Friday, July 24, 2020

Nirvana - Donkeyshow


Nirvana – Donkeyshow
(soniclovenoize Verse Chorus Verse reconstruction)

Side A:
1.  Drain You
2.  Aneurysm
3.  Breed
4.  Serve The Servants
5.  Smells Like Teen Spirit
6.  Spank Thru
7.  Sliver
8.  Dive
9.  Lithium

Side B:
10.  Rape Me
11.  School
12.  Sappy
13.  Negative Creep
14.  Heart-Shaped Box
15.  Blew
16.  Scentless Apprentice
17.  Territorial Pissings


Hello there.  Hope you are staying safe!  Although quarantine restrictions are slowly being lifted, alas there won’t be any live music anytime soon.  So in remembrance of the magic that was a band making music right in front of you--just for you, the energy and passion, the direct connection between artist and audience--I am going to upload a trilogy of famous live albums that never were.  First is a reconstruction of the unreleased 1994 live Nirvana album Donkeyshow.  Originally the first disc of the double-live album Verse Chorus Verse, slated for a November 1994 release, the album was canceled and instead the second disc was released as its own album: MTV’s Unplugged.  Donkeyshow was later meant to be released on its own, but was instead reimagined as 1996’s From The Muddy Banks of The Wishkah.  This reconstruction attempts to present what Donkeyshow was supposed to sound like, mostly using the performances originally slated for inclusion on the album.  Only the best sources were used, EQd and volume adjusted for album cohesion. 

By 1994, Nirvana was the biggest rock band in the world.  Upon the suicide of frontman Kurt Cobain in April, that status was cemented, although this ensured no new recordings from the band.   With only a small discography of three studio albums and one rarities compilation, Nirvana had made a tremendous impact on music and culture with a limited time and body of music.  How can a record label continue the legends of rock greats?  Well, with a live album, of course!

By the summer of 1994, the Nirvana camp decided to prepare tapes for a double album of live material that covered their entire history, in hopes to upstage the rampant bootleggers and satisfy the hunger for new music from Nirvana’s grieving fans.  Titled Verse Chorus Verse--which was at one point an early title of In Utero--the first disc would contain a compilation of recordings from their standard electric show, ideally recreating an actual Nirvana concert.  The second disc was to feature the entirety of the band’s recent performance on MTV Unplugged.  In effect, Verse Chorus Verse was meant to demonstrate the versatility of the band and present their ‘light’ and ‘dark’ sides.  The double album was scheduled for a street date on Halloween and an official release on November 1st, 1994. 

Although a rough assemblage of Disc One was compiled with promo tapes manufactured in-house at DGC Records and artwork proofed, Chris Novoselic and Dave Grohl did not have the heart to continue the project, their wounds being too raw from the loss of their friend and bandmate.  Ultimately, Verse Chorus Verse was scrapped and the band instead chose to just simply release the second disc as MTV Unplugged.  It was a wise move; the album was considered a reverent eulogy for Cobain and a brilliant swan song for the band, winning a Grammy and hailed as one of the greatest live albums of all time.  Simultaneously released was the VHS Live! Tonight! Sold Out!, a finalized version of a concept Cobain originally conceived: a documentary of the band’s rise to fame intermingled with live clips.  The video sufficed as the only souvenir of an official "electric" Nirvana show. 

The remaining members of Nirvana never gave up on the concept of an "electric" live album  and made plans to release Verse Chorus Verse’s forgotten first disc as a standalone release called Donkeyshow (taken from Cobain’s often-said homophone of danke schoen).  But hindsight gave Grohl and Novoselic an opportunity to rethink the compilation itself, and Donkeyshow never saw the light of day.  Eventually Donkeyshow’s tracklist was slightly altered—using different live performances and completely remixing the others—and it was reborn as 1996’s From The Muddy Banks of The Wishkah.  The album debuted at number one on the charts and was the last word from Nirvana in the decade they reigned. 

