Posts Tagged ‘Nirvana’

’1991: THE YEAR THAT PUNK BROKE’ – AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON DVD

Featuring Sonic Youth, Nirvana, The Ramones, Dinosaur Jr., Babes In Toyland, and Gumball.

Sonic Youth’s Hits Are For Squares, previously available only through limited outlets, will be released on October 31st 2011, through Universal Music Group.

A collection of songs from Sonic Youth’s career curated by a diverse group of artists, actors, directors and musicians whose own progressive and unconventional style is akin to the freestyle expression of Sonic Youth’s
music.  The artisans handpicked by Sonic Youth include Catherine Keener, Beck, Mike D, Radiohead, Portia De Rossi, Diablo Cody, Allison Anders, Dave Eggers and Mike Watt, Eddie Vedder, Michelle Williams, Flea, Gus Van Sant, David Cross, Chloe Sevigny, and The Flaming Lips.

Also included is the track “Slow Revolution” written and recorded for the original release.  Hits Are For Squares includes a wide range of songs
spanning the majority of Sonic Youth’s recorded works showing the diverse impact and influence they continue to have on the arts community.

TRACKLIST

1. Bull in the Heather (selected by Catherine Keener)

2. 100% (selected by Mike D)

3. Sugar Kane (selected by Beck)

4. Kool Thing (selected by Radiohead)

5. Disappearer (selected by Portia de Rossi)

6. Superstar (selected by Diablo Cody)

7. Stones (selected by Allison Anders)

8. Tuff Gnarl (selected by Dave Eggers and Mike Watt)

9. Teenage Riot (selected by Eddie Vedder)

10. Shadow of a Doubt (selected by Michelle Williams)

11. Rain on Tin (selected by Flea)

12. Tom Violence (selected by Gus Van Sant)

13. Mary-Christ (selected by David Cross)

14. World Looks Red (selected by Chloe Sevigny)

15. Expressway to yr Skull (selected by The Flaming Lips)

16. Slow Revolution (new track, exclusive to this compilation

2011 marks the 20th Anniversary of 1991: The Year Punk Broke, a pivotal film centered on the lives and experiences of avant-garde music pioneers Sonic Youth during their 1991 European festival tour.  The film documents their headline tour as they introduced a new breed of bands who were on the verge of taking on the world and forever changing the course of music.

For the first time, 1991: The Year Punk Broke will finally make its debut on DVD on October 31st, 2011 (Universal Music Group). All footage has been fully restored with audio re-synced and remastered in uncompressed PCM stereo under the supervision of Sonic Youth.  1991: The Year Punk Broke, not only captures Sonic Youth’s raw and powerful live performances of songs such as “Dirty Boots,” “Teenage Riot,” “Kool Thing” and “Schizophrenia,” it offers a unique and rare behind-the-scenes look at daily life on the road.

Filmed a month prior to the release of their breakthrough album Nevermind, 1991: The Year Punk Broke also includes footage of Nirvana unknowingly on the cusp of leading a massive cultural movement as they performed anthems such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Polly” and “Negative Creep”.  Also featured is Dinosaur Jr.’s thundering live versions of “Freak Scene” and “The Wagon” and Babes In Toyland’s brutal performance of “Dustcake Boy” as well as an appearance from legendary punk forefathers The Ramones as they blast through their 1977 classic “Commando”.   1991: The Year Punk Broke is also packed with 65 minutes of bonus material, including the previously unreleased featurette “(This Is Known As) The Blues Scale” featuring over 40 minutes of additional live footage of Sonic Youth performing “White Kross”, “Eric’s Trip,” “Chapel Hill” and “Inhuman,” plus a rare Nirvana performance of “In Bloom”.  Other extras include live rough cuts of “Mote” and “Flower”, the original movie trailer, and “Broken Punk” — a 2003 panel discussion Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo, Dinosaur Jr.’s J. Mascis and Filmmaker Dave Markey.

Just as Woodstock captured the pinnacle of the 60s counter-culture movement in cinema, 1991: The Year Punk Broke prolifically documents a new generation of artists that once again grew tired of the stereotypical rock and roll lifestyle and ripped apart this force-fed formula, stripping it down
completely and rebuilding from the ground up with its own DIY ethics and creating a scene all their own.  With screeching feedback and a wall of
sound, Sonic Youth lead the charge, straight through the superficial rock world of the 80s, marking the beginning of the year punk finally broke into
the mainstream, giving credence and legitimacy to all those artists who helped pave the way before them.

