Tom Waits - Heart Attack & Vine

I've always loved the album version of this song but today I stumbled upon this live version. O, how I love this guy's music!

Josh T. Pearson - Bonus tracks

Pearson, singer for Lift To Experience (who released only one album, the remarkable Jerusalem Crossroads) stayed under the radar for almost ten years, before returning with his solo album Last Of The Country Gentlemen. Being hailed as an instant classic by Mojo magazine, this album creates some discussion. Some people call it boring and self-glorificationous, others love it. I think I love it but I have to spend some more time with it. On different releases, like on the Record Store Day 12" that I luckily enough got, other version of the songs on the album appeared. On the vinyl release that I bought there's the bonus track Last Of The Country Gentlemen and on a compilation from record label Mute another new song could be found. I compiled all this tracks and that's what you can get here, enjoy!

1. Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ (Piano Version)

2. Woman, When I've raised Hell (Electric Version)

3. Last Of The Country Gentlemen

4. Singer In The Crowd

5. Country Dumb (Piano Version)

6. Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ (Electric Version)

7. Sorry With A Song (Alternative Version)

8. Woman, When I've Raised Hell (Electric Instrumental Version)

9. Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ (Electric Instrumental Version)

The Breeders do Hank Williams

This version of Hank William's I Can't Help It, was officially released on The Breeders' Divine Hammer CD single. This "home video" shows Kim & Kelley Deal recording the song and I think it's hot. I will up a Breeders rare tracks comp later.

Nirvana - Nevermind Sessions

It took seven weeks and countless arguments about producers, mixing and fakery. Butch Vig tells Peter Henderson the story behind Nirvana's breakthrough album.

Nirvana were a promising live act in early 1990, but Sub Pop boss Jonathan Poneman had bigger plans: "They're going to be bigger than The Beatles," he insisted to the producer he was trying to secure for their second album. Butch Vig had attracted Poneman's attention via his production work for punk labels Twin Tone, Touch And Go and Mammoth; his Sub Pop recordings included work with Tad and Smashing Pumpkins.

In any event, Poneman's proclamation was unnecessary. Vig had heard Bleach, Nirvana's debut album: "I loved some of the stuff on there, particularly About A Girl because it had such a pop element to it - it could have been a John Lennon song." Without hearing any demos of new material, Vig agreed to work with the band, joining them at Smart studios in Madison, Wisconsin in April 1990. By now, guitarist Jason Everman, who had helped bankroll Bleach but had not actually played on the album, had departed in November 1989, initially to join Soundgarden; hence the band was now a three-piece, with Kurt Cobain on guitar and vocals, Chris Novoselic on bass, and Chad Channing on drums. Where Bleach was recorded in around 30 hours, with a studio bill totalling $606.17, the intended Sub Pop follow-up seemed a luxuriously leisurely affair. Over eight days they recorded seven tracks. "The first thing I noticed was that Kurt's songwriting was a lot better," says Vig. "The songs were very focused. What impressed me most is how hooky they were; Kurt thought of them as pop songs." The seven tracks were Lithium, Dive, In Bloom, Imodium, Pay To Play, Sappy and Polly. Vig considered the sessions successful, bar some problems with the rhythm tracks: "They struggled recording some of them, which did cause tension between Kurt and Chad."

Channing's light, jazzy touch had always been a cause of friction; after seeing hardcore band Scream with friends The Melvins in San Francisco, Cobain and Novoselic saw a promising replacement in their drummer Dave Grohl. Invited to Seattle for an audition in the summer, Grohl arrived with his drums in a cardboard box, and after playing together for a couple of minutes, Chris and Kurt decided the dynamic, hard-hitting drummer was exactly what they needed. By now, tracks that had been recorded for commercial release on Sub Pop were circulating major record labels as a demo tape in search of a big money deal - and the majors were biting. On April 30, 1991, Geffen secured its victory with a $287,000 advance, and above-average royalty deal. The necessary buyout from Sub Pop was achieved with $75,000- the band contributed half the sum - plus a two per cent royalty on their next two albums.

Geffen, keen to use an established producer, decided that the entire album should be re-recorded, suggesting Scott Litt (R.E.M.), David Briggs (Neil Young) and Don Dixon as contenders. The band pushed for Vig, and at one point a compromise, with Dixon producing and Vig engineering, was broached. "I had just finished Gish with the Smashing Pumpkins and a lot of people liked it, but Geffen didn't really know me," Vig explains. "I knew Don Dixon and I thought it might work well, but Don couldn't do it for contractual or scheduling reasons. So at the eleventh hour, a week before we were going to start, they said, 'Can you do the record?'"

MOJO #54 - May 1998. By Peter Henderson.

For the whole article with very interessting info on the recording proces of Nevermind, please refer to:

http://www.livenirvana.com/documents/mojonevermind.html

In deep information about the session itself:

http://www.livenirvana.com/sessions/studio/april-1990.php

I tracked down the best quality source from these sessions so what I'm uploading here is not the CD as seen on the artwork. I took the tape known by collectors by the name of SBH1H for the first seven tracks, SBH1F for track 8 and tracks 9-11 are from the bootleg CD. From what I can judge, both Aneurysm and Endless Nameless are the official versions. (Same goes for Polly, Dive, Sappy and Here She Comes Now on the bootleg CD). I named the track corresponding their source. They're all 192 kbps MP3's. Flac's are easy to track down on the net so If you like what you hear and you want the real deal, Google is your friend.

Enjoy!

PW: smellthatharmonica

Lou Reed - Kicks

The resurrection of anything cool crammed into one stoned motherfucker....

Tom Waits - Nighthawks On The Radio

Nighthawks At The Dinner is my favorite late night album since a long time. It's Tom Waits' third album and it was recorded live in the Record Plant Studio's in front of a small audience. The band was a pure jazz band which rehearsed the songs in a five day span. Because of the small audience and the amazing jazz band this recording has a loose atmosphere that translates very well to vinyl. What's also memorable is the fact that Waits introduces the songs with storytelling that is very funny most of the time. He takes himself out for a drink and ends up at three o' clock in the morning taking advantage of himself. ("I'll confess, I'm no different, I'm not weird about it or anything, I don't tie myself up first, just spend a little time with myself") The album was recorded July 1975. 

One and a half year later Waits played another in the studio concert that didn't get an official release. Recorded December 14, 1976 at Mediasound Studios, this show was aired on the radio, on WNEW-FM. Waits had just recorded his Small Change album and the show featured a lot of songs from that album, as well as two tracks from Nighthawks At The Diner. Quality is ace. Enjoy! EDIT: New file (last one was incomplete).

1. Emotional Weather Report

2. A Sight For Sore Eyes

3. Step Right Up

4. Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)

5. Jitterbug Boy (Sharing a Curbstone With Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body and The Mug and Artie)

6. Diamonds On My Windshield

7. San Diego Serenade

8. Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)

9. New Coat Of Paint

10. The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening With Pete King)

11. I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)