Nirvana Alive Two

 

For most of us, November 1 is simply the day after Halloween but for retailers, it's the first day of the holiday shopping season. You know Christmas can't be far off when record labels start flogging their Nirvana wares.
If you thought they'd already scraped the bottom of the barrel for every last worthwhile Nirvana studio outtake and demo to issue, well, they have. So what could possibly be left in the vault you ask? Live recordings of course, loads of them.
The key point of interest in Sub Pop's 20th Anniversary re-release of Nirvana's explosive 1989 debut as Bleach: The Deluxe Edition is not the spiffy remastering job overseen by session producer Jack Endino or the fact that the first run of the double LP version will be on white vinyl or even the inclusion of songs Big Cheese and Downer that were left off the original LP release. Nope, the real buying incentive for Nirvana fans is the fantastic bonus concert recorded on February 9, 1990 in Portland. Live at Pine Street Theatre captures Kurdt Cobain and Chris Novoselic (as they were then known) thrashing away at their pre-celebrity peak driven on by drummer Chad Channing. In addition to six songs from Bleach, there are full-on rips through Dive, Been A Son, Spank Thru (from Sub Pop 200), Sappy and their set staple cover of Molly's Lips by the Vaselines. Bleach: The Deluxe Edition hits stores on Tuesday (November 3).

Not to be out done, Geffen is rolling out their fancy Nirvana: Live At Reading CD/DVD limited-run Deluxe Edition along with separate CD and DVD versions and they couldn't think of a better launch day than Tuesday (November 3). What a coincidence!
When Nirvana appeared at the UK's Reading Festival on August 30, 1992, the group had already made it to the big time but there was still some lingering doubt whether the kick-ass club act with a hot-selling record could command the Reading stage as headliners. Considering Cobain been through rehab earlier that year with little success and had just seen the birth of his daughter Frances Bean Cobain 12 days prior, no one knew what kinda shape he'd be in.
What began with the scraggly wigged Cobain in a hospital smock being wheeled onstage gave way to a relentlessly raging career-topping performance that would consolidate Nirvana's position at the very top of the heap. The widely bootlegged show has cleaned up remarkably well for the Live At Reading release with the CD sounding crisper and cleaner than any previously circulated recording of the gig you've ever heard – soundboards included.
However, Cobain's enjoyable banter has been excised from the CD and LP versions in addition to the More Than A Feeling piss-take intro to Smells Like Teen Spirit. This is a case where you really need the visual component to fully appreciate what Nirvana was putting down. For these 90 minutes at least, there was no greater band on earth.