The first video clip taken from the DVD of Nirvana’s concert filmed on Halloween in 1991 at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre has been released online this week.   The footage has been transformed from 16mm film and multi-track audio and is one of 19 songs recorded at this show.   These tracks will be available in the deluxe versions of the ‘Nevermind’ release in 1080p high-definition picture, uncompressed 5.1 surround sound and stereo on stand-alone Blu-ray, DVD and digital long form video formats.   The track ‘ Breed ’, as captured on film at the aforementioned Seattle show.

In related news 100 Nirvana fans have a chance to be involved in this week’s special playback event at the In Bloom Nirvana Nevermind Exhibition this Thursday 22 ^nd September. Kicking off the evening’s proceedings will be a panel discussion chaired by DJ, Classic Album Sundays founder and massive Nirvana fan, Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy.  Panellists confirmed thus far include Keith Cameron (Mojo, formerly XFM) and James ‘Jam’ McMahon (Kerrang! Magazine editor) with more to be announced over the next two days.

The evening will culminate with ‘Nevermind’ taking centre stage, as guests are invited to open their ears and take part in a truly unique listening experience.  Played on vinyl from start to finish, through Linn ’s finest system featuring the iconic Sondek LP12 turntable, expect to hear the album as never before. With only 100 tickets available, this event is set to sell out fast. Book your tickets online now for £15 at http://territorialmusings.eventbrite.com/   or, if you want to avoid the booking fee, tickets can also be purchased from reception within the exhibition at The Loading Bay Gallery, Brick Lane, London E1 6QL.

Nirvana Nevermind’s release is embodied in a brand new website launched this week at www.nevermind20.com where Nirvana fans can share their thoughts on the album, post pictures and artwork.   A number of musician fans of the band and album including Alex Turner, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney, Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam have left their own messages on the website.   The site also features a timeline that tells the story behind ‘Nevermind’, complete with photos and videos.

Former Nirvana member Dave Grohl writes: ”All of that success happened so quickly. The funny thing is that Nirvana were still playing places that held 700 to 800 people by the time we had a gold record. We were still touring in a van when we had a Platinum record. I was still living in my friend’s back room by the time we’d sold ten million records.”

The multi-format reissues of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ are scheduled for release on Monday 26th September via Universal Music Enterprises featuring dozens of rare and previously unreleased performances.

Getting ever closer, the remastered Nevermind boxset is out in just a couple of weeks.  Check out the new trailer to whet your appetite!

It was always going to be inevitable that Nirvana’s commercial breakthrough would get reissued on it’s 20^th anniversary.  That said, now that we edge closer to it’s release it has still caught me off guard. 20 years? Already? I was TEN! 

When Nevermind was released my brother snapped it up straight away.  Not me though, I promptly stole his copy and recorded it on to a cassette because I didn’t even have a CD player back then.  Just like my RATM tale on the ‘When I Hit Rewind’ section of this site, this cassette soon took residency in my tape player.  It got played so much that wear and tear soon took hold and when ‘Breed’ kicked in with its furious intro the song slowed down for about 15 seconds before spluttering back to life.  ‘Lounge Act‘, at the same point of the ribbon on side B, was similarly affected.

It’s a relief, but hardly a surprise, that the 4 disc and DVD anniversary edition is much MUCH better than my old tape copy!  Many a Nirvana fan has picked up bootlegs over the years trying to capture a hidden gem of one of the greatest bands ever.  The ‘Outcesticide’ series of discs are widely available, but very hit & miss in quality.  Thankfully the bonus discs here offer quality and quantity in bucket loads.

Disc 1 is basically the album in all it’s glory.  It’s almost ‘uncool’ to play this album these days, such was it’s domination of the music charts and airwaves.  Kids walk around today wearing the smiley face t-shirt of a band that had been and gone long before their parents had even met.  This tends to cause a frown on the faces of those who ‘were there’ and admittedly I was only just about ‘there‘ but thank heavens I was!  The album almost became a symbol of everything that Kurt Cobain & Co. so seemingly despised.  But don’t go straight to disc 2.  Play disc 1 and just sit back and remember how great it used to be to play the album full blast!

