On December 15, 1992 (December 14 in Europe) Nirvana released its compilation album Incesticide. Too often considered an underdog in Nirvana discography, this album is an excellent work by the band.

After the astonishing success Nevermind acquired with its release in 1991, expectations on Nirvana were set very high. The work on the band’s next studio album In Utero was taking quite long, so Nirvana offered the fans a compilation of tracks, most of which were already circulating in bootleg versions among the fan community. According to Charles Cross’ book ‘Cobain Unseen,’ Kurt Cobain agreed on releasing the compilation only after he was assured to have complete control over the art cover, which was entirely drawn by him.

1992 was a relevant moment for the band, which reached the top of the music world in 1991, changing music history forever; moreover the entire grunge movement had become a huge deal. This was reflected on the industry in a pushing need for a new Nirvana album, playing as a bridge between Nevermind and the announced In Utero: here comes Incesticide. The tracks contained were mostly outtakes, demos and covers, accompanied by some unreleased songs.

Incesticide turned out to be a pearl in Nirvana discography. It surely did not have the impact Nevermind had on masses, nor on the industry, nevertheless it is a very good mirror of who Nirvana was. The album in its entirety describes the complex spirit behind Nirvana. With its mixture of different momenta in music inspiration, Incesticide has a unique soul expressing the Seattle band’s geniality. Kicking off with Dive, a hard and straightforward amazing song, it also contains catchier tracks with a more popular oriented spirit, such as Sliver and Molly’s Lips. Punk is well defined by the amazing covers of Turnaround and Son of a Gun; the last song of the album, Aneurysm, is a strong, energetic track that can hardly be defined by words. Big Long Now is an obsessive repetitive song which results in perfection, and deeply touches the spirit of the listener; Beeswax has a peculiar construction and is probably the real pearl of the album, just to name a few.

The variety of the tracks well represents the multiple personality shades that Nirvana was able to express. Incesticide goes back and forth between the singular components of the complex musical mind created by Cobain and Co.. In every album, the band’s poetry is modeled through a selection of soul and inspirational movements, which are able to take form through simplicity. Putting together something so complex and passing it through with the kind of simplicity Nirvana was able to achieve in composing is surely one of the highest levels the music craft can reach. Incesticide explains exactly that.

The anniversary was celebrated on Record Store Day on November 23, with the release of double LP limited to 4000 copies. The anniversary edition features recompiled and remastered tracks from the original analog master tape and recording sources by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios. It was pressed on two 180 gram virgin vinyl discs and cut at 45 RPM vinyl.

No fancy celebrations as for last year’s Nevermind 20th anniversary and it is comprehensible. Nevertheless, big excitement should be expected for the piece of excellence that Incesticide is. A must have for all Nirvana and grunge fans of course, but also for those who are interested in understanding the many faces this band had.

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“Jeesh! Relax…..I was only talking TO England!! ABOUT England..Stop eavesdropping internets! xoxo Dave.” This is the message Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters facebook page to reassure fans who got agitated after rumors of the Foo Fighters ending their touring activity for a long time after the performance at Reading Festival on August 26.

During the show in Reading, frontman Dave Grohl defined the night as special, then adding “Well, well, well. The f**king Reading festival. You guys realise we’ve got a lot of songs to play. It’s the last show of the tour and it’s the last show for a long time.” The anxiety traveled rapidly through fans, who thought about possible cancellations of the forthcoming shows schedule by the band. As reassured by Grohl, the Foo Fighters will instead go on playing a bunch of shows in September in the U.S., including the benefit concert “Global Festival” taking place in New York.

According to NME’s report, Foo Fighters’ show in Reading kept the spectacular features that usually characterize the band’s live performances. Foo Fighters typically engage in long sets for their fans, playing tracks that go through their entire career, enriching the performance with the distinctive energy and interactions with the audience that define Dave Grohl. Concerning the band’s performances Grohl told NME “We don’t do those little shows, we do those big shows, where everybody goes home saying, ‘I can’t believe they played that many f**king songs.’”

Foo Fighters’ performance in live shows was not always satisfactory to Grohl though. The frontman says they have improved with time. “We used to suck, but now we are pretty good.” During the performance in Reading, he also recalled the first time his current band played there ‘‘First time we ever played here, we played in the tiny tent and it was the hottest show we ever played. They asked us to headline and we said ‘No! We don’t headline the first time we ever play in England’. This was the first song we ever played,” introducing then the track Winnebago.

2012 is a special year for Grohl to be playing at Reading, aside from the tour he is undertaking with his current band. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the infamous Nirvana’s performance at Reading Festival in 1992, defined by many as one of the best live performances in music history. Former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl decided to homage his historical band in a very personal way. He dedicated Foo Fighters’ song These Days to his former band mates, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, telling the audience “I’d like to dedicate this song to a couple of people who couldn’t be here tonight. This one’s for Krist and this one’s for Kurt.”

Image Courtesy of   Foo Fighters

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