411 Music Ten Deep 01.06.11: The Top Ten Reissued Albums of 2011

Posted by C.A. Bell on 01.06.2012

From Nirvana's Nevermind, Smashing Pumpkin's Siamese Dream and the Who's Quadrophenia to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and more, 411's Christopher Bell ranks the top 10 reissued albums of 2011!

The List

Conventional logic suggests that the very nature of the reissued album is to convince fans to spend their hard earned money on something they already own. In a way, that is the absolute truth. My personal collection is chalk full of 'deluxe' reissues of albums that sound only vaguely different from the original masters (sometimes to the album's discredit), and then packed with special features like unfinished versions of songs that are already on the album, House remixes of the singles, and unreleased songs that weren't good enough to make the album's cut to begin with. It is also true that reissues are a cash cow for record companies. Having already spent money on studio time and promotion of the original album, a reissue comes at a minimal added cost to the company and with a built-in audience. Those things being said, something has been changing over the last few years.


With the re-release of Mono and Stereo masters for the entire Beatles catalog, it became clear that there was a virtue on owning remastered albums. For the first time in my memory, the new versions were completely different experiences from the songs that I had grown up listening to. This year, that same care was applied to a bevy of great albums to varying degrees of success. On top of the increased quality of remasters, we were treated to all sorts of reissue delicacies, either to celebrate the 20th anniversary of albums that were released in 1991 (music's single most prodigious release year of my lifetime) or simply because it is such a great cash cow for labels with impressive back catalogs. I've covered the doom of former Big Four label EMI in several editions of this column, and it certainly applies here as well. Having made a mint from the Beatles releases last year, EMI repackaged the entire discographies of Queen and Pink Floyd in 2011.


Completing a list of the top ten reissues of the year is a particularly interesting topic for me. This is one of the very few times were the original quality of the work could hurt a placing. After all, what I'm really recommending is whether or not the new version is worth spending money again on an album that you probably already own. A typical reissue review includes the term 'for the completest fan'. I'm going to take that one step further and say that any fan of these ten groups should purchase the new version. There are a few important things that I took into consideration here. First, was there any improvement to the available pressings? Second, is the added bonus material anything more than a slight waste of time? I attempted not to let things like 'cost' and 'historical importance' enter into the conversation, though that is somewhat unavoidable. Alright, enough with the rules. Let's get to the list.

The Honorable Mentions (And Excuses)

Archers of Loaf - Icky Mettle - This is a great release that I would have loved to include. The sound is leagues above the original release and the bonuses are nice. You should still buy it, but it just didn't make my cut.

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On? - Great record with good bonus material, but I don't think the remaster was enough of an improvement from the 2006 Deluxe edition to justify spending the cash.

U2 - Achtung Baby - I'm mentioning this because it was a huge 20th Anniversary release that I think you should avoid buying at all costs. The remaster had no real improvements on Eno's originals and the bonus material is little more than filler. Particularly confounding were the remixes that somehow dated the songs more than the original versions. Save your money and get a copy from the bargain shelf.

Superchunk - Foolish - This is a brilliant album that got some due attention this year, but unless you don't have a copy at all, I didn't hear much in the reissue that justified shelling out the cash for a new copy. Still, this was a good release.

Queen - Queen - I think this is one of the most underrated albums in the Queen catalog and it finally got a long overdue remaster this year. The album sounds great and the bonus material was a bit like opening a Christmas present. That being said, it wasn't my favorite of the Queen remasters. More on that to come.

Paul McCartney - McCartney I & II - Okay, confession time. I just didn't get these two in time for the writing of the column. That being said, they both sound good and were necessary reworkings of hidden gems from Sir Paul's career. They both get an early thumbs up from me.

Ride - Nowhere - Wanna know a dirty little secret? I actually think Ride, and not My Bloody Valentine, was the best Shoegaze band of the early '90s. This album just barely missed making the list. If you like noise, do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

The Ten

10. Social Climbers - Social Climbers on Drag City Records.

The peripheral NYC No-Wave movement spawned several 'go-to' groups for critics that wanted to ensure they could out reference their readers; Suicide, ESG, and DNA among them. No-Wave pioneer Glen Branca helped define the underground movement of the next decade by serving as a guru for the founding members of Sonic Youth. But, one of the great things about music is that no matter how deep you go into the cracks, there is always another great band hiding just out of sight. Such is the case with Social Climbers. The New York three-piece made only one record, originally released on Hoboken Records, pieced together from three self-made flexi-discs. Their fusion of avant-garde No-Wave song construction with island dub served to put them on the periphery of even the periphery. And so, Social Climbers went their separate ways, and their debut record faded from memory, threatening to be erased from history altogether. That is until Drag City unearthed the masters, dusted them off, and set the Social Climbers up for a nice new reissue.

