This post can be accessed at: http://x7.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=342327141&CONTEXT=900787777.556728430&hitnum=9 Subject: Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol, etc... From: Chris Lawrence Date: 1998/04/08 Message-ID: <352C5348.A2@islandnet.com> Newsgroups: alt.music.nirvana I love this song. This song rules. I wish Nirvana had done more improvs like this, specifically live. Or in studio. This is awesome. I wish it was 10 minutes longer, though. Man, In Utero rules. Although, I wish the band had gone a little further out (more samples and weird bits like Kurt suggested...not 'samples' as in drum samples or whatever, but little goofy montage of heck style things between songs or during songs or whatever). And dammit, Kurt needed more effects pedals! I mean, only 3 or 4 of those songs really depend on his effects, which sucks. Which is why I prefer most of the In Utero stuff live (Milk It for sure: I forget what show it's at, but there's some who where Pat's playing a little flanged arpeggiated thing in the interlude, and Kurt is spewing forth these short bursts of distorted noise that sounds amazing). What show is it where he uses his small clone (which for some reason sounds like a phaser...) on EVERY guitar solo and bridge? 1/8/94? It's hilarious. I wish In Utero was longer. That always bugs me, why do bands release such short records? I mean...12 songs? I realize that they're technically only paid for 10, but COME ON...Sappy (Fine! Fine Dammit, it's Verse Chorus Verse!) would have sounded amazing on there. It's SUCH a brilliant song, much better than some of the stuff that ended up on there (tourette's and frances farmer and dumb come to mind). I don't care too much for Dumb. It's nice, but at the same time, it has this total Albini-esque production value which clashes w/ the style of the song. I think they should have recorded that one with Scott Litt from scratch. He could have made that song sound like REM!! He could have had John Paul Jones orchestrate it! That song could have sounded like an Automatic for the People outtake! But no...no, they made it sound like it was recorded in a closet. Oh well. Serve the Servants pretty much rocks the boat. That first crash just sets the pace for the entire record. Bam. The first riff of this song is not a 4 note bass dirge, it's not a power chord stomp, but instead it's a bizarre series of Major 7th chords arpeggiated sloppily enough to turn away the Yngwie fans. Kurt rocks out a great little thought-out solo on this song (no effects though...dammit, Kurt!) and it ends in an excellent barrage of noise straight from the end of "Blew" or "Spank Thru". Then a very unique drum beat kicks in and blows the roof off yr house. Kurt's ascending, Echoflanger-drenched one-finger drone riff slices thru yr speakers while Dave and Krist navigate a heavy drop-D progression underneath. Then Kurt kicks in, mimicking them precisely for several bars. He slides up the neck, bends his note of choice as far as he can and wails out his Patrick Suskind-inspired vocal line, alternating with the plodding main riff. Then another ascending riff enters, this time layered with a familiar Small Clone echo, and Kurt lets loose a blood-curdling scream while the band breaks into the main riff. The song eventually breaks into a noisy tirade of totally beautiful overdubbed effects-laden feedback, which many a teenage goof would try to reproduce precisely in years to come. The song ends with yet another elongated scream and another total breakdown of guitars. It seems as though every song on this album ends w/ some type of tonal meltdown. Then, it's back to business as usual. Something not yet heard on this record, a CLEAN guitar, begins playing an arpeggiated riff based on 3 chords in the drop d tuning. Kurt actually speaksings his lyrics during these mystical verses, while Novoselic draws most of the attention with a fascinating slide-oriented bassline. Then, the song breaks into the familiar loud chorus, which contains one of Cobain's most oft-quoted yet simple lyrics. The song contains a more traditional guitar solo than the previous cuts, though it too is laced with an EchoflangedPolychorus effect. The song ends in a traditional "let's repeat the final chorus a million times" format, finally collapsing at the end and succumbing to Kurt's deep pick scrapes and microphonic feedback. Next comes a lone clean guitar preceded by 4 light percussive taps. In an almost Teen Spirit-ish rhythm, these chords cycle under Kurt's incessant repetition of the title, before launching into a distorted version of the verses delivered under yet another catchy hookline. It should be immediately obvious that this song was written amongst some of the songs that made up Nevermind. Yet another meltdown coda, this one featuring a nice touch of running water. Following Rape Me is a song bearing one of the longest Nirvana titles to date, and featuring one of the strangest Nirvana chord