Customer Reviews

Icon: Nirvana

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

You can't object to any of the songs selected for this greatest hits package as iconic Nirvana songs, with the possible exception of "Rape Me," a track that always came across as a slighter remake of "Teen Spirit," and "You Know You're Right," a fine enough song but such a latecomer (coming out nearly a decade after the band's end) that it's hardly a track to capture what made the band iconic in the early nineties. I could drop these two and add "Frances Farmer" or "Tourette's" or any of half a dozen of the other heavy tracks on In Utero. (The tracks here would lead one to believe that In Utero is a mellower album than Nevermind, which is hardly the case. The band never rocked harder than on "Scentless Apprentice," "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter," "Milk It," etc.)

Still, the songs here are all outstanding and nicely exhibit Nirvana's penchant at somehow creating heavy, dirty, ugly noises that are also insanely catchy and melodic. The collection opens with the aforementioned "You Know You're Right," a smoldering slow burn of a track that pivots nicely between Kurt's trademark growl and an almost disaffected talk-sing voice he uses on a handful of tracks. From here, one encounters the landmark "Teen Spirit," a track I well recall that seemed to open up the sky and bring down about a hundred other bands onto the scene all at once in '91-'92. Suddenly radio was playing Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins. No track has probably had more cultural impact during the past 25 years. Oh, and it's a great song, with Nirvana's classic Pixies-style dynamic move from soft to loud to soft to loud.

The next three tracks are the heart of Nevermind, though for whatever reason the collection emphasizes the slower, the midtempo, or what you might call the less punk tracks. "Breed," "Territorial Pissings," "Stay Away," "Drain You"--all a lot heavier, while still very melodic--than the tracks selected here. Still, I've always thought "Come As You Are" was perhaps Kurt's best song: it has a beautifully architectural guitar line that creates the structure for Kurt's dangerous invitation. From Nevermind, we move to the four mellowest tracks from In Utero.

"Heart Shaped Box" is a marvelous example of how Kurt was able to develop what made Nevermind great: it's somehow prettier and uglier at the same time. "Dumb" is a standout track for how very different it sounds compared to anything else the band had done. Rumor at the time was that Kurt would be collaborating with Michael Stipe, and you can hear in a track like "Dumb" the possibilities of Cobain's writing turning in that direction.

The acoustic tracks from the Unplugged session are outstanding, though it's worth noting these aren't really the standout tracks from that recording. (The cover songs are what make that collection so eye-opening and wonderful.) Is it possible that "About a Girl" is the only song from Bleach worth adding to this collection? "School" or "Love Buzz" belong here as well. And there are half a dozen tracks from Incesticide, too, that surely qualify for a collection of iconic Nirvana songs--tracks like "Aneurysm," "Dive," "Sliver," "Been a Son."

Still, it's pointless to complain about great songs that didn't make a greatest hits collection, since the nature of the beast is to frustrate fans who already know the band's oeuvre. As an introduction to Nirvana, this collection is good but not great. A great collection would celebrate as well Nirvana's capacity to rattle the walls with hard, fast, heavy punk.

i gave it four stars cuz its nirvana and i love them. but heres a tip: skip this cd, just buy all of nirvana's stuff, and thank me later.

This album is great for those who are 18 or 20 and want to learn basics about Nirvana music. For me, aged 31, it's nothing special, but greatest hits collection, which I love to play while driving my car. I think it is the same as Nirvana hits collection released during last decade, but I am not sure if the tracklist is exactly the same.

Nirvana get the Icon treatment from Universal Music Enterprises and it's sad to say that this release is a bit of a waste of time, the big reason being that it adds absolutely nothing new or unreleased material, and at just eleven songs long is too short, surely they could have done a two disc essential edition.

Nearly every Nirvana fan will own all these songs already and compared to 2002's Nirvana album(greatest hits) it comes up short, at least that had the selling point of the previously unreleased "You Know You're Right" which is also available on "Icon". The songs themselves are great there's no denying that however there's nothing from Compilation album "Incesticide" or either live album "From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah" or last years "Live at Reading" and is probably best suited for the casual fan or completest's.

It should also be noted that you get their back catalogue fairly cheap here on Amazon and discover true musical genius not just a teaser!

Don't get me wrong, i love all the songs this disc. All of them are great. But all of the songs are already released on a greatest hits album (which was also used to cash out on the band). If i were you, i would just buy all of the albums they released. I would only reccomend this to a casual fan (A VERY CASUAL FAN) who only likes the singles and just the singles. Don't but this unless you want a introduction to the band (A very bland introduction to the band)

There's nothing new here at all. I thought maybe it was remastered, but it doesn't say remastered anywhere on the package. It might sound a little better, than previous editions, but it's hard to tell.

Good acquisition, the recording quality is good. I liked the cd, the songs are good.
It took a while to arrive, but amazon always correct. I recommend.

This Nirvana Icon Cd is a great mix of Nirvana classics. I only wish that this compilation was longer because of the fact that there is only 11 of their musical hits contained on this track. The following is the listing of the songs and my personal rating (with a rating of five being the highest). Many others are going to rate these songs much different, and this is understandable because of the varying tastes:

1. You Know You're Right 5 out of 5
2. Smells like Teen Spirit 5 out of 5
3. Come As You Are 5 out of 5
4. Lithium 5 out of 5
5. In Bloom 5 out of 5
6. Heart-Shaped Box 5 out of 5
7. Pennyroyal Tea 4 out of 5
8. Rape Me 4 out of 5
9. Dumb 3 out of 5
10. About a Girl (Acoustic)3 out of 5
11. All Apologies (Acoustic) 5 out of 5

This collection is a must-have if you like listening to 90's rock music.