In total, Social Climbers is a fun, if sometimes meandering, record of three people blissfully creating outside of the professional music world. These folks thoroughly enjoyed existing outside of genre, and the music shows it. Sonically, this sounds like an early Talking Heads live performance, but looser. Whereas you got the feeling David Byrne planned every click and growl, you can't be sure that Climbers lead singer and guitarist Mark Bingham didn't walk in on the session after it started. "Chicken 80" is downright anthemic, along the lines of other Post-Punk classics like "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" or "I Wanna Destroy You". This booty-shaker carries the groove of a prime Sly and the Family Stone track, while being hilariously narrated by Bingham as the titular poultry. I haven't been able to get "Chicken 80" out of my head since first listen, and I doubt it will be leaving anytime soon. The Drag City reissue of Social Climbers is a prime example of a lost classic being given a second bit at the apple and it works in a big, bad way.

9. Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump Deluxe Edition on Mercury Records.

I'll go on record as saying that I believe Grandaddy was grossly under-covered by the national media outlets in the early 2000s. Easily as good as other monoliths of the period like Is This It? and Funeral, Grandaddy's Sophtware Slump was a direct descendent of Radiohead's OK Computer and the great work that came from Sparklehorse in the late 90s. The original indie escapist, Grandaddy's lead visionary Jason Lytle recorded the album in a remote farmhouse, "in my boxer shorts, bent over keyboards with sweat dripping off my forehead, frustrated, hungover, and trying to call my coke dealer".


While a ten year anniversary doesn't exactly carry the same weight of enthusiasm as a 20th or 25th, the record does sound a lot cleaner than existing pressings. The real reason to have this one in your collection however is the disc of bonus features that play like an intended second half to the record. Pieced together from EPs, B-Sides, and demos, the bonus tracks are impressive. Nothing here sounds too incomplete to release and place a premium focus on Lytle's raw songwriting abilities. Tracks like "Moe Bandy Mountaineers" display Lytle's ability to bring together references to artists as varied as the Flaming Lips and Bob Dylan into singular, cohesive works. There are even some nods to further underground influences like Guided By Voices on the punk-ish "Street Bunny". This one is well worth the extra dollars.

8. R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant 25th Anniversary Edition on EMI Records.

By 1986, the fix was in and Rock music was officially a product, sold exclusively by massive corporations. The excitement and danger created by New Wave and Post-Punk had officially fizzled, with even its greatest champions submitting to Pop. Some artists were able to flourish inside of that environment. The The, XTC, and the Go-Betweens all created some of their very finest work. This, however, was a day that necessitated an alternative and new genres were beginning to flourish. Metallica in Thrash, Run-D.M.C. were the new champions of Rap, Sonic Youth with Noise Rock, and R.E.M. officially took their place at the mantle of College Rock kings. Lifes Rich Pageant was the second full-length release from R.E.M. and was intended to be a bright counterpoint to the groggy murk of Fables of the Reconstruction. For me, this is the second finest work (just short of Automatic For The People) of a historic band. Incredibly strong from start to finish, there is plenty to come back to here. It goes without saying that the album is head and shoulders above most of what was being made in 1986, and as is the mark of a true classic, only gets stronger as the years go on.

The reissue celebrates the 25th anniversary of the album's original release, following last year's reissue of Reconstruction. The Lifes Rich Pageant reissue probably isn't as strong as the previous record's, if only because the distance between the bonus live performances is much shorter here than it was for the very dark production of their first record. That being said, this is still well-worth owning. the music sounds much crisper than ever before (one would presume to the band's original intentions). The bonus material is essentially centered around live performance demos of the tracks, performed in hometown Athens. These performances sound incredible, for being quarter-century-old demos. They provide an interesting counterpoint to the album as well by being presented in the band's original track sequencing (Sides A & B were flipped accidentally during the first national pressing for the record). Among these recordings are some songs that didn't make the cut, but as rare material goes, the bonus disc is best served by a recording of "All The Right Friends". Of the material available, this reissue stands next to Live at the Olympia as one of the best arguments for R.E.M. being the greatest American Rock band.

7. The Who - Quadrophenia - The Director's Cut (4 disc) on MCA Records.

When it comes to fully encompassing (bordering on overkill) box sets, leave it to Pete Townshend to take the extra steps necessary to be completely unnecessary. If Townshend wasn't the creator of the full-color, hard bound collector's booklet, he is its best champion, and I have a growing section of my bookcase proving it. Released on October 19th, 1973 by Track and Polydor in the UK, and Track and MCA in the US, it is a double album, and the group's second rock opera. Its story involves social, musical and psychological happenings from an English teenage perspective, set in London and Brighton in 1964 and '65. The name is a variation on the popular usage of the medical diagnostic term schizophrenia as dissociative identity disorder to reflect the four distinct personalities of Jimmy, the opera's protagonist – each said to represent the personality of one member of The Who. At the same time, the title is a play on the term quadraphonic sound, then a recent invention. Composer Pete Townshend has said: "The whole conception of Quadrophenia was geared to quadraphonic, but in a creative sort of way. I mean I wanted themes to sort of emerge from corners. So you start to get the sense of the fourness being literally speaker for speaker." Quadrophenia reached #2 on the US Billboard album chart (kept from #1 by then-labelmate Elton John with his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album) and was the highest position of any Who album in the US as they would never hit #1 on the US album charts.

This year The Who released The Director's Cut edition of Quadrophenia, and it is pretty amazing. Partially because the theming of the record is built around innovations in sound technology and partially because this is the most dynamic songwriting that Townshend ever presented, the original material sounds leagues ahead of previous treatments. It seems fairly obvious to me that the engineers were taking their time with this work. The two discs of bonus demos are interesting, if for no other reason than to hear how Keith Moon could change the heart of a song at well. The heart of the this release however lies in the expert remasters of the original material. While Quadrophenia doesn't receive as much attention as Tommy, I think this treatment exposes it as the clearly more important record.

6. Primal Scream - Screamadelica 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition (Box Set) on Sony Music.

Though not treated with the same historical weight as other '91 classmates like Nevermind or Loveless, Primal Scream's Screamadelica is nevertheless one of the most important records released that year. Better remembered by British fans than Americans, this record was given the prestigious Mercury Music Award in 1992, as well as being named album of the year in 1991 by NME and Select. Allmusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Screamadelica "an album that transcends its time and influence." A direct descendent of the party music from Manchester stalwarts The Happy Mondays, the third Primal Scream record took a decidedly different path from the group's previous work, integrating world dance music into their Indie Rock sound. The result was an album that worked well beyond the club scene that it was tied to upon arrival.


The Collector's Edition of Screamadelica is a monster. A special box set with remasters of the original album by none other than My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, the complete Dixie Narco EP, a virtual army of remixes, and a complete live performance of the record from the L.A. Palladium. It comes with a monster $200 price-tag too. Cost be damned though, because this collection is too good to pass up. The Shields' remasters of the original recordings are pitch perfect and the live performance is good enough to merit its own release. Add in some fantastic packaging and vinyl copies of the original record and you have a reissue that is almost too good for the album, which is saying a lot.

5. (Tie) Smashing Pumpkins - Gish & Siamese Dream Deluxe Editions on Virgin Records.

I know, I know; it's a cop out to take these two as a tie. I just couldn't bring myself to choose one over the other. Of all of the albums discussed here, the two Smashing Pumpkins records were the material that I had the most fun re-discovering. The band recorded their 1991 debut album Gish with producer Butch Vig at his Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, for $20,000. In order to gain the consistency he desired, Corgan often played all instruments save drums, which created tension in the band. The music fused heavy metal guitars, psychedelia and dream pop, garnering them comparisons to Jane's Addiction. Gish became a minor success, with the single "Rhinoceros" receiving some airplay on modern rock radio. After releasing the Lull EP in October 1991 on Caroline Records, the band formally signed with Virgin Records, which was affiliated with Caroline. The band supported the album with a tour that included opening for bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, and Guns N' Roses.

