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Ready to feel old? September marked the 30th (yes) anniversary of In Utero, Nirvana’s final studio album, released just over six months before the tragic death of singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain. To commemorate this seminal grunge release, Polydor are reissuing the album in a variety of formats, including a Super Deluxe, eight-LP box set, which features a newlyremastered version of the album, bonus studio tracks and B-sides, live recordings, a 48-page book, 24-page fanzine, stickers and more.
Recorded in Cannon Falls, Minnesota with producer Steve Albini, In Uterowas something of an artistic rebellion against the commercial juggernaut that was 1991’s multi-platinum Nevermind, and was supposedly much closer to Cobain’s vision for the group than their previous release. An abrasive and at times impenetrable album, In Uteronevertheless contains smatterings of vocal harmonies, strong melodies and displays of vulnerability that made Cobain a hero for the alt-rock generation.
For guitar players less familiar with the album, there is plenty to enjoy as In Utero is replete with distorted riffs, atonal solos, ear-splitting feedback and even some melodic arpeggios and acoustic chord work. The remastered versions of lead single Heart-Shaped Boxand Scentless Apprentice – perhaps Nirvana’s heaviest ever song – have never sounded better, while last month’s Open-mic Songbook track All Apologiesis one of the best examples of the transcendent loud-quiet-loud dynamic that defined much of the ’90s.
Elsewhere, the gentle acoustic strums of Pennyroyal Teaand Dumbare something of a precursor to the band’s legendary MTV Unplugged In New Yorkset, and the album’s often o