Once the album is finished, we are treated to the B-Sides.  There are some familiar fan favourites here – ‘Been A Son‘, ‘Sliver‘, and the almighty ‘Aneurysm‘.  Also included are the some ferocious tracks such as the catchy up tempo ‘Even In His Youth’ and the simply fantastic ‘Curmudgeon’ which sounds like a band almost forcing punk and pop together to get one hell of a result!

Disc 2 ventures into what the purists will have been waiting for.  Starting off with the Smart Studio Sessions, you get 8 tracks being rehearsed.  Some ended up on the album while others such as the achingly beautiful ‘Sappy’ were left on the side.  There’s something about this song I love.  If only it was recorded properly… 

The Boombox Rehearsals follow and this also showcases the band rehearsing flat out for the album and features ‘Verse Chorus Verse’ and the effortlessly fantastic ‘Old Age’ – another song that I wish Nirvana had used to more effect!  Two songs from a BBC session wrap up disc 2, and while some of this disc is on the ‘With The Lights Out’ box set, it’s still a pleasure to listen to.

On to disc 3, and we are introduced to the ‘Devonshire Mixes’ of the album.  Each song from Nevermind with the exception of ‘Polly’ are thrust back under the spotlight.  These recordings are supposedly the album as mixed by Butch Vig before Andy Wallace clocked in to add his input and make the album ‘more commercial’.  I don’t think anyone will ever really know what went on with the whole mixing/remixing of Nevermind, so many versions of events are out there now.  Frankly I don’t really care and It’s this disc in particular that I’m really looking forward to listening to!

Disc 4 wraps up the audio side of things with a live show in it’s entirety.  With only 2 songs from Nevermind in the opening 6 tracks, it’s easy to forget just how much of a catalogue Nirvana had already amassed by this stage of their career what with ‘Bleach’ and pre-Bleach tracks as well as a few covers.  Opening up with a cover of ‘Jesus Don’t Want Me For A Sunbeam’ will probably have a few people raising their eyebrows, but this is not the ‘Unplugged in New York’ version!  Half of Nevermind features in the set, along with songs from Bleach, an early outing of ‘Rape Me‘ from the then non-existent ‘In Utero’, and the set finishes fittingly with hidden track ‘Endless Nameless’.

Disc 5 is a DVD of the very same gig, and the music videos to all the Nevermind singles.  And that, Ladies & Gentlemen, is that!  A great package showing a great band embarking on the unknown world of superstardom.  What happened after this album is massively documented and laced with many an emotion as well as a healthy dollop of fact, foggy memories, and a fair amount of bullshit from some parties.  But forget about what happened to Nirvana after this album was born.  Forget about the individuals of the band and the meteoric rises and tragic falls.  Just shut your door and play this spectacular anniversary edition and remind yourself of why Nirvana are just as important now as they ever were.

Kev says…

Visit the Official Nirvana website HERE to find out more.

Just after finishing a gig last Friday at the Eastney Cellars in Portsmouth I sat down with some friends and it wasn’t long until the subject of discussion turned to music. At one point I mentioned that before I started to work in a music shop back in 1999, the only music I really listened to was rock music and grunge. 

Sept 18^th that year proved to be an important day for me because that was the day when I finally opened my eyes to the wider world of music. As I started my daily chores at work a song began over the in-store stereo.   Simple guitar chords and a female voice which was soon followed by a basic beat that built up into a wall of noise.   It was – and still is – one of the most simple yet effective tracks I have ever heard.   The song was ‘Dirge’, the group was Death In Vegas, and the album was ‘The Contino Sessions’.   The second track ‘Soul Auctioneer’ was every bit as jaw dropping as the first and the whole album was outstanding and like nothing I had heard before.

 I snapped up the album that same day and I still play it now on a regular basis.   Ok, it is a rock influenced album featuring Iggy Pop and Bobby Gillespie but it has a heavy dose of electronica in it which I had never really given any attention to previously.   Without this album I would never have even entertained the idea of listening to Leftfield or Bonobo.   In turn, I’d have never have dabbled with Drum n Bass, and without that I’d have never in a million years played anything remotely Hip-Hop which means my record collection would not include the simply amazing Beastie Boys.   In my 8 years working in music shops I became more open to other genres like folk and classical.  I’m still a rocker at heart, and my favourite album ever is still ‘In Utero’ by Nirvana, but ‘The Contino Sessions’ is almost certainly the most important album I have ever purchased.   I’d be lost without it and if you haven’t heard it yet then please get a copy (on vinyl of course!) and play it loud! 

Kev

www.kodiakjack.co.uk