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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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With the Lights Out Artist: Nirvana Label: Geffen Records Length: Several Hours When Courtney Love, Krist Novoselic, and Foo Fighter Dave Grohl ended their legal wrangling and released the album Nirvana in 2002, Nirvana fans grumbled. Only one new song? They didn’t want a Best of Nirvana album; they wanted a Worst of Nirvana album, with rare tracks and unreleased songs. With the Lights Out is just that, sort of. Fans will be pleased that, aside from delaying its release for three years, Courtney Love’s fingerprints are nowhere on this collection. It is completely and totally a Krist Novoselic project, and the goal appears to be historic preservation; dusty old tapes and tracks previously available only through bootlegs were run through the digital gauntlet. The accompanying booklet is plastered with the headlines that Kurt Cobain came to see as the enemy: “90s YOUTH FINDS ITS SOUND,” “NIRVANA NOT A SELLOUT,” “ONE-HIT WONDER?” etc. The liner notes are written by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Cobain’s role model who convinced him that it was ok to sign onto a major label. Disc One covers the period before Nirvana’s first album., beginning with a cover of “Heartbreaker” from their first performance in 1987. (The booklet contains a digital scan of Cobain and Novoselic’s first tape in 1985, but no recordings were released from it.) Most of the unreleased material in the project can be found on this 23-track disc: Nirvana’s earliest songs, a demo with three more Leadbelly covers, including “They Hung Him on a Cross,” and the catchy new-wave song “Even in His Youth.” The last six songs on this CD were worth the money that I just gave to Universal Music executives. Disc Two covers the years 1990-1992, before and during the time “Nirvana-mania” swept the nation. It is full of demos, outtakes, B-sides, and the studio recording of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” that made the band famous, much to their surprise and alarm. One of the most interesting recordings is “Opinion,” recorded when Cobain showed up at a radio station late at night and told them he wanted to play some songs. The B-sides from Nevermind are here, but not impressive- the outtakes and demos are much better. Disc Three contains material from 1993-94. The most striking are the really hard-to-find B-sides from this period. There is “Marigold,” the only Nirvana song with Dave Grohl on lead vocals. Also, “I Hate Myself and I Want to Die” (from the Beavis and Butthead soundtrack,) “Sappy” (renamed Verse Chorus Verse) and “Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow through the Strip.” The disc also contains the last two Nirvana songs, “You Know You’re Right” and “Do Re Mi,” a melodious tune. Disc Four is a DVD: The first 9 performances are a home video of the band rehearsing at Krist’s mother’s house in 1988. Dave Grohl’s first show with the band, the first video for “In Bloom,” and scenes of Nirvana on tour are included. The set ends, appropriately, with the band singing in the studio: “We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun…” Were they the Beatles? The first alternative rock band? The last punk band? The godfathers of grunge rock? The most depressed band in history, with a poor image of the way that God viewed them, perhaps? At last, we get a chance to see how the band viewed itself over the years. With the Lights Out claims 68 unreleased tracks. While technically true, there are only 26 songs that are unreleased on a large scale. They are: Heartbreaker Anorexorcist White Lace and Strange Help Me I’m Hungry Mrs. Butterworth If You Must Pen Cap Chew Raunchola Beans Don’t Want it All Clean Up Before She Comes Blandest They Hung Him on a Cross Grey Goose Ain’t It a Shame Token Eastern Song Even in His Youth (released only in Japan/Australia) Opinion Pay to Play (early version of “Stay Away”) Here She Comes Now Verse Chorus Verse (original) Return of the Rat The Other Improv Do Re Mi Talk to Me Seasons in the Sun Freddie Odom 12/13/2004
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