Sliver: The Best of the Box By Nirvana

Nirvana | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 1, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B000BISBES
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,198 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Nirvana changed the course of popular music forever and remains an inspiration to those who have followed. The band's musical legacy was illuminated further in November 2004 by the release of the 3-CD/1-DVD box set With the Lights Out, the definitive collection of rarities and outtakes. Now the 22-song, single-disc Sliver: The Best of the Box offers fans audio highlights from With the Lights Out with the bonus inclusion of three unreleased tracks: "Spank Thru," "Sappy," and a rehearsal recording of "Come as You Are."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disgraceful, November 1, 2005

By 

JR (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sliver: The Best of the Box By Nirvana (Audio CD)

This release represents the worst kind of record company greed. The With The Lights Out box set had about a disc worth of quality material and a lot of filler. Theoretically, a "best of the box" release would be a very good idea for more casual fans who don't want to sift through all of the garbage that shouldn't have been released in the first place.

The problem is that this release doesn't at all live up to its name. In fact, I would go so far as to say that what's here is almost the worst of the box! The only tracks here that definitely deserve to be here are: "Clean Up Before She Comes (demo)", Ain't It A Shame", "Old Age", "Oh The Guilt" and "Do Re Mi" (even though the sound quality is crap). You could make a case for a handful of the other tracks but that's it. What about "Pen Cap Chew", "They Hung Him On A Cross", "Grey Goose", "Even In His Youth", "Here She Comes Now", "Aneurysm", "Verse Chorus Verse", "D-7", "Scentless Apprentice" (the extended jam, which is fantastic), "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die", "M.V.", "Marigold" and "Sappy"??? All of these tracks are far better and more worthwhile than what is supposedly the "best of the box". It's a complete joke and an insult to the music buying public. But you know why they've done it like this? So that you can't just buy this release to get the really good stuff. So that you have to buy the box as well. Or if you've already bought the box (which you probably have), so that you can't offload it (with all its filler) and be content with this "best of". Thanks a lot guys.

Oh yeah, there are 3 more rarities on here to entice (or rather force) hardcore fans to re-purchase this rubbish. The 1990 demo of "Sappy" is here, but really it should have been on the box in the first place (along with the version that was on the box). The Fecal Matter "Spank Thru" demo is the most enticing thing here (and it is a worthwhile track) but why not put the rest of the Fecal Matter tracks on here as well? Or maybe some of the other rare tracks named in the liner notes of the box set which many of us have never heard? Instead we get yet another pointless version of "Come As You Are" - the "Boom Box Version", which sounds just as awful as the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Boom Box Version that was included in the box set (and amazingly on this release as well).

Given that the tracklisting is a joke, the new "Come As You Are" version is worthless and there is a version (albeit slightly inferior in my opinion) of "Sappy" already in the box set, the only reason to purchase this release is for "Spank Thru". But do you really think that the record company isn't going to release all of the Fecal Matter tracks along with some other rarities sometime in the not too distant future? Of course they are. Save your money until they give you something worth buying. This is trash and a cynical money-making exercise, nothing more. It has nothing to do with the fans or the legacy of the band or great music. It has everything to do with money.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For an inside look, and if you're on a budget, November 3, 2005

By 

Daniel Maltzman (Arlington, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sliver: The Best of the Box By Nirvana (Audio CD)

"Sliver: The best of the box" is a compilation of material from 2004s four-disc box set "With the Lights Out." This new compilation, as its title suggests, curls the best material from the larger box set. Three additional songs, demos of "Spank Thru," "Sappy," and Come as you are" are also included.

The CD includes home demos, radio appearances, and live recordings. The CD flows chronologically, from Cobain's earliest demo with Fecal Matter, to demos recorded in 1994, right before Cobain's death. Some songs are studio demos, while others were recorded on just a boom-box; therefore the quality of these songs varies from poor to good.

"Sliver" both sees the evolution of Cobain as a songwriter, as well as looks at some of his best known songs in their embryonic stage. Some songs, like the stripped down "Sliver" are fantastic and rival the finished product. But even the songs that are of poor-to-fair quality are of historical importance and give the listener an inside look at the songs as works-in-progress.

"Sliver" contains some lost gems that never made it onto the studio albums, like the subdued "Clean up before she comes" and the off-beat rock-a-billy "Ain't it a shame." "Old Age" sounds a bit like a sped-up "Something in the Way," and is up-to-par with the rest of "Nevermind." A home demo of one of Cobain's last songs, "Do Re Me" had great potential. It's a little rough-around-the-edge, but could have been a classic if it had been touched-up and recorded in the studio. Other tracks like Fecal Matter's "Spank Thru" and "Oh the Guilt" don't quite measure up, but should be of interest to fans of the band.

Being mostly a CD of demos, these songs posses an atmospheric, eerie low-fi intrigue, akin to the sound of the Velvet Underground. While the finished songs are ultimately better, these demos are well worth a listen.

Both the demos and live recordings see the band at its rawest, it not finest hour.

If you don't have time and/or money to invest in the larger "With the Lights Out" box set, but are interested in Nirvana's songs as works-in-progress, this CD is highly recommended. The inclusion of the excellent "Old Age" and "Do Re Me," alone is enough reason to buy this album. Fans should also be interested in hearing Cobain's earliest recording, "Spank Thru" (1985) when he was still a teen.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you're on a budget, get this - if you have the box set don't, November 12, 2005

By 

M. McM "AOTT-TMF" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sliver: The Best of the Box By Nirvana (Audio CD)

If you have the box set or plan on getting the box set, do NOT buy this disc. It's not worth it, not even for the three 'new' tracks. The 1985 Fecal Matter demo of "Spank Thru" may have historical value, but it's awful. Cobain would grow into a great vocalist and a great guitar player, but on this track, he's still learning. There's some bad wankery on the guitar and the vocals are mediocre. In fact, the first minute or so has some dreadful singing, so much that Novoselic's ear for talent seems all the more remarkable.

The 1990 demo of "Sappy" is merely okay. The guitar and drum work seems rather tame next to the finished version included on the box set, and the vocals are less interesting and generally inferior than those on the finished version too.

The boombox version of "Come As You Are" sounds like a demo recorded on a cheap, single-mic tape recorder. (It may have been recorded on a boombox with a record function, hence the name.) Instrumentally, it's not a bad performance, and the vocals are pretty good, but this is a really lo-fi recording. The drums come in pretty clear, but the guitar and Cobain's vocals are way down in the mix. This early version of the song also repeats the first verse twice - Cobain would later write two more verses and use these on the finished version on NEVERMIND. I doubt I'll ever listen to this 'boombox version' again, especially when the album and live performances are not only better musically but available in better sound quality.

The rest of this disc is available on their box set "With The Lights Out," which is essential to any Nirvana fan (the DVD alone is amazing). If you're on a very tight budget, SLIVER: THE BEST OF THE BOX is an okay option, but ONLY if you have no plans to buy the box set. A few key tracks from the box set are here ("Opinion," "Oh, The Guilt," "Do Re Mi" among others), but there's plenty of good stuff that's only on the box set and not here.