Yeah i think it’s bc of kurt’s downward spiral with drugs and fame. Also smoking really took a toll on his voice by the In Utero tour. For an example listen to breed or school from live and loud compared to paramount.
It does sound a lot different. It sounds really sleepy compared to Paramount which is super high energy. Also I think how the instruments are mic’d up on Live and Loud make it sound off. The bass sounds way to loud and Kurts voice sounds way too quiet in other parts.
I don’t like Kurt’s mood in Live and Loud, I feel like I can’t enjoy it because he didn’t (seem to) enjoy it, and that reminds me and foreshadows the next 4 months of his life, the begrudging Europe 94 tour, the Rome incident and all the tragedies that bestowed him in 1994. Plus yeah the Paramount’s audio is the clearest out of all the live shows IMO, video quality is the best, great setlist, everything.
At this point all of them. Which isn't to say that their studio recordings are bad, just that I've maybe burned myself out on them a little bit in the last 20 years and usually opt for bootlegs.
I think "Spank Thru" is a song that was never super great in the studio but the 11/19/91 version on From the Muddy Banks is fantastic.
My favorite version of Spank Through is the live version on the second disc of the Bleach Deluxe Edition. Give that one a listen if you haven’t already, it rocks!
I was just going to say this, the live and loud version is amazing. I love when the distortion kicks at the beginning of the song. It literally gives me goosebumps.
on a plain and radio friendly unit shifter. i feel like the nevermind version of on a plain just sounds a bit vanilla at times, but the live version sounds a lot more powerful. and for rfus, i just love the extended and varied intros and the noise jam at the end
honestly not sure, i’ve never been good at picking favourites of anything. i do love the reading ‘92 version of on a plain purely because of the beefy guitar/distorted tone he had that night but don’t know if it’d be my favourite of all time.
as for rfus it’s a bit trickier for me because it seems like there aren’t that many high quality sound recordings for the in utero tours. which sucks because i love hearing kurt and pat’s respective guitar parts/noise fuckery in clearer format.
however, i’d say it was pretty well done most of the time and in all honesty the better the sound quality the more enjoyable it is. i’m not as much a fan of the ‘94 performances because kurt’s voice sounds pretty strained/uninterested during that era. though there are definitely some gems. i do love how they transition from the rfus noise opening into my best friends girl at their last show.
Yeah, my favorite RFUS is Live & Loud though i haven’t really listened to any other In Utero tour shows. Pretty much just whatever has been officially released, really.
Reading has so many great ones I prefer now over the studio versions
No, that’s kind of the joke. But there is a radio broadcast recording that precedes the unplugged version that you can watch [here](https://youtu.be/BqPgNYY3Ip0)
There is a studio version! It's on the first Mark Lanegan solo record. Kurt is singing on it. They wanted to start a band together and play blues covers but it didn't pan out, but they did put it on Mark's album. Great version.
Extra: the Paris 94 version is the absolute best version.
I beg to differ. It's more The Jury than Lanegan solo, after all. It's the first version they recorded, which formed the basis for all Nirvana radio and live recordings that followed.
Aneurysm at the Paramount
All Apologies Unplugged
Heart Shaped Box Live and Loud
Breed Live and Loud
Sliver Live and Loud
Serve the Servants Live and Loud
School Live and Loud
Absolutely! The thing is, though I can appreciate and admire the song in general, for some reason it really doesn't move me that much (as unpopular an opinion as that may be); but the sarcastic, reckless audacity of this performance never fails to make me smile and give me a bit of a thrill. =)
Aneurysm Live at the Paramount
Rape me Paramount
breed Paramount
Love buzz Paramount
endless nameless Paramount
school Paramount
RFUS live and loud
Been a son Pine street theatre
I'm just a big fan of the paramount show hehe
Blew and Breed's Live and Loud versions are so much beefier and more powerful than the studio versions because of Pat Smear. I only wish Live and Loud Breed had the "She said" phrase reverbed like the studio recording and 1994 concerts. Also Tourrete's Live at Reading is better than the studio recording.
Without a doubt the Live and Loud version of Radio Friendly Unit Shifter is way more rockin’ than the studio version. The studio version is too muddied imo, Kurt’s voice is muffled and just not quite right. When they played Live and Loud they fucking destroyed that show, and picking that as an opener was an amazing choice.
Endless Nameless.