Despite Wishkah’s success, the contents of the original Donkeyshow remained a great Nirvana mystery for some time, with fans wondering what it had originally sounded like when initially conceived.  Over a decade later, scans of the DGC in-house promo tape emerged, revealing the songlist although without performance dates.  Even though very few were privy to the audio, it was verified that only a handful of versions from Donkeyshow actually made it to Wishkah!  But with no leaked audio from the tape, the mystery only deepened as Nirvana obsessives wondered what actual performances were on the album.

It wasn’t until December 2019 that Robert Fisher, Nirvana’s longtime art director, posted his long-lost test proofs for the actual artwork for Verse Chorus Verse and Donkeyshow on his Instagram.  Revealing for the first time ever not only what Verse Chorus Verse would have actually looked like—which was a bit of an amalgam of the MTV Unplugged and Live! Tonight! Sold Out! artwork in a collaged gatefold packaging—but the liner notes that specifically stated which shows each of the songs originated from!  Surprisingly, many of the recordings stemmed from some of Nirvana’s most heavily bootlegged live shows: Pat O’Brien Pavilion, Del Mar, CA 12/28/91, distributed as a Westwood One promo CD; Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA 10/31/91, Nirvana’s legendary Halloween show which was one of their most popular bootlegs; Pier 48, Seattle, WA 12/13/93, recorded for and televised as MTV’s Live & Loud.   Five of the cuts were the same performances as heard on Wishkah (although in a different mix) and another five were sourced from otherwise completely unheard, uncirculated shows.  Two of the later--"Serve The Servants" from 1/7/94 and "Sappy" from 11/22/89--surfaced as low quality mp3s. 

Since complete rips of the full 60-minute Donkeyshow do not circulate, we will use Fisher’s liner notes to reconstruct a facsimile Donkeyshow from the best quality versions of the Paramount, O’Brien Pavilion and Pier 48 shows.  The mixes from the five Wishkah-overlapping recordings will not be used, as they are a bit muddy and Cobain’s guitar was mixed to mono; we will try to use the original Andy Wallace mixes from the early 90s, at least in the case for the Paramount and Pat O'Brien Pavilion shows.  Additionally, we will substitute different soundboard recordings for the five songs not available, using similar, same-era recordings.  We will also attempt to match the side lengths as stated on the promo cassette for accuracy and master this reconstruction at a similar volume as the original 1994 master of MTV Unplugged, as this would theoretically be paired with Donkeyshow, had it been released.  Finally, to make this Donkeyshow reconstruction a bit more authentic to an actual Nirvana concert, all mistakes were left as-is and we will include the crucial element of any Nirvana concert (that Wishkah unfortunately overlooked): Novoselic’s drunken stage banter! 

My reconstruction begins with a trio of songs taken from JWB’s excellent remaster of the O’Brien Pavilion bootleg, “Drain You”, “Aneurysm” and “Breed”.  Note that two channels of Cobain’s guitar is panned stereophonically, as opposed to the channels summed to mono and panned slightly right as on Wishkah.  On the actual Verse Chorus Verse/Donkeyshow, “Serve The Servants” from was taken from the Seattle Center Colosseum 1/7/94; since that show is not available to us, I substituted the version from Pier 48, just 23 days earlier, taken from the fourt disc of the In Utero 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe box set.  Next is “Smells Like Teen Spirit” again from Del Mar.  On the original Donkeyshow, “Spank Thru” was taken from The Astoria 12/3/89; since we do not have that show available to us, I used the version from Fahrenheit, MJC Espace Icare 12/1/89, two days earlier.  “Sliver” from Del Mar again, then “Dive”, substituted with 12/1/89.  “Lithium” from Del Mar, yet again.  They sure liked this show, didn’t they?

