What "remastered" means to you...

[Rspaight]

Was that at the same time as their Sub Pop single? I had no idea they re-cut "In Color" with Albini. I may have to hunt that down...

Ryan

[Dob]

I'm not sure about Cobain asking for an Andy Wallace remix on "Nevermind," though you never know.

Here's what I found after a bit of research:

Time pressures meant that Vig was forced to go straight from recording into mixing. The results were rough, and the drums in particular failed to capture the natural beef of Dave's playing. "I wasn't totally happy with the mixes," Vig recalls. "Kurt would come in and say, 'Take all the high end off the snare.' They wanted them to sound sludgy. I was trying to make them sound focused but also to give them what they wanted. I thought they could be better - the management and the record company definitely thought so.

"[Geffen A&R] Gary Gersh sent us a list of remix engineers, 10 or 15 names." The list included Scott Litt and Ed Stasium; Cobain settled on Andy Wallace, who'd mixed Slayer's Seasons In The Abyss. The remixes took two weeks; samples were added to the kick and the snare drum and effects added on voice and guitars. The band initially approved the results, but later they would condemn the sound as being more Motley Crüe than punk.

So I guess it's a bit strong to say that Cobain asked for Wallace, as he may have been happy with Vig's original mix and was just going along to get along. I do recall reading that he was rather enthusiastic about (instead of "settling for", as stated above) Wallace when he saw that Wallace had worked with Slayer.

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

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[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

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[Dob]

Was that at the same time as their Sub Pop single?

That appears to be the case. Here's a link to a thread about the Albini "In Color", along with a post from Mr. Albini himself. So far, there are no release plans...at least according to Rick Nielsen:

As for the re-recorded Albini In Color album, "we haven't made any plans for it, but we didn't record it for a joke," he quips. "We didn't go at it trying to come up with crazy new arrangements, but sonically we never liked In Color. The songs were good, but sonically it's wimpy and we're not wimpy. We left before it got mixed and were told 'We'll fix it in the mix' by our record company (back then) and our ex-manager. Well, they went the other way," Nielsen says finishing his thought.

I'd love to hear what Albini did with "Southern Girls" (my second-favorite Cheap Trick song, behind "He's a Whore")

Albini's band Big Black did a cover of "He's A Whore"...along with this cryptic note about the song in the CD booklet: "Hey, breaking up is an idea that has occurred to far too few groups. Sometimes to the wrong ones." The "wrong ones" seems to refer to Big Black itself, as this album (Songs About Fucking) was their last. The rest of the note (and the song) may be a barb directed at Cheap Trick/Rick Nielsen, as this was in 1987, shortly after Cheap Trick released The Doctor (one of their worst albums) and just before their treacly single "The Flame" (which, ironically, was their first number one). I know I was mightily disgusted with Cheap Trick in 1987, perhaps Albini was as well. If so, he's obviously reconsidered.

[Chris M]

I also love the sound Albini got in In Utero - especially the drum sound. There are some In Utero vinyl pressings that contain the Albini mixes of HSB and All Apologies (the 2 tracks mixed by Scott Litt). I think it was a limited edition vinyl reissue of some sort from a few years back. I have a nice needle drop of it. The story is they used the Albini mixes by mistake. I like the rawer Albini mixes of HSB and ALL but there is an effect on the guitar solo of HSB on the Albini mix that is just horrible.

BTW, I read an Albini interview where he says that the stereo image of the songs that weren't remixed (everything save for HSB and AA) was narrowed. Is this correct?

Chris

I would imagine Nirvana would have followed a similar path given a chance. Unlike, say, U2, they don't seem to get off on the huge sales numbers.

Indeed, they were already following that path. By enlisting Steve Albini to produce "In Utero," they were purposely going for a "less commercial" sound. I love the sound of that album; my second-favorite Albini production behind the Pixies' "Surfer Rosa."

I'm not sure about Cobain asking for an Andy Wallace remix on "Nevermind," though you never know. FWIW, the released mix worked--that album was unbelievably huge. How much its success has to do with the commercial mix is debatable.

Ten years down the road, a lot of people seem to forget that "In Utero" was not a huge commercial success until after Cobain's suicide. It didn't sell nearly as many copies as the previous album and had practically disappeared from the charts by April '94.

[Patrick M]

Ten years down the road, a lot of people seem to forget that "In Utero" was not a huge commercial success until after Cobain's suicide. It didn't sell nearly as many copies as the previous album and had practically disappeared from the charts by April '94.

The ghost at number one.