The sound of Nirvana

Where is Jack Endino?

By "recorded by Steve Albini" I'm assuming you mean In Utero, right? because that was still mixed by Andy Wallace, and was far enough from what Cobain and Albini intended for them to include "suggested bass and treble settings" in the sleeve. So really the poll is fallacious, because we never got to hear Nirvana "recorded by Steve Albini" without at least one layer of influence added on.

When In Utero came out, it was more a confrontation with the Nevermind 'polished' sound. That's why I left Endino out of this.

http://www.bcmedicalbilling.com/RadioButton.pngProduced by Chris Blackwell

Oh, come on. We read lots and lots of interviews in which Kurt said how superior was the Albini recording process and how it sounded in the end.

Albini just for Serve the Servants

Scott Litt on Heart Shaped Box & All Apologies = :( though.

or :| ,rather

Oh, come on. We read lots and lots of interviews in which Kurt said how superior was the Albini recording process and how it sounded in the end.

Yes, but, Kurt then blew his head off because he coudn't stand being such a sell-out. Had Wallace not mixed In Utero, Kurt might have gone on to make interminable folk/country solo albums. THINK ABOUT THAT.

Sounds great.

Scott Litt and Alex Coletti on Unplugged!

Albini just for Serve the Servants

^^^^^^

But yeah, Albini for the drum sound in Milk It, as much as anything else.

OK, I'd just heard Serve the Servants after many many many years, remembered all the fuzz about In Utero sound x Nevermind sound in the 90s and jumped in front of the computer. YOU ARE ALL RIGHT. Can we discuss how unfairly maligned was the Butch Vig production?

I read that the rough mixes from Butch Vig sounded much closer to natural Albini-style production than the final product.
Someone post link to "nevermind sessions"? This is supposedly Nevermind without the Andy Wallace hi-gloss-ery.

I remember dubbing CD of nevermind to cassette with volumes maxed out to get even crazier sound. My production is best! Hi-hats sound like car crashes! Bass sounds like napalm!

I love how people still talk about Nevermind with disgust as if it's late period Ratt or something

I remember dubbing CD of nevermind to cassette with volumes maxed out to get even crazier sound. My production is best! Hi-hats sound like car crashes! Bass sounds like napalm!

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, March 25, 2009 1:25 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wanting to hear this

I love how people still talk about Nevermind with disgust as if it's late period Ratt or something

nobody rides for free.

But yeah, Albini for the drum sound in Milk It, as much as anything else. - OTM. I love the raw menace Albini is able to conjure from drum sounds. See also: Seamonsters by The Wedding Present.

the albini mix of In Utero was floating around the internet this month, it sounds like total dogshit

is this the one with the light saber guitar solo on heart shaped box?

i guess so?

the guitar solo sounds pretty dumb and sabery

albini here, no question. i'm basically seeing this as "nevermind" to "in utero". i always liked "in utero" better. IU is just, i don't know, so much heavier. rougher. the drum sound is awesome, esp. on 'milk it.' that tune's outstanding

yeah, this poll should really be "Which record sounds better"

in utero is rougher but also brighter, i think it makes better use of cobain's voice, among other things. i definitely do not hate (or hate on) nevermind, i just think in utero does better justice to the sonic idea or ideals of nirvana.

Chris Blackwell produced their best work. :)

:)

in utero sounds great

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e277/concreteloop/5665789dasurs3252009122953AM.jpg

nevermind is not really butch vig's best work imo

in utero probably the best sounding albini recording after the low records he did. but yeah his mixes are, uh, inadequate

not being a fan of roomy drums myself i don't warm to albini's mixing all that much

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Oh well. Whatever.

Really all three of their studio albums sound pretty good, especially Bleach since it cost like $300 bucks to record.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Whoa, close.

I wonder if watching these 'behind the scenes' videos would have changed anyone's vote one way or the other:

paraphrasing, "Kurt really wanted it to have only one guitar track on the song. But I didn't. So I tricked him into recording the same part a bunch of times so I could layer them over each other and make everything sound like shit. Now it's sounding like a rock song."

this was from that poker forum where albini started the 'Ask a music scene micro celebrity' thread

ON WHETHER THERE IS A FULL ALBINI-MIXED VERSION OF IN UTERO IN EXISTENCE:
"The version of the album in the stores is the version the band wanted people to hear, and I respect that. Any 'alternate version' floating around out there is either totally bogus or a generations-removed copy of a cassette dub, and not worth your attention."

but this is on wikipedia:
"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."

as an album i prefer In Utero but i am happy that Vig won.

i overwhelmingly prefer in utero/albini, but butch has the hometown cred (nevermind was recorded at smart, right?)

oh, apparently only the demos were recorded at smart, of which only "polly" made the album :(

"So I tricked him into recording the same part a bunch of times so I could layer them over each other and make everything sound like shit"

watching that video, it really supports the idea of nevermind as plasticky constructed manipulated sounding (and therefore "bad"), but on the other hand, watching him drop out tracks with the faders/flyers? looks like fun! like a reverse-guitar hero or something.

didn't someone leak the individual tracks of in utero some time back? I'd be curious to hear what people who think they could improve in utero's sound would come up with with those.

