Nirvana

MTV Unplugged in New York [live]

hauntingly beautiful...

Review Score:

(10/10)
Hearing unplugged (or undistorted, in some cases) versions of the Nirvana songs that in some cases have completely flooded alternative radio within the last ten years or so is a wonderful experience. The unplugged treatement is especially good with the songs from Nevermind, an album whose shiny, mainstream production ruined some of the songs. Luckily, In Utero was produced by Steve Albini, who has famously said that "reverb sucks". Anyways, none of the really matters on Unplugged. The album is split nicely and gives us a little of everything...four songs from Nevermind, three from In Utero, a song from their little heard debut Bleach, plus a whopping six covers of songs by The Vaselines, Meat Puppets, and David Bowie, more proof that Cobain was eager to let the world know about the music that he listened to. There are many great songs on here. The unplugged version of "About A Girl" definitely outdoes the Bleach version. The Nevermind tracks are much more interesting than they ever were on Nevermind and sound better too. Songs like "Polly", "Dumb", and "All Apologies" also sound great here, even though their previously recorded versions were also quite mellow and unplugged. The best surprises on here are the covers, though. Hearing them rehash old 'Meat Puppets II' classics for their more mainstream audience is inspiring. Plus, they sound awesome, especially "Lake Of Fire". Cobain's take on "The Man Who Sold The World" by Bowie is too perfect, pretty much outdoing the original. Before Nirvana, the little known Scottish twee-pop quartet The Vaselines was unknown to pretty much everybody anywhere. But thankfully, Cobain cited them constantly in interviews and even covered two of their songs for Incesticide, in addition to "Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam" that snuck its way into the Unplugged setlist and also represents that the band could play happy, twee-ish music well. "Pennyroyal Tea" always surprises me when the chorus comes in and (gasp!) there's no distortion or screaming and whatnot. The album's closer "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" is arguably the strongest song on here, a little known blues track by blues legend Leadbelly, given the Unplugged treatment by Nirvana. Its the most haunting song on here, largely because its the album's closer, and once it ends, Kurt's ghost seems to hang in the room for a bit. In Utero was suicidal, but this album represents death and the afterlife as beautiful things, making this posthumous album very ghost-like. It is essential to any Nirvana collection, or any music collection and contains some of their's and Cobain's greatest songs, as do In Utero and Incesticide and maybe even Nevermind.

Just be thankful for one thing: at least they didn't play "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

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