1997, titled The First Session. Additionally, numerous singles, including "Dicknail" and "Beautiful Son", and their respective b-sides appear on the album. Love, who was typically a guitarist, is featured playing bass on "20 Years in the Dakota", a B-side to "Beautiful Son" that Love wrote about Yoko Ono. "Old Age", an outtake from Live Through This, also appears on the record. A formerly unreleased demo version of "Miss World", recorded in Brazil by Love, drummer Patty Schemel, and Love's husband, Kurt Cobain, was also included. Cobain, though uncredited, plays bass on the track, which features Love on guitar and Schemel on drums. A total of five live tracks appear on the album: "Softer, Softest", "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" (a cover of The Crystals), and "Season of the Witch" (a Donovan Leitch cover) were all recorded from Hole's performance on MTV Unplugged at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Valentine's Day 1995. "Drown Soda" and "Asking for It", were recorded at London's Brixton Academy and the Reading Festival on May 4, 1995 and August 25, 1995, respectively. Composition The majority of the songs on the album are credited to Hole, although the official BMI website notes that most of the songs were written solely by Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson, except "Retard Girl", which was written by Love alone; "Old Age", co-written by Kurt Cobain with additional arrangements by Love, "Beautiful Son" and "20 Years In The Dakota", written by Love, Erlandson and Patty Schemel; and "Drown Soda", the only case on the album of a song credited to a full Hole line-up, which at the time of writing was, Love, Erlandson, Jill Emery and Caroline Rue. As a compilation album, the composition of its songs spans across a period of six years, charting the evolution of the band's alternative rock sound. The opening tracks on the album, which are from the band's first recording session, exhibit the band's early style, noted for its abrasive guitar work (heavily influenced by noise rock, grindcore, and no wave music) and literate, aggressive lyrics, many of which mix derogatory language with cryptic and religious themes. In particular, "Retard Girl" is a narrative of a girl being abused and made fun of on a playground. "Turpentine", as well as "Retard Girl", feature historical and religious references as well: "Turpentine" features lyrics alluding to Christianity ("I know all you devils by