Side B—as heard on the promo tape versions—begins with the slower, early “Rape Me” from the Paramount Halloween show, taken from JWB's remaster of the bootlegged original Andy Wallace mix.  Next, “School” from the San Diego Sports Arena 12/29/93 is not available, so we substitute the classic Palaghiaccio 2/22/94 version, from just under two months later.  Likewise, the following “Sappy” from Geneva 11/29/89 is not available, so we will substitute it for the classic Vienna 11/22/89, one week earlier.  The ripping “Negative Creep” from Halloween at the Paramount is next, followed by the trilogy of “Heart Shaped-Box”, “Blew” and “Scentless Apprentice” from Live & Loud 12/13/93.  The album closes with “Territorial Pissings” from, of course, Del Mar. 


Sources used:
In Utero (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Box Set, 2013)
Live at Le Fahrenheit, Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture (Pierre Leroy transfer)
Live at Palaghiaccio, Rome (JWB Remaster)
Live at Paramount Theatre, Seattle (JWB Remaster)
Live at Pat O’Brien Paladium, Del Mar (JWB Remaster)
Live at U4, Vienna (JWB Remaster)



51 comments:

  1. Woo-Hoo Sonic! I'm not a big Nirvana fan, but since this is coming from you, I'll be more than happy to give it a try. Thanks!

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  2. Someone's been spending their quarantine in a productive manner. Thanks for this, sonic!

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Thanks Sonic. Great work as always

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Amazing. Thank you. Any chance you can re-up Nirvana's "Sheep" please. I can't find it anywhere. Cheers!

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    1. http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/02/nirvana-sheep.html

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    2. Thanks, but none of the links work. That's why I asked for it to be re-uploaded.

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    3. mp3 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1udinN6MLK5DQN_9QbEta_nhSUIOsnZ21/view?usp=sharing

      flac - Part 1 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O30V_x8sm-070h0ELyOTYgR3BfCyapvA/view?usp=sharing
      Part 2 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eKl0kYcRF1jcGBVLtKnb1dckUCW03Drs/view?usp=sharing

      Enjoy :)

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  7. A friend downloaded them all last week. Some he had to use a VPN, as they were blocked in his country. They all work, however.

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  8. Hey, man, great reconstruction. I was wondering if you would do an updated version of your Landlocked reconstruction, with the 1969: I'm Going Your Way mix of Carnival (Over the Waves). Maybe even do the lost Capitol album Reverberation? Thanks

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  9. I had tickets for the Del Mar show. But I'd seen Smashing Pumpkins there a few months earlier and the sound was just awful. The corrugated metal ceiling makes any show there sound like someone's just banging on trashcans. So I gave the tickets to my then-girlfriend who took her best friend. I figured at the time that I'd wait and see Nirvana when they played somewhere better. So I never saw the band. Even though I know the sound would have been terrible, I regret not going and seeing the band.

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  10. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Serve The Servants & Sappy leaked in album quality, sourced from the Verse Chorus Verse promo cassette, otherwise great recreation!

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  11. Soniclovenoize, bless you and the work you do. You have provided years of enjoyment

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  12. This is awesome! Been waiting years for this.

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  13. Very nice.. love the thinking behind it and the sound of it! Thanks for the effort.

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  14. Hello just wanted to say once again that you're doing amazing inspiring work and the stuff you've produced is far and away THE best living example of this idea, lost albums and reimagined and it's really helping me get through some hard times. Mostly I just wanted to say thank you. Also, have you ever considered attempting The Rolling Stones "Black Box"? It's been on my mind lately, and similar, although more impossible I would imagine Ryan Adams "Black Hole" I don't think there's enough out there to make that one happen. But the Stones could be pretty clutch. That is all. Please keep up the great work!

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  15. You do such great work on your collections. Seeing this Nirvana put me on the track of thinking about my Juliana Hatfield collection. Would love to see you do your magic working with her God's Foot album which never got out to the public except in demo forms (which have found their way to the internet of course). Obviously, peeps have done some work on it, but I find myself looking at your efforts with the Stones and Beatles as an example of the way to do things right :)

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  16. Hey, I've been listening through your uploads, enjoying the hell out of them. I just finished Smile and I'm on Lifehouse now, and I had a thought. I don't know if you know Mark Prindle, but he has an album called "Smilehouse: The Tragic Remains Of An Abandoned Masterpiece". Do you think it'd be possible to actually combine the two albums?

