Search - Nirvana :: With The Lights Out

"Do Re Mi" alone is worth the entire set...

James Krieger | White Plains, NY United States | 11/29/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For anyone who has not gotten the new 3CD/1DVD box set "With The Lights Out" from Nirvana... This set is absolutely amazing. Many of the songs and demos that are on the set I have had for years now on cassettes that have found their way to me but on this set they have been cleaned and mastered fantastically. Then there are the songs and demos that have never seen the light of day... They speak for themselves.



There is some great humor here starting right off Disc 1 with the band at their very first gig about to launch into Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and Kurt can be heard yelling in the background "I don't know this song!" Kurt's trippy demo of "Beans", with his harmonized vocal is hilarious. There are great "Bleach" era demos ("If You Must", "Pen Cap Chew"), to some killer sessions with Mark Lanegan doing Leadbelly covers. But here is where it hits the hardest...



The very last song (rumored) to have ever been recorded is a demo included here called "Do Re Mi" (sometimes referred in the past as "Dough, Ray and Me"). This demo (along with the acoustic "You Know Your Right") is the clear example of where Kurt was about to go musically... The melody is breathtaking, and the beauty of the composition is absolutely devastating knowing what was to come. The recording is Kurt himself with an acoustic guitar (probably at home, Courtney can be heard talking to him in the background as the song finishes) and the starkness of his voice with his lone acoustic sets up a landscape of undefinable melodic beauty. This song is worth the price of the entire set.



All you need to be reminded of the value of this set is to turn on the radio... Today's rock music genre is a a soul-less desolate landscape of 4th and 5th generation imitators of previous forms. This box set historically shows the most important band since the Beatles before and during the most important time in musical history since the fab four walked off the plane at JFK airport. Who else came along, sent a music genre before them to the graveyard, defined a generation, opened the gates for a whole new genre of musicains, and left a void in it's wake a generation wide? Exactly.



The bullet that killed Kurt Cobain didn't just kill a person, it blew a hole thru a rock n roll in a way that no one could have ever imagined, even more so than John Lennon. Imagine if Lennon or McCartney had died at the height of their skills? You don't have to, it happened in Seattle in 1994.



When you listen to "Do Re Mi" the "What could have been" is absolutely heartbreaking..."

NIRVANA'S BEST CD, BUT NOT FOR EVERYONE

cheikl | 11/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With The Lights Out is Nirvana's best release. Its combination of gritty home recordings, demos, b-sides and outtakes make any hard-core Nirvana fan love the band even more (if possible). But when I say "hard-core," I really do mean hard-core. With The Lights Out contains many unfinished songs, some poorly recorded, others too short or too long. Songs like Oh The Guilt and Curmudgeon were so overly grunge that they weren't released on Nirvana's maintstream albums. Very Ape, in the middle of a verse, was recorded over with Kurt Cobain randomly singing "A da da dum da da da da." This truly is Nirvana's greatest release, but for those who aren't regular listeners, don't waste your money.



For the fans, especially bootleggers, With The Lights Out is a dream. The set features the rarest of available bootlegs. Even the most avid bootleggers will only have 15 of these songs. Multiply that by 4 and you've got 60 extraordinarily rare songs, a bootlegger's heaven. I had only six of the tracks featured in the set, and i searched for hours. Most of the songs are better than those released mainstream. All the songs, rare or different versions, are amazing.



With The Lights Out serves two purposes. First, any songs that hadn't been released finally are. Second, it tells the short history of Nirvana. The first CD is filled with raw songs, horrible vocals and guitaring, and even worse drumming. The second CD is much better. Many of the songs are put together better and they sound great. The third CD is just as amazing, but it's also very emotional. As I listened to it, particularly You Know You're Right, Kurt Cobain's voice was incredible. The emotion in that CD, the knowledge that Kurt Cobain would kill himself, it makes listening madly depressing. When All Apologies (the last song) finished, I sat in silence for a really long time. It was the first time I gave serious thought to how horrible Kurt Cobain's life had been when he killed himself. In the songs near the end, he sounded weak, almost like he out-did himself and lost his voice. But he hadn't lost his voice. These songs were still unbelievably great, even in his depression. With The Lights Out is a great CD, especially if it can evoke such emotion.



Overall, the music is great, emotional, and explains a lot about Nirvana's history. Its poorly recorded songs, which so many people complain about, are only bad for about 10 seconds in each song. These rough parts are no worse than a CD with minor scratches that makes one song have a few pops for 2 seconds. I am not trying to defend Nirvana. Some of the rough songs are horrible, but it is so brief that there really isn't any reason to complain.



