Just ahead of the much-anticipated release of the Kurt Cobain cassette tape compilation album, Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings, another intimate, rough demo from the late Nirvana front man has been released to the public. This time, a raw take of the 1989 Blew EP track "Been a Son," features Cobain on an unplugged electric guitar (including playing the part meant for Krist Novoselic later) as he mumbles through the lyrics in a melodic tune.
"Been a Son" trails the arrival of chilling demo "Sappy" and a cover of the Beatles A Hard Day's Night staple track "And I Love Her," both slated to appear on 7" vinyl. Rounding out at a total of 90 seconds, the latest demo ends with Cobain saying "bass part" as he quickly plays a part intended for Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic. The latest demo track can also be heard in a different arrangement on 1992's compilation album Incesticide.
The Home Recordings, which was specifically crafted in chronological order, puts this early demo version of "Been a Son" near the top of the set list. Montage of Heck director Brett Morgen, responsible for assembling the demo album, recently detailed how challenging it was to figure out an accurate time line of Cobain's demo.
"I knew the spoken-word stuff [on the soundtrack] was all recorded at Tracy's apartment," he said, in reference to the singer's ex-girlfriend Tracy Marander. "'Been a Son' was from that period as well. But Kurt did not date stuff. One of the things that made his journals complicated was he would go back and rewrite stuff. Even his journals were not necessarily chronological." Morgen continued to detail that he came across various "Been a Son" arrangements while sifting through Cobain's archives and journals.
Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings is due out on Nov. 13 as a 31-song vinyl release and a 13-track CD, both available digitally as Fuse notes.
