NIRVANA Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Nirvana's legacy is one of the most compelling of any 20th Century rock band. The voice(s) of a disillusioned generation weaned to sickness on processed culture, ending in tragedy, the ferociously powerful combination of music and message has understandably been long-lasting and still influences people today, but the albums-proper, and sad conclusion, usually dominate conversations about the group's work. Incesticide is proof of how much we're forgetting. Comprising demos, outtakes, cover versions, radio broadcasts, the 1990 non-album single, 'Silver', among other things, much of what's here was circulating among fans in low quality formats prior to the compilation's formal release in 1992, and goes some way to showing off the breadth and scope Nirvana were capable of. An education for the committed and unconvinced alike, grab it while you can.

Review: Despite the personal problems we now know Kurt Cobain was suffering at the time and which would eventually drag the band into oblivion, Nirvana sound pretty much on top of their game on this broadcast of a Japanese show from February 1992. The set list revolves around tracks from the international bestselling Nevermind album but anyone who thought global recognition might have seen the band polish up and bland out would be sorely mistaken - raucous, distorted and blessed by a vocal performance that veers from disdainful to hysterical, from opener 'Negative Creep' to the 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' that closes it, they're 100% chaotic punk rock energy.

Review: Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the third and final album from Nirvana should require little to know introduction. Repressed, remastered and redefined over and over again, the Steve Albini-produced, mainstream-eschewing swansong has only grown to become one of the ugliest left-turns the 90s grunge scene ever spat out. This super-deluxe three decade celebratory edition comes with two live concerts recorded in Los Angeles in December '93 and Seattle in January '94, five previously released B-sides, six bonus live cuts, as well as a removable front-cover acrylic panel with the album's iconic Angel; a 48-page hardcover book with unreleased photos; a 20-page newly designed fanzine; a Los Angeles tour poster lithograph by hot rod artist Coop; replicas of the 1993 record store promo Angel mobile, three gig fliers, two ticket stubs for Los Angeles and Seattle, an All-Access tour laminate, and four cloth sticky tour backstage passes: Press, Photo, After Show, and Local Crew!

Review: The third, controversial final album from Seattle's Nirvana should require little to no introduction. Repressed, remastered and redefined again and again, the Steve Albini-produced, mainstream-eschewing swansong has become one of the ugliest left-turns the 90's grunge scene ever spat up, and the subject of much heated internal fan debate over which is the definitive version. Celebrating its 30-year anniversary with a super-deluxe box set, boasting eight LPs made up of additional live performances as well as a myriad of memorabilia from the In Utero era, for the more lackadaisical collectors, there's this single LP gatefold pressing in a premium 'tip-on' sleeve similar to 2021's reissue of Nevermind, which comes with a bonus 10" of b-sides also featured on the monstrous deluxe edition.

Review: Nirvana still seems cool as fuck all these many decades after their frontman died. Their musical legacy lives on each time a new generation licks into the grunt chromes of the music, or each time we get a reissue or special limited edition picture disc album like the one. It is a very real and raw recording from their show at Hollywood Rock Festival which was actually held at Paca da Apoteose, Rio de Janeiro on 23rd January 1993. Plenty of the band's classics made the setlist and they sound as sleazy and gritty as ever on this recording.

Review: By 1992 Nirvana weren't just in full swing, they'd done the unthinkable - turning the hardcore end of a rock 'n' roll sub genre that originated in the US Pacific Northwest into a global chart-topping phenomena. And they achieved this without selling out, with third and final album, In Utero, arguably laying the tarmac for a road to increasingly experimental sounds that would tragically never be fully explored due to frontman Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994.

This exceptional live recording from the Spanish capital two years earlier represents the outfit at their peak of dominance, having released their most commercially successful record, Nevermind, 12 months or so earlier, creating a slew of anthems such as 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'Something In The Way', and 'Come As You Are' to international youth culture folklore. History lessons aside, they were more potent live than on any studio recording, with this breakneck, raw-throated and high-intensity set exemplary of why.

Review: 30 years on, the power of Nevermind has never dulled. Of course it's the most commercially appealing of Nirvana's albums, but it's no less daring for it no matter how many times you've heard it. Well, how to toast an album as world-changing as this one? By going all out on the lavish vinyl edition of course, which in this case means a mammoth eight-disc 180gm vinyl edition with a 40-page hardback book. If you want an altar at which to worship one of the definitive moments in popular music, this authoritative release is surely all the plinth you need.

Review: It's hard to underestimate the impact of Nirvana's second studio album, Nevermind, when it first hit stores 30 years ago. A more polished - but still beautifully scuzzy - set than its predecessor, the album turned the Seattle band into worldwide stars and made grunge indie-rock's most talked about sub-genre. This 30th anniversary edition presents the original album in freshly remastered form. As a result, classics such as 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'Come as You Are' and 'Drain You' sound fresher and heavier than ever. This time round, there's also a second bonus disc made up of live recordings of Nirvana in action in Tokyo, Melbourne, Amsterdam and California during 1991 and '92.