With The Lights Out [BOX SET] [ENHANCED]

Nirvana

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 23, 2004)
• Original Release Date: November 23, 2004
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Enhanced
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B00065XJ4S
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (265 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,586 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Heartbreaker [Live][#]

2. Anorexorcist [#]

3. White Lace and Strange [#]

4. Help Me I'm Hungry [#]

5. Mrs. Butterworth [#]

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Opinion [Acoustic][#]

2. Lithium [Acoustic][#]

3. Been a Son [Acoustic][#]

4. Sliver [Acoustic][#]

5. Where Did You Sleep Last Night [Acoustic][#]

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Rape Me [Acoustic][#]

2. Rape Me [#][Demo Version]

3. Scentless Apprentice [#][Demo Version]

4. Heart Shaped Box [#][Demo Version]

5. I Hate Myself and Want to Die

See all 18 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Love Buzz [DVD]

2. Scoff [DVD]

3. About a Girl [DVD]

4. Big Long Now [DVD]

5. Immigrant Song [DVD]

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Nirvana may have been the biggest thing in the music world in the early '90s, but the trio maintained an uncommon devotion to core fans who knew them when they were still sleeping in a van. Fending off the adoration of punk-rock dabblers in the media and their audience while simultaneously welcoming stalwart underground-music supporters, Kurt Cobain did things on his own terms--until it all came crashing down. A decade after Cobain's 1994 suicide and the band's demise, With the Lights Out remains true to the ethos that defined the band and the alt-rock revolution that rose and fell with them.

Eschewing the standard hits-sprinkled-with-rarities mix, this lovingly compiled three-CD, one-DVD collection is made up almost entirely of previously unreleased selections. The handful of previously heard tracks are obscurities along the lines of the group's cover of "Here She Comes Now," recorded for a 1990 indie-rock tribute to the Velvet Underground. But it's not the B-sides and compilation oddities that define this idiosyncratic set; rather, its spirit is captured in the bedroom demos, radio performances, and sloppy amateur video recordings that catch Cobain and cohorts developing from just another punk- and metal-inspired bunch of grunge rockers pounding away in the bass player's mom's living room into a band that defined an era. --Steven Stolder

Product Description

The box set spans Nirvana's entire career, from a recording of Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" at the band's first show in 1987 to solo acoustic performances from singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain in 1994. With The Lights Out features a 60-page color booklet with rare photos and liner notes by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and writer Neil Strauss. The three CDs, arranged largely chronologically contains home and rehearsal demos, including for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (whose lyric "With the lights out" provides the set's title), "Rape Me," "Heart Shaped Box" and a trio penned by legendary bluesman Leadbelly. Heard in the 12 previously unreleased solo acoustic tracks are such gems as "All Apologies," "Lithium" and "Sliver." Six previously unreleased radio performances range from "Anorexorcist" in 1987 to "Dumb" in 1991 (two years before it was on 1993's In Utero). Along with the remaining debuts are a handful of earlier issued, though rare, b-sides and demos as well as the original Butch Vig mix of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Highlighted on the With The Lights Out DVD is a previously unreleased video of nine songs performed in 1988 at bassist Krist Novoselic's mother's house in Aberdeen, Washington; the rare "In Bloom" Sub Pop music video, and 10 never-before-seen live performances. Noteworthy among them are debut renditions of "Pennyroyal Tea", "Smells Like Teen Spirit" both from early 1991. Also premiering is an unlikely performance of Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen's "Seasons In The Sun" shot at a Rio de Janeiro studio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

292 of 306 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Do Re Mi" alone is worth the entire set..., November 28, 2004

By	James Krieger (White Plains, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For anyone who has not gotten the new 3CD/1DVD box set "With The Lights Out" from Nirvana... This set is absolutely amazing. Many of the songs and demos that are on the set I have had for years now on cassettes that have found their way to me but on this set they have been cleaned and mastered fantastically. Then there are the songs and demos that have never seen the light of day... They speak for themselves.

There is some great humor here starting right off Disc 1 with the band at their very first gig about to launch into Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and Kurt can be heard yelling in the background "I don't know this song!" Kurt's trippy demo of "Beans", with his harmonized vocal is hilarious. There are great "Bleach" era demos ("If You Must", "Pen Cap Chew"), to some killer sessions with Mark Lanegan doing Leadbelly covers. But here is where it hits the hardest...