progressions to date as well. One guitar plays a palm-muted droning riff while another does blink-and-you-miss-them slides. Then the band kicks in, w/ a tambourine accompaniment carried over from the previous song. This song contains no bizarre effects, though there is a brief mysterious aural burst before the 3rd verse that reminds me of something from a Beatles record, but I'm not sure what. This song ends in a long slide that travels off the neck and straight into the next song, Dumb. Dumb opens with a cymbal crash that rings out over Kurt's drastically muted Stella acoustic. A cello makes its first appearance here, nicely complimenting Kurt's bridge guitar line. Then comes a strange tune which may be the first on this album to actually differentiate between the two guitar lines (while recording this record Kurt obviously had the concept of a 2nd guitarist in mind for the tour). The song is gone in the blink of an eye, yet it leaves behind a residual dream of a swarm of locusts angrily arguing with a G chord that can't seem to decide what chord it wants to precede. The last two songs have ended in minimal noise climaxes. Thud! Down comes Dave Grohl's powerful foot and the boom from his bass drum triumphs over another bizarre Novoselic bassline layered with two dueling clean Cobain guitars. This song makes notorious use of pauses for effect and the end result is a dynamic stomper that gets pretty much any listener anxious to scream "Doll Steak, Test Meat!" at the top of their lungs at any point during the day. Features another terrific guitar duel in the interlude. And a fantastic Lounge-Actish vocal addition to the final chorus (that many would misquote in the future as some sort of prediction). A brief pause while Kurt clears his throat, and another clean guitar emits from the soft static buzz of your speakers. Kurt's sad voice mutters lyrics over a minor chord mating with a major, and then a familiar Grohl fill paves the way for one of the band's most famous choruses. This song sports an interlude whose climax later left Kurt inclined to recreate the intro and pause again before the final verse (which is nicely affected by the stella strumming its acoustic vibes again). This song has what could be defined as a true meltdown coda, getting quieter and quieter with each repetition... Then the most incredible sound that this record can offer fills yr speakers. Are the cops coming to arrest your neighbours again? Is your local grocery store in flames? Are those damn locusts from Very Ape back again? No! Kurt has decided to let his Echoflanger out of the box again and it leaves us all lying, face down in the dirt, gasping for breath, our eyes barely tilted towards the sun, watching the departing shadow of sonic noise get dimmer and dimmer as a soft voice mutters in the distance... ..."moderate rock". yah right. A few pickings behind the bridge a la Oh, the Guilt and we're off again, reliving a punk rock fantasy. 4 chords and lots of angst pack this quick little ditty into a tight little ball and spew it towards you, leaving you aghast as the needle moves on over to the next groove... All Apologies, the album closer for many people, (including myself as of december 19th last year, dammit) enters softly and magically with a creatively unique series of notes that are complimented terrificly by a swelling cello and a droning bass. This song features an infamous 2 chord chorus that hits just as hard as anything on the LP. Dave Grohl's drum fills shake the roof. And this song, this song contains a true meltdown, an absolutely beautiful passage of sheer white noise laced with cello embellishment and eerie vocals repeated beyond sanity. And that, cherished readers, is In Utero. A true masterpiece. Or is that In Utero? What follows All Apologies over yonder cliff is an exciting 7 and a half minute improvisation that knocks my socks off every time I hear it. It's absolutely fantasmic. Yes, Fantasmic. I won't even begin to get into how amazing this song is. The bubbling screeches of Kurt's Polychorus retell the same stories heard in Scentless Apprentice, but more carefully and precise and elaborative. Next to Here she Comes now and Sappy, this song displays Kurt's amazing guitar abilities, hidden deep within him where the majority of fans and non-fans aren't even aware it lies. And I imagine that he wasn't aware either. But it was there, and it was magical. I can think of no sensible way to end this post, so let me just say: Thanks for reading. Chris (Alex, is Gallons at the proper pitch on Pay to Play?) -- "When Michael sings about Andy Kaufman and Elvis, he's singing about Andy Kaufman and Elvis. It's not about wheat prices in Russia." -- peter buck on "man on the moon" Check out my infamous Kurt Cobain/Nirvana Equipment site: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/8712/kurtseq.html For bootlegs, my band, sonic youth guitar tabs, etc. go: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/8712/nameless.html