The DVD is horrible except for the last three videos which are awesome. It is horribly edited, terrible sound, etc. But the last three, Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam, Talk To Me, and Seasons in the Sun are great. In Jesus..., Dave Grohl's symbol collapses in the middle of a concert. It is also profesionally recorded, so the sound is DVD quality. Talk to Me has good sound, and it was performed well. Seasons in the Sun is hilarious. The band spoofs it so much, pretending to get emotional. Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic are really funny. The DVD is screwed up at one point. The order is different than printed in the 60 page booklet. The In Bloom video isn't in the right place on the DVD. When i watched the DVD for the first time, I almost fell asleep. But the last three videos pull it back up to 5 STARS.



GET THIS CD IF YOU'RE A FAN.

"

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us

Fairy Hug's & Sugar Kisses | 11/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After many years of waiting, Nirvana fans have what Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, at one time refered too as "the Holy Grail Of Rock Music." That has turned out to be absolutly no understatement. This 4 disc compilation (3 CD's + 1 DVD) is a must for any rock fan. With rare demo's, solo Cobain recordings, a few live tracks, some late 80's radio perfomances, and a few B-side's thrown in also. Whether you've been a Nirvana fan for years, or are just beginning to appreciate the music of this wonderful band, you will get everything in this package. It's not all polished, it's not all perfect, it's raw. It's rock. It's Nirvana.

Most compelling on this album is disc 3. Which hosts at least 3 unreleased demo's that Cobain made just previous to a concert tour in early 1994, which ended with him in a coma in Rome. Following his release from the hospital in Rome, within weeks, the enevitable happened. Cobain swallowed a shot-gun shell in the home he shared with his wife and child. Resulting in his tragic death and a brutal punch in the gut to music as we new it.

Included with these 1994 demo's is the much talked about song: "Do Re Mi," which can clearly show some of Cobain's influence from the poppy Beatles, which he adored through his whole life. The track begins with what seems like someone banging against a wall, perhaps a suitcase, or maybe just a box, to simulate the drums that aren't present. The vocals are pristine. Serious. Haunting. The acoustic guitar that Cobain plays reflects his not so perfect, but yet delicate guitar skills. At the end of the track, if you listen carefully, you can hear the entushiastic voice of Cobain's wife, Courtney Cobain, telling him: "That Was GREAT!"

The album then goes into an acoustic version of "You Know Your Right" which was only played live once under the title, "On The Mountain," and recorded on a cold afternoon at Lange Studios in what is said to be 1 take. The lyrics are very different then the one's fans heard on the studio version that was released in the fall of 2002. The vocals are far from perfect. At times you can nearly feel the pain Cobain muct have felt as he strained his voice. His lyrics are extremly haunting, considering the suicide that followed, including the line: "I Could Never Die Again/I Won't Loose Another Friend/She Will See Another Me/When I'm Through........" The vocals then become hard to understand. Maybe on purpose. As a part of the mystery. To hide his secrets. His pain. His love.

The most hard to listen to track has to be the electric demo of "Rape Me." Which begins with the shrill cries of a 2 month old Frances Bean Cobain. On her fathers lap in the studio, he holds her up to the mic, he passes her off, maybe, to his wife perhaps, and the intro begins. The cries of the child overlapping the vocals of a man she'd never really know. During the second refrain they return. Louder and even harder to listen to. Father & child crying out together. In the angst of a child who wants her bottle, maybe just a diaper change. In the angst of a man who just wanted to disappear.

There's also some funny tracks though. Including "Mrs. Butterworth" on disc 1. Where Cobain goes on a tirade about Ply Wood, Burlap, & Seashells. Only to end his story of a beach trip with the ever sarcastic: "But I'm still sleeping on that P*ss stained mattress," before ripping back into the song.

The DVD features rare performences & private band footage. Including a 1988 rehersal taped @ the home of bassist Krist Noveselic's mother. The Sub Pop video of Neverminds "In Bloom." The debut performence of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and a rare look inside the studio with the band as they record "Season's In The Sun" in Rio de Jeniro, Brazil. This performance includes a rare mix-up of the band lin-up. Cobain trading in his guitar for his first insturment, the drums. Drummer Dave Grohl (also of the Foo Fighters) moves outta the drummers seat to pick-up a bass. Krist Noveselic, takes off the weight of his bass for an all white Fender Strat. The music is at it's best. What we loved. What we lost. Cobain has freshly dyed brown hair. Wearing a ratty old sweater. His boyish giggle can be heard through his vocals towards the end of the song. A rare smile spreading across his face. It's an emotional final farewell from an epic part of musical history. As Cobain sings: "Goodbye Papa It's Hard To Die/When All The Birds Are Singing In The Sky." You just have to wonder.

Why couldn't something as simple as a bird save him?"