The very last song (rumored) to have ever been recorded is a demo included here called "Do Re Mi" (sometimes referred in the past as "Dough, Ray and Me"). This demo (along with the acoustic "You Know Your Right") is the clear example of where Kurt was about to go musically... The melody is breathtaking, and the beauty of the composition is absolutely devastating knowing what was to come. The recording is Kurt himself with an acoustic guitar (probably at home, Courtney can be heard talking to him in the background as the song finishes) and the starkness of his voice with his lone acoustic sets up a landscape of undefinable melodic beauty. This song is worth the price of the entire set.

All you need to be reminded of the value of this set is to turn on the radio... Today's rock music genre is a a soul-less desolate landscape of 4th and 5th generation imitators of previous forms. This box set historically shows the most important band since the Beatles before and during the most important time in musical history since the fab four walked off the plane at JFK airport. Who else came along, sent a music genre before them to the graveyard, defined a generation, opened the gates for a whole new genre of musicains, and left a void in it's wake a generation wide? Exactly.

The bullet that killed Kurt Cobain didn't just kill a person, it blew a hole thru a rock n roll in a way that no one could have ever imagined, even more so than John Lennon. Imagine if Lennon or McCartney had died at the height of their skills? You don't have to, it happened in Seattle in 1994.

When you listen to "Do Re Mi" the "What could have been" is absolutely heartbreaking...

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here We Are Now, Entertain Us, November 25, 2004

By	Fairy Hug's & Sugar Kisses - See all my reviews

After many years of waiting, Nirvana fans have what Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, at one time refered too as "the Holy Grail Of Rock Music." That has turned out to be absolutly no understatement. This 4 disc compilation (3 CD's + 1 DVD) is a must for any rock fan. With rare demo's, solo Cobain recordings, a few live tracks, some late 80's radio perfomances, and a few B-side's thrown in also. Whether you've been a Nirvana fan for years, or are just beginning to appreciate the music of this wonderful band, you will get everything in this package. It's not all polished, it's not all perfect, it's raw. It's rock. It's Nirvana.
Most compelling on this album is disc 3. Which hosts at least 3 unreleased demo's that Cobain made just previous to a concert tour in early 1994, which ended with him in a coma in Rome. Following his release from the hospital in Rome, within weeks, the enevitable happened. Cobain swallowed a shot-gun shell in the home he shared with his wife and child. Resulting in his tragic death and a brutal punch in the gut to music as we new it.
Included with these 1994 demo's is the much talked about song: "Do Re Mi," which can clearly show some of Cobain's influence from the poppy Beatles, which he adored through his whole life. The track begins with what seems like someone banging against a wall, perhaps a suitcase, or maybe just a box, to simulate the drums that aren't present. The vocals are pristine. Serious. Haunting. The acoustic guitar that Cobain plays reflects his not so perfect, but yet delicate guitar skills. At the end of the track, if you listen carefully, you can hear the entushiastic voice of Cobain's wife, Courtney Cobain, telling him: "That Was GREAT!"
The album then goes into an acoustic version of "You Know Your Right" which was only played live once under the title, "On The Mountain," and recorded on a cold afternoon at Lange Studios in what is said to be 1 take. The lyrics are very different then the one's fans heard on the studio version that was released in the fall of 2002. The vocals are far from perfect. At times you can nearly feel the pain Cobain muct have felt as he strained his voice. His lyrics are extremly haunting, considering the suicide that followed, including the line: "I Could Never Die Again/I Won't Loose Another Friend/She Will See Another Me/When I'm Through........" The vocals then become hard to understand. Maybe on purpose. As a part of the mystery. To hide his secrets. His pain. His love.
The most hard to listen to track has to be the electric demo of "Rape Me." Which begins with the shrill cries of a 2 month old Frances Bean Cobain. On her fathers lap in the studio, he holds her up to the mic, he passes her off, maybe, to his wife perhaps, and the intro begins. The cries of the child overlapping the vocals of a man she'd never really know. During the second refrain they return. Louder and even harder to listen to. Father & child crying out together. In the angst of a child who wants her bottle, maybe just a diaper change. In the angst of a man who just wanted to disappear.
There's also some funny tