Nevermind was never meant to change the world, but you can never predict when the zeitgeist will hit, and
Nirvana's second album turned out to be the place where alternative rock crashed into the mainstream. This wasn't entirely an accident, either, since
Nirvana did sign with a major label, and they did release a record with a shiny surface, no matter how humongous the guitars sounded. And, yes,
Nevermind is probably a little shinier than it should be, positively glistening with echo and fuzzbox distortion, especially when compared with the black-and-white murk of
Bleach. This doesn't discount the record, since it's not only much harder than any mainstream rock of 1991, its character isn't on the surface, it's in the exhilaratingly raw music and haunting songs.
Kurt Cobain's personal problems and subsequent suicide naturally deepen the dark undercurrents, but no matter how much anguish there is on
Nevermind, it's bracing because he exorcises those demons through his evocative wordplay and mangled screams -- and because the band has a tremendous, unbridled power that transcends the pain, turning into pure catharsis. And that's as key to the record's success as
Cobain's songwriting, since
Krist Novoselic and
Dave Grohl help turn this into music that is gripping, powerful, and even fun (and, really, there's no other way to characterize "Territorial Pissings" or the surging "Breed"). In retrospect,
Nevermind may seem a little too unassuming for its mythic status -- it's simply a great modern punk record -- but even though it may no longer seem life-changing, it is certainly life-affirming, which may just be better. [For its 20th Anniversary,
Universal released two deluxe editions of
Nirvana's
Nevermind, the first a two-disc set that contained all of the album's B-sides, the
Hoarmoaning EP, live BBC sessions, and early sessions recorded at Smart Studios, along with previously unreleased rehearsal versions recorded on a boom box. The second, Super Deluxe edition has these two discs, plus a third CD with "The Devonshire Mixes," which is essentially
Butch Vig's early rough mix of the album before it was handed over to
Andy Wallace, a fourth CD containing a live concert at Seattle's Paramount Theater on Halloween, 1991, given just weeks after the release of
Nevermind, a concert that's also available as a DVD in this LP-sized deluxe book. A good chunk of the music on the first two discs is available elsewhere, either on
Incesticide or the
With the Lights Out box, or on B-sides that are fairly easy to acquire, yet to have all this material collected in one place is not only handy, it helps jolt
Nevermind out of the history books, all the loose ends and mess showcasing
Nirvana at its unruly best. And there are moments on the Smart Sessions that sound positively lethal, particularly the early version of "Breed," then called "Immodium," and despite their rickety fidelity, the Boombox Rehearsals contain a similar power. In comparison, the original
Vig mix of
Nevermind doesn't sound have quite the same level of revelation -- it's heavier on the bottom end, there aren't quite as many guitar effects, the singles aren't as polished, "Territorial Pissing" loses its piss-take "Get Together" intro and "On a Plain" outro -- sounding like something of a bridge between
Bleach and
Nevermind as we know it, while the Live show is positively celebratory, capturing the group just as the phenomenon exploded, long before it overwhelmed them. Ultimately, that's the great thing about either deluxe version of
Nevermind: it shakes the sad specter of
Kurt Cobain the tortured poet and restores the fun and fury of a great rock & roll band at their peak.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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