LIVE NIRVANA SESSIONS HISTORY (Earth) October, 1990 - Smegma Studios, Portland, OR, US 
Artist
- Earth
- Carlson, Dylan (vocals, guitar)
- Harwell, Dave (bass)
- Preston, Joe (bass, percussion)
- Canary, Kelly (backing vocals)
- Cobain, Kurt (vocals, assistance with various instruments)
Crew
- Lastra, Mike (producer, engineer)
Set
- [O] Divine And Bright Cobain on lead vocals
- [O] Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge Cobain on backing vocals
- [O] Ouroboros Is Broken Cobain assists with sequencer
- [X] Private Affair Cobain on lead vocals
- [?] others?
Format
- Audio: ½-inch 8-track analog magnetic tape (session tape)
Best available sources
| Source ID | Quality | Complete | Runtime | Lowest Gen | Tracks Featured | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SBD #1 | 10.0 | 0:32:21 | Official CD (Earth - Extra-Capsular Extraction) | • A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge Parts 1 & 2 • Ouroboros Is Broken |
Mixed by Mike Lastra, 1991. A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge is edited into two parts on this release. | |
| SBD #2a | TBC | TBC | Unofficial 12" (Earth - 10 1990) | • Divine And Bright • A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge • Ouroboros Is Broken |
Rough mixes by Mike Lastra, 1990. Apparently sourced from a stolen DAT. Divine And Bright appears under the title Divine Bright Extraction; Ouroboros Is Broken appears under the title Oroubaros. |
|
| SBD #2b | 10.0 | 0:03:03 | Official CD (Earth - Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars Live, NQR001) | • Divine And Bright | Rough mix by Mike Lastra, 1990. |
Notes
Kurt Cobain joins Earth to record a session at Mike Lastra's Smegma Studios, Portland, OR.
While Cobain provides backing vocals on Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge and lead vocals on both Divine And Bright and a cover of The Saints' Private Affair (1), his influence on this session is hard to gauge; reports suggest that he was asleep most of the time. (2)
Dylan Carlson gave gave a brief account of Cobain's contribution to The Wire's Edwin Pouncey in 2005, [Kurt] sings the lead vocal on Divine And Bright. I felt that his voice would be better for that song because it's a sort of pop song. On the other song [A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge] I sing lead and he was more of a backing vocalist. I wanted different vocal textures. My voice was a monotone, his was a gravely pop vocal and Kelly made cougar howls. Rather than have a straight vocal, I used more textures to prevent it from being a straight pop song.
(3)
A cassette of the complete session is known to exist, running at approx. 45 minutes, and is said to feature more of Cobain.
References
- Preston, Joe, unknown date. Personal communication with Michael Gillham. ↑
- Earth official bio, 1997. ↑
- Pouncey, Edwin, 2005. Earth, The Wire 261. ↑