Various Artists
A Tribute to Nirvana, The Songs of MTV Unplugged in New York
KUDOS
In a month when Joan Jett, Kim Gordon, Violet Grohl, St. Vincent, and Post Malone all took the late Kurt Cobain’s place in Nirvana alongside Krist Novoselic, Pat Smear, and Dave Grohl, why not also have a handful of lo-fi pop artists replicate 1993’s MTV Unplugged in New York? For many, this stark, decades-old live recording was the best document of Cobain’s literally and figuratively raw prowess as a confident, wrenching, emotive vocalist. You could finally make out all of what the lyricist was saying in an acoustic setting. And, with all due respect to Butch Vig and Steve Albini, Scott Litt’s do-nothing production on this famed Unplugged session was definitely, necessarily “un.”
With that, Kudos Records’ A Tribute to Nirvana, The Songs of MTV Unplugged in New York features the likes of lo-fi slacker troubadour Brad Stank tackling Cobain’s aqua-seafoam, shameful family drama “All Apologies” with enough angst to match Nirvana’s inner vision and what I assume is his own continued sense of apprehension. Elsewhere, post-folksy Floridian alt-rocker Chris Staples takes the wistful, speedily jerking pop of “About a Girl” down a few notches from Nirvana’s racing pace without losing any energy, while LA trio Casino Hearts and their neighbors in the Hollywood Hills, Levitation Room, each give Nirvana’s cover of The Vaselines’ “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” equal doses of lemony spunk, though L-Room does it more sparingly so.
Which reminds me: if The Vaselines made the cut here from among Nirvana’s open, fluid Unplugged moments, where is that same live album’s three Meat Puppets covers in “Plateau,” “Oh Me,” and “Lake of Fire”? Even more so, where are that album’s most beloved appropriations of Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” and David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”—both of which found Cobain bringing his own ennui-filled unease to their dramatically distressed conclusion? Camille Jansen’s “On a Plane” and Far Caspian’s “Pennyroyal Tea” are cool, but this tribute could’ve used those necessary Nirvana cover versions’ night terrors.