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  17. Any interest in: 'The Big Spliff' by Pink Floyd? Lots of tracks scattered across their catalogue.

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  18. It's been a few months, and no word from you... I'm not trying to pressure you to post more stuff, it's just we're in a pandemic and I hope you're okay!

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    Replies
    1. Hey there. I am still alive, thanks for the concern I've just been dealing with the anxiety of possibly re-electing a fucking fascist. I was also finishing up my own album for release last week (https://cspm.bandcamp.com/album/starcrusher-the-silver-manifold if anyone is interested) so that was taking up most of my brain power, energy, etc.

      I'll try to get this next "famous unreleased live album" within the next few days... Sorry for the delay.


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  19. Great to hear that you are doing ok! I'm sure you're happy with the election results as well! I will check out your stuff on Bandcamp too. Take care!

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  20. Just checked out your stuff on Bandcamp and was sold on the first track! Bought the whole discography, including a CD. Paid a little more than asked to help with the postage cost of the CD to Australia. Looking forward to spending quality time with all of it!

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  21. Amazing work and thank you! Hope you are safe and well during these troubling times.

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  22. empty3
    https://mega.nz/file/DppTAQ5K#BHG8N7JJGdEwT6myxgnWsVeoxXteWhfhuULOMkrbiYw

    listless
    https://mega.nz/file/P1xxEDxY#B08Q17liw7pqZGrCCudMP7ijmZ7i1XZtm-Kovw5a3SQ

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  23. cool page i once had a rare nirvana caset tape i bough in the early 90s that had a cover of my my hey hey out of the blue sang by Neil Young . only the kurt cobain version was a little diffirent sadly i sold it never seen a copy since

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    1. You might have had a cover by Neil Young of his own song (difficult to decipher your butchery of the English language there) but you never had a cover by Nirvana because they never covered it, not live or in studio.

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  24. https://www113.zippyshare.com/v/meKV0nk6/file.html

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  25. Just revisiting this fantastic comp. What a great set, and you've done us all a great service by compiling this so well. I don't know if you are aware, but 'Serve The Servants' and 'Sappy' (both from the original promo Verse Chorus Verse cassette) do circulate, so it would be possible to include the actual versions intende for those two tracks, if you decided to do a revision. Regardless, the end results here are fantastic. Thanks!

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    1. afaik they only circulate as mp3s, not lossless flac or wavs

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    2. Actually, four tracks from VCV circulate in lossless FLAC (Serve, Sappy, Negative Creep and Scentless Apprentice.) I can share them with you if you'd like. Just tell me how.

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    3. Email a link to me. soniclovenoize @ g mail dot com

      The FLACs I have of those songs were actually just transcodes of the aforementioned mp3s, but it's possible yours are a different source.

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  26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5XRSQuLaSI

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  27. Hey there! I stumbled on this thread and was wondering if there's any working links still? Im really looking forward to hearing this, huge nirvana fan. Either way i appreciate your work! Thanks!

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  28. JWB's remasters are generally regarded as pretty bad by the trading community (horrible processing and EQ decisions) - you should consider using the raw tracks or better remasters for those tracks.

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    1. If by "trading community" you mean the charlatans at "LiveNirvana", then you are correct. Those remasters were made 20+ years ago before the best source material was even available, which makes it convenient and easy to talk shit when you have ulterior motives. Regardless, this blog post wouldn't have been needed if they weren't hoarding the actual tape that is being re-created here. So let us know when the "real thing" finally surfaces.

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  29. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  30. anybody have a mp3/flac download of this?

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    1. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gjl9jAbpPPGsPWaTnfZGxbzeFgO82lziUfiv9gnEgf4/edit#gid=0 What you seek is within...

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    2. Seems this has been lost to the sands of time. Anyone willing to share a copy?

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