The band relocated to Marietta, Georgia in late 1992 to begin work on their second album, with Butch Vig returning as producer. The decision to record so far away from their hometown was motivated partly by the band's desire to avoid friends and distractions during the recording, but largely as a desperate attempt to cut Chamberlin off from his known drug connections. The recording environment for Siamese Dream was quickly marred by discord within the band. As was the case with Gish, Corgan and Vig decided that Corgan should play nearly all of the guitar and bass parts on the album, contributing to an air of resentment. The contemporary music press began to portray Corgan as a tyrant. Corgan's depression, meanwhile, had deepened to the point where he contemplated suicide, and he compensated by practically living in the studio. Meanwhile, Chamberlin quickly managed to find new connections and was often absent without any contact for days at a time. In all, it took over four months to complete the record, with the budget exceeding $250,000. Despite all the problems in its recording, Siamese Dream debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 chart, and sold over four million copies in the U.S. alone.

The stories about the Smashing Pumpkins sessions during this period are legendary; complete with rumors about Vig and Corgan sleeping in the studio for Siamese Dream for weeks at a time. With any record that involved that level of attention to detail, it isn't necessarily a surprise that these two records generated a lot of b-roll. Luckily, also due to Corgan's perfectionism and prodigious output during this early period, most of it makes for an extremely interesting listen. As remasters, the material on Siamese Dream benefited more from the reworking, as the latter, more dynamic half of that record sounds a lot better than it did upon its release. In particular, the hit single "Disarm" sounds better than I've ever heard it before. I was never particularly a fan of this song, until now. But, the real meat of these new releases lies in the bonus material. The 2011 mixes of tracks like "Starla" and "La Dolly Vita" are fantastic additions to Gish, along with some fantastic Peel Session recordings. On Siamese Dream, there are some phenomenal acoustic mixes again for "Disarm" and "Spaceboy" (and these sound leagues better than the acoustic versions of "Rocket" or "Cherub Rock" that were previously available). Perhaps my favorite selections from this bonus material are the live BBC recordings on Siamese Dream. These recordings do a lot to dispel the myth that the Smashing Pumpkins were little more than a studio creation of Billy Corgan and Butch Vig, and show just how good that band was live. Altogether, these are both must-buys for me. From this point forward, every single reissue easily pays back that investment in dividends.

4. Queen - News of the World (40th Anniversary Remasters) on Universal/EMI/Hollywood Records.

I'm a Queen hack. I know this. That being said, the newest remasters for News of the World completely changed my view of that album. This year a money-strapped EMI re-released the entire Queen discography to celebrate the band's 40th anniversary and 20th anniversary since the tragic death of legendary frontman Freddie Mercury. These releases are the first major re-pressings from the group since the 1991 pressings, just after Mercury's death. Having received some criticism that their first completely self-produced project, A Day at the Races, was a "boring" album, Queen decided to shift their musical focus towards the mainstream but remain as the producers of the next album.

After completing the A Day at the Races Tour, the quartet re-entered the studio to begin work on their sixth studio offering in July 1977, enlisting Mike Stone as assistant producer at the Basing Street and Wessex Studios in London. They scaled down their complex arrangements and focused on a "rootsier" sound (as Brian May put it). However the staple of the Queen sound, multitracked harmonies and guitar orchestrations, still exist on this album, albeit a bit more subtly. News of the World shows Queen's songwriting less dominated by May and Freddie Mercury, with Roger Taylor and John Deacon composing two songs each. The group completed recording and production of the album two months later in September and released the album on October 28, 1977.

Along with A Night At The Opera, the 1991 20th Anniversary pressing of News of the World were the first two albums I ever purchased. I have always considered those 1991 releases as the definitive recordings of the band. While I don't think it is the strongest offering from the Queen catalog, this newest remaster marks the most improvement from existing recordings. A common thread I am finding while writing this is that the reissues that I appreciate the most find a way to make me appreciate songs or albums that I didn't fully appreciate more. News of the World is no exception to that rule. While you can clearly hear improvements to classic album tracks like "We Are The Champions", "All Dead, All Dead", and "It's Late", I found the most surprising improvements came from the songs that I've never really cared much for. The new masters for "Spread Your Wings" and "My Melancholy Blues" are fantastic. Though the bonus material on all of these new Queen releases is fairly slight, it is almost always necessary additions. I would argue that the News of the World bonus material stands out and the most particularly interesting. The previously unreleased Arena Rock dirge "Feelings Feelings" is an interesting listen. My favorites are (again) the BBC run-throughs of "Spread Your Wings" and "Melancholy Blues". The recording of these two tracks are nearly perfect, and hearing Mercury sound like he was singing in the room with me was a downright moving experience. Not everything from the new Queen releases is worth the money (the remasters of Jazz and The Game are downright confounding), but News of the World is a release that everyone should own.

3. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (Experience Edition) on EMI Music.

Okay, so I apologize ahead of time. This is about to get confusing. On top of the virtual army of reissue for Dark Side of the Moon that already exist (All Music Guide reports 17 different pressings for this record), there were three new re-issues for the record this year; as part of a complete re-release of the band's discography in box-set form, as the two-disc Experience Edition, and as the six-disc Immersion Edition. I'll save you the platitudes about how important this album was. It's one of the best selling albums of all time. I think we can assume the most people know how good this record is. Now, let's talk about why this edition is worth shelling out your money for yet another copy of Dark Side of the Moon.

First, the album actually does sound better. For the first time, every sound on the record can be clearly articulated, which infinitely increases the listening pleasure of the album, particularly on the album's closing three tracks. I've never heard this album sound better. Second, the bonus material on this release is amongst the best I have ever heard. The second disc of the Experience Edition includes a 1974 performance of the album, in its entirety, at Wembley Stadium. I'll go on record as saying that this performance should have gotten its own release instead of Is There Anybody Out There? (a live recording of The WallI). Whereas the live Wall performance was a note-for-note recreation of the studio album, this Dark Side set is a completely different listening experience from its studio counterpart. The band offers up a raw performance, free from much of the studio trickery that (I think) dates the original recording. Roger Waters' bass sounds like a juggernaut throughout the performance and Richard Wright's performance on "Us And Them" gives me a whole new appreciation for that song.

Now, why should you buy the Experience Edition of Dark Side and not the Immersion Edition? Well, that's really up to you, but I found the $100 difference between the collections simply wasn't worth it. The six disc Immersion set includes another performance of the record at Brighton on DVD (a performance that isn't as good as the Wembley recording), various alternate mixes of the album (including the Alan Parsons mix and the SACD 2003 mix), and a few unreleased demo tracks. I honestly just don't have the time to commit the that many different versions of Dark Side of the Moon. Now, I couldn't bring myself to recommend purchasing the full discography box set, but I do think the first half of that collection is worth the price tag alone. If you don't mind having to purchase The Division Bell, the reworkings of Piper At The Gates of Dawn, Saucerful of Secrets, and Meddle are vast improvements on any existing masters.

2. Rolling Stones - Some Girls (Deluxe Edition) on Universal Republic Records.

Last year the Rolling Stones probably best the Beatles with their amazing remaster of Exile On Main St. I think they bested themselves this year with the Deluxe reissue of Some Girls. Yet again, this is an example of a remaster making me completely rethink the value of an entire record. With the advent of punk rock, The Rolling Stones, among many of their musical contemporaries, were being targeted by some in the movement as cultural dinosaurs, compromising their standing. Mick Jagger felt invigorated by the provocations and was determined to answer them lyrically. It helped, however, that almost all the punks had, openly or not, idolised the Stones in the 1960s and were heavily influenced by the band's rebellious records from that era. At least as important for the band's re-invigoration was the addition of Ronnie Wood to the line-up, as Some Girls was the first album recorded with him as a full member. His guitar playing style meshed with, and was similar to, that of Keith Richards. Wood's slide guitar playing would become one of the band's hallmarks, and his unconventional uses of the instrument are prominent on Some Girls. In addition, Jagger, who had learned to play guitar over the previous decade, contributed a third guitar part to many songs. This gave songs like "Respectable" a three-guitar line-up.

Jagger is generally regarded as the principal creative force behind Some Girls, a conception that, though disputable (Richards was present at all of the sessions), is plausible considering Richards' various legal entanglements at the time (see below). Jagger claimed in a 1995 interview to have written a great number of the album's songs (though when the amount was pointed out to him he denied that the record was mostly his own), including its signature song, "Miss You". In addition to punk, Jagger claims to have been influenced by dance music, most notably disco, during the recording of Some Girls, and cites New York City as a major inspiration for the album, an explanation for his lyrical preoccupation with the city throughout.

Personally, I've never particularly cared for Some Girls. I've always thought this record exemplified the absolute worst of Classic Rock radio. Luckily, this reissue brought me around 180 degrees on the album. Easily the most audible difference from any existing pressings, the deluxe Some Girls significantly cleans up the sound of this record. The result is a much more modern-sounding record that stands out even amongst the Stones' impressive catalog. Like the Exile remaster from last year, this reissue includes a bonus disk of older material mixed with new recordings. I think the bonus material works much better in this case as the producers seem to have learned some lessons from the Exile tracks, which didn't do a great job of hiding the new performances within the old. The bonus tracks on Some Girls sound like completely new tracks. While that isn't preferable to songs completely recorded during the timeframe, it is a lot better than the distracting mixes on Exile. At this point, if the Stones want to reissue one of their old albums every year, I'm on board.

