Nirvana – MTV Unplugged In New York

Could this be the album with the most unofficial releases ever? 121 to date.

This is my personal WORST ALBUM OF ALL TIME !
Punkrock and acoustic is NOT a good match.
Kurt Cobain was a self-destructed junkie in the last year of his life.
Geffen made him famous by releasing their product all over the world,
from Saudi Arabia to Thailand. Easy money!
His voice sounds afwul, worse than before.
Whining like a beaten homeless dog. Arrghh.
I was young, foolish and believed much of the hype.
Soon it was all over. Foo Fighters? Hell no !!!

One of the best live albums I've ever heard. I thought they were an excellent group before I heard heard their Unplugged set, but it was this live album that really elevated them to my list of favorite artists. Their cover version of The Man Who Sold The World is one of the great cover versions I think, and I prefer their versions of Plateau and Lake Of Fire to the originals too. Of the band's own original material I think All Apologies is the most improved track and far superior to the original version. I also think the unplugged style gives Come As You Are an extra emotional punch that makes me prefer it to the single version too. It was a very wise move on the band's part to not just fill the set up with their biggest hits as it allowed for lesser known tracks (just as good as the big hits, if not better) to be showcased. A fantastic and deeply emotional performance that I'd say is pretty much essential listening.

In all honesty, i don't anything that's even half gut-wrenching as this album. I can listen to separate songs from this one, but its extremely hard to sit through it in all of its entirety. Whatever adds emotional weight to all of this is the fact that it was one of the last efforts by Nirvana. But even leaving that aside, most of the songs are incredibly sad, whether its covers (Jesus Doesn't Me For A Sunbeam, Man Who Sold The World, Oh Me, Lake Of Fire, Where Did You Sleep Last Night) or original songs performed in acoustic versions (About A Girl, On A Plain and the fact that quiet wisely, Smells Like Teen Spirit was nowhere to be found). Probably one of those albums that stays with you for years.

This is a great chillout CD, one of my favourites. I've heard people doubt the validity of Kurt Cobain's talent. This album should silence any sceptics. Technically and emotionally, this is a brilliant live performance and I feel priveledged to own this CD.

The whole album is a satisfying listen. My favourite is "Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam". It's another cover of a Vaselines song, Kurt's much loved band. It's a testament to Kurt Cobain that he makes this sound better than the original as he does on the brilliant Vaselines covers on "Incesticide". That's my opinion of course.

The two songs taken from "Nevermind", "Come As You Are" and "Polly" are also superior to the original studio versions in my opinion. Less polished and more genuine in emotion, they just have more resonance in acoustic form.

For all the sadness and melancholy contained in the music here, Kurt is also an engaging host between songs. We get a glimpse at his reknowned sense of humour although this has always been evident in his songwriting to me. Kurt was not all about angst but also full of self-deprecating humour.

Overall a revelatory listen and proof that Nirvana were a highly talented group of musicians and Kurt was and is a true icon of our generation. R.I.P. Dude

A lot of hype was built around the unplugged event, not that anyone would expect that Nirvana would bang out special acoustic versions of their big hits (mainly speaking about "Smells Like Teen Spirit") as it would have been slightly impossible. "Come as you are" was the only of Nirvana's commercial hits that were played and it was a wise move, I think Kurt & Nirvana never intended this to be yet another unplugged show, it would be something to and it was.

The big standout for me is the David Bowie cover "The Man Who Sold The World", this is to date one of my favourite covers ever recorded and the sadness & emotion encapsulated in the track is overwhelming.