• Rating:
This album was my introduction to Nirvana and especially made me fall in love with the so-called "grunge." I didn't know Cobain, I didn't know Nirvana, and I had never even heard of the Seattle music movement. Listening to this album meant discovering a new world for me, one that at the time captivated and fascinated me and now accompanies me daily. Chills. Magical chills. The emotions Cobain provides with his "live" voice are indescribable. I will never stop regretting not having been able to hear him live...
The atmosphere this album creates is magnificent. It moves, it gives peace, and at times it almost seems as if Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic are in front of you, tracing note by note the path to Nirvana... Moments of great transport, strong emotions, more chills. And as I talk about it, I can’t help but listen. "I think I'm dumb"... all of Kurt's alienation, and even more, that of Nirvana's grunge, is encapsulated in this phrase. Every piece is in the right place. The entire performance follows a single thread; the pieces form a whole, a unique entity only occasionally interrupted by audience applause and some jokes from the musicians. Highs and lows alternate with dreamlike harmony, the singer’s voice draws grand arches, and you let yourself be gently cradled by pieces like "Plateau," "Oh Me," tributes with "Lake Of Fire" to the Texans Meat Puppets, also present at Sony Studio in New York.
It's no coincidence that "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the group's most commercial piece, Cobain's blessing and curse, is missing. What the group offers, aside from the already mentioned Meat Puppets, is the best from an emotional intensity perspective of their production. Cobain demonstrates masterful control of that unpredictable instrument that is (was, alas) his voice, and the rest of the band accompanies their leader with great cohesion. From poignant hoarse screams that almost scratch in "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," a folk tribute to Leadbelly, down to melancholic whispers, as in "Something In The Way," an autobiographical piece of Cobain kicked out of his home: it's all in this performance. Even original reimaginings of artists far from grunge are not missing: "The Man Who Sold The World," by David Bowie, and "Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sumbeam," a religious piece by the Vaselines. There really is everything. Atmosphere, imagination, emotions, and again chills. Almost a prelude to what would happen a few months later.
A classic, a milestone in music history. One could say the artistic testament of a controversial and therefore mythical artist, the testament of a band that gave new inspiration to rock as a whole.
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