1. Nirvana - Nevermind (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) on Geffen Records.

With the 20th Anniversary of its release, Nirvana's game-changing Nevermind was a no-brainer for a giant package reissue this year. In the spring of 1990, Nirvana began planning its second album for Sub Pop, tentatively titled Sheep. For the album, Sub Pop head Bruce Pavitt suggested Butch Vig as a potential producer. Nirvana particularly liked Vig's work with Killdozer and called Vig up to tell him, "We want to sound as heavy as that record." In April 1990, the band traveled out to Vig's Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin to begin work on the album. Most of the basic song arrangements were completed by that time, but Cobain was still working on lyrics and the band was unsure of which songs to record. Ultimately, eight songs were recorded: "Immodium" (later renamed "Breed"), "Dive" (later released as the B-side to "Sliver"), "In Bloom", "Pay to Play" (eventually renamed "Stay Away" and given a new set of lyrics), "Sappy", "Lithium", "Here She Comes Now" (released on Velvet Underground Tribute Album: Heaven and Hell Volume 1), and "Polly". The band had planned to record more tracks, but Cobain blew his voice out on "Lithium", forcing them to shut down recording. Vig was told that the band would come back to record more songs and he could then do a proper mix, but the producer did not hear anything for a while. Instead, the band used the sessions as a demo tape to shop for a new label. Within a few months, the tape was circulating amongst major labels, creating a buzz around the group. After signing to DGC, a number of producers for the album were suggested, including Scott Litt, David Briggs, and Don Dixon, but Nirvana still wanted Butch Vig. Novoselic noted in 2001 that the band was already nervous and intimidated about recording on a major label and the producers suggested by DGC wanted percentage points for working on the album. Instead, the band held out for Vig, with whom they felt comfortable collaborating due to how patient he was and the good experience working at his studio in Madison.

Afforded on a budget of $65,000, Nirvana recorded Nevermind at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California in May and June 1991. Nirvana was originally set to record the album during March and April 1991, but the date kept getting pushed back in spite of the band's anxiousness to begin the sessions. On April 17th, 1991 after hearing one of his friends was about to go to jail for unpaid traffic citations Cobain organized a gig at the OK Hotel in Seattle with all proceeds to go to his friend where they performed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the first time. The band sent Vig some rehearsal tapes prior to the sessions that featured songs recorded previously at Smart Studios, along with some new ones including "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Come as You Are". When the group arrived in California, Nirvana did a few days of pre-production where the band and Vig tightened up some of the song arrangements. The only recording carried over from the Smart Studios sessions was the song "Polly", which included cymbal crashes performed by Chad Channing. Once recording commenced, the band worked eight to ten hours a day. The band members tended to take two or three tries at instrumental takes; if the takes were not satisfactory at that point, they would move on to something else. The group had rehearsed the songs so much before recording started that often only a few takes were needed. Novoselic and Grohl finished their bass and drum tracks in a matter of days, but Cobain had to work longer on guitar overdubs, singing, and particularly lyrics (which sometimes were finished mere minutes before recording). Cobain's phrasing was so consistent on various takes that Vig would mix the takes together to create overdubs. Vig says that he often had to trick Cobain into recording additional takes for overdubs since the singer was averse to performing multiple takes. In particular, Vig convinced Cobain to double-track his vocals on the song "In Bloom" by telling him "John Lennon did it." While the sessions went well generally, Vig said Cobain would become moody and difficult at times: "He'd be great for an hour, and then he'd sit in a corner and say nothing for an hour."

