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| Sunday, October 01, 2006 |
| Nirvana - In Utero |
 If I had to choose one Nirvana album to add to this collection, it would be In Utero. Of course, most people would go for the more obvious Nevermind, but this is perhaps there most complete album. It blends the raw sound of Bleach with the more pop sounding Nevermind to perfection. Having said that, it is not an easy album to listen to. It is not as immediate as their previous album and requires a certain amount of perseverance to get the best out of it. Sadly, this was the last studio album that they were to release (which seems to make much of the content strangely prophetic).
I remember buying the album on the day of release. I had been looking forward to it for some time as I really loved Nevermind. There was some controversy over the release of the album, as it was released around the same time as Vs, and the usual media talk about rivalry reared its head once more. It also proved controversial as, according to some reports, the label weren't happy with the quality of the album and wanted it to sound more commercial (leading to Scott Litt being hired to mix a couple of tracks). This in turn led to delays before its eventual release towards the end of 1993.
I remember getting the album home and spending ages looking at the artwork, particularly the back cover with its mixture of orchids and fetus. I was also struck by one of the photos of Kurt in the booklet. One of the photos has Kurt in a home-made Flipper t-shirt with bright pinky/red hair. To this day I have always wanted to dye my hair that colour, but I have never had the balls (besides, I am getting a little old for bright red hair!!). I was also intrigued by the symbols that were scattered around the artwork which were lifted from a book called The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, but I never got a chance to actually decipher them (if anyone does know I would be interested to find out). I also remember scrawling the lyrics to the songs all over my school folders. One that sticks in my mind was:
If you ever need anything please don't Hesitate to ask someone else first I'm too busy acting like I'm not naive I've seen it all, I was here first. (Very Ape)
I'm not sure why I chose these lyrics in particular, I guess I just liked the fuck you attitude.
As I mentioned earlier, the album had a rougher sound than its predecessor. Songs like Milk It and Scentless Apprentice were nothing like anything on Nevermind. It still had some more mainstream songs, Heart-Shaped Box and All Apologies being two good examples (in fact, these were the only two songs released as singles before Kurt killed himself). However, Kurt claimed that he wanted to move away from verse-chorus-verse type songs and concentrate on the more aggressive sounding songs like Scentless Apprentice and Milk It.
It is difficult to pick out any songs that really stood out for me but I guess if I had to pick one, it would be Radio Friendly Unit Shifter. It's probably not one of their most popular songs but I loved it. I loved the lyrics and I loved the fucked up guitar sound throughout the song. It really resonated with me when I was at school (especially the line: 'what is wrong with me') as I felt like a bit of a loner at times and I would go home, play this loud and just go mental in my room. I used to throw chairs around and just trash my room, but being the goodie that I was, I would do it while my parents were out and then after I had calmed down, put everything back in its place!! What a rebel. The song also contains the maxim that I have tried to live my life by ever since I bought this album:
Hate your enemies Save, save your friends Find, find your place Speak, speak the truth.
Kurt apparently described it as a 'throwaway', but I still love it. Amongst the many other highlights on the album are Rape Me (an anti-media tirade, cleverly playing with the opening riff on Smells Like...), Pennyroyal Tea (a song about a herbal drink used for abortion ) and Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (about the persecuted actress). As far as I am concerned, any self-respecting fan of early nineties music would have this in their collection. It is one the greatest albums of all time. |
posted by korova @ 6:42 pm  |
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| 3 Comments: |
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Indeed, it is a great album, definitely my favorite Nirvana album, and also one of my favorite albums of all time. I would even argue it was one of the best albums of the 90s.
Pennyroyal Tea was actually scheduled as the third single for this album, and was released as a single literally days before Kurt died. Copies of it were quickly pulled from the shelves when news of his death became public. There are still come copies of it floating around, but you can imagine how difficult it is to find one. :)
There is not a bad song on this album, but my favorite has always been Pennyroyal Tea. But a couple of other favs are Milk It, and Scentless Apprentice. Kurt as at his peak on this album, and the producing was so much better then Nevermind. No more of that watered down sound, In Utero is raw and passionate. The album was literally recorded off the floor, and only took a few days, with a break in the middle for a day when Kurt lost his voice.
I love how the lyrics of Milk It make no sense, that's what was so great about Kurt, he could make anything sound good.
"Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld, so I can sigh eternally", the best lyrics on the album, and also eerily fortelling. :)
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Hey Wes - yeah it is a fantastic album. From what I understand, they recorded guitar, drums and bass in one go, which was pretty cool. I believe Kurt also spent longer on the lyrics than he had done on the previous two albums, which shows. I don't think Pennyroyal was actually released over here. I think it was due for release after its North American release date, and consequently no copies got out (as far as I know). If I could make a recommendation to you (if you haven't already got it) get Come As You Are by Michael Azzerad. It is the best biography of Nirvana that I have come across and the only one in which they all co-operated.
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Indeed, it is a great album, definitely my favorite Nirvana album, and also one of my favorite albums of all time. I would even argue it was one of the best albums of the 90s.
Pennyroyal Tea was actually scheduled as the third single for this album, and was released as a single literally days before Kurt died. Copies of it were quickly pulled from the shelves when news of his death became public. There are still come copies of it floating around, but you can imagine how difficult it is to find one. :)
There is not a bad song on this album, but my favorite has always been Pennyroyal Tea. But a couple of other favs are Milk It, and Scentless Apprentice. Kurt as at his peak on this album, and the producing was so much better then Nevermind. No more of that watered down sound, In Utero is raw and passionate. The album was literally recorded off the floor, and only took a few days, with a break in the middle for a day when Kurt lost his voice.
I love how the lyrics of Milk It make no sense, that's what was so great about Kurt, he could make anything sound good.
"Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld, so I can sigh eternally", the best lyrics on the album, and also eerily fortelling. :)