DGC Rarities, Vol. 1

This is a great collection of hard-to-find rarities from some of the most popular bands (now) (Nirvana, Counting Crows, Hole, etc.), from when they were small up-and-comers. The vast majority of songs can't even be found anywhere else.As for the 3 mentioned tracks: Nirvana's "Pay to Play" is the original studio version of "Stay Away," from the NEVERMIND album. Counting Crows' "Einstein on a Beach (for an Eggman)" is a song that you'll probably immediately recognize, but most likely couldn't find anywhere else unless you're into collecting obscure soundtrack albums. Hole's "My Beautiful Son" is a tale about a transvestite whose redneck father was driven to the brink when he learned of his son's alternative lifestyle.This album is a great introduction to the best alternative rock bands and music to the uninitiated, The three mentioned tracks were just to give an example of the kind of music on here, but this album is not limited to those more successful bands. My personal favorite track is Sloan's "Stove Smother," which you'll probably have to listen to repeatedly to understand the whole breadth of scope (I did). Enjoy!

I really only got this album for the Counting Crows track, so I'm not going to argue if the rest of it really wasn't interesting. It's a collectors piece!

Love love love this album. Weezer prior to Brian Bell, but I still love them!

I love this CD. It's a compilation of songs from great DGC 1990s artists, released in 1994. (Am I the only person blown away that 1994 was almost TWELVE years ago? Man.) A lot of time has passed since these songs were recorded, but to me, as a fan of the music of that little era, most of these songs have remained classics.A lot of well-known, celebrated bands are here, but it can also serve as good introduction to a lot of lesser known ones, particularly to bands from the grunge scene's commercial prime."Mad Dog 20/20" by Teenage Fanclub is, I think one of that band's best songs: a loving paean to being young, hanging out in public parks, and drinking wine. As part of a collection of songs celebrating the 1990s, it seems doubly nostalgic, and twice as good."Pay To Play" by Nirvana is a rockin', raw, "Bleach"-style version of "Stay Away," and this CD is worth it just for it, at least for Nirvana fans wanting more."Jamie" by Weezer is a poppy love song to a female lawyer, a song with all the best traits of Weezer's early "Blue Album" songs. You will sing it for months."Bogusflow" is a classic acoustic Beck track, though it's lyrics might be kind of gross if you overanalyze them."Grunge Couple" by That Dog is a terrific record of a brief yet memorable time of American life--when ripped jeans and dirty garage bands were attractive to girls: "I like you. I like you. You are cute. You are cute. In a flannel shirt, and your...hiking boots." It's a rockin' song with great female vocals and a violin that winds among all the more typical grunge instrumentation. It still finds its way onto mix CDs of mine."Einstein On The Beach (For An Eggman)" by Counting Crows is one of their best songs. It's actually happy--one of the happiest songs I've ever heard, actually--and does a great job of telling about a strange life shattered using allusions to Einsten and Humpty Dumpty.There are a lot of other good songs as well, and all combine to make this an album extremely worth purchasing. If you like any of the bands on this CD, it's almost guaranteed you'll like some of the others.And there was supposed to be a "DGC Rarities Vol. 2"--the record store I used to haunt even had a sign up for its release date back in 1995--but I don't think it ever came out. I like this one enough that I'd still buy if it did.

Geffen Record Company (DGC) released this terrific sampler of b-sides and rarities in 1994, to highlight some of their top modern rock acts. At the time, grunge rock was huge and it's well-represented here with Nirvana, Hole, and Beck (he was considered grunge when "Loser" was a hit). Most of these acts had just started to taste success (Beck, Hole, Counting Crows, Weezer), and many would go on to be huge stars throughout the decade.The biggest hit on the CD was Counting Crows' "Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman)," which went to #45 on the Top 100 airplay chart and was a #1 modern rock hit. "Pay to Play" by Nirvana is perhaps my favorite song on the CD. A demo version of the later "Stay Away" from "Nevermind," it's unavailable (as far as I can tell) elsewhere in this form, which alone makes this compilation worth buying. Indeed, I purchased this CD at the time primarily for Nirvana and Counting Crows; however, I've grown to love several other songs as well. Among the more obscure acts here, I most enjoy Murray Attaway's "Allegory," which opens with lyrics from an old Appalachian folk song. Murray was the lead singer of Guadalcanal Diaries and released one solo CD, "In Thrall," from which "Allegory was taken.The liner notes are also interesting, as they include brief comments from most of the artists. Courtney Love's comments are predictably incoherent, referencing her "innerchild" and "looking wasted and lost on MTV." Have truer words ever been spoken? Overall, this CD is a solid collection of early 90's b-sides and rarities from some great alt-rock acts.

Now some of this cd is absolutely dire (the Sonic Youth track is unlistenable. The Beck track has crap lyrics and is stupid, with the only thing recommending the track being the harmonica)But a few of these tracks I've never come across anywhere else - like the Teenage Fanclub track, the Sundays trackOn the basis of those tracks (Mad dog 20/20 - from the Thirteen sessions) and the Sundays song (Don't tell your mother, recorded at the Can't Be Sure sessions - I'm assuming its a B side or something?)well its a worthwhile albumThe Posies song (Open every window) - along with "Jamie" are very good songsThe Nirvana track is the same as "Stay away" song on Nevermind but with different lyrics for the chorus (here its "Pay to play" - which really doesn't mean anything)So its a good comp as long as you don't expect too much. A couple of the tracks are throwaway and/or unlistenable, but if you can get past that...

Excellent compilation of so many great bands from the 90s, an obvious highlight being Nirvana's Pay To Play, but the Sonic Youth, Hole and many other tracks are as good

Good listen!