Monday 27 October 2014

Pallas Incesticide

Nirvana are one of those bands that I will forever love unconditionally, which is funny in a way. I spent most of my youth completely detesting this band. I grew up in a small town with a small town mindset, and for a while you couldn't move for kids in oversized Nirvana hoodies, all talking about how sweet that Teen Spirit thingy song was. So I chose the high road and dismissed this band outright. Only in my mid teens when a friend bought me In Utero was I really turned on to how incredible this band was. Since then I haven't looked back for a second. 


Nirvana - Incesticide - DGC/ ORG Music - 2011 Re-press - /? 

As with most Nirvana records. Most of the pressing information is pretty difficult to track down, so I'll not spend too much time dwelling on that. 


Back Cover // B-Side. This copy came out in 2011 and was pressed by Pallas in Germany. The vinyl is pressed on 180 gram audiophile grade wax, and sounds absolutely incredible. My turntable probably doesn't do it justice. Not to say that I have a Crosley all in one or anything, but this record would probably lend itself to an audiophile set up. It still sounds perfect to me either way. Bernie Grundman Mastering also handled all the mastering for this re-press, and it was all done from the original analog tapes. 


Due to the awful lighting on these photos, we're going to go through things one by one, starting with the cover art. The cover art was painted by Kurt Cobain, credited Kurdt Kobain in the inner sleeve. I'm not sure who handled the typeface or band logo. 


Back Cover // Track-listing. Again, these photos came out really terrible and so everything is a little hard to read. Below the track-listing there is an ORG Music label too, as they handled the re-press and distribution for this. They also re-issued In Utero a couple years prior to this. I had that copy until a year or two back when I traded it for an early press with good guy Alan Beningfield. The layout for both re-presses is pretty much the same, and come with largely the same extras. 
Oh, apparently this rubber duck also belonged to Cobain. I did some reading up on this album, and ended up trawling through page after page of Nirvana nerd fan pages. Is there any way to really prove or disprove that this was his? Either way, cool story bro. 


On to the insert. This is such a great photograph, and I have no clue what guitar he is using here. I bet it sounded exactly as it should. The text is a letter of sorts from Cobain (signed Kurdt - The Blond one) and it deals with quite a few fairly hairy issues. Most notably there is an open address to homophobic, sexist and racist fans asking them to leave the band the fuck alone; to not attend their shows and to not buy their records. Also, there is a paragraph that deals with the sexual attack of a girl at the hands of two males singing a Nirvana song whilst raping her. These are some fairly heavy topics, and it's cool to see that these were out there in everyone's face, for everyone to pay attention to. Below that is a list of thanks. 


On the other side of the insert are the credits. Six people are photographed here. The first 3 images are of the most memorable Nirvana lineup, and the others are the previous drummers that featured on these recordings. This is essentially a compilation of 3-4 years of recordings that featured an unstable lineup. It's cool that everyone is credited, and it kind of helps to piece together where these songs fell in to place. 



Something that was also in the In Utero ORG Press I had is this postcard, advertising the Nirvana albums that had been remastered and re-issued from ORG. Completely useless and you wouldn't even think about using it, but I guess it's something to sit in the sleeve and be kind of inoffensive. 


Centre labels. Kurt is credited as Kobain as opposed to Cobain on this recording, but considering through the various spellings of his name through the Nirvana catalogue it's nothing too surprising now. 
These were photographed as they include some information as to the inclusion of so many labels within the release of this record, and it's easier to show that than it is to try and explain it.


Finally; a sticker on the poly sleeve including some information on the release. Again, the ORG In Utero had a similar sticker. 

I got this version for my birthday a few weeks back. It came sealed (in one of those poly sleeves that you have to rip the top off to get in to, Southern Lord sometimes use them?) and didn't stay that way for long. As I am picking Nirvana stuff up as and when I see it, it turns out that the only full length I am still yet to own on vinyl is Nevermind. Is it just me that thinks that is a little backwards? Probably should pick that up. 

Cheers!










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