Nirvana - Nirvana
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CD Details
Artist: NirvanaEdition: Music CD
Format: Extra tracks
CD Release Date: 2002-10-29
Music Label: Interscope
Soundtracks:
- You Know You're Right (previously unreleased)
- About A Girl
- Been A Son
- Sliver
- Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Come As You Are
- Lithium
- In Bloom
- Heart-Shaped Box
- Pennyroyal Tea
- Rape Me
- Dumb
- All Apologies
- The Man Who Sold The World
Music reviews of Nirvana
Music Review: Idea's great, but...
Rating: 2 Stars
...track selection is totally off the mark. I'm not going to go in-depth except for the three non-album tracks that were included.
"You Know You're Right" starts off the album, and while this has been highly anticipated as NIRVANA's last song and all, it is shockingly a poor lyrical performance. While the musical structure is somewhat different and even darker than selections from In Utero, it ends up following the soft-loud formula that Cobain had gotten sick and tired of, probably more than any of their songs. From the formless live verison that was played at the Aragon in October '93, to the stunningly fragile solo version released on the boxset, we could see this song had a complexity about its lyrics. Surprisingly, this version was recorded after both of those, and yet it seems as though the lyrics on this version were terribly dumbed down by Kurt. My personal suspicion is that he didn't want to record this song with or even reveal any version with superior lyrics to Dave and Krist, and was waiting to do it over again after the band had broken up and he had possibly formed another group. Unfortunately, Kurt's life was ended before that could happen.
"Been A Son" is the version from the now-obscure "Blew EP," which featured several other songs that can now be found on numerous NIRVANA albums. Most NIRVANA fans like myself take exception with this song because somehow, it ends up being on nearly every album the band has released; and this version may in fact be the worst, as it was recorded in 1989 at the Music Source Studios. This session has become notorious amongst NIRVANA fans for featuring muddy, truly grungy renditions of songs that Cobain thought turned out so bad that he re-did all but one of them over again at subsequent sessions, with Dave Grohl at the drums. In this version, Chad Channing's drumset is failing, and the tentativeness really blurs through and ruins all the tracks, including this one. Also, Cobain's vocals are nowhere near as energetic as the version that was released on "Incesticide" and sound disinterested.
"Pennyroyal Tea" might be the highlight of the album. When NIRVANA released their album In Utero, a huge controversy had been brewing between record producer Steve Albini and the band's record label, Geffen, over what Albini claimed was excessive remastering and post-production work that ruined the album in his eyes. Two songs were definitely remixed on the release by Scott Litt--"Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies." This album finally officially releases Litt's redux of "Pennyroyal Tea," a song which featured an excellent vocal performance by Cobain but which happened to be hidden amongst the many layers of guitar that were in the original version. While nothing has been removed, Litt brings Cobain's vocals up more prominently in the mix, and puts more emphasis on the softer parts of the song, so that the guitar doesn't "jump out" at you. You can definitely hear things in this version that were hidden in the In Utero version, that's for sure.
But like I said, other than Pennyroyal Tea, there's a lot of things wrong with this track selection. Here is a list they should have gone with, which would have satisfied tons of fans new and old, and would have truly been a fitting tribute to Cobain's memory:
1.) Aneurysm (from Incesticide)
2.) Radio-Friendly Unit Shifter (Original Albini Mix)
3.) School (from Bleach)
4.) Sliver
5.) Dumb (Original Albini Mix)
6.) In Bloom (Original Mix by Butch Vig)
7.) Come As You Are
8.) Breed (Original Mix by Butch Vig)
9.) Lithium (Original Butch Vig Mix)
10.) Spank Thru (unreleased, featuring Dale Crover on drums)
11.) Love Buzz (from Bleach)
12.) Sappy (from the No Alternative compilation)
13.) Pennyroyal Tea
14.) About A Girl
15.) Polly (Original Butch Vig Mix)
16.) Lounge Act (Original Butch Vig Mix)
17.) Rape Me (Original Albini Mix)
18.) Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam (from With The Lights Out boxset, Disc 3)
19.) Where Did You Sleep Last Night (unreleased, from November 91 radio session)
20.) All Apologies (Original Albini Mix)
21.) Heart-Shaped Box (Original Albini Mix)
22.) Blew (from Bleach)
So 10 of the 14 songs are still there, but with never-before released original mixes of their studio versions, and then 12 more songs that they could have fit that I picked based on how often and for how many years the band had been playing them at shows (I counted track time too...their version is somewhere around 40 minutes? With my additional 12 songs, it maxes out at 78 minutes). Casual fans would have picked this up as an intro to the band, and die-hards would also have come running because of the original mixes (which I'll admit we die-hards love to hear, see the NIRVANA boxset :) ) Basically, it would have been a tracklist suitable to what Kurt would have wanted, based on his selections over the years at shows, and would have fit with the sound he would have wanted as well (unmixed, raw, and punk, with the exception of a few songs like Pennyroyal Tea and Come As You Are). Also, it would have given fans their money's worth of tracks instead of robbing them of 30 minutes worth of space which could have been filled by some of the above tracks.
Now that would be a release, but sadly this appears to have been rushed through at the last minute due to the leaking of "You Know You're Right" on the internet. Thankfully, we got "With The Lights Out" last year, and that was a fitting tribute for the die-hard fans.
My advice to casual fans: Avoid this disc at all costs, pick up Nevermind instead. While Andy Wallace's mixes on the track were the reason why Cobain ended up hating the album, it still has half the songs featured on this disc and is still considered one of the best album of the '90s. If you like that, move on to In Utero, and if you like that, you're all set :)
Description of Nirvana
International edition of their 2002 collection includes one bonus track, 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night'. 15 tracks in all including the previously unreleased track, 'You Know You're Right'. Geffen.Essentially a greatest-hits collection with one previously unreleased song, "You Know You're Right," and producer Scott Litt's 1994 remix of "Pennyroyal Tea," Nirvana the album is nevertheless a welcome addition to the band's canon. Crisp, elegant liner notes by Rolling Stone writer David Fricke put us squarely in Kurt Cobain's mindset as he entered a Seattle studio in January 1994--a full two days later than expected--to record what would be his final session with Nirvana. The resulting "You Know You're Right" locates Cobain at the apogee of his disenfranchisement with tongue nevertheless planted firmly in cheek. Bawdy, raucous, and venomous, "You Know You're Right" could have been lifted from Nevermind. A mix of tracks from that album ("Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Come as You Are," "Lithium," and "In Bloom") sits opposite stuff from early EPs and the Bleach disc ("About a Girl," "Been a Son," and "Sliver"), plus two from the MTV Unplugged sessions and several more from In Utero. Not the Nirvana treasure chest we hoped for, but solid nonetheless. --Kim Hughes
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