Noise. Raw, unadulterated, ear-splitting noise. That’s the first image we get when we think about Nirvana’s debut album
Bleach. Criminally underproduced, this album now ranks as one of the must-hears for any music lover. It showcases a band at the very start of their climb to success, in all its hopeful, starry-eyed naïveté. It shows you a side of music that is usually only available to the restricted few who purchase the group’s early demos. And most of all, it serves as a prologue to one of music’s best-known rise-and-fall stories.
The year was 1989, and Nirvana had been around for two years trying to make a name for themselves. So far, all they had managed to do was become an integral part of Seattle’s underground scene, along with the likes of Soundgarden, who had released their
Screaming Life and
Fopp demos, or Mudhoney, whose debut album
Superfuzz Bigmuff had hit the streets the same year Nirvana had formed. However, so far, they had not edited any audio registers. All that was to change pretty soon.
When support guitarist Jason Everman – who helped the band out in their live shows – offered to pay the $900 production cost of the band’s first album, band leader Kurt Cobain jumped at the chance. Known in those days as Kurdt Kobain, the singer and guitarist repaid Everman by including him in the band’s lineup for said outing. That’s why, in the back cover of Bleach, Nirvana appear as a four-piece, even though Everman was never in a studio with the other three guys!
Bleach could finally come to life. To produce it, Kurt chose Jack Endino This would later prove to be a mistake, as Endino practically ruined the album’s sound with a very dodgy final mix. However, without this mix,
Bleach would have lost much of its identity, which makes it a double-edged sword.
During the recording of
Bleach, Nirvana were:
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Kurdt Kobain – Guitar and Vocals
Krist Novoselic – Bass
Chad Channing – Drums
Jason Everman – Live guitar and financial backing
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Bleach is comprised of twelve songs and features an extremely minimalistic arwork. In fact, the black and grey tones of the cover and inlay begin to set up the mood for what the album is ultimately going to be: a sludgy, claustrophobic, sometimes unbearably negative affair. As a matter of fact, this album could almost be included in what we nowadays tend to call post-rock. Yet, unlike bands such as Isis or Neurosis, Nirvana never forget the song itself, and always strive to insert an attractive chorus or a ripping guitar solo. And then there’s
About A Girl, a three-odd minutes pop rock gem that predated
emo by a good ten years, which serves as a breather from all the relentless feedback-laden noise.
Another particularity Nirvana have always been known for is their knack for taking obscure cover songs and making them their own. In fact, Nirvana albums are teeming with covers of bands only Kurt seemed to have heard about, which nowadays have become cult items for fans of the late frontman, much like Diamond Head with Metallica fans. Such a cover can be found on
Bleach:
Love Buzz, Nirvana’s first-ever official single, is a cover, although the name of the original band evades me right now. However, Nirvana make it very much their own, with Kurt delivering his usual scorching feedback solos and Krist keeping a steady and catchy bassline throughout.
These two songs, coupled with such genius tracks as
Blew or
School, help make the first part of this album absolutely flawless. Every one of the first five tracks is an undisputed Nirvana classic, and it is in fact very hard to choose between them. Altogether, they constitute one of the best sequences I have heard in a record so far.
The problem is, the album decreases immensely in quality afterwards.
Negative Creep is an obvious standout, as well as a worthy parent to the furious [b]Territorial Pissings[/], but tracks like
Scoff , and particularly
Siftings fail to capture the listener’s interest as much as those early ones. Not to say that they are bad tracks – there is no such thing in this album. It’s just that they’re more ordinary music moments.
Fortunately, the album picks up in time for a grand finale. The
Big Cheese/
Downer double whammy totally grabs us by the balls and leaves us with no other option than to push the «play» button again.
All in all, this is a record
all music lovers should check out, and indeed
must check out. Forget rock, punk, metal, pop, emo, ethnic, whatever – this is
music at its best, and therefore highly recommended.
Likes – Songwriting, solos, Chad Channing
Dislikes – Crummy production, couple of filler tracks.
Recommended Tracks:
Blew
Floyd The Barber
About a Girl
School
Love Buzz
Negative Creep
Big Cheese
Final Rating – 4,25/5 –
4/5
