Nirvana’s Nevermind is the album that got me into rock.
Ever since the day in school I was handed a C90 tape with the album on it I was hooked. I know every little piece of this album inside and out. I’ve listened to it for 20 years and I’ll be listening to it for the next 20 and the 20 after that. I guarantee it.
Now being 20 years old it’s getting attention again and SPIN magazine have released a freely downloadable tribute album, Newermind. It features a range of artists, most notably two of Kurt Cobain’s favourites The Vaselines and The Meat Puppets. For the most part the songs are fairly faithful in length and pace, yet executed in such varying styles it’s really quite interesting to see how different they can be. It doesn’t always work, but some of it’s great.
Most of the tracks are really just renditions of the originals, but there are a few gems to be had most notably Foxy Shazam’s cover of ‘Drain You’. A live track primarily piano based with a Queen like gang vocal and as it progresses a grandiose Arcade Fire like band, this is absolutely brilliant. It shakes up the original formula so much it’s like an entirely different song, and yet it’s completely recognisable as ‘Drain You’. The best track on the album without a doubt.
Mind you, at the other end of the scale is Midnight Juggernauts version of ‘Come As You Are’. Starting with an intriguing hip-hop like beat you think this could be something special, but as soon as the vocal starts it appears to be co-starring Alvin and the Chipmunks, plus the James Brown like Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band cover of ‘Stay Away’. Both are awful.
At the time a lot of people disliked Nevermind’s production saying it was over polished. I’ve never really agreed until hearing some of these covers that are a dirtier scummier version and now I’m inclined to agree. I’m interested in hearing what Nevermind might have sounded like if it was recorded or produced differently. It doesn’t change my love for the original, but this little indication of what might have been is interesting.
But best of all, it’s free, so head over to the CD download page for a track by track breakdown.
