Late! - Pocketwatch (1991)

In the summer of 1991 Dave Grohl went into WGNS Studios and recorded four songs, playing all the instruments himself, and these recordings were  combined with six songs from a previous Upland Studios session recorded in late 1990 to make the 'Pocketwatch' album. Grohl gave a tape of the songs to Simple Machines co-founder Jenny Toomey, who immediately wanted it for the label's Tool Cassette Series. Upon accepting Simple Machines' request for a demo tape, Grohl decided to hide his identity under the pseudonym Late!, 'because I’m an idiot and I thought it would be funny to say to everybody, "Sorry, we’re Late!"'. The Tool Cassette Series was originally 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. The Late! cassette was offered for sale in 1991, but when Nirvana released 'Nevermind' later that year, its unexpected success meant that 'Pocketwatch' eventually became noticed. It gained more attention when the Foo Fighters' early material was released in 1995, with some of the songs appearing on subsequent releases, creating even higher demand for the cassette, which was being mentioned frequently in interviews. As the label became flooded with orders, and with deteriorating master cassettes, Simple Machines got in touch with Grohl about releasing the Late! album as a CD to keep up with demand, but Grohl preferred to keep it as a cassette only release, which the label honoured. 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, putting the over half-decade experiment to an end. 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 the entire album, to single songs appearing on a variety of bootleg compilations. Some of these songs have been re-recorded and officially released, such as 'Marigold' on the b-side of Nirvana's 'Heart-Shaped Box', and 'Winnebago' as the flip to Foo Fighters' 'Exhausted' single, but here is the original album, as recorded by Grohl himself.  

Track listing

01 Pokey The Little Puppy
02 Petrol CB
03 Friend Of A Friend
04 Throwing Needles
05 Just Another Story About Skeeter Thompson
06 Color Pictures Of A Marigold
07 Hell's Garden
08 Winnebago
09 Bruce
10 Milk

Suggested by 'The Greatest Albums You'll Never Hear' by Bruno MacDonald