The Sun Is Gone And I Have A Light (The Godfather Records GF718)
Tracks 1-13 Pat O’Brien Pavillion, Del Mar California USA December 28, 1991
Tracks 14-21 Let It Be Records, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA October 14, 1991 (Early Show)
(67:34) Intro, Drain You, Aneurysm, School, Floyd The Barber, Smells Like Teen Spirit, About A Girl, Polly, Sliver, Breed, Come As You Are, Lithium, Territorial Pissing’s, Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Dumb, About A Girl, Krist telling a story, Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam, Been A Son, Something In The Way, Negative Creep
It is hard to believe that it has been 18 years since the passing of Kurt Cobain, an extremely talented and creative individual who was also very troubled but for a few short years revolutionized popular music with songs filled with aggression and angst wonderfully interwoven in melodies pop. This release by Godfathers collects two very interesting complete performances from 1991 that showcase two different sides of the band Cobain formed.
The first show is an excellent soundboard that was originally recorded for a Westwood One radio broadcast and from which three of the songs would be included in the official From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah.
Because of its quality it appealed to the bootleggers also on such titles as The Eternal Legacy (Kiss The Stone KTS336) Live (The Swingin’ Pig TSP-CD-142) Pissing In Action (Baby Capone BC 045/2) Psychotic Reaction (Beech Marten BM 080) and others. This is the complete show and that was re mixed by Andy Wallace is a joy to listen to and rivals the bands officially released live records, the band are in fine form and give a performance of the highest caliber.
The first two songs were to eventually appear on the Muddy Banks official live album, the first Drain You is an excellent opener and is high energy, the band hitting a groove immediately. The second song, Aneurysm was a B side to the Teen Spirit single and show cases the bands diversity as a live unit, they often played songs that were B sides or unreleased (at the time). The next two tracks are from Bleach, School and Floyd The Barber, the latter has a great heavy and choppy riff.
Smells Like Teen Spirit was the major break out song, a huge radio smash that propelled the band to mega stardom, this version here is the third song from this show to be used on the official Muddy Banks live record. Other set highlights are Sliver and Breed but the last two songs are intense, beginning with Lithium and its folksy start that leads into an aggressive riff couple with a wrenching lyric is certainly one of the bands best songs. The last track has Krist Novoselic’s vocal of Chet Powers 60 hippie classic Get Together and the band launches into the fast flurry of punk rock aggression that is Territorial Pissings that ends is a rage of distortion and feedback.
The second show of this CD features a live recording done at a record store in Minneapolis, Mn. It is a very good audience recording bordering on excellent of an acoustic shows the band in a different light. It has been released before on In Memory Of Kurdt Kobain (Small Clone SC-NR-001 / SC-NR-002) and Outcesicide II – The Needle And The Damage Done (Blue Moon Records BMCD25) neither of which are complete, So this release features the debut of the complete show !
Being a live appearance in a record store the recording is a very intimate look at the band and they play a relaxed show in front of the small crowd. The first song is the bands take on the Led Belley classic Where Did You Sleep last Night. The song starts of with a traditional feel and about 2 minutes Cobain rips into the song vocally with a tortured rendition that reeks of emotion. The band flow right into another song that would eventually be released on In Utero, the Beatle sounding Dumb with its haunting line “Think I’m Just Happy”. A nice up tempo take on About A Girl is next, its fits into the acoustic mold very well as the MTV Unplugged set would later show.
The band go into a intermission of sorts that has the band, mostly Novoselic interact with the crowd. He tells humorous stories about John Bonham buying a car, and he an Dave Grohl talk about some of the latest releases in the store that garners laughs from the audience and finish with an impromptu version of The Beatles I Feel Fine.
The band carry on with a nice cover of the Vaselines Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam, a song that they would play sporadically during the next few years and is also found on the MTV Unplugged project. Something In The Way is sort of a preview from the yet to be released Nevermind record, acoustically they slow it down and it really works live and almost has a bluesy feel too. The band finish the set with a rowdy version of Negative Creep, the fast ending is interesting as they play punk acoustically as Cobain vocally mauls the microphone. The band finish to the applause of the small crowd.
The packaging is typical Godfathers, trifold adorned with photos of the band with almost water colored effects that give a very stylish look. For the short span the band was around they actually have a substantial catalog of music to play from and this is a nice and diverse collection to have. In the mid nineties that band was heavily bootlegged and with the previous versions of these shows being unavailable for some time now this is a great release that is easily recommended.
