Notes

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Nirvana - Nevermind
Original Recordings Group 180g LP (coloured vinyl, limited to 4000 copies) / ORG 032
Mastered all analog by Bernie Grundman @ Grundman Mastering, Hollywood

Side A

1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl) – 5:01
2. "In Bloom" – 4:14
3. "Come as You Are" – 3:39
4. "Breed" – 3:03
5. "Lithium" – 4:17
6. "Polly" – 2:57

Side B

7. "Territorial Pissings" – 2:22
8. "Drain You" – 3:43
9. "Lounge Act" – 2:36
10. "Stay Away" – 3:32
11. "On a Plain" – 3:16
12. "Something in the Way" – 3:55

Technical Log

RCM Hannl 'limited' with "Rotating Brush"
Music Hall MMF 9.1 Turntable
Tonearm: Pro-Ject 9cc Evo with Pure Silver Wires
Cartridge: Nagaoka MP-500
Brocksieper Phonomax (Tube Phono-PreAmp)
E-MU 0404 external USB 2.0 Audiointerface
Interconnections: Silent Wire NF 5
Wavelab 5 recording software
iZotope RX Advanced 1.21 for 16-bit/44.1kHz conversion


Vacuum Cleaning > TT > Preamp > Laptop > Wavelab 5.01 (24/96) > manual click removal
analyze (no clipping, no DC Bias offset) > split into individual Tracks > FLAC encoded (Vers. 1.21)

No silence been removed, please burn gapless to match original tracklayout.

Nevermind was never meant to change the world, but you can never predict when the zeitgeist will hit, and Nirvana's second album turned out to be the place where alternative rock crashed into the mainstream. This wasn't entirely an accident, either, since Nirvana did sign with a major label, and they did release a record with a shiny surface, no matter how humongous the guitars sounded. And, yes, Nevermind is probably a little shinier than it should be, positively glistening with echo and fuzz-box distortion, especially when compared with the black-and-white murk of Bleach. This doesn't discount the record, since it's not only much harder than any mainstream rock of 1991, its character isn't on the surface, it's in the exhilaratingly raw music and haunting songs. Kurt Cobain's personal problems and subsequent suicide naturally deepens the dark undercurrents, but no matter how much anguish there is on Nevermind, it's bracing because he exorcises those demons through his evocative wordplay and mangled screams — and because the band has a tremendous, unbridled power that transcends the pain, turning into pure catharsis. And, that's as key to the record's success as Cobain's songwriting, since Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl help turn this into music that is gripping, powerful, and even fun (and, really, there's no other way to characterize "Territorial Pissings" or the surging "Breed"). In retrospect, Nevermind may seem a little too unassuming for its mythic status — it's simply a great modern punk record — but even though it may no longer seem life-changing, it is certainly life-affirming, which may just be better.