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My Amazon Reviews: Nirvana "In Utero"
Jun. 7th, 2013 06:22 pmAn Utter Sandblast of an Album
4 Out Of 5 Stars
The members of Nirvana were so caught off guard at the explosive success of "Nevermind" that it took them three years to record the follow-up. They were even quoted as saying they wanted to make an anti-nevermind to shed some of their fans who looked at the band (and in particular, Kurt Cobain) as movement leaders. "In Utero" was somewhat successful at that attempt, as it is possibly one of the loudest and most distorted albums recorded by a major rockstar band. Producer Steve Albini's original production was so harsh that the record company demanded a remix, which was done when the masters were turned over to REM producer Scott Litt, who remixed them under the title of "additional engineering."
But even he couldn't smooth out the roughest edges of "In Utero." The band got its initial wish as well. "In Utero" was selling on a slower pace than "Nevermind" was until Cobain decided addiction, success and depression were too much for him and he ended his own life. That act reignited the sales of "In Utero" and the whole Cobain as spokesman of a generation rage. His suicide still doesn't detract from the album's strengths and flaws. Cobain was a unique songwriter, in that his style of 'soft-loud-soft-screech' version of verse-chorus-verse altered songwriting for a whole generation of acts. And when he was on, he was stunning. There's no denying the power of "Heart Shaped Box" and "Dumb" or the depth of the haunting "All Apologies." Drummer Dave Grohl was the feistiest drummer in a long line of skinpounders, and bassist Kirst Novoselic held the bottom together in the midst of all the chaos.
At the same time, the album's flaws are glaring. The intentional dissonance can sometimes get in the way of the band (like on "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter," which sounds like a slam against the record company's insistence on getting another "Smells Like Teen Spirit") or the crash and burn howling on "Scentless Apprentice." But when you consider that this was the kind of Stooges' "Raw Power" approach Nirvana was aiming for, it's pretty amazing that they got away with it. Also, given that the music was essentially Cobain's suicide note to the world, it cemented "In Utero" as a riveting punctuation point to the end of Nirvana's lifespan.
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4 Out Of 5 Stars
The members of Nirvana were so caught off guard at the explosive success of "Nevermind" that it took them three years to record the follow-up. They were even quoted as saying they wanted to make an anti-nevermind to shed some of their fans who looked at the band (and in particular, Kurt Cobain) as movement leaders. "In Utero" was somewhat successful at that attempt, as it is possibly one of the loudest and most distorted albums recorded by a major rockstar band. Producer Steve Albini's original production was so harsh that the record company demanded a remix, which was done when the masters were turned over to REM producer Scott Litt, who remixed them under the title of "additional engineering."But even he couldn't smooth out the roughest edges of "In Utero." The band got its initial wish as well. "In Utero" was selling on a slower pace than "Nevermind" was until Cobain decided addiction, success and depression were too much for him and he ended his own life. That act reignited the sales of "In Utero" and the whole Cobain as spokesman of a generation rage. His suicide still doesn't detract from the album's strengths and flaws. Cobain was a unique songwriter, in that his style of 'soft-loud-soft-screech' version of verse-chorus-verse altered songwriting for a whole generation of acts. And when he was on, he was stunning. There's no denying the power of "Heart Shaped Box" and "Dumb" or the depth of the haunting "All Apologies." Drummer Dave Grohl was the feistiest drummer in a long line of skinpounders, and bassist Kirst Novoselic held the bottom together in the midst of all the chaos.
At the same time, the album's flaws are glaring. The intentional dissonance can sometimes get in the way of the band (like on "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter," which sounds like a slam against the record company's insistence on getting another "Smells Like Teen Spirit") or the crash and burn howling on "Scentless Apprentice." But when you consider that this was the kind of Stooges' "Raw Power" approach Nirvana was aiming for, it's pretty amazing that they got away with it. Also, given that the music was essentially Cobain's suicide note to the world, it cemented "In Utero" as a riveting punctuation point to the end of Nirvana's lifespan.
This entry was originally posted at http://www.dreamwidth.org/12345.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Minor Harvest4 Out Of 5 Stars
The second "best of" release from Soundgarden was meant to correspond to a version of Guitar Hero. While the earlier "A-Sides" is a beefier collection, this CD pares down to 12 songs. Of course, you can splurge and jump up to the double disc that has live versions and B-sides. However, Soundgarden is a decent collection of one of the most influential of the Seattle bands, along with Pearl Jam and Nirvana.
Soundgarden mixed the sludgy hard riffs of Black Sabbath and Led Zepplin with the attitude of the Grunge period. Lead singer Chris Cornell is a world class frontman, whose vocal style ranged from a screaming wail to hushed psychedelia. Kim Thyall remains a terrific guitarist, with versatility that grew the longer the band existed. Soundgarden also followed the classic career arc; really good rock band starts indie (the Sub-Pop single, "Hunted Down"), start finding their chemistry ("Hands All Over" from "Louder Than Love") gel completely (the incredible "Rusty Cage" from "Bad Motor Finger") and then cut a classic for the ages (all the cuts from "Superunknown"). Then they begin to unravel (still great "Blow Up The Outside World") as they cut the swansong album. But they still cut three great hard rock albums, and one world class single/video in the swirling drone of "Black Hole Sun."
There are two bonus reasons to have "Telephantasm
." "Birth Ritual" from the movie "Singles" is included, and the new song that brought Soundgarden to reunion, "Black Rain," is better than expected. Granted, a copy of "A-Sides" and "Superunknown" is likely all the Soundgarden you'll probably ever need, but for a best of, this single disc does the job.
![Nevermind [2 CD Deluxe Edition]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/1632d103d55f/3104870-229074/ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B0057GYOA4&tag=timbro-20)
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