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Nirvana
Unplugged in New York
(MTV/Geffen)
#8 Boxed Set/Live Album/Music DVD for 2007
First Appeared in The Music Box, December 2007, Volume 14, #12
Written by John Metzger
Mon December 17, 2007, 06:55 AM CST
"It’s better to burn out than it is to rust." – Neil Young
Of all the artists to emerge from within Seattle’s grunge scene, Kurt Cobain
was the one who most seemed to take Neil Young’s words to heart by living as if
the lyrics had been written specifically for him. When he was found dead of a
self-inflicted gunshot wound in April 1994, a generation was shaken to its core,
even if his departure from this mortal plane wasn’t exactly a surprise. For
several years, Cobain had been battling heroin addiction, and in the weeks
preceding his death, he not only had overdosed on a combination of muscle
relaxants and alcohol, but also his wife Courtney Love had called the police,
claiming that he had locked himself in a room with a gun. There’s no doubt that
Cobain was a troubled soul, and at least part of his internal conflict emanated
from how he viewed his art.
Even today, the debate rages over whether Nirvana simply was following its
muse or whether it also was chasing its commercial aspirations. Considering that
the evidence seems to fall on both sides of the equation, the truth likely is
that the group was struggling to walk a line down the middle, one that would
allow it simultaneously to retain its credibility and earn a living. As the
front man for the group, the forces that tugged at Cobain surely were immense,
and between the industry representatives and the fans, he was being pulled
strongly in opposing directions. Although he accepted the burden that had been
placed upon him, his inability to cope with it is what eventually took his life.
Recorded in November 1993, Unplugged in New York is, perhaps, the only
moment when Nirvana’s commercial and artistic inclinations were in perfect
equilibrium. Without a doubt, it remains the most accessible of the ensemble’s
pursuits. At the time, though, it wasn’t at all what anyone expected from the
band. It bathed Nirvana’s output in a new light, yet, oddly enough, it was
completely in character for the ensemble. Viewed in hindsight, it also was the
calm before the storm.
Anyone who followed Nirvana’s ascent firsthand will find it difficult to
approach Unplugged in New York with a critical eye and a level head. Over
the years, the ensemble’s 60-minute set of material has grown in stature to the
point where it has assumed almost mythological proportions. For certain, it was
an emotionally raw performance, and with the knowledge of the events that
transpired in its wake, it has become even more unsettling to watch. Sitting on
a stage that was bedecked with flickering candles, vases of lilies, swooping
drapes, and a chandelier, Nirvana looked as if it was performing at a wake. As
it launched into About a Girl, its initial hesitancy and its uncertainty
with what it was about to do became apparent.
Over the course of Unplugged in New York, as it ran through an
unexpected selection of tunes, Nirvana did succeed in settling down, and with
the glowing support and adoration from its audience, the band — and Cobain, in
particular — regained its confidence. It’s telling, though, that two of the
finest moments of the show were cover songs. Not only did the group deliver a
sterling adaptation of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World that was
part-tribute and part-commentary upon Nirvana’s predicament, but it also
unleashed a bone-chilling interpretation of Lead Belly’s Where Did You Sleep
Last Night? that surely must have been a message of sorts to Love.
Nevertheless, Nirvana’s performance on Unplugged wasn’t perfect, not
by any stretch. In fact, there were times when Nirvana momentarily wrestled with
its songs and its arrangements. In place of bombast, the group showed tremendous
restraint, and each mistake that it made was magnified by the subdued, laid-back
atmosphere. Cobain’s voice, for example, occasionally struggled for the right
nuances, and the guitarists adopted a fairly formulaic approach that lent the
material a propulsion that was weary and meditative.
Wisely, Nirvana obtained some assistance in coloring its material. For all
intents and purposes, guitarist Pat Smear now was a member of the ensemble, and
graciously, Curt and Cris Kirkwood from The Meat Puppets were invited on stage
for a trio of songs. Cellist Lori Goldston, however, proved to be Nirvana’s
secret weapon for the evening. Her sorrowful and sympathetic accompaniments
dovetailed with Cobain’s melodies, which in turn gave tunes like Dumb, Something in the Way, and All Apologies a lovely, Beatle-esque air.
In the end, all of Nirvana’s miscues were erased by the honest intimacy that was
inherent in the group’s portrayal of its work.
Still, the footage that aired on MTV in December 1993 only told a portion of
the story. In this regard, the newly minted DVD incarnation of the band’s
performance — which is presented in a striking surround sound mix — paints a
much broader portrait of the engagement. While the myriad of cover tunes that
Nirvana tackled hinted that the group had approached its appearance on the
program from a different perspective than most, it is the re-inclusion of the
casual, between-song banter — not the two songs that were excised from the
broadcast (Something in the Way and Oh Me) — that completes the
picture by revealing just how much fun Nirvana was having.
Adding to the aura, Unplugged in New York also includes rehearsal
footage as well as interviews, which were conducted for an MTV news segment that
aired in 1999. The result is that the collection provides an insightful glimpse
at Nirvana as it moved through a very unique time in its career. Although it was
filmed while the band was riding high, the program also highlights the
uncertainty of the ensemble’s search for whatever its next move would happen to
be. In the wake of Cobain’s death, such questions inevitably were left
unanswered, but the abundance of ideas that drifted like wraiths through
Nirvana’s Unplugged set clearly demonstrated that grunge and punk were
the beginning rather than the end of its journey. 
Unplugged in New York is available from Amazon.com.
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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