Nirvana: Bliss (1988)

In one of the many YouTube interviews with Kurt Cobain from the early 90s, he mentioned quite notably that there should have been an album before Bleach.  This is an interesting opinion as there is a literal slew of unreleased Nirvana songs that were never properly given release on a full LP. This is now going to change.

Between 1987 and 1988 Nirvana was trying out various drummers before landing on Chad Channing in 1989 prior to recording Bleach.  An early session had been done somewhere mid 1987 with Jack Endino at SubPop Records with Dale Crover from the Melvins filling in on drums.  These sessions were never revisited as the material used on Bleach was entirely new and more streamlined at the request of their producer.

The material recorded between 1985 and 1987 shows a very different Nirvana, one much more in tune with its sister band The Melvins.  The tracks presented during these early sessions show a stronger sense of humour and experimentation in the band.   Much of this material was made available on the 2002 box set With The Lights Out however organized by date.

The mission of this release is to give Nirvana its true "first" album its due.  The first two tracks are from Kurt and Dale's Fecal Matter Days in 1985 when Kurt was still in high school.  These are some of the most humourous tracks he composed showing a similar sensibility to Frank Zappa in his lyrical portrayal of small town high school life.

The remainder of the record is taken from Jack Endino's early sessions.  The final track Spank Thru I am unsure of its recording origin.  Spank Thru was one of the first songs Kurt composed and was in fact the song that sold Krist Novoselic on joining Nirvana after he was introduced to Kurt through Dale Crover.

Strangely enough, there was a short period between 1985 and 1986 where the Melvins and early Nirvana (then Fecal Matter) were so intermingled between their members that it was highly possible that Kurt could have joined the Melvins and vice versa.  Had things worked out differently we might have seen a King Buzzo/Cobain Nirvana with Krist on bass and Dale on drums or a Kurt/Buzzo Melvins with Lori Black on bass and Dale on drums.  Having two highly talented songwriters in one band could have been the punk equivalent of the McCartney/Lennon duo 25 years prior.

Luckily for us, both bands eventually found their own separate ways and we got two highly influential bands to come out of the grunge movement.  I cherish my copies of Bullhead and Incesticide equally! :D

Track list:

1. Sound Of Dentage
2. Buffy's Pregnant
3. Don't Want It All
4. Clean Up Before She Comes
5. Anorexorcist
6. Raunchola including Moby Dick
7. Mrs. Butterworth
8. If You Must
9. Pen Cap Chew
10. Blandest
11. Token Eastern Song
12. Spank Thru

Edit: Use the back cover posted above.  The one in the zip folder is missing a track in the graphic.

mp3 320 kbs