With The Lights Out [3CD + DVD]

Nirvana

The four discs in With The Lights Outencompass the career of one of those rare bands who genuinely changed things. When Nirvana climbed to number one in 91 with their album Nevermind, they destroyed forever the very concept of 'alternative', ending the rule that edgy and raw music was doomed to mere cultdom.

With The Lights Outlooks at Nirvana's meteoric rise and abrupt implosion with the suicide of frontman Kurt Cobain through a glass darkly: the trajectory of underwhelming debut, glossy produced second album which merged punk fury with pretty melodies and third album where they dirtied everything up to prove they hadn't sold out is accurately presented but via demos, radio performances, live versions, B-sides and outtakes, the vast majority previously unreleased. It's part treasure trove (e.g., unreleased worthy "Verse Chorus Verse") and half trainspotter fare (the band jokingly running through Terry Jacks' '70s corn-fest "Seasons In the Sun" on the fourth, DVD, disc).

This is not the place for the uninitiated to start but this set will, for Nirvana fans, be the perfect closure to their glorious, sad career. --Sean Egan