Nirvana pressings

I have:

1.) Original Geffen USA pressing "masterdisk" etched in dead wax of Nevermind, bought day after release

1a.) "320" EU pressing of "Nevermind"

1b.) ORG of "Nevermind"

Of these three (and all are good in their own way), I would have to give the slight nod to the ORG in terms of overall detail and clarity of bass HOWEVER...the original USA pressing has that magic of how it was supposed to sound, raw. The EU is also very good, I'm glad I have all three.

I had, and soon sold, the MoFi. Just awful, muddy. They go for way too much money.

2.) Original Dutch pressing of "In Utero"

2b.) ORG of "In Utero"

LOVE the ORG here. Great bass slam.

3.) USA black vinyl pressing of "Unplugged"

3b.) ORG of "Unplugged"

Both are winners, hard to distinguish as the recording is superb.

Jcoehler, thats great thanks! Great comparisons and info. I see you like to compare!

I think i've decided to get the original pressings from usa and leave it at that. Funny, that generally seems to be where you find the best versions.

1.original pressing
2.from the country of the bands origin.

If your looking to avoid a pressing that sounds overproduced I fear you will have to avoid Nevermind in general! Didn't Grohl say it had the production value of a Motley Crue record?

Hmmm.

Not sure exactly what you mean. I think i might know what you mean but...Can you be more specific?

Its natural for bands to second guess the final product but you have to go with something and trust its for the best.

Do i think nevermind is too polite or too polished or too commercial? The way i answer that is to ask myself do i like the sound of the album or not?

I have to say i do! I think its best that some of the rawness was polished out to make for a more cohesive sound. If it was left more raw I dont think it would have that sonic quality to make it a timeless classic.

I think it was a huge mistake for cobain or any of the band members to get hung up on this or for them to think they compromised to the 'establishment' or whatever.

Their artistry is their in spades and the mixing or mastering cant take that away from them.

If cobain did get hung up on it, it just shows that he was an idealist and young and if he didnt take his life but got past his issues he would have realized that he created something that transcends genere's or petty arguments about mixing or mastering. That record he made goes way beyond that. The only thing he should take away from that record is pride! Not guilt or shame. Pride.

It's really not that suprising the band was ultimately unhappy(to a certain degree) with the final product. There's a pretty telling video on YouTube that has Butch Vig talking about how he got Cobain to do certain things that he really didn't want to do during the recording sessions. In some instances he had to be down right mendacious to achieve the sound he thought Nevermind should have. If that doesn't qualify as over production I don't know what would.