Nirvana
Transmissions

THE REVIEW

Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana... Who doesn't associate this band with the grunge explosion in Seattle in the early '90s? A genre that grouped together diverse and heterogeneous bands such as Soundgarden, those metalheads Alice in Chains (who knows why they immediately converted to the grunge creed...), Mudhoney, etc...

We know almost everything about Cobain and his beloved/hated partners, thanks to documentaries and books that are offered to us monthly. We have less documentation about their live performances. It's true, there's a sea of bootlegs, many available on e-mule, but officially the only audio testimony is "From the muddy banks of Wishkah".

Now semi-officially, we can listen to the historic recording at KAOS FM dated April 17, 1987, just six weeks after their first live performance, plus 4 tracks from Saturday Night Live '92-'93. It's incredible the qualitative gap in this span of time.

The radio recording, in somewhat decent quality, presents us with a rising band with absolutely normal characteristics; there are no particular flashes of genius, either in their sound (a poor imitation of the Melvins, more often than not) or in the voice. I challenge anyone to say that after hearing these recordings, their future as multimillionaire rock'n'roll stars was clear (why do you wrinkle your nose, it's the truth!).

"Love buzz" is clearly being refined, with Kurt improvising the lyrics and Aaron Burckhard's drumming staying linear throughout the piece; "Downer" is closer to "Ozma" than to "Bleach"; "Floyd the barber" and "Spank thru" are weak and boring; "Hairspray queen" has neither head nor tail. The only really interesting moments are the cover of Thunder And Roses "White lace and strange" and "Anorexorcist" (the latter also present on "With the lights out").

In stark contrast, the last tracks on this collection: "Smells like teen spirit" and "Territorial pissings" come from the January 11, 1992 performance on "Saturday Night Live"; "Rape me" and "Heart-shaped box" date back to September 25, 1993, again guests on the famous NBC program.

The performance is astonishing, absolutely in line with the ferocious performances of the trio (quartet with the addition of Pat Smear from '93 onwards). Grohl's drumming is devastating, Novoselic's bass is fluid and harmonic (the only point in common with the recording at KAOS FM), Cobain's voice has found the right way to express itself and take on the burden of its generation.

"Transmissions" also contains a video track with the videos of the last four songs in the tracklist attached. An album warmly recommended only to completists.