Nirvana – Incesticide (1992)

I've certainly owned this album for 20 years and I'm not sure I've ever listened to it until now. I never did buy the "Nirvana - saviours of rock and roll" label, but did rate them as a decent rock band among many others.

This 1992 collection of B sides, singles and radio sessions was almost certainly bought in a closing down sale at Our Price, which had a ludicrous number of CDs without jewel cases or artwork for £1 each, so has a homemade insert.

It opens with Dive and Sliver, both from a 1990 single, both solid grungy rock made to be played loud, as is Stain from 1989, a sweary, growly rocker.

There then follows a few BBC radio sessions. From a 1991 Mark Goodier session there's Been A Son, quite catchy but not exciting, a fast version of Polly, which I think I prefer to the slower version on Nevermind, and Aneurysm, a pretty good song, which in its original form had appeared as the B side of Smells Life Teen Spirit. There's three songs from a John Peel session, all covers, all a decent listen - Devo's Turnaround, and The Vaselines' Molly's Lips and the fantastic Son Of A Gun.

Beeswax, Downer and Mexican Seafood are assorted tracks from compilations, but only Downer gets the juices flowing, and the other three tracks - Hairspray Queen, Aero Zeppelin and Big Long Now were previously unreleased. While it's not hard to see why, there's a certain discordant charm about the first of these.

It's an interesting collection of rarities, and an enjoyable listen, especially with the volume turned up to 11.

Link to album tracks

3* - plenty of interesting grunge on this collection of rarities and radio sessions