Editorial Review:

Album Description:
The box set spans Nirvana's entire career, from a recording of Led Zeppelin's 'Heartbreaker' at the band's first show in 1987 to solo acoustic performances from singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain in 1994. With The Lights Out features a 60-page color booklet with rare photos and liner notes by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and writer Neil Strauss. The three CDs, arranged largely chronologically contains home and rehearsal demos, including for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' (whose lyric 'With the lights out' provides the set's title), 'Rape Me,' 'Heart Shaped Box' and a trio penned by legendary bluesman Leadbelly. Heard in the 12 previously unreleased solo acoustic tracks are such gems as 'All Apologies,' 'Lithium' and 'Sliver.' Six previously unreleased radio performances range from 'Anorexorcist' in 1987 to 'Dumb' in 1991 (two years before it was on 1993's In Utero). Along with the remaining debuts are a handful of earlier issued, though rare, b-sides and demos as well as the original Butch Vig mix of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' Highlighted on the With The Lights Out DVD is a previously unreleased video of nine songs performed in 1988 at bassist Krist Novoselic's mother's house in Aberdeen, Washington; the rare 'In Bloom' Sub Pop music video, and 10 never-before-seen live performances. Noteworthy among them are debut renditions of 'Pennyroyal Tea', 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' both from early 1991. Also premiering is an unlikely performance of Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen's 'Seasons In The Sun' shot at a Rio de Janeiro studio.

Amazon.com:
Nirvana may have been the biggest thing in the music world in the early '90s, but the trio maintained an uncommon devotion to core fans who knew them when they were still sleeping in a van. Fending off the adoration of punk-rock dabblers in the media and their audience while simultaneously welcoming stalwart underground-music supporters, Kurt Cobain did things on his own terms--until it all came crashing down. A decade after Cobain's 1994 suicide and the band's demise, With the Lights Out remains true to the ethos that defined the band and the alt-rock revolution that rose and fell with them.

Eschewing the standard hits-sprinkled-with-rarities mix, this lovingly compiled three-CD, one-DVD collection is made up almost entirely of previously unreleased selections. The handful of previously heard tracks are obscurities along the lines of the group's cover of 'Here She Comes Now,' recorded for a 1990 indie-rock tribute to the Velvet Underground. But it's not the B-sides and compilation oddities that define this idiosyncratic set; rather, its spirit is captured in the bedroom demos, radio performances, and sloppy amateur video recordings that catch Cobain and cohorts developing from just another punk- and metal-inspired bunch of grunge rockers pounding away in the bass player's mom's living room into a band that defined an era. --Steven Stolder









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Related Items:
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Related Items:

• MTV Unplugged in New York
• In Utero
• Bleach
• Nirvana - Live! Tonight! Sold Out!
• Incesticide
• see more

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Disc 1:

1. Heartbreaker (Live, 1987)
2. Anorexorcist (Radio Performance, 1987)
3. White Lace And Strange (Radio Performance, 1987)
4. Help Me I'm Hungry (Radio Performance, 1987)
5. Mrs. Butterworth
6. If You Must
7. Pen Cap Chew
8. Downer (Live, 1988)
9. Floyd The Barber (Live, 1988)
10. Raunchola/Moby Dick (Live, 1988)
11. Beans (Solo Acoustic, 1988)
12. Don't Want It All
13. Clean Up Before She Comes
14. Polly
15. About A Girl
16. Blandest
17. Dive
18. They Hung Him On A Cross
19. Grey Goose
20. Ain't It A Shame
21. Token Eastern Song
22. Even In His Youth
23. Polly

Disc 2:

1. Opinion
2. Lithium
3. Been A Son
4. Sliver
5. Where Did You Sleep Last Night
6. Pay To Play
7. Here She Comes Now
8. Drain You
9. Aneurysm
10. Smells Like Teen Spirit
11. Breed
12. Verse Chorus Verse
13. Old Age
14. Endless, Nameless
15. Dumb
16. D-7
17. Oh The Guilt
18. Curmudgeon
19. Return Of The Rat
20. Smells Like Teen Spirit

