Unplugged In New York

Nirvana: Kurt Cobain (vocals, acoustic guitar); Dave Grohl (vocals, bass, drums); Krist Novoselic (guitar, accordion, bass).

Additional personnel: Cris Kirkwood (acoustic guitar, bass); Pat Smear, Curt Kirkwood (acoustic guitar); Lori Goldston (cello). Recorded live at Sony Music Studios, New York, New York on November 18, 1993. UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK is part of MTV’s “Unplugged” series. UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK won a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. What is ultimately so sad about Kurt Cobain taking his own life is that he was so giving to others, constantly campaigning for the artists who influenced him. Cobain breathed new life into the Raincoats’ career (who thanked him on their latest EP), brought a wider audience to Eugenius’ pop genius, and proved there was grunge in Seattle before the ’90s by covering a Wipers song on INCESTICIDE. The same reverential awe seeps through every minute of the UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK performance, released nearly a year after its recording in November 1993. Cobain’s originals, from the wrenching “All Apologies” to the numbing “Dumb,” exempify his rare gift of saying so much with deceptively simple chords and melodies. His choice of covers displays influences as diverse as David Bowie and the Meat Puppets, and possibly most surprising, Leadbelly—included is a ferocious version of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” What the critics say… Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.56) – Included in Rolling Stone’s “Essential Recordings of the 90’s.“ Rolling Stone (10/1/94, pp.120-121) – 4 Stars – Excellent – “…Nirvana’s performance is stirring and occasionally brilliant, electricity be damned….Without the wild blasts ordinarily produced to fire Nirvana’s sound, Cobain’s love-buzz vocals are the focus…“ Spin (1/95, p.71) – Highly Recommended – “…UNPLUGGED captures the moment of Nirvana bathing in its own richly deserved light, and though the moment couldn’t last, nothing in the music suggests that there was anything inevitable or natural about the next chapter of the story…“ Entertainment Weekly (11/4/94, pp.70-71) – “…Listening to MTV UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK is an unsettling experience….the band…concentrates on the numbed-out chamber-grunge numbers….delicacy and intimacy of these acoustic re-arrangements hint…where Nirvana…could have gone…” – Rating: A Q (12/99, p.82) – Included in Q Magazine’s “90 Best Albums Of The 1990s.“ Q (12/94, p.147) – 4 Stars – Excellent – “…stripped of the noise…the band sounds most moving, possessed of a ragged glory. And…it becomes clearer than ever just how much Nirvana owed to less feted Americans such as The Sneakers, dBs and Mitch Easter’s Let’s Active…“ Alternative Press (1/95, pp.63-64) – “…UNPLUGGED is about as fine a memento mori as anyone could hope for…“ Melody Maker (10/29/94, p.35) – “…gut-twistingly poignant….a fine and unreservedly recommended album, a melancholy masterpiece…“ Village Voice (2/28/95) – Ranked #4 in the Village Voice’s 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. Mojo (Publisher) (p.64) – Ranked #09 in Mojo’s “100 Modern Classics” — “Brittle and heartbruised, Nirvana’s songs were stripped bare and scratched out on an acoustic guitar.“ Mojo (Publisher) (1/95, p.51) – Included in Mojo’s “25 Best Albums of 1994” – “…a performance of raw vulnerability that served as the perfect epitaph for poor Kurt Cobain.“ New York Times (Publisher) (1/5/95, p.C15) – Included on Neil Strauss’ list of the Top 10 Albums of ’94 – “…These songs…\[are\] strings of epitaphs delivered in a blistering, electrifying unplugged show.“ NME (Magazine) (8/12/00, p.29) – Ranked #27 in The NME “Top 30 Heartbreak Albums”. NME (Magazine) (12/24/94, p.22) – Ranked #4 in NME’s list of the `Top 50 Albums Of 1994.‘ NME (Magazine) (10/29/94, p.45) – 9 – Excellent Plus – “…this album makes its makers sound legendary. Your hankies should be at the ready…”