AKA
12-31-2007, 06:29 PM
I picked up the recently-released DVD of this landmark November 18, 1993 performance a few days ago. I've owned at least four copies of the album version of Unplugged In New York on two different formats since the week it was released in the fall of 1994, so I thought I knew the performance like the back of my hand.
I was pleasantly surprised.
I knew buying it that this was the long-awaited "uncut" version (which has been long bootlegged, in very inferior video and audio quality). Excluded from the CD and MTV broadcast is endearing between banter between the band and the audience, as well as impromptu jams, such as Nirvana and the Meat Puppets humorous take on "Sweet Home Alabama."
What I didn't realize, though, is how much was mixed out of the CD. Cello parts, hand-claps, backing vocals, vocal gaffes (such as Kurt coming in a little early in the first verse of "Lake Of Fire") are all present and accounted for here. The new stereo mix trumps that of the CD. It really brings the concert back to life.
This uncut version of Unplugged In New York is about 82 minutes.
Also present here is over 22 minutes of rehearsal footage, from the morning of the performance. One can watch the band run through and fine-tune the acoustic renditions of "Come As You Are," "Polly," "Plateau," "Pennyroyal Tea," and "The Man Who Sold The World" that they were to play later that night. The rehearsal version of "Pennyroyal Tea" is quite different (and not in a good way) in that it's played in a different key, and guitarist Pat Smear sings backing vocals on it.
You can also choose to watch the original 45-minute edit of Nirvana's Unplugged, as well as an edited version of the MTV2 special Bare Witness: Nirvana.
Tragically, less than five after this show, he would take his own life. I often wonder what he'd be doing right now had he taken a different path. He was a funny, charming man, as evidenced by his demeanor here, and the way he connects with the audience and the rest of the band. His death is still a terrible blow to music.
I was pleasantly surprised.
I knew buying it that this was the long-awaited "uncut" version (which has been long bootlegged, in very inferior video and audio quality). Excluded from the CD and MTV broadcast is endearing between banter between the band and the audience, as well as impromptu jams, such as Nirvana and the Meat Puppets humorous take on "Sweet Home Alabama."
What I didn't realize, though, is how much was mixed out of the CD. Cello parts, hand-claps, backing vocals, vocal gaffes (such as Kurt coming in a little early in the first verse of "Lake Of Fire") are all present and accounted for here. The new stereo mix trumps that of the CD. It really brings the concert back to life.
This uncut version of Unplugged In New York is about 82 minutes.
Also present here is over 22 minutes of rehearsal footage, from the morning of the performance. One can watch the band run through and fine-tune the acoustic renditions of "Come As You Are," "Polly," "Plateau," "Pennyroyal Tea," and "The Man Who Sold The World" that they were to play later that night. The rehearsal version of "Pennyroyal Tea" is quite different (and not in a good way) in that it's played in a different key, and guitarist Pat Smear sings backing vocals on it.
You can also choose to watch the original 45-minute edit of Nirvana's Unplugged, as well as an edited version of the MTV2 special Bare Witness: Nirvana.
Tragically, less than five after this show, he would take his own life. I often wonder what he'd be doing right now had he taken a different path. He was a funny, charming man, as evidenced by his demeanor here, and the way he connects with the audience and the rest of the band. His death is still a terrible blow to music.