After the recording sessions were completed, Vig and the band set out to mix the album. However, after a few days, both Vig and the band members realized that they were unhappy with how the mixes were turning out. As a result, they decided to call in someone else to oversee the mixing, with Geffen Records imprint DGC supplying a list of possible options. The list contained several familiar names, including Scott Litt (known for his work with R.E.M.) and Ed Stasium (known for his work with The Smithereens). However, Cobain feared that bringing in known mixers would result in the album sounding like the work of those bands. Instead, Cobain chose Andy Wallace (who had co-produced Slayer's 1990 album Seasons in the Abyss) from the bottom of the list. Novoselic recalled, "We said, 'right on,' because those Slayer records were so heavy." Wallace ran the songs through various special effects boxes and tweaked the drum sounds, completing about one mix per day. Both Wallace and Vig noted years later that upon hearing Wallace's work the band loved the mixes. After the album's release however members of Nirvana expressed dissatisfaction with the polished sound the mixer had given Nevermind. Cobain said in Come as You Are, "Looking back on the production of Nevermind, I'm embarrassed by it now. It's closer to a Mötley Crüe record than it is a punk rock record." Cobain also stated, "From a commercial sense it is a good record I have to admit that you know but, but that's in a Cheap Trick way you know but for my personal listening pleasure it's just too slick."

Nevermind was mastered on the afternoon of August 2 at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, California. Howie Weinberg started working alone when no one else showed up at the appointed time in the studio; by the time Nirvana, Andy Wallace, and Gary Gersh arrived, Weinberg had mastered most of the album. One of the songs mastered at the session, a hidden track called "Endless, Nameless" intended to appear at the end of "Something in the Way", was accidentally left off initial pressings of the album. Weinberg recalled, "In the beginning, it was kind of a verbal thing to put that track at the end. Maybe I misconstrued their instructions, so you can call it my mistake if you want. Maybe I didn't write it down when Nirvana or the record company said to do it. So, when they pressed the first twenty thousand or so CDs, albums, and cassettes, it wasn't on there." When the band discovered the song's omission after listening to its copy of the album, Cobain called Weinberg and demanded he rectify the mistake. Weinberg complied and added about ten minutes of silence between the end of "Something in the Way" and the start of the hidden track on future pressings of the album.

What followed was nothing short of music history. Nevermind changed the way we listen to music, not only owning mainstream Rock radio and the Billboard charts, but actually changing what was acceptable in the mainstream itself. If not for the success of this album, there would be countless groups (before and after Nirvana) that probably wouldn't have ever found a voice on the national stage. With all of that being said, I honestly didn't expect much from this new four-disc Nevermind collection. First, the original album sounds as fresh today as it did in 1991, making the need for a remaster questionable at best. Second, and more significantly, the Nirvana vaults have already been mined to the hilts. What could they possibly have to release that we haven't already heard somewhere else? The answer is not much. Fortunately, that just doesn't matter.

The new master for Nevermind doesn't significantly stray from Wallace's original work, as it shouldn't. The really interesting thing about this collection is how it stands as example of just how good a producer Butch Vig really is. The Nevermind demos found here show a group that would have been happy making another version of Bleach. While that would have been a fine recording, it seems fairly obvious that Vig was the person responsible for taking the initial sludge of songs like "Come As You Are" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and turning them into massive Rock anthems. Now, let's talk about the bonus material. No, there isn't much of anything here that hasn't been available somewhere else, but what is here sounds amazingly better than even the best recordings available on the Turn Out The Lights box set. On this 70-song, 4-hour set, only the 8 tracks from the "Boombox demos" are sub-par recordings. "Sappy", the song I've always considered to be the jewel of Nirvana's b-side/rarity collection, is presented in a completely new way from the Smart Studio Sessions in Madison. Vig rough mixes, labeled "The Devonshire Mixes", offer a fresh look at the tracks of Nevermind, some of which (particularly "Lithium) rival the mixes that ended up on the album. The most fun, however, comes from the collection's final disc. A Halloween night performance at the Paramount takes up the entirety of disc four, and probably should have been released in its own right by now. It is absolutely amazing to witness the unstoppable bulldozer that was this band in concert. I don't know if this performance is better than the Live At Reading recording, but it certainly rivals it. Altogether, the new Nevermind box set is a must own for any serious Rock fan. It's worth every single penny.

The Comment Bag

Lists like these tend to generate a lot of emotional debate (mostly of the angry kind). That's a good thing. There's is nothing better than a spirited argument about your favorite music. Here I will take a moment to answer some of your thoughtful statements/arguments/concerns/angry rants. Before I get to specific comments from last week's topic, I'd like to go ahead and answer some types of comments that seem to show up every week, regardless of writer, topic, or picks.

Frequently Written Hatemail

Who is this guy? What do you know about music?

