jeff_wilder78's Full Review: MTV Unplugged in New York by Nirvana (US)
The unplugged album, like the "Grunge explosion", was a hallmark of early 1990s rock and roll. Like the Northwest music movement, it produced a lot of music, yet it only left behind a few truly enduring albums. Eric Clapton's classic Unplugged is certainly one of them and the other one to definitely reach classic status is Nirvana's "Unplugged In New York".
When Nirvana first recorded their classic MTV Unplugged episode in December 1993, the world was unaware of the darkness that would soon descend upon Seattle. So at the time, the idea of a rock band doing an unplugged show wasn't so out of the ordinary. However, with the events of April 1994, the very feel of "Unplugged In New York" changed from being "an acoustic album by a hard rock band" to an aural wake and funeral for Cobain and for the sad yet progressive spirit that kind of died with him.
In case the greatness of "In Utero" hadn't already done so, Unplugged helped ensure that Nirvana's place in musical history was secure. It also showed that there was more to the band than screeching feedback and bloodcurdling screams. It showed the sound beneath the fury.
The very first song on the album showcases this perfectly. Immediately after the opening of some minor crowd cheering, Kurt Cobain announces: "This is off our first record. Most people don't know it". The band then immediately begins offering up the most famous version of "About A Girl", originally from the Bleach album.
From there, we proceed directly to a good acoustic version of "Come As You Are" followed by a very good cover of The Vaselines "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam". It's the next song that reaches the level of Nirvana classic, even if the band didn't write it themselves.
The song in question is David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" and Nirvana succeed in doing a respectful cover of the master's work while still managing to make the song their own.
Elsewhere on Unplugged, Nirvana offer up unplugged takes on their hits that surpass the originals. The versions of "Dumb" and "Pennyroyal Tea" heard here are the definitive versions as the emotions showcased here are more prevalent than on the originals and "Polly", "On A Plain" and "Something In The Way" also work well in the acoustic setting. Give the band points for not attempting an acoustic "Smells Like Teen Spirit". The results I fear would not have been pretty. Not because the song couldn't have been done acoustically. But because the new version would be just as overplayed as the original and we'd all be sick of it by now.
"Unplugged In New York" was also good in the way it helped to introduce the world to the underrated Meat Puppets. Cobain had long admired their songwriting and he shows off his admiration here by inviting Meat Puppets leader Curt and Cris Kirkwood to come on stage with Nirvana for renditions of three Puppets classics: "Oh Me”, “Plateau" and "Lake Of Fire". Especially good is the band's rendition of "Lake Of Fire", which, with its (sardonically humorous) images of death and hell, works well with Cobain's agonized vocals. An all around brilliant song.
Another great rendition of another Nirvana classic is the next to last track on the album. That song of course is "All Apologies". Coming in light of what happened 4 months later, the title and lyrics ("I wish I was like you/Easily amused/Find my nest of salt/Everything is my fault") sound eerily prophetic.
But even more chilling and gut-wrenching is the final track on Unplugged: the cover of bluesman Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night". The song features a cello along with Cobain's acoustic guitar. That combined with Cobain's anguished singing makes this classic blues tale of infidelity and murder outright scary. In the process, it proves that there was soul to Nirvana's music as well as angst. Teen angst can only get you so far and here we learn exactly why.
Unplugged In New York is a record that has gone down in history as a true classic and will continue to stay there for generations to come. Fury can only get you so far, there must be sound as well and Nirvana proved here that there was.
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