Nirvana

From the Muddy Banks of Wishkah

It's Lacking, Yet, It's Still Very Satisfying

Review Score:

(8/10)
Nirvana's "Unplugged In New York" is one of the greatest CDs ever made. Period. It's on my list of my three favorite albums ever. And if you've heard "Unplugged In New York", the thought of a live album that's, um, plugged in is enough to make you throw on your flannel and celebrate. Not so fast. This selection of Nirvana's work covers a lot of ground. I love the fact that they didn't ignore their older songs, and included "School" and "Negative Creep". And the majority of the songs here are better live, as they're unleashed in their raucous natural environment. "Heart-Shaped Box", "Drain You", "Aneurysm", "Sliver", and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" easily surpass their studio versions and reach a new level of perfection. Others, however, did not. "Polly" is a beautiful song meant for it's original acoustic form. Here, it comes up a bit, well, bland. "Milk It" was a depressing song, the suicide line haunts me, the song was recorded a few months before Kurt's passing. He doesn't seem to care too much about what's going on, and he mumbles throughout the song. His lack of enthusiasm really shows. Others like "Breed" didn't quite capture the essence one would think the song live could offer (I did like how Kurt changed the chorus up though, I thought that was pretty funny actually). Then, there's the songs that were left out. "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter", "Territorial Pissings", and "Come As You Are" I felt deserved to be here. The highlight "From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah" is their incendiary performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". The song had a lot of rage, frustration, angst, and potency to it, it's a Rock classic. Live, however, the song takes on a new brutal and fast form. "From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah" may be lacking, but it's an explosive live album nonetheless.

More Reviews: