Track Listing
1. Blew 2. Floyd the barber 3. About a girl 4. School 5. Love buzz 6. Paper cuts 7. Negative creep 8. Scoff 9. Swap meet 10. Mr. Moustache 11. Sifting 12. Big cheese 13. Downer Year: 1989 Label: SubPop |
Nirvana - 'Bleach' - By A. Duff
Nirvana�s superb debut album, Bleach, not only opened the door for grunge but burned down the building inside�� Unlike some of their later music, all 13 tracks on Bleach have the qualities that later propelled the band to reluctant stardom and the grunge genre to more mainstream listening. The �Nirvana touch� that is so recognised now is made up of two elements: the raw guitar work and the lyrics � which were mostly written on the same day that Bleach was recorded. I like the starting track of the album, �Blew�, which starts the album how Nirvana mean to go on � with the unique grunge guitar work by Kurdt Cobain and Chris Novoselic. This track, incidentally, was one of the first pieces of its type to employ the repeated line to finish the track - now a hallmark of grunge and heavier music. �Floyd the Barber� is a little heavier and concentrates more on drum work. This is definitely not a mainstream track in either popular music or rock music � rock music fans may be put off by the lack of instrumental work. After hearing Nevermind I was a little disappointed by this track because it was so different to their later music but since then I have revised my opinion to enjoy this track in its own right. �About A Girl� is probably more famous for the unplugged version than the original. This in my opinion is one of the best grunge tracks ever � it is also one of the lightest tracks on the album. The lyrics are practically meaningless but that doesn�t stop this track from being soul-searing and a really good listen. �School� begins with more guitar work, this time with a sort of static effect. Kurdt Cobain carries this track with his singing which, in case you�ve never heard Nirvana, is very raw yet somehow very moving. By the way, in case you�re wondering about the spelling of Cobain: on Bleach it is spelt �Kobain� yet on the later albums was changed to �Cobain�. If you like this sort of guitar work you will REALLY like �Love Buzz�. The first 40 or so seconds are basically all three Nirvana guitarists playing together to create an impressive section which is repeated and developed later in the track. This track also has some interesting effects later on that sound like Cobain is stoned or worse�.. but that�s no bad thing - the tune still remains throughout. An excellent track. At �Paper Cuts� the album has a change of direction towards less melodic songs. �Paper Cuts� again concentrates to start with on drums and bass guitar work especially harmonics. It then progresses through to some great lyrics � although most can�t be distinguished � and finishes on a high with Cobain�s screams. �Negative Creep� is a track that you either love or hate. It basically consists of bass guitar and drums with repeating monotone lyrics over it, interspersed with some short but good musical sections. I personally quite like this track but if you�re fairly new to rock and especially grunge, you probably won�t think much of it. �Scoff� continues the theme of bass/drums use and vocal style but starts to bring the Jason Everman�s guitar work back into things. Many people would overlook this track as nothing special but in my opinion it has some of the best bits of the whole album. The track finishes on the suddenly cut off vocal that was used several times by Nirvana later on. �Swap Meet� is a fairly average track in my opinion that probably tries a little too hard. The band use a pretty good background repeated rhythm and put the vocals slightly offset to it. This almost � but not quite � comes off. Having said that, I like the overall effect of the track. �Mr. Moustache� is an upbeat track that relies on its fast guitar work. In my opinion the best parts are when the fast rhythm finally breaks, although the end of the track is well made as the fast rhythm winds down to a stop. �Sifting� in my opinion starts pretty average. However, it only gets better from the beat orientated start and the renditions of �Don�t have nothing for you� are the high point of the track with the vocals fitting perfectly with the development of the earlier beat. �Big Cheese� is my least favourite track of the album but like all less well known Nirvana music has its high points. The repetition of the line �Big Cheese� can get a bit tedious but the lyrics right after it make up for it�.. �Downer� is another fast track and it seems faster because of the speed of the vocals. The opening to the track is very well played but from there on it is nothing special. As the album started suddenly, it finishes suddenly with the track just stopping. Bleach is in my opinion the most creative album that Nirvana produced (many discarded tracks from this album were released later on such albums as �In Utero�). Bleach is very raw in style with many guitar sounds usually edited out as �noise� left in. I would recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of rock � it is definitely underground music and not for the pop market at all, but there are some genuinely great tracks there that I don�t think Nirvana ever matched with their later albums. Metal Obsessive Grade: 85% |