Disc 3:

1. Rape Me
2. Rape Me
3. Scentless Apprentice
4. Heart Shaped Box
5. I Hate Myself And I Want To Die
6. Milk It
7. M.V.
8. Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip
9. The Other Improv
10. Serve The Servants
11. Very Ape
12. Pennyroyal Tea
13. Marigold
14. Sappy
15. Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam
16. Do Re Mi
17. You Know You're Right
18. All Apologies

Rating: - I was amazed
I have always been a Nirvana fan from the very beginning but when I bought this collection it was a revealing experience listening to demo songs and rehearsals as it showed me a new side of nirvana and their music. Nirvana fans, buy it!!!

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Rating: - An Essential piece of Alternative Rock history
With The Lights Out is not your average mass-produced box set. Having just received my own personal copy this is something it would be tragic for nirvana fans to miss. Here's why you should buy this:
Disc 1 is Mostly demos and outtakes of shows, we get a rare glimpse of Kurt before nirvana had become successful. "If you must" shows the raw talent just beginning to find its voice. "about a girl demo " is showing the abilities of Kurt's early talent at its best. Some of these earlier versions being demos have slightly different lyrics. This gives nirvana fans a glimpse into how the songs final formations came about. On the live and radio tracks it doesn't fail to catch his raw energy as a performer.

This box set, has a great selection of solo acoustics that fans will find essential."You know you're Right" is very chilling, as is "Jesus doesn't want me for a sunbeam demo" and "All Apologies solo". Disc 2 doesn't disappoint at all and keeps up the rare gems straight through disc 3. On the disc 2 track "Smells Like Teen spirit Rehearsal demo" it feels as though you are listening to a very personal rough raw frame for what would latter become his masterpiece. On "Lithium solo acoustic"the lyrics are slightly different then the finished version, giving the fans an opportunity to see how much energy was put into his songs right from the beginning. This box set is not for the faint of heart as you get the real deal here,Kurt put 210% into all his work and was a born unique writer and singer. Showing his intense talent still shines through eternally -With the the lights out or not.

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Rating: - NIRVANA box set---quinticential
Fantastic!
I'd been in a Nirvana void where I burned out on the music after 1998 so I didn't even know this had come out.

When I found it on Amazon, I figured I'd give a listen for ol' times sake. IT WAS AMAZING. Great tracks spanning the 80s through his death. Brilliant collection.

Everyone should own this.

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Rating: - Some Serious Audio Sex
I recieved the NIRVANA boxset "With the Lights Out" today in the mail, I was shaking and scared to actually play the cds that were within the box. I was scared because this would be the most raw footage of the band that I was ever gonna hear. This is what everyone had been waiting for for years. This is what I had been waiting for my entire life. I placed the first disc in my boom box, gawd, it was magical. Weak in the knees magical. You get to hear music from their frist concert, songs they recorde in Kurts Basement, them laughing and chatting between songs:), even Frances in the background during one of the demos, You here songs never released, songs that were never dated, songs you have known for years with different lyrics the orginal lyrics uncut. This boxset is so emotionally raw, it is so personal that I almost feel bad for listening, it is footage that you the public were never ment to hear. I believe that CL is trying to make some cash, but hey, this is totally worth it. Th boxset has all the B side tracks, some as raw demos. It also has a book included that tells of the bands history and some quotes from interviews. It also has a dvd with extra songs and music videos as well as some pretty raw footage of Kurt and Nirvana. This boxset is cobainian (a word for all expressions ex: sad, happy, shocked, awesome...etc) This is my new love and my new obsession, although NIRVANA and Kurdt (Kurt) has always been a love and obsession of mine. NIRVANA LIVES ON!

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Rating: - interesting for nirvana fans
Ive been a nirvana fans since almost 16 years ago, believe me any new or strange material about the band is exiting fo me.... but to be honest, maybe this compilation is only worth i if you are a real nirvana fan... i mean, i was a little dissapointed when i watched the dvd, because most of the songs are very low quality home made tapes from the 80s, some of them not even complete, only a few seconds, and they take it as a song...