CD Review: Nirvana - With the Lights Out

Recently a boxset of old, and mostly previously unreleased material was released in a set called With the Lights Out. I had the good fortune of being able to sample a small portion of this set, and from what I heard, this is primarily for the die hard Nirvana fans.

I was a fan when they burst onto the scene with the Nevermind album. I was a junior in high school at the time, and right in the middle of the age group that this, and the rest of the grunge movement, were affecting. The album was brilliant and mediocre at the same time. I could never quite figure out why everyone was hailing them as geniuses. I thought the music was very good and different from everything that was out there, but brilliant? Nah.

Anyway, as years passed and subsequent albums were released, I become more of a fan of the material, and noticed just how much of an impact it had on the music industry. Then Kurt goes and kills himself, and all of a sudden this bubbling reverence came spilling out onto the scene, and Kurt is placed on a pedestal as some sort of god. I still don't buy it. I can't help but think about what he, and the rest of Nirvana could have done hadn't he taken the easy way out of fame and substance abuse.

Back to the sampling I got to taste, it's not nearly enough for me to comment on the quality of the entire set, but I wasn't all that impressed. It is primarily of early four track recordings and demo versions. It is early material from a still developing band, but I found it to be rather underwhelming. The first thing necessary in listening to it, is getting past the lousy sound quality. I can forgive that considering the source recordings were not in a top notch studio, and they were probably not preserved that well.

What we get are some songs that expose a poor guitar player, who does not really do to much with his chosen instrument, singing songs with a gravelly, warbly voice that you cannot understand. The bass playing is solid, following the general rhythm of the guitar, filling in the low end. And finally the drumming shows promise of a solid backbeat. Taken together, it is merely the definition of local act mediocrity.

The highlight of this set is the album version of In Bloom, which is a great track. Outside of that, there are demos for Heart Shaped Box and You Know You're Right, which sound rather poor, and all of those are better than the early tracks White Lace and Strange, and Blandest, which sound rather awful.

It has not tempered my enjoyment of their other released recordings, it just makes one wonder how they were able to get to that point. I have heard many a local act that have more talent than what is displayed here, and they don't go anywhere.

Bottomline. Unless the rest of this set gets better, I would have to say that this set is for fans only.

Not Recommended.