Wishkah liner notes
"Nirvana started out as a live band (don't all bands?)."
" We played around for two years before the release of Bleach in June,
1989. At the time, live shows were our bread and butter (this being prior to the
release of Nevermind in Semptember of 1991). We'd hit the road for months at
a time.....coming back with one or two grand...to be split three ways. In those
days that was as much "success" as we thought possible."
"The earliest performances on this album are brought to you courtesy of a
sound board recording of a December, 1989 show at London's Astoria.
"Breed" (then called Imodium) and "Polly" (the big rock version) are taken from
this show, the last date of a European tour supporting fellow Sub-Poppers,
Tad."
"Early in 1991, the band signed with Geffon Records and acquired
professional manegmant. D.I.Y. fell by the wayside."
"Nevermind was recorded in the spring of 1991. Following summer tours
with Dinosaur Jr. and The Jesus Lizard, Nevermind was released in the fall.
Immediatly following the release, we went on a tour headlining small venues that
culminated with a Halloween homecoming show at Seattle's Paramount
Theatre. The show was filmed and recorded onto multi-track...yielding the
version of "Negative Creep" used in compiling this record."
"Two days later, the band left for another European tour. "School", "Been A
Son," "Lithium" and "Blew" were all taken from a show at the Paradiso in
Amsterdam, Netherlands, on November 25, 1991. The show was filmed and
recorded on multi-track for Dutch TV. "Spank Thru," this version having been
recorded on November 19, 1991 in Rome, was actually the first Nirvana song."
"While we were touring Europe, Nevermind was becoming all the rage back
home. Though we were kept informed of the momentum, being so far from
away made us pretty oblivious to what was happenning."
"We ended the tour with a brief West Coast tour. The bill included Pearl
Jam and Nirvana and was headlined by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The
second show of this tour was on December 28, 1991 at the Del Mar
Fairgrounds (just outside San Diego.) For whatever reason, our set was
particularly aggresive that night - "Drain You," "Anuerysm" and "Smells Like
Teen Spirit" were all taken from this recording."
'Early in 1992, the band toured Australia and Japan. Later in the summer,
we traveled to Europe and made up some Scandinavian shows we had to
cancel on the previous tour. The touring highlight of the year, however, was a
headlining slot on England's Reading Festival. I have to say that hearing tens of
thousands of people sing along with "Lithium" was a very cool moment in the
history of the band. We were having fun and decided to stretch the set out a bit
- enter "tourette's," a song which had been around a few years (and eventually
found its way onto In Utero.)"
"Following the release of In Uteron in 1993, we once again hit the road.
Using left-over props from the "Heart-Shaped Box" video shoot as set dressing
(our first foray into the world of stage props), we concentrated on working up a
set that spanned the band's entire career and gave the audience a longer show
than we had done on previous tours. In that we were playing "big" halls on the
tour, it was felt that we needed to bring along a "big" sound....ladies and
gentlemen, please welcome Pat Smear."
"Scentless Apprentice" was filmed and recorded by MTV for their New
Year's special...recorded in Seattle. "Heart-Shaped Box" comes from a DAT
recording from a show at The Forum in Los Angeles in December, 1993. We
took "Milk It" from a sound board recording from the Seattle Center Arena.
"Sliver" is taken from a board tape from the Springfield Civic Center (in
Massachusetts)"
" In presenting this record, we hope that the ultimate allure of Nirvana (and
especially Kurt) as well as the passion that we had-and have-for the music we
made is once again brought to the forefront. Let all the analysis fall away like
yellow, aged newprint. Crank this record up and realize the bliss, power, and
passion......
TOTAL NIRVANA!"
-Krist Novoselic
Thank You: Kurt Cobain
