IF Unplugged In New York showed us where Nirvana were going musically, this new live album shows us where they were and what they did there. It's a fitting tribute in that the band were always more Bleach and Incesticide than quadruple platinum selling albums and dodgy David Bowie covers. For all the singalongagrunge of Smell Likes Teen Spirit, the earlier stuff, which is well represented here, is a precious reminder of their hardcore/punk/metal roots.
Called From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah, the 16 tracks are taken from both pre and post Nevermind days. It's all delightfully back to basics stuff recorded, for the most part, in front of audiences who were yet to become "BMW driving Yuppie scum" as Kurt Cobain once memorably put it. From a 1989 London show there's Breed and a full on version of Polly, while the 1991 European Tour, again before Time and Newsweek magazines got their hands on them, provides Spank Thru (their first ever song), Blew, Lithium, School and Been A Son. The US tour later that year, where they played alongside The Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam (imagine) throws up Drain You, Aneurysm and Smells Like Teen Spirit while Sliver, Scentless Apprentice, Heart Shaped Box and Milk It come from the In Utero tour.
Edited down from over 100 hours of live tapes by Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, this album is, as Novoselic says in the press release: "an aggressive record that will hopefully give people who didn't get to see us live, a flavour of what the band was all about. Most of the songs we played were ones we played every night". Trainspotters among you may like to compare and contrast the drumming styles of the original drummer, Chad Channing, who plays on Polly and Breed, with Dave Grohl, who plays on everything else. And if you're a bit of a terminal fan, you can listen out for the difference between the three piece and the four piece Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear was added to the line up after the release of In Utero. Better still, just listen and remember them the way they were.
THE last time Finglas band The Brilliant Trees played up in the Fiddler, they got 800 people into the venue and had to turn a fair few punters away (almost breaking Christy Moore's box office record). One of the people in the audience that night was some big knob from the US who instantly signed them up for a 12 date tour of the US which they have just returned from, isn't that right, guitarist Tony? "Yeah, and it went really well, except for the bits where we had to find somewhere to stay in New York for less than $25 a night. We started off playing in Irish bars but soon broadened out." The tour went so well, they're going back for another bigger and better jaunt soon - but before all that, they've got a new single out on Monday called Heart Strings, and another gig at the Fiddler on the 19th of this month. You'd want to get there early.
IF you wanna get funked out of your head this weekend, try the Heineken Weekender, taking place all over Dublin over the next few days. There's a myriad of all stuff hip hoppy, trip hoppy, rappy, and just plain funky happening, beginning with the man with the silly hat, Jamiroquai in the Point Theatre tonight (8 pm.). That's followed by Irish agit rappers Marxman in the DaClub (late): or, if you prefer, Gabrielle who's playing midnight at the Olympia.
Tomorrow sees Massive Attack singer, Nicolette, at the Olympia (late), while "Ninja Tunes" (a bunch of progressive DJs) is at Andrew's Lane. Dubwise, there's Dreadzone at the Olympia on Sunday (8 p.m.), while the man who took U2 out of the Stadium arena and put them on the dance floor, namely Paul Oakenfold, is up at the POD on Sunday night (late). Booking and information at individual venues.
