Nirvana Song Tournament

[Birds in Hell]

He sure knows now!

[bada]

He's too busy making compilations for this nonsense.

[vedder316]

After careful consideration, In Utero may very well be better than Nevermind.

[PryTo]

The glossy production on Nevermind really gets in the way of the songs. It would be interesting to hear that album produced along the lines of any of the band's other material. Great songs, but the production is really quite Bon Jovi-esque. As I recall, Kurt made similar comments about it.

[Birds in Hell]

These days, I think In Utero is more of an outlier in their catalogue than anything else. It's impossible to know if it would have meant that Kurt's writing was evolving in a different direction because we never had the opportunity to see what would've come next.

I find the album a more difficult listen now than I ever did in the past, strangely. It's hard not to feel the spectre of Kurt's personal troubles hanging over the band throughout 1993 and 1994, his relationship with Courtney playing a significant part of that. As I've said before, I think Courtney's influence is more tanginble on In Utero than Kurt's was on her work during the same period.

[epilogue]

Absolutely.

[verb_to_trust]

I'm not sure there would have been a follow up to in utero. At least not right away. They were pretty much toast in 1994.

[Birds in Hell]

The glossy production on Nevermind really gets in the way of the songs. It would be interesting to hear that album produced along the lines of any of the band's other material. Great songs, but the production is really quite Bon Jovi-esque. As I recall, Kurt made similar comments about it.

I couldn't disagree more, I think Andy Wallace's mixes were perfect for those songs.

I certainly don't mean to single you out Pry, To, it's just something of a personal bugbear of mine. I think it's unfortunate that Kurt's post-hoc criticisms of the production have created this received wisdom that the production is somehow too glossy or not sympathetic to the band's sound.

I'm highly sceptical of how sincere Kurt's comments were in any event. Kurt specifically chose Wallace to mix the album and was reportedly thrilled with how it came out at the time - as far as I know, his internal conflict with the production only started to creep in once the album became enormously successful. This, after all, is the guy who hired Scott Litt (R.E.M., Counting Crows, etc.) to give the In Utero singles a more accessible sheen and danced on a table in celebration after Steve Fisk captured a 'top 40' drum sound on Been a Son back in 1989.

[bada]

Anyone willing to be my proxy if you are going to be awake for the next few hours?

[Birds in Hell]

Anyone willing to be my proxy if you are going to be awake for the next few hours?

I'll be around.

[PryTo]

I hear you but the production on In Utero is so radically different, despite the sweetening Litt did on a couple of tracks. Maybe that was in response to the fame that came from Nevermind, but Bleach, Incesticide, most of the b-sides and In Utero have a good deal in common production-wise, which is to say stripped down and raw. Nevermind is really the outlier to me. I have no doubt that Kurt was aiming for the mainstream with the production but it sounds dated to me when I listen to it now. I don't get that same sense from any of the rest of the catalog. And to be fair, I'd probably have to listen more closely to all of the tracks, but songs like Come As You Are are just drowning in production. For what it's worth, I also prefer the original Albini mixes of In Utero, before Litt came in and glossed it up. But to each his own. And, of course, Nevermind is still a phenomenal album.

The glossy production on Nevermind really gets in the way of the songs. It would be interesting to hear that album produced along the lines of any of the band's other material. Great songs, but the production is really quite Bon Jovi-esque. As I recall, Kurt made similar comments about it.

I couldn't disagree more, I think Andy Wallace's mixes were perfect for those songs.

I certainly don't mean to single you out Pry, To, it's just something of a personal bugbear of mine. I think it's unfortunate that Kurt's post-hoc criticisms of the production have created this received wisdom that the production is somehow too glossy or not sympathetic to the band's sound.

I'm highly sceptical of how sincere Kurt's comments were in any event. Kurt specifically chose Wallace to mix the album and was reportedly thrilled with how it came out at the time - as far as I know, his internal conflict with the production only started to creep in once the album became enormously successful. This, after all, is the guy who hired Scott Litt (R.E.M., Counting Crows, etc.) to give the In Utero singles a more accessible sheen and danced on a table in celebration after Steve Fisk captured a 'top 40' drum sound on Been a Son back in 1989.

[zeb]

Utero 10/10
Nevermind 8/10

[ridleybradout]

My first Unplugged choice was taken (Where Did You Sleep Last Night), so I'm choosing the second-best non-album performance from the show... I guarantee you I'll screw this pick up

The Man Who Sold The World

Bah! I was hoping this one would sneak under the radar until my next pick.

I'll go with another track that is so good I can't believe it's still up for grabs - Nirvana's Ledbetter:

Blew

Yep. DeLima already grabbed it.

The team big board had been updated.

Sorry team, been in a painful meeting the past two hours.



I'll take Scoff instead

[Birds in Hell]

bada takes D-7.

[Birds in Hell]

I've PMd vedder316.

[vedder316]

Been a Son (Incesticide)

[epilogue]

Post on pg 15 updated.

[Birds in Hell]

Oh, the Guilt

I would've posted a video but every decent quality video of the studio version of the song on YouTube seems to feature the bogus remix from With the Lights Out that omits Kurt's percussive lighter-flicking - this could easily turn into a rant about the disappointing treatment of Nirvana's back catalogue since Kurt's death (with the virtual sole exception of the In Utero reissue) but alas I don't have all day...

[epilogue]

Utero 10/10
Nevermind 8/10

Though I'd prolly go 9/10 on Nevermind. But yeah.

[verb_to_trust]

Im about to wrap this thing up after bodysnatcher shows up