The Happening has some more news on the album - check out the Latest in Nirvana News section!

Here's another page just like this with some other info.

* What will the name of the album be?

• Rasmus Holmen says in his 07/12/98 Newsletter that he had heard that some radio station had said that the title would be "The Cold Basement Tapes". I haven't heard anything else about this name.
• One name that was highly believed to be true was "Cookies". Around the time the Wishkah was released, there was some talking among fans at alt.music.nirvana who had heard about the forthcoming album entitled "Cookies". This was probably just a misunderstanding. Chad Channing, Nirvana drummer from 1988 to 1990, has a new band called The Methodists, and their new album, released in, um, August '98 was entitled "Cookies". So someone probably mixed up "the ex-Nirvana drummer's new band's album" with "Nirvana's new album".
• From the 09/27/98 NFC Newsletter:

  "Well, there was a rumour floating around the net that some people had a scan of the cover of the forthcoming Nirvana boxed-set, and the same source claimed that the title of the album would be simply "Box". Neither is true, since the production of the album has hardly started and it will not be released until around the year 2000, or 2001. If you get a scan of a Nirvana boxed set then its most likely a bootleg one. Like the one they are selling at UBL.com containing all the songs from the albums Bleach and Incesticide."

* What material will be on this new album?

• "From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah" was intentionally thougt of as the second disc of the double-cd "Unplugged in NY" was planned to be. But Krist and Dave didn't want to go through that material so soon after Kurt's death. And some live songs were scrapped off that album, so they might appear on this one (live songs).
• In March '94, when Nirvana was planned to go on tour on Lollapalooza, an EP was planned to be released along with the tour. But then Nirvana backed out and the EP was scrapped. That EP was possibly thougt to contain Kurt's basement recordings from March '94 that he did with Pat Smear and Eric of Hole. He supposedly recorded "Clean up before she comes", "Talk to me", "Opinion" and maybe more. This can very well be true. I read an article saying that Kurt had at least three songs recorded before he died; "Talk to Me", "Opinion" and one unnamed. The unnamed one can be the infamous (and unheard) "Dough, Ray and Me" or "Me and My IV". This is very likely to be featured on the album.
• One possibility that I read about is that a "sequel" to Incesticide will be released, a collection of b-sides and "new" songs.
• Also, a video was thougt, maybe a sequel to Live! Tonight! Sold Out!, with more In Utero-era footage.
• In the 07/12/98 NFC Newsletter I read that a Drew Belko had recieved this info directly from Krist:

  "It will include as much video as audio. There will be one disc for every year the band was "active". One for 85-87, one for 88, one for 89, one for 90, 91, and so on - until '94. There will definitely be a *clean* version of "In his hands", taken from a combination of the session on new year's at Music Source with Craig M. and the 'Nevermind' sessions. Krist added some acoustic guitar on it and it will be on the 91 disc. Supposedly, the real name of it is "Milk Made"."

  This is the "best" alternative I've seen yet. But unfortunately I don't think this will be. I don't believe Geffen has this much material recorded or in their vaults, just studio recordings. The only way is if Geffen get shows the bootleg way. And then they would only choose good quality recordings. But this would still be very cool if it would happen.

• The "worst" alternative would be if Geffen decided to put out an album with stuff that is rare to people who only have the official Nirvana albums, and not so rare to bootleg collectors and more hard-core fans.
• As I've heard, another only-live album like the Wishkah will not be released.
• These are songs I think will be on the new album:
  • The studio version of In His Hands, mentioned above. But I think "Milk Made" is just another name for "Milk It".
  • The recently surfaced Cher cover "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", in a studio version, if one exists.
  • Something more (if more exists) off the 87/88 Barnyard Sessions.
  • Ain't it a shame and/or Grey Goose, from the 8/89 Jury side project Session.
  • The studio version of Token Eastern Song/Junkyard from the 10/89 Blew EP sessions.
  • Possibly (if one exists) a version of In His Hands from the 09/25/90 KAOS Radio performance. Kurt said he's gonna "share some new tunes" with us, and In His Hands was a new song at this time.
  • Some song(s) off the Fall '90 4-track demos.
  • Other songs from the 1/1/91 Music Source Studios session.
  • Old Age, In His Hands and possibly more songs from the 3/91 Boombox demo.
  • Scrapped songs from the Nevermind sessions.
  • The unknown song (possibly "Crisco") from 11/24/91.
  • Unreleased songs from the 4/92 Laundry Room Session.
  • This one's doubtful - "New Poopy", or whatever that was, from the MTV VMA rehersals.
  • More songs off the 01/22/93 Rio Tape.
  • Some songs from the early '93 Nighty Nite demos with Kurt, Courtney and Patty Scheimel.
  • You got no right and other songs from the 1/28/94 Bob Lang Studios session.
  • March '94 basement demos, Kurt, Pat and Eric Erlanderson.
  • Kurt's demos for Michael Stipe?

* When will the album be released?

I've heard many possible answers to this question. One is that it would be released due to Kurt's 5 year death anniversary 1999. Krist has also said in an interview that the album will be released in the year 2000. Another thing I read was that Krist said "the year 2000 or the day after Courtney dies, whichever comes first." Appearantly Krist isn't very fond of Courtney getting Kurt's royalties...

Here's some more info on when the album will be released.

* How much of this is speculation?

Basically everything. What Krist and Dave says can't really be that reliable, since Geffen rocks the cradle in the end. I did read this in the 07/24/98 NFC Newsletter, appearantly official:

"It is offical now - there WILL be a Nirvana release and it will be a boxed set containg CDs and probably videos. A reliable source states that the boxed set will contain the April 1990 Smart Studio Sessions which features Chad Channing on drums. I mentioned this session already back in the first newsletter and gave more details about it back then. Apparently, Jack Endino is collecting material for the release and there is speculation about a DVD disc being included as well. The boxed set should also contain a previously unreleased studio version of the cover song "Here she comes now". We can, at this time, only guess what else the boxed set will contain but it will most likely be recordings in high quality since Geffen won't release something that has poor quality. Look at "Wishkah" - all of the songs on that album are from very high quality sources. So this basically means that really early shows and early studio sessions will probably not appear in this release. It is also still not known exactly when the boxed set will be released - but the year 2000 is the most likely time. Krist and Dave have mentioned this time, too and its "only" 1½ year away ..."