Those results are LOLZ

that video is great

Missed this poll. Prefer Steve Albini production by a mile.

Music production as a whole seems to have followed the path laid our by Butch Vig since then , so I guess WTF do I know?

laid out, that is...

awww c'mon, the songs on Nirvana are basically hooky, well-written pop songs, part of the job of the producer is to do justice to the material, and to not let the band shoot themselves in the foot. Also:

Wallance and Vig are quick to note that, at the time, in 1991, the band members loved the mixes, and the group signed off on the finished product

- they only became disillusioned when, y'know, uncool people started buying the album.

here's Drain You from an earlier demo that is also Butch Vig supposedly. do you guys prefer/dislike this version?

http://www.mediafire.com/?wtmuy3y4jkm

OMG this Live @ Reading remaster sounds AMAZING

Oh, it was released in 93. I didn't get it until 94.

Nirvana has 20.8M Spotify listeners compared to 11M for Pearl Jam and 19.8M for Green Day. OK.

I remember “Milk It” was actually the first song I heard from that album because it appeared on some DGC comp with a magazine issue — Option maybe? I really can’t remember — a couple of months or so even before “Heart-Shaped Box” came out. I remember playing it for board vet donut bitch at my place and we were pretty damn impressed.

Somehow I expected Foo Fighters to be in the same ballpark but no.

That said “Everlong” is one of the biggest songs they have after “smells like teen spirit” and “come as you are”

the foo fighters lost a lot of monthly listeners as dave grohl increasingly loses any traces of his coolness from the 90s

Just listened to the two songs linked above, and was reminded why "In Utero" is hands down my favorite Nirvana album. While the pop fan in me prefers the production on "Nevermind" due to the more clean, shiny sound, I think "In Utero" is where Nirvana truly assimilated their strengths, by managing to combine the noisy sludge of "Bleach" with the colorful sonic shading of "Nevermind", coming through with an album that feels more fully formed than "Bleach", and also rocks harder than "Nevermind".

Btw we went through this on another thread can’t remember which one but the actual most popular or at least most streamed rock band from the past 30 years in both spotify and youtube and also the most followers on their facebook fan page is Linkin Park.

Interesting. It does make a certain sense, given that Linkin Park had a diamond album, which definitely cements a legacy as far as music goes (see also: Green Day, Pearl Jam, a certain band that this thread revolves around, etc).

I wrote off Nirvana as populist fratboy music in '91 (because I'd never listened to them properly) but In Utero brushed that aside with its immense heaviness and core weirdness, one of the great albums of all time for me. I still can only listen to about half of Nevermind before the polish clogs in my ears.

Both slavishly overrated.

glad Alex in NYC is here to set the record straight

Haha Linkin Park has 22M monthly listeners!

In Utero, whatever you might think, is the most abrasive album to hit #1 to date.

Weirdly felt like Alex in 1993, at 11 years old. My thing was only buying the live albums cuz I felt like I heard the studio albums a million times from just being out around. I wasn't exactly boy about town.

the most abrasive album to hit #1 to date

Mmmmaybe. My vote would probably go to Pantera's Far Beyond Driven, but it's a close race.

At your service.

I don't really mind Krist's doofus persona in the early interviews -- he's funny! I can't find it, but there's one from 1991 that always cracks me up where he says the "Teen Spirit" video was directed by "Sam Bayer, TV's Jethro."

Is it the only Albini-produced album to hit #1?

Nope, Bush's Razorblade Suitcase also hit #1 in America.

And I would say, arguably, that Bush album is even more abrasive at moments than Nevermind.

I always forget Steve Albini produced that one.

So did he, once he cashed their check.

the album that built Electrical Audio

And I would say, arguably, that Bush album is even more abrasive at moments than Nevermind.

Do you mean In Utero, which would be an interesting claim? Bc Nevermind was neither produced by Albini nor especially abrasive.

I don't think of Nevermind as more abrasive than Zep II or Electric Ladyland.

xpost - yeah, brain fart, it's early. I'd say RS is actually fairly similar to IU in terms of abrasiveness (though, TO BE CRYSTAL CLEAR, not in terms of quality, even if i do ride for RS as actually being a kinda good album and the best thing Bush ever did).

So did he, once he cashed their check.

― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, October 6, 2021 11:10 AM bookmarkflaglink

Guess he was a "Greedy Fly"

I always forget Steve Albini produced that one.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, October 6, 2021 8:07 AM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

So did he, once he cashed their check.

― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, October 6, 2021 8:10 AM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

my impression from everything i read about the record is that albini and rossdale actually bonded and became bros during the process

As for the band's name, Rossdale insists there are no sexist overtones. "Men have bushes too, after all. And actually, Bush is what we Brits call marijuana.

