Disco de Nirvana: “Unplugged in New York”

November of 1994 saw the release of Nirvana's first posthumous album, "MTV Unplugged in New York." The album was recorded just six months before the death of Kurt Cobain and released just six months after. Much like John Lennon's "Double Fantasy," (1980) it's hard to listen to the album and take it out of the context surrounding its tragic circumstances.

"MTV Unplugged in New York City" would be a somber enough album as is, but considering Cobain died shortly after it was recorded, the album takes on special meaning. The album possesses the tone and atmosphere of a funeral, although it's not so depressing that it becomes unlistenable. Rather, "MTV Unplugged in New York City" serves as a tribute and memorial to one of rock's most talented musicians. Much like "Double Fantasy," "MTV Unplugged in New York City" serves as an artist's bittersweet goodbye.

The Nirvana power trio of Cobain, (guitar, vocals) Dave Grohl, (drums, bass) and Krist Novoselic (bass, accordion, guitar) is joined by Pat Smear (guitar). Lori Goldston (cello) joins the band for many of the songs. Curt and Cris Kirkwood (guitar, bass) of the Meat Puppets join the band for three renditions of songs from the Meat Puppets "Meat Puppets II" (1984). A second guitar player thickens the sound and leaves Cobain free to solo. The added cello works very nicely, enhancing and enriching the songs. The added cello especially shines in "Pennyroyal Tea" and "Something in the way."

Stripped down renditions of songs from Nirvana's three albums, "Bleach," (1989) "Nevermind," (1991) and "In Utero," (1993) offer a subtler, but equally exciting take on the classics. While unplugged versions of songs can often yield mixed results, nothing is lost in the sparseness of these renditions.

There are several cover songs on this recording by artists including the Vaselines, the Meat Puppets, Leadbelly and David Bowie. Nirvana's adaptations of these songs match, perhaps even outshine the originals. As others have pointed out, Cobain takes other artists songs and makes them his own. While the album is interspersed with cover songs, nothing ever seems out of place. The album has an easygoing, soothing flow which never gets monotonous. It's the type of album that you can listen to again once you are finished.

"MTV Unplugged in New York City" was recorded live at Sony Music Studios on November 18, 1993. In front of an audience and off-the-cuff, "MTV Unplugged in New York City" offers a rare glimpse into whom Cobain was as a person. His chatter with the band and his interaction with the audience show him to be sensitive, articulate, meticulous, humble, and not without a sense of humor.

It's hard to listen to this album and not have Cobain's imminent suicide on the back of ones mind. "All Apologies" sounds especially poignant when placed in this context, knowing how much pain Cobain must have felt while performing.

While Cobain's early death was a great loss, his legacy and genius is immortalized on this recording. With "MTV Unplugged in New York City," Cobain should not be mourned, but rather his life and his music should be celebrated. This recording serves as a fitting epithet to one of rocks most tortured, genuine and gifted talents.

Although Nirvana's studio work was great (particularly In Utero), this live album of November 1993 solidified the band's legend.

The concept behind Unplugged was decidedly unusual. Here was an intense, loud punk band from Seattle playing acoustic. An odd concept indeed, but Cobain, Grohl, and Novoselic were more than up to the task with a beautiful 14-song set. To my knowledge, Nirvana was the first to play an entire Unplugged session in a single take, which makes the quality of the performance all the more remarkable.

Instead of just playing a list of popular hits (as Alice In Chains did in the Unplugged format), Kurt decided to pay homage to the band's indie roots with covers of the Vaselines (Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam), David Bowie (The Man Who Sold The World, featuring the only plugged guitar), and three selections from Meat Puppets II (Plateau, Oh Me, Lake Of Fire). All of these renditions are pure gold, and I consider them superior to the originals.

Their studio work takes on a new dimension without the electric distortion. About A Girl sends shivers up my spine, Come As You Are sounds even more impressive acoustic, Dumb is filled with beautiful stringwork, Pennyroyal Tea becomes a haunting solo ballad, and All Apologies changes from raw to meloncholy. Most of these songs are at least equivalent to the studio versions, with All Apologies being much better than the harsh In Utero version.

The best track of all though is the unforgettable Where Did You Sleep Last Night. In this Leadbelly cover, Kurt lets all the feeling hit home, especially toward the end with his piercing screams. I've never heard a more emotional song in my life, and I always shed a tear listening to it.

This one ranks as the best live album of the 1990's and among the best ever. If you love Nirvana, definitely buy this one. If you never considered buying a Nirvana album, this one will make you a fan. Trust me.

----RIP Kurt----

This would have been a better title for this album. Recorded before and released after Kurt Cobain's selfish final stand, this album truly showcases: 1) the enormous potential Cobain as a songwriter took to the grave with him, and 2) the brilliance of his songs and their pliabilty to other forms of performance. It would have been hard to imagine Nirvana's angry grunge translated to an acoustic setting, but this performance (done in one take) exposes Cobain's songs as they really are: great melodies wrapped in a grimy layer of distortion. This performance also showcases Cobain's influence through his choice of covers: disparate artists like David Bowie, Vaselines, Meat Puppets and Leadbelly all come together under Cobain's creative umbrella: Curt and Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets join Nirvana on stage for three songs, all very well played.

