (B-Side, 1992
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Butch Vig mix, 1991)
Disc 3:
"Rape Me" (solo acoustic, 1992)
"Rape Me" (demo, 1992)
"Scentless Apprentice" (demo, 1992)
"Heart Shaped Box" (demo, 1993)
"I Hate Myself and Want to Die" (compilation track, 1993)
"Milk It" (demo, 1993)
"Moist Vagina" (demo, 1993)
"Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip" (B-Side, 1993)
"The Other Improv" (demo, 1993)
"Serve the Servants" (solo acoustic, 1993)
"Very Ape" (solo acoustic, 1993)
"Pennyroyal Tea" (solo acoustic, 1993)
"Marigold" (B-Side, 1993)
"Sappy (a.k.a. Verse Chorus Verse)" (previously unreleased, 1993)
"Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" (demo, 1994)
"Do Re Mi" (solo acoustic, 1994)
"You Know You're Right" (solo acoustic, 1994)
"All Apologies" (solo acoustic)
Disc 4 (DVD)
"Love Buzz"
"Scoff"
"About a Girl"
"Big Long Now"
"Immigrant Song"
"Spank Thru"
"Hairspray Queen"
"School"
"Mr. Moustache"
"Big Cheese"
"In Bloom"
"Sappy"
"School"
"Love Buzz"
"Pennyroyal Tea"
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
"Territorial Pissings"
"Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam"
"Talk to Me"
"Seasons in the Sun"
This report is provided by MTV News
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