Nirvana

by

Nirvana

Edit

It could not be more obvious how much of an income attempt this entire CD is. With the disc and Kurt Cobain's "Journals" out "just in time for the holiday season", it doesn't take a genius to figure it out: the exploitation is insulting. While every track on the disc is extremely good and complete (as well as remastered)you begin to realize just how bland it is. With a band like Nirvana, an artistic purging of the most unique kind, you'd expect a couple of non-singles on there. Really good songs that weren't radio-friendly but truly represented what the band was about in full context. Instead, you have a bevy of all of the hits, which obviously is to be expected of the average band. But the original idea (that probably would have happened had Courtney Love not gone into a seizure over it) was a boxset full of rareties and material true to the band. It would have marked the 10th Anniversary of the release of "Nevermind" and it most likely would have been awesome. This album takes it's place, and with the exception of "You Know You're Right" (the overly-hyped though still really good "last Nirvana song") it pales in comparison to what could have been. Forgive me. I'm somewhat selfish. I'm obviously grateful, yet somewhat let down.

This is a very dry overview of Nirvana's career. I know the main goal is to assemble all of the hits on to one CD for casual fans intimidated by actual albums, but would it have been so hard to include some of the fan favorites that rank among the groups most essential work, if not their most well-known?

"Drain You" belongs here. "Polly" belongs here. "Aneurysm" should be here in some form (it was a hit off the 1997 live album and a highlight of Incesticide). "Love Buzz" was always a live staple and one of the standout songs from their debut. At a time when CD prices are reaching ridiculous new heights and other legendary performers like The Beatles and Elvis are seeing 30-song single-CD career overviews released, the Nirvana best-of CD should have featured a little bit more than it does.

The new song, "You Know You're Right", is typical Nirvana but enjoyable and emotional nonetheless. It stinks that hardcore fans will be driven to buy 13 songs they already have for this one new tune, but thats Geffen's plan now, isn't it?