Nirvana - Sliver: TheBest Of The Box

Mon 26th Dec, 2005 in Music Reviews

grunge
1. Filth; dirt.
2. A style of rock music that incorporates elements of punk rock and heavy metal, popularised in the early 1990s and often marked by lyrics exhibiting nihilism, dissatisfaction or apathy.

Nirvana need no introduction, but I’m going to write one anyway. They are hailed by some as the godfathers of grunge. Smells Like Teen Spirit is supposedly the anthem for the nineties, and also appears on most “Greatest Songs Of All Time” lists, not to mention Nevermind appearing on most equivalent lists for albums. They had long hair. They smashed guitars. They were Nirvana.

Now, following the release of the box set With The Lights Out in 2004, Sliver: The Best Of The Box has been put on shelves. As the name suggests, this is a compilation of the “best” tracks from the box set. Although this may reek of a big company marketing ploy, there is no doubt that Nirvana fans will swoon over the three unreleased tracks available on this disc, not to mention the gold of the other demos featured on the release. And rightly so.

Nirvana were a garage band that one day found themselves in the mainstream, thus, there is no better way to encapsulate Nirvana, than with 22 demos. Fans will indeed relish over the raw production and slightly dodgy quality, characteristics that should rightly be attributed to a garage band. This release is indeed the most honest way of experiencing Nirvana, in my personal opinion. The low quality of sound detracts nothing from the high quality of the tracks themselves, therefore this compilation is well worth the time.

Honourable mentions go to the following tracks on the release: About A Girl, Blandest, Sappy, Lithium, Sliver, Old Age, Rape Me, Do Re Mi, All Apologies. Though this list may seem already long, I could very well have included all the tracks. From start to finish, I was held captive by the lo-fi charm of these songs, as the musing that this is quite possibly how Nirvana was meant to be heard, plagued my mind.