In Utero [20th Anniversary Edition Deluxe] (1993)

Nirvana probably hired Steve Albini to produce In Utero with the hopes of creating their own Surfer Rosa, or at least shoring up their indie cred after becoming a pop phenomenon with a glossy punk record. In Utero, of course, turned out to be their last record, and it's hard not to hear it as Kurt Cobain's suicide note, since Albini's stark, uncompromising sound provides the perfect setting for Cobain's bleak, even nihilistic, lyrics. Even if the album wasn't a literal suicide note, it was certainly a conscious attempt to ... Read More

Nirvana probably hired Steve Albini to produce In Utero with the hopes of creating their own Surfer Rosa, or at least shoring up their indie cred after becoming a pop phenomenon with a glossy punk record. In Utero, of course, turned out to be their last record, and it's hard not to hear it as Kurt Cobain's suicide note, since Albini's stark, uncompromising sound provides the perfect setting for Cobain's bleak, even nihilistic, lyrics. Even if the album wasn't a literal suicide note, it was certainly a conscious attempt to shed their audience -- an attempt that worked, by the way, since the record had lost its momentum when Cobain died in the spring of 1994. Even though the band tempered some of Albini's extreme tactics in a remix, the record remains a deliberately alienating experience, front-loaded with many of its strongest songs, and then descending into a series of brief, dissonant squalls before concluding with "All Apologies," which only gets sadder with each passing year. Throughout it all, Cobain's songwriting is typically haunting, and its best moments rank among his finest work, but the over-amped dynamism of the recording seems like a way to camouflage his dispiritedness -- as does the fact that he consigned such great songs as "Verse Chorus Verse" and "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" to compilations, when they would have fit, even illuminated, the themes of In Utero. Even without those songs, In Utero remains a shattering listen, whether it's viewed as Cobain's farewell letter or self-styled audience alienation. Few other records are as willfully difficult as this. [Like Nevermind before it, Nirvana's In Utero -- their third album and only their second studio album for a major label -- gets a Super Deluxe expanded edition for its 20th anniversary in 1993. Problem is, there isn't quite as much left in the vaults for In Utero as there was for Nevermind. The B-sides have circulated widely, many of them appearing on the 2004 box set With the Lights Out; the band recorded only a handful of demos prior to heading into the studio with Steve Albini, and although Albini's original mix was legendarily sweetened by Scott Litt for the official 1993 release, the difference comes down to only three tracks: "Pennyroyal Tea," a Litt mix that was rejected, and "Heart Shaped Box" and "All Apologies," which had the original Albini recordings scrapped in favor of Litt's softer mixes, where the guitar solos and power chord overdubs aren't quite as ugly (but are still far from polite). Three differing tracks aren't much to build a whole three-disc deluxe set upon, so these three mixes are surrounded by previously released B-sides and rarities, a new 2013 mix of the entire album and, best of all, Live & Loud, an exceptional homecoming concert given at Pier 48 on December 13, 1993 and broadcast on MTV. Of the largely un-bootlegged demos and scrapped tracks here, the most interesting are two instrumental demos, the best of which is "Forgotten Tune," which doesn't so much have a full-fledged tune but a nifty chord progression. "Jam," another instrumental (lasting almost six minutes and thereby living up to the promise of its title), taps into the primal murk of Nirvana's prime. That savagery is almost wholly ignored on the 2013 remix of the album, which pushes Kurt Cobain's vocals to the forefront, sacrificing the group's twitching interplay for a friendlier mix. This 2013 mix may neuter the album, but all that brutality can be heard on the original 2003 mix, and it can be heard elsewhere in the extras, particularly the Live & Loud concert, which is about as good as any televised concert ever was. Nirvana is at their latter-day peak on Live & Loud, running through In Utero and the hardest moments of Nevermind and Bleach -- but the presence of the full-album remix suggests how there wasn't much in the vaults, that all they could do was fatten this expensive box with a mix that pays tribute to the letter of Nirvana if not their spirit.... Read Less

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