Upon first glance, there may not be a word in the English language to describe the existence of Nirvana’s Sliver: The Best of the Box (so we’ll settle, unsatisfied, on “superfluous” with a side of “money grubbing”). After all, a “best-of” digest of Nirvana’s scrap heap box-set With The Lights Out sounds about as useful as a Cliff’s Notes version of Kurt Cobain’s journal. But then again, Cobain’s journal doesn’t cost 50 bucks or contain five million hours of material to sift through. Given that only the most hardcore fans have the wherewithal to deal with that, and that the whole idea of listening to crappy boom box demos is more of an academic experience than one built for listening enjoyment, a condensed version starts to make sense.

Sliver whittles out of its source multiple versions of the same songs, multiple covers of the same artists, toxic levels of tape hiss, etc., down to a tight, manageable package that, essentially, delivers the gist of it. The disc starts with the pre-Nirvana Fecal Matter demo of “Spank Thru” from 1985 (one of three inclusions that weren’t in the box set) and goes into a rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” from a live recording of their first show. Here’s where the tone is set – at least for a potential target – i.e. the thousands who formed bands on the heels of Nirvana. “Spank Thru” (and pretty much everything else up to the post-Nevermind stuff) reemphasizes Nirvana’s garage-band identity. Tt’s the shittiest of all shitty amateur demos and it reminds me completely of the stuff my band was trying to record in high school: awkward, painfully lo-fi, and poorly performed. But immediately after comes the cat-call for “Heartbreaker,” to which Cobain responds “I don’t know how to play it!” He does, though, and surprisingly well given that it’s two years from the “Spank Thru” demo and two years away from Bleach. It almost sounds like two different bands from the first track to the next.

This is the most interesting revelation to hit me from listening to Sliver: these guys had chops all along, and Cobain was obviously a fantastic songwriter, but what probably made Nirvana so wildly popular and essentially proletarian was that they never deviated far from the kind of rudimentary and intuitive progressions, phrases, rhythms, etc. that is the stuff of all musicians just starting out. Musicians (those who like to Zep songs, at least) that stick with it inevitably strive to outgrow that phase, but Nirvana didn’t: they took that phase and relentlessly refined it. Strip away the noise, the chaos, the sometimes abstruse lyrics, and you’ve got a band that sits farther from Led Zeppelin than Leadbelly (whose “Ain’t it a Shame” shows up here: a playful counterpoint to their more well-known version of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”). Yeah, the affinity for Zep and The Pixies always made sense, but suddenly the penchant for Leadbelly comes into full view. And while acoustic demos of “You Know You’re Right” and “All Apologies” leave a lot to the studio versions, they enhance that view by forcing the focus on Cobain’s bluesy picking and progressions.

That isn’t to say that the whole thing sounds like Alan Lomax hauled a tape machine to Aberdeen. Another highlight of Sliver is the alternate studio recordings of “Rape Me” and “Heart Shaped Box,” the former with Jack Endino at Word of Mouth Studios in Seattle and the latter with Craig Montgomery and Ian Beveridge at BMG Ariola Studios in Rio de Janiero. Both sound great but completely different than their counterparts on the Steve Albini-recorded In Utero (the tambourine on the second chorus of “Rape Me” is both completely inappropriate and completely awesome). As far as “Spank Thru” and the other two exclusive tracks – a pre-Nevermind rehearsal version of “Come as You Are” and a studio version of “Sappy” (aka “Verse Chorus Verse” on the No Alternative comp) – they don’t make this a worthwhile purchase if you’ve already got the box set unless you’re totally obsessive-compulsive. If you didn’t buy the box set (if you were going to, you would’ve already), then Sliver is probably a sufficient compromise.
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Dave Schutz

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 Past Constructive Criticism

Tim posted the following Constructive Criticism: Hahaha, 9th grade spellers should not dare to take on Mr. Schutz.

Dave posted the following Constructive Criticism: Ronnie--thanks for the "constructive criticism." "who wants to know"--First, the great Cobain obviously held regard for Zep such that Nirvana covered a handful of their songs. Second, I don't recall comparing Nirvana to AC/DC or Metallica--if you're pinning that on other critics, please be explicit. Third, I've wasted a disproportionate chunk of my life developing my musical outlook and a few things lead me to believe that it is far more refined than yours (for example, your baffling assertion that Nirvana ranks with the Beatles in diversity of sound and that The Doors and Blind Melon belong in the same sentence as well). A big part of my musical outlook is the idea that the pursuit of "folk" and "art" forms are equally important--that Leadbelly and Led Zeppelin (substitute the Beatles if you like) are equally relevant. It's difficult enough to excel at one form or the other, but the revelation I came to while listening to Sliver (I'll reiterate it, since you obviously didn't read the review very closely) is that Cobain was one of those rare songwriters who was able to accomplish both. To be honest, I see the same thing in the Doors and Led Zeppelin, though you seem to neglect the folk aspect of the former and the artistry of the latter. The main point is, you've erroneously assumed a negative tone from my initial commentary on the flood of posthumous Nirvana releases, while I feel that I've delivered Cobain a glowing compliment. Again, it's apparent that you didn't read my review very closely, but I suppose I must forgive you--you're apparently too busy to even spell out the word "you."

Ronnie posted the following Constructive Criticism: That's the worst reveiw I have ever had to lay eyes on.

who wants to know posted the following Constructive Criticism: u sir disgust me. u seem to have no conception of great art. to compare nirvana to a band such as led zepplin (or metallica or ac/dc for that matter) is a sign of a very narrow minded individual. the reason for nirvana's constant "refining", as u put it, comes from the continually budding artistic mind of one Kurt Cobain (r.i.p.) who album after album strived for something fresh and new. bands like led zepplin, although very talented, turned out the the same sound time and time again. nirvana should be compare with other ARTISTS such as the beatles, the doors, and blind melon. i can only hope u may not be too naive to accept the total dismantling of your musical outlook too overlook my review of your "review." so i ask you to take a more conscience look at the ART of the true king of rock n' roll, the late, great Kurt Cobain. p.s. all apologies for the harsh attitude, but i felt it necessary. it's a touchy subject.

Brian Rutherford posted the following Constructive Criticism: Very. unessacary indeed. Nice write up