Merry Early Christmas, Nirvana fans. On August 3, 14 previously unreleased demos and alternative mixes of Nirvana songs made their way on to the internet, and Reddit users have sussed out the history of the mixes.
Check out the tracks with background info below All explanations via Reddit user r1ckyh1mself.
“Sappy” (Nevermind outtake), recorded in May-June, 1991 at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Calif.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G9B-6n9bU0
The band took another stab at recording Sappy at Sound City. Cobain played lead guitar while attempting to sing one live scratch vocal. He also made one formal vocal pass. After overdubbing the lead fuzz guitar with his Rat pedal, Cobain laid down his guitar and walked straight into the control room. I don’t want to do this, he insisted. I’m not into this song right now. So let’s leave it. The song is in a different key to that of previously recorded versions, it opens without instrumental intro and features a few lyrical changes, the guitar solo is also subtly different.
“Verse Chorus Verse” (alternative take), recorded in May-June, 1991 at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Calif.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccakpcze7OM
“Scentless Apprentice” (demo/alternative mix), recorded in January 19-21, 1993 at BMG Ariola Ltda. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8h4oTKuaK8
“Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip” (alternative mix), recorded in January 19-21, 1993 at BMG Ariola Ltda. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR2DRGCFoVY&feature=youtu.be
“Heart-Shaped Box” (instrumental), recorded in February 12-26, 1993 at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjKeHbAq_qE
Listeners noted that this instrumental has a different solo than the version that ended up on the album.
“Polly” (alternative mix), recorded in April 2-6, 1990 at Smart Studios in Madison Wis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUA5QEBooFc
“Here She Comes Now” (alternative mix), recorded in April 2-6, 1990 at Smart Studios in Madison Wis.
“Channing recalls ‘Here She Comes Now’ as being one of the few takes that went smoothly at Smart, ”I was shocked we did that one”, he remembers, ”that was a fun song.” Novoselic says that the reason the band covered the song was because they’d been asked to by an indie label. ”Gary from Tupelo Records called up and said he was putting out a Velvet Underground tribute record, and he wanted us to play on it. We had never played that song before [the Smart sessions] and we hardly ever played it after. We just kind of hashed it out. We did that song in one take.”
“Tourettes” (alternative mix), recorded in February 12-26, 1993 at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCHi0vdIKf4
“Old Age” (alternative take, mix one), recorded in May-June, 1991 at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Calif.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQveibV8JU4
“Old Age” (alternative take, mix two), recorded in May-June, 1991 at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Calif.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_NNIAJ7db0
“Milk It” (demo/alternative mix), recorded in January 19-21, 1993 Ariola BMG Studios, Rio de Janeiro, BR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RZosThDnhE
“Onward Into Countless Battles” (alternative mix), recorded in January 19-21, 1993 at BMG Ariola Ltda. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjLtIVrZ3YM
“I Hate Myself and Want to Die” (demo/alternative mix), recorded in January 19-21, 1993 at BMG Ariola Ltda. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3l04LYpsR4
“Seasons in the Sun” (alternative mix), recorded in January 19-21, 1993 at BMG Ariola Ltda. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyZ_3ZXPzLo
If that somehow isn’t enough unreleased Nirvana, be sure to check out Montage of Heck. The theatrical release of the Kurt Cobain documentary features another never-before-heard track.
(Via Stereogum)