I want to list my background so that you have some idea of where I'm coming from. In addition to writing for 411music and Earbuddy over the last three years, I have spent time working as a radio DJ, venue booking scout, and owned my own talent management company. I will tend to talk more about Classic Rock, Indie and Roots/Americana. Having said that, not a single one of those things makes my opinion here more important or definitive than yours. I may use a word like 'best', but it should always be taken as 'best for me'. There is no such thing as an objective 'best' in music, plus I'm too lazy to add those extra words in every paragraph. Let's try to have a little fun.

I don't know any of these artists, so they don't deserve to be on your list/The common person wouldn't know any of these artists.

I find this complaint somewhat quizzical, so I'd like to spend a little time here. First, as a reader, I appreciate it when someone discusses a musician that they love and I've never heard of. For me, that's an easy way to find out about something new I might love. Second, I think this comment represents a wholly impossible responsibility. How in the world am I supposed to know what artists you are familiar with? We live in a day and age when music is being defined by ever increasing and smaller circles of influence. With the biggest selling record of the 2011 selling a full two-thirds less than the biggest selling record of 2001, huge labels are folding on a regular basis and their stable of megastar musicians are downsizing with them. At the same time, the age of podcasts and fan groups allow us to sit completely within our own genre bubble, completely ignorant to things going on around us. I'm just as guilty of this as anyone (I still haven't listened to any record made by an American Idol alumnus). So, it is incredibly easy for any of us to have never heard of an artist that has sold millions of records. I can't possibly be expected to take that into consideration when making a list of the music that I think is best..for me. Making selections based on what I think anyone else would be familiar with is nothing short of dishonest. Third, I'm just not as 'hip' as you are giving me credit for. I defy you to find an artist I have discussed that hasn't also been covered by several other nationally-established media outlets, be it NPR, All Music Guide, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, or NME.

I think sometimes someone might make the assumption that I am attempting to be cool and lord my superior music knowledge over the masses. That really isn't my intent. I take the topic and make the most honest selections I can. If someone finds a new artist to love as a result of something I've written, that's great. If not, that's great too. Todd Snider sometimes uses a quote in concert that I love. It goes something like this, "I'm not here to change anybody's mind about nuthin'. I'm here to ease my own mind about everything."

To finish this, let's play a little word replacement game. Before you start writing that nasty comment about how this is a list full of nobodies ask yourself this. If you see a list of the 'ten best restaurants' in your hometown, do you think that author is wrong because you haven't eaten at one of them? Is an author wrong about every choice they make for a 'top ten countries to visit' list that you haven't personally visited? If you are in a conversation with a co-worker and they suggest a movie they really love, do you call them an idiot because you've never heard of it? Okay, now write the comments anyway and I'll keep ignoring them.

This list should just be called (insulting oversimplification)/I hate your mother and your stupid face...moron.

I understand we get passionate, but I really have no intention of slighting you or your taste in music on my stupid list. Here's the thing, I've done this long enough to expect these kinds of comments. Since they don't usually include what the thinking person might call "an argument", I can only assume the point is to hurt my feelings. I can assure you now that you won't. I think we can all agree that attempting to respond to that level of communication wouldn't do anyone any good, so I won't be doing that. So, you have the right to say anything you like, but it's really just a waste of your time and anger. Maybe go build something instead? An angry birdhouse is a place to put that frustration. The world needs more of those.

The Rational Arguments

No Joshua Tree? Oh dear..... -nax

Don't get me wrong, The Joshua Tree is a fantastic album, but I don't think it is as consistently good as Achtung Baby. That, and I'm not really a U2 aficionado. Sorry.



No Another Green World? Or Discreet Music? Would have personally picked both of them over the other two albums for sheer impact alone (and Another Green World at No.1 for being one of my favourite albums.)

Not a fan of those albums? -mr_wishart

I consider there to be three absolute rules in life. First, never engage in a land war in Asia. Two, never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line. Third, and most importantly, never enter a battle of opinions about Brian Eno with a Brit. That being said, I actually considered Another Green World very seriously when compiling the list. In the end, I just haven't given that album as many excited spins as I have the two listed or Here Come The Warm Jets. "St. Elmo's Fire" is a great song though. As for Discreet Music, that album is just past the Eno strange barrier for me. I'm not ruling out the possibility of eventually growing into it, but Before And After Science took years of repeated listening before I finally came around to love it. That sort of thing just takes so much time!




Let me know what's on your personal list in the comments section. Also, make sure to catch the latest columns from my colleagues at Earbuddy here on 411, like Nick Krenn's 3 R's and John Downey's Love/Hate News Report.


No synthesizers whatsoever were used during the writing of this column.

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