Cobain's own songs are really exposed as gems, some of the best written in the past 25 years: "About a Girl", "Come as You Are", "Dumb" and "Pennyroyal Tea" are especially fantastic and show just how good Cobain was. Let this album stand as an eternal tribute to not only their musical and pop sensibilities, but Nirvana's magic on stage with their "Wishkah" collection. Wonderful music.

Nirvana were known for their noisy guitars and distorted feedback, but as fans know, once or twice every album they would pull out a genuinely beauitful song. This performance gives non-fans a chance to recognize this element of Nirvana, and fans a chance to revel in it for 50-plus minutes.

The performance opens on the strong "About A Girl," from their debut album Bleach. Then comes a particularly good version of "Come As You Are," with that most ironic of ironic lyrics, "And I swear that I don't have a gun." From there, they move on to a gorgeous rendition of the Vaselines' "Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam." I am an atheist, and this song moved me to tears -- that's how powerful it is. Then comes David Bowie's "Man Who Sold the World," which everyone else seems to think is one of the albums strongest points, but I think is a bit weak and flat compared with other tracks.

Next Kurt Cobain does "Pennyroyal Tea" by himself. Some fans don't like this song all that much, but I am not one of them -- I love this song and I love hearing it in this stripped-down way. For some reason the out-of-tune guitar here adds to the charm of the song for me. The next two songs, "Dumb" and "Polly," are pretty much the same as the album versions, but good nevertheless. "On A Plain" is a bit surprising to hear toned down, but it's great -- one of their most underrated songs, in my opinion. "Something In the Way" is the same as the album version -- gorgeous, poignant song.

Then come the three Meat Puppets covers with the Kirkwood brothers. "Plateau" is terrific. "Oh Me" is not as good, but it picks right back up with the wonderful "Lake of Fire." It's so interesting to listen to Kurt's vocals on these tracks -- supposedly he picked them specifically because they would stretch his range. After these songs comes "All Apologies," one of my favorites. This version is better than the album version, as it feels like Kurt is truly singing it with a knowing voice, they way it was meant to be sung.

At last comes the grand finale -- and oh, what a grand finale. The cover of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" at first seems nothing special -- but wait a couple of minutes. At 3:01, Kurt lets loose with an anguished howl that chills the listener straight to the bone. It is haunting, beautiful, chilling, poignant, and unforgettable. The audience is absolutely silent -- they know that this is possibly the most impassioned performance he has ever given, and they don't want to ruin it. It is, without a doubt, the best song on the album and one of their best tracks, period.

In conclusion, buy this album. Stop reading this review, and click the order button. You won't regret it -- even if you think you're not a fan of Nirvana's screaming and heavy sound, you will love this album. It's perfect for anyone who likes emotional and impassioned music. Seeing as how this was Nirvana's final album before Kurt Cobain's death, it is especially poignant and affecting. Again, buy it now.

In the fall of 1993, the biggest band in the world at the time, Nirvana (made up of guitarist/singer,songwriter Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl), appeared for the first time in MTV's studios in New York to record what was to become the best and most memorable Unplugged edition in MTV's history.

Nirvana were at the top of their game, with millions of albums sold worldwide, and millions more the number of fans. Kurt Cobain, the band's troubled frontman, was the 'voice of a generation'. He wrote and sang songs that struck a nerve with the youth's conscience, from feelings of confusion, hatred of the world, self doubt and anger. The band had emerged onto the scene with such a huge impact just a little more than 2 years earlier when Nevermind was released to critical and public acclaim. Despite the success, the band and especially Cobain expressed their despise of commerical media and the exploitation of rock music, which explains the reason why they did not include their breakthrough hit Smells Like Teen Spirit in the Unplugged session.

During the entire session, Cobain can be seen crouching in his seat with his face pale, his hair greasy and let down on the sides of his face, his voice raspy, and his mood ranging between torn up and just plain bored. However, once the music kicks in, he sings and screams his heart out to a mesmerized crowd, while unintentionally making some humorous comments in between songs ("I gaurantee you I'll screw this one up..." he says before an outstanding cover version of David Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World). All of this can be heard on the album as the band play some of their best and underrated songs of their short career: the heartbreaking Dumb, the gloomy Come As You Are, the two-chord classic About A Girl, the elusive Something In The Way, the ditty Polly, the awesome All Apologies, and the twisted ballad Where Did You Sleep Last Night, not to mention the highlight of the evening, a version of David Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World, which is most definitely on the list of most downloaded songs on the Internet, and is way better than its original.

Only 5 months after the recording of Unplugged, Kurt Cobain was found dead in his house due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. As a result, Nirvana, the most remarkable band of the era, was no more.

Unplugged In New York captures the Seattle trio in their last session together as a group. It's a remarkable album, and quite possibly Nirvana's best compilation ever.

Recommended

A