Pocketwatch (album)

Untitled

Pocketwatch is a cassette album by Dave Grohl, under the pseudonym Late!, released in 1992 on the now defunct indie label, Simple Machines, as part of their Tool Cassette Series. It is the first of two albums to be recorded entirely by Grohl, the second being 1995's Foo Fighters.

Background

In the summer of 1991, Dave Grohl went into WGNS Studios and recorded four songs, playing all the instruments himself. The recording was combined with six songs from a previous Upland Studios session recorded in late 1990. Although both sessions occurred after joining Nirvana, Grohl unobtrusively acknowledged their existence. A tape of the songs, given to Simple Machines co-founder Jenny Toomey by Grohl, immediately became a candidate for the labels Tool Cassette Series.^[1]

The Tool Cassette Series started around 1991 as an experiment, and as a way of keeping music "in print" on an as-needed basis without having to finance vinyl or CD pressings, since Simple Machines dubbed the cassettes as the orders came in.^[1] With multiple cassette decks and a lot of volunteer help, this was a manageable project for the label. Shortly after Nirvana released Nevermind in the fall of 1991, its unexpected success was large enough that Pocketwatch eventually became noticed. It gained more attention when the Foo Fighters debut was released in 1995. Some of the songs appeared on subsequent releases, creating even higher demand for the cassette. Suddenly, Pocketwatch was being mentioned frequently in interviews, and the label became flooded with orders.^[1]

With minimal help and deteriorating master cassettes, Simple Machines got in touch with Grohl about releasing the Late! album as a CD, to keep up with demand. However, Grohl preferred to keep it as a cassette only release, which the label honored.^[1] When the two master cassettes for Pocketwatch came to the end of their useful lives, and with some of the other artists masters in the same condition, Simple Machines decided to discontinue the Tool Cassette Series from their mailorder,^[1] putting the over half-decade experiment to an end.

Other releases

As cassettes became a less popular format, and with no official CD release in sight, Pocketwatch fell victim to countless bootleg CD releases, ranging from a single song to the entire album. "Color Pictures of a Marigold" appeared on the rarities collection Outcesticide III: The Final Solution, part of a popular Nirvana bootleg series on Blue Moon Records.^[2] The song also appeared on Fighting the "N" Factor, an unauthorized Foo Fighters release that included the track as a bonus, with Nirvana's Saturday Night Live rehearsals and Tunnel TV Show performance.^[2] The Late! album appeared in its entirety on the Foo Fighters' bootleg album Pocketwatch Demos on Primadonna, a bootleg label active throughout the 1990s, based in Milano, Italy.^[2]

Songs from the Late! album made appearances on official releases as well. Prior to the Pocketwatch offering, "Petrol CB" was included on the Neapolitan Metropolitan 7" vinyl box set compilation released by Simple Machines in 1992, under the title "There's That Song" and also featured tracks from Breadwinner, Burma Jam, Bratmobile, and Lilys, among others.^[3] The only song officially released on CD was a remixed version of "Just Another Story About Skeeter Thompson", included on Buzz Osborne's 1992 solo EP King Buzzo, retitled "Skeeter".

Although constantly coupled with Nirvana and Foo Fighters collections, Late! should be considered its own separate project.^[4] This would become complicated, taking into account that both bands would go on to release new versions of songs from the Pocketwatch album. In addition, Dave Grohl recorded the first Foo Fighters album in the same manner as he had done for Pocketwatch, playing all the instruments and recording the material himself. "Color Pictures of a Marigold" was re-recorded with Krist Novoselic on bass in 1993 and released as a b-side of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" single, simply titled "Marigold". This version would also appear on the 2004 With the Lights Out box set. Another version of the song appeared on the Foo Fighters live album, Skin and Bones. "Winnebago" was re-recorded during the sessions for the first Foo Fighters album in 1994. Despite not making the album, it appeared on the Foo Fighters first release, Exhausted, and as a b-side to the "This Is a Call" single. A new version of "Friend of a Friend" was released on the acoustic side of the Foo Fighters' 2005 double album In Your Honor and appeared again the following year on Skin and Bones.

Track listing

All songs written by Dave Grohl except where noted.

1. "Pokey the Little Puppy" – 4:21
2. "Petrol CB" – 4:44
3. "Friend of a Friend" – 3:06
4. "Throwing Needles" – 3:20
5. "Just Another Story About Skeeter Thompson" – 2:05
6. "Color Pictures of a Marigold" – 3:13
7. "Hell's Garden" – 3:18
8. "Winnebago" (Grohl, Geoff Turner) – 4:11
9. "Bruce" – 3:52
10. "Milk" – 2:35

Personnel

• Dave Grohl – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums
• Barrett Jones – backing vocals on "Petrol CB", production
• Geoff Turner – audio engineering, producer

References

1. ^{^} Simple Machines: Tool Cassette Series
2. ^{^} LiveNirvana.com - Bootography
3. ^{^} Discogs.com
4. ^{^} Foo Fighters Official Site