20th Anniversary: Nirvana's "Bleach"

I can say I played Nirvana before "Smells Like Teen Spirit", but honestly not by much - I managed to completely miss the boat on "Bleach", but played the hell out of the "Sliver" single when it came out. Even so, sales of 40,000 on "Bleach"'s original release is nothing to sneeze at; it's almost certainly what made Geffen Records stand up, take notice, and sign those callow lads. They probably also didn't realize they were signing two geniuses (Cobain was a savant; Grohl clearly wound up far more in control of his destiny.)

All of this is prelude to the PR boilerplate for the release of the 20th Anniversary edition, featuring (as you might suspect) some never-before-heard things. Sub Pop's putting this puppy out on white vinyl, just like the original first pressing, and as you know, I'm a sucker for classic vinyl. Here's the scoop:

Marking the 20th Anniversary of Nirvana’s debut album, Sub Pop will re-issue the Platinum Certified Bleach on November 3, 2009. This expanded CD/double-LP will include a never-before-released live performance, special packaging and the first run of the double-LP will be on 180g white vinyl (the first run of the original LP was also on white vinyl).

Originally recorded over three sessions with producer Jack Endino at Seattle’s Reciprocal Recording Studios in December 1988 and January 1989, Bleach was released in June of ‘89 and remains unequivocally/unsurprisingly Sub Pop’s very favorite Nirvana full-length. The album initially sold 40,000 copies, but was brought into the international spotlight following the release and worldwide success of their 1991 sophomore effort, Nevermind. Subsequently Bleach went on to sell 1.7 million copies in the US alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This 20th Anniversary Edition has been re-mastered from the original tapes at Sterling Sound in a session overseen by producer Jack Endino.

This edition will include an unreleased live recording of a complete February 9th, 1990 show at the Pine Street Theatre in Portland, Oregon. The show features performances of “Love Buzz,” “About a Girl” and a cover of The Vaselines’ song “Molly’s Lips” and has been re-mixed from the original tapes by Endino (complete track listing below). A 52-page CD /16-page LP booklet which includes candid photos of the band not previously released to the public will also be included in this deluxe edition.

So there you have it - interested parties may want to take advantage of these links for the 2-LP Vinyl and the standard CD release (both of which lead to Amazon.com, and for which they kick us back a bit, so go for it...)