Albini has said time and again he is an engineer for hire. If you have money and he has time, he will record your band. It's a job.

but yeah iirc to brad's point I think he's never been effusive about the band but he has said they were cool

ums otm, I was just being kinda flip about it, I remember Albini being really clear that it was just a job even if he hated their music.

Am I wrong in remembering Albini saying he threw out a ridiculous number to Bush's team since he was already so busy, thinking they'd go elsewhere, but they accepted it right away?

that's what i remember, i think he definitely adjusts rates based on how big the band is/how busy he is etc

Bc Nevermind was neither produced by Albini nor especially abrasive.

I mean, Breed, Territorial Pissings, Stay Away and Endless Nameless are pretty abrasive.

I have never heard an English person refer to weed as "bush".

Bush’s music is proud of its inspirations, and Bush used the platform of their popularity to champion bands they thought deserved attention, taking a score of underground or breaking acts on tour with them and regularly paying tribute to the bands and songs that inspired them, occasionally covering the songs themselves to make it plain. I have worked in the studio with bands from the smallest to the largest, from those with no expectations to those with the grandest ambitions, and I am confident in ascribing genuine motives to Bush as I am of any band I’ve encountered. Through working with Bush they became friends, and I am as proud of their friendship as I am of any work I did for them. They made the music they did because they loved it and they got popular because they worked their asses off, and eventually other people liked it too. You cannot ask any more of an artist.

-steve albini

from the liner notes to the RS re-issue, apparently (https://consequence.net/2016/11/bush-share-never-before-released-razorblade-suitcase-track-sleeper-listen/). NB: I have never listened to this album.

"Endless Nameless" I'll grant - it wasn't on my cassette so I never heard it until relatively recently. The others I can see as abrasive like "Helter Skelter" is abrasive, just don't think I'd say "most abrasive to ever hit #1".

Albini had much harsher words for the Pixies.

The Pixies “Surfer Rosa” LP: A patchwork pinch loaf from a band who a their top dollar best are blandly entertaining college rock. Their willingness to be “guided” by their manager, their record company and their producers is unparalleled. Never have I seen four cows more anxious to be led around by their nose rings.

Except that I got to rewrite their songs with a razorblade, thought the drums sounded nice, and managed to get Nate the Impaler on the LP as a cameo, I remember nothing about this album, although I thought it was pretty good at the time. During the recording, a sibling of the sexual partner of a Pixie was lounging around making little fuck me noises, so I took her home and got stiffed. Had to retreat to Byron’s “den of satisfaction” and run a batch off by hand. I seem to remember that their Filipino guitar player was pro-Marcos, but I could be wrong. The album took about a week maybe two all tolled. Fee: $1,500.

I later recorded a single track with them for a label-stroke compilation album. The band had been getting the Big High Building “pampered performer" treatment for a couple of years by then and were consequently bored and dour. It took a couple of hours after dinner one night. Fee: $4,000. About a year later, Bob Krasnow, the geeb at Elektra’s Big High Building who fathered this dumb idea sent me a truly revolting nickel-and-gold Omega wristwatch (the kind Record Producers wear), with tacky Biz inscription and tacky presentation case. As soon as somebody at the pool room offers me what it’s worth, I'm gonna have a hell of a nice dinner.

I listened to Razorblade Suitcase not that long ago, it is good, that record was ubiquitous for a while in 90s on alt-radio & in people's cars but I always enjoyed those songs

the best part of the Bush/Albini relationship was Andy from Silkworm getting to do a two week fill-in spot as Bush's pale, balding guitar player

During the recording, a sibling of the sexual partner of a Pixie was lounging around making little fuck me noises, so I took her home and got stiffed. Had to retreat to Byron’s “den of satisfaction” and run a batch off by hand. I seem to remember that their Filipino guitar player was pro-Marcos, but I could be wrong.

I really hate Albini when he's enjoying being this much of a dick. It's like the ugliest side of that era of hardcore/pigfuck, this nasty inverted macho bullshit that just makes me think of that KITH routine, The Shortest Tubes In North York.

He later admitted he was hardmanning about the Pixies when he wrote all of that.

...and regretted being so harsh.

There were about 20 years between the two blurbs tbf. Dude mellowed with age no doubt.xps

When Bush headlined the basketball arena in Champaign back in 1995, Gavin wore a Hum shirt and shouted out the band at multiple points during the show. Sure, cheap pops for the hometown crowd, but he genuinely seemed to be excited about them, so it checks out with their support of smaller bands.

I started listening to Razorblade Suitcase but then thought to watch KiTH.

What are the most abrasive songs?

"Tendency to Start Fires"

Yeah that's one that pops to mind. To be clear I'm not suggesting this is Scratch Acid or anything, but it go pretty abrasive compared to where Bush's first album was.

I started listening to Razorblade Suitcase but then thought to watch KiTH.

wise IMO!

Am I wrong in remembering Albini saying he threw out a ridiculous number to Bush's team since he was already so busy, thinking they'd go elsewhere, but they accepted it right away?

― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0

This is called the Charlie Watts Dictum.