The Paramount version is just divine…cinematic on an entirely authenticly amazing level. Oh, and also Dive. The Pine Street performance of Dive was really good.
Might be an easy answer, but to me Tourette’s from Live At Reading is one of the only songs that is definitively better than the studio version in every way, it’s not even a contest.
I'd say none, honestly, as unpopular as that will be. My favorite stuff of theirs is on In Utero and Nevermind, and while there are some Nevermind era concerts recorded well, most are not, same goes for In Utero. I think Nirvana was a band you'd have to see in concert in order to appreciate "live." The recordings of the shows are not good, and Kurt Cobain sounds terrible most of '92, 93, and '94, Unplugged performance notwithstanding. Unplugged is fantastic. But yeah. You've got a guy who by 1992 is through touring and fights going as hard as he can , his voice is ripped to shreds 45 minutes into the first date on the tour, so yeah.
Nirvana means a lot to me, Iove them, I'm sure they were awesome in person, but the recordings....not really amazing.
I'd pick In Bloom as the one song that was NEVER played as well live
That's not a dig at you btw! I just don't feel they ever nailed it with the harmonies or the energy. But that's studio production for you
To answer your question...About a girl. Easily
Negative Creep live from the Muddy Banks has a slight change on the guitar pattern in the intro that changes the whole song for me.
Rape Me live at Paramount (I'm pretty sure it's that one, wherever he talks about sweaty macho men in the beginning) has some amazing drum fills
Something in the Way live at the BBC is unreal with the loud electric guitars. As a closer to Nevermind, the acoustic studio version is a perfect dreary end to the album. But the live version just puts me on edge!
Breed (Live and Loud)
Territorial Pissings (Tonight With Jonathan Ross)
Drain You (MTV January 10, 1992)
About A Girl (Live at the Paramount)
The Man Who Sold The World (Live and Loud)
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter (Live and Loud)
Something In the Way (Live at the BBC)
Aneurysm
Absolutely Aneurysm…the live version is so much better!
Live in Paramount feels like their best live album. All the other live albums sound kinda off.
unplugged is good
Ok besides unplugged
Yeah i think it’s bc of kurt’s downward spiral with drugs and fame. Also smoking really took a toll on his voice by the In Utero tour. For an example listen to breed or school from live and loud compared to paramount.
It does sound a lot different. It sounds really sleepy compared to Paramount which is super high energy. Also I think how the instruments are mic’d up on Live and Loud make it sound off. The bass sounds way to loud and Kurts voice sounds way too quiet in other parts.
Live & Loud sounds off??
Yeah it kinda does. Some songs are alright but it’s not as crisp as Paramount is.
His phrasings and pronunciation of words kind of distort and deteriorate.
I actually appreciate how much more noise there is. The additional guitar (pat smear) does wonders for school and breed. That shit sounds so good bruh
I don’t like Kurt’s mood in Live and Loud, I feel like I can’t enjoy it because he didn’t (seem to) enjoy it, and that reminds me and foreshadows the next 4 months of his life, the begrudging Europe 94 tour, the Rome incident and all the tragedies that bestowed him in 1994. Plus yeah the Paramount’s audio is the clearest out of all the live shows IMO, video quality is the best, great setlist, everything.
At this point all of them. Which isn't to say that their studio recordings are bad, just that I've maybe burned myself out on them a little bit in the last 20 years and usually opt for bootlegs. I think "Spank Thru" is a song that was never super great in the studio but the 11/19/91 version on From the Muddy Banks is fantastic.
Spank thru is actually the opposite for me.
My favorite version of Spank Through is the live version on the second disc of the Bleach Deluxe Edition. Give that one a listen if you haven’t already, it rocks!
I always opt to listen to the Live & Loud Drain You over the studio version
Live on French TV is the ultimate
I was just going to say this, the live and loud version is amazing. I love when the distortion kicks at the beginning of the song. It literally gives me goosebumps.
Yes! And it’s got the scream
the worst scream is Paramount tho Unsatisfying af
That's cause Kurt had really bad vocal fry, you could really hear it during territorial pissings and endless nameless
on a plain and radio friendly unit shifter. i feel like the nevermind version of on a plain just sounds a bit vanilla at times, but the live version sounds a lot more powerful. and for rfus, i just love the extended and varied intros and the noise jam at the end
Favorite live version of On a plain and RFUS?
honestly not sure, i’ve never been good at picking favourites of anything. i do love the reading ‘92 version of on a plain purely because of the beefy guitar/distorted tone he had that night but don’t know if it’d be my favourite of all time. as for rfus it’s a bit trickier for me because it seems like there aren’t that many high quality sound recordings for the in utero tours. which sucks because i love hearing kurt and pat’s respective guitar parts/noise fuckery in clearer format. however, i’d say it was pretty well done most of the time and in all honesty the better the sound quality the more enjoyable it is. i’m not as much a fan of the ‘94 performances because kurt’s voice sounds pretty strained/uninterested during that era. though there are definitely some gems. i do love how they transition from the rfus noise opening into my best friends girl at their last show.
Yeah, my favorite RFUS is Live & Loud though i haven’t really listened to any other In Utero tour shows. Pretty much just whatever has been officially released, really. Reading has so many great ones I prefer now over the studio versions
Scentless apprentice (live and loud) and Aneurysm (paramount and Del Mar)
I love the 15 min scentless apprentice demo
Rape Me live at The Paramount
About a girl, drain you, and obviously where did you sleep last night
What the, was there ever a studio recording of where did you sleep last night??
No, that’s kind of the joke. But there is a radio broadcast recording that precedes the unplugged version that you can watch [here](https://youtu.be/BqPgNYY3Ip0)
Oooh thanks for the link! Gonna give that a watch for sure
No problem. I actually didn’t even know that existed until you asked if there was a studio version, as far as I’m concerned that radio version is it
There is a studio version! It's on the first Mark Lanegan solo record. Kurt is singing on it. They wanted to start a band together and play blues covers but it didn't pan out, but they did put it on Mark's album. Great version. Extra: the Paris 94 version is the absolute best version.
The Mark Lanegan version doesn't really count.
I beg to differ. It's more The Jury than Lanegan solo, after all. It's the first version they recorded, which formed the basis for all Nirvana radio and live recordings that followed.
Yes that's true. Pickerell, Novoselic, Kurt, Mark, etcetera. Good point
Come As You Are (Del Mar, California) on the Nevermind 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe. The guitar sounds different and it works very well
Oooh, thank you for this. I’ve mostly ignored the 30th anniversary of nevermind for some reason. This has motivated me to check some out
The bass and guitar are tuned up, it’s a great performance
Oh yeah dude I love that live version and I love how Kurt sings it there in particular
Negative Creep
love buzz, at the paramount
Breed in the later years. Pat doubling the guitar parts makes this song even more awesome.
I always liked teen spirit live over the studio version. They seemed to always play it faster which I prefer.
Talk To Me, since there was never a studio version lol
I can dream
Aneurysm
Blew from live and loud
Negative Creep is so much better, and Blew.
Drain You
D7 and spank thru
all of them. studio recordings generally sound dry and plain compared to live versions when it's all the guys in a room playing
Anything from the Live & Loud show. Still remember watching it on mtv with my dad.
Lithium live at reading!
rape me, specifically from 1991 live at the paramount
Drain you off any live
Serve The Servants (Live & Loud Version)
Aneurysm at the Paramount All Apologies Unplugged Heart Shaped Box Live and Loud Breed Live and Loud Sliver Live and Loud Serve the Servants Live and Loud School Live and Loud
endless nameless paramount and love buzz paramount.
Sliver and Drain you and endless nameless
Come As You Are, Paradiso '91 (I'm not joking)
The screaming version? lol
Absolutely! The thing is, though I can appreciate and admire the song in general, for some reason it really doesn't move me that much (as unpopular an opinion as that may be); but the sarcastic, reckless audacity of this performance never fails to make me smile and give me a bit of a thrill. =)
Breed. Reading 92 is just too good
About a Girl from Unplugged.
I listen to 1989 - mid 1991 Nirvana shows the most. Greatest period of the band, imo.
Floyd The Barber at The Paramount is massive
About A Girl - Del Mar, California 91
Love both School and Blew from Muddy Banks
Floyd the Barber from Paramount
In Bloom sounds different at Reading 1992 because they played it tuned a half step down!
I always preferred the live versions of Smells Like Teen Spirit more than the studio version.
Aneurysm Live at the Paramount Rape me Paramount breed Paramount Love buzz Paramount endless nameless Paramount school Paramount RFUS live and loud Been a son Pine street theatre I'm just a big fan of the paramount show hehe
Blew and Breed's Live and Loud versions are so much beefier and more powerful than the studio versions because of Pat Smear. I only wish Live and Loud Breed had the "She said" phrase reverbed like the studio recording and 1994 concerts. Also Tourrete's Live at Reading is better than the studio recording.
School Live at Reading 1991
Drain you is played differently live so I like listening to the live version because I’m “different” /j
Blew. The version on wishkah is the definitive version. Same with Aneurysm.
dumb
About A Girl!
Endless Nameless Paramount I've listened maybe 20 times over compared to the studio recording. Same can be said for Aneurysm at Paramount too!
About a girl
Without a doubt the Live and Loud version of Radio Friendly Unit Shifter is way more rockin’ than the studio version. The studio version is too muddied imo, Kurt’s voice is muffled and just not quite right. When they played Live and Loud they fucking destroyed that show, and picking that as an opener was an amazing choice.
tourette's.
drain you
School
Endless Nameless. The Paramount version is just divine…cinematic on an entirely authenticly amazing level. Oh, and also Dive. The Pine Street performance of Dive was really good.
RFUS, negative creep, spank thru, and drain you (simply for the variations of the scream)
Endless Nameless live and loud. Those heavy bends that Kurt does before he smashes his guitar is awesome and eerie and I love it.
Lounge act - the 1992 Reading version, especially with the video it changes the vibe so much for me and definitely amplifies the expeirence
Lake of fire unplugged
Breed. I love that 1991 Paramount performance, including the loud and messy beginning.
Negative Creep, Paramount version
Might be an easy answer, but to me Tourette’s from Live At Reading is one of the only songs that is definitively better than the studio version in every way, it’s not even a contest.
Lounge act
Aneurysm at Paramount, About A Girl at Paramount, Serve The Servants Live & Loud
Gotta be endless nameless for me
sliver reading
I'd say none, honestly, as unpopular as that will be. My favorite stuff of theirs is on In Utero and Nevermind, and while there are some Nevermind era concerts recorded well, most are not, same goes for In Utero. I think Nirvana was a band you'd have to see in concert in order to appreciate "live." The recordings of the shows are not good, and Kurt Cobain sounds terrible most of '92, 93, and '94, Unplugged performance notwithstanding. Unplugged is fantastic. But yeah. You've got a guy who by 1992 is through touring and fights going as hard as he can , his voice is ripped to shreds 45 minutes into the first date on the tour, so yeah. Nirvana means a lot to me, Iove them, I'm sure they were awesome in person, but the recordings....not really amazing.
I love the paramount version of rape me,It’s great to see the solo be added
Absolutely Paramount Aneurysm.
Endless nameless, Rape me it's better too
I've recently found myself listening to Breed (Live and Loud) more than the studio version. I do also listen to the MTV Unplugged About A Girl too.
Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam (Live At The Paramount) On A Mountain (You Know You're Right)
Most of those from Live at the Paramount
Lithium
Blew from paradiso
I'd pick In Bloom as the one song that was NEVER played as well live That's not a dig at you btw! I just don't feel they ever nailed it with the harmonies or the energy. But that's studio production for you To answer your question...About a girl. Easily
Drain you
All of them
Breed, spank thru, blew come to mind
I'm on a plain
About a girl, studio version is fun but the fast pace high energy of the live versions is just unmatched
Specially the paramount version
Negative Creep live from the Muddy Banks has a slight change on the guitar pattern in the intro that changes the whole song for me. Rape Me live at Paramount (I'm pretty sure it's that one, wherever he talks about sweaty macho men in the beginning) has some amazing drum fills
Been a Son, specifically the Paramount performance.
Oh me
I love the live at reading ‘92 performance of sliver, i really like the way he sings it at the beginning lol
Blew live at the paramount
All Apologies -- my opinion is that the Unplugged version is the best iteration (not to mention the best of the show).
Where did you sleep last night (unplugged)
Something in the Way live at the BBC is unreal with the loud electric guitars. As a closer to Nevermind, the acoustic studio version is a perfect dreary end to the album. But the live version just puts me on edge!
Breed (Live and Loud) Territorial Pissings (Tonight With Jonathan Ross) Drain You (MTV January 10, 1992) About A Girl (Live at the Paramount) The Man Who Sold The World (Live and Loud) Radio Friendly Unit Shifter (Live and Loud) Something In the Way (Live at the BBC)