The fact is, Nirvana was not only a great punk band, it was a great rock ‘n’ roll band and Kurt Cobain was not only a great and powerful lyricist, but an incredible pop-tune smith who understood the genius in simplicity and the raw power that characterizes rock. The pop sensibility and song structure aspect were shown beautifully in ‘94’s Unplugged in New York album.
Featuring 17 tracks, ranging in time span from ’89 to the last days of ’93, the newly released 'From the Muddy Banks of The Wishkah' takes care of the rock ‘n’ roll energy part. Starting with an Intro that has the sound of garage rock recorded on little sister’s boom box, with Cobain’s shallow, chesty screams sounding as if he were on top of the one microphone available while heavy thudding bass and thick drums drowned out behind, the album rips parents to disown you, and kill your pet goldfish. What follows is a trip through five years of Nirvana classics, joyously frantic and distorted.
Drain You is even thicker than the studio version, while an unbelievably agressive Smells Like Teen Spirit caterwalls off into punk rock oblivion with Cobain’s lyrics practically abandoning melody in a crush of feedback. Drummer Dave Grohl’s backing vocals underline the amazingly effective yet simple Been a Son while Polly starts surprisingly restrained before ripping into an almost arena-rock bombast, helped along by the additional guitar of Pat Smear. The rabid bite of the band explodes out with Lithium where Cobain’s screams sound like his tonsils are being ripped out with a dull steak knife while bassist Krist Novoselic lays down heavy bass lines worthy of some 70’s metal act. Scentless Apprentice displays the off-kilter anguished yet helpless Cobain screech to a tee while the following Heart-Shaped Box is flooded with beautifully warped guitar that sounds like Cobain’s guitar was set in water overnight before it was beaten out of tune and played. Milk It continues the fishy warped guitar sound during sparse breaks in the song’s structure before it spins into thick chords while Cobain practically stutters the lyrics in the sheer franticness of his singing; he sounds like he’s going to spontaneously combust.
Cobain’s lyrics continue to be muddy, buried beneath the speed and sheer noise of the music, yet, no matter how he rips the vocal lines apart and turns them over on themselves, the basic pop melody always seeps through. This alone should attest to the song writing prowess that he displayed. The dull roar of the crowd, prevalent throughout the album, should attest to the rock ‘n’ roll showmanship energy that the band displayed. Indeed, one of the points that the album makes extremely clear is that Nirvana was a damn loud band. Cobain’s guitar is simply so noisy that the songs threaten to run off into the stratosphere but Novoselic’s bass is so heavy and pervasively loud that it keeps the song on the stage and, instead of the statosphere, sends the songs spilling off the stage into the audience. Throughout the whole album, Grohl somehow manages to set the base of the songs in stone but still attacks them with such ferocity that you worry he may kill someone else if not himself!
But possibly the most telling line in the whole record is Cobain’s quiet, lost, careless 'thank you' at the end of a frantic rendition of Aneurysm. Two almost helpless words manage to make everything that is so muddled (fear, aggression, anger, loneliness, helplessness) clear.In the album’s liner notes, Novoselic writes, "In presenting this record, we hope that the ultimate allure of Nirvana (and especially Kurt) as well as the passion that we had - and have - for the music we made is once again brought to the forefront. Let all the analysis fall away like yellow, aged newsprint."
From the Muddy Banks of The Wishkah tries to cut through all of the lionization and crap that might tarnish the point of it all: the music. Kurt Cobain left us all via a shotgun. It’s always amazing how so much complexity, time, and beauty can be ended so quickly and we can hate the bastard for it - I don’t think he’d mind. As the album ends, the sound of a screaming audience mixes with droning feedback and leaves you hungry for more. But there is never going to be anymore; it was all in Kurt Cobain and he is dead - so is a part of rock ‘n’ roll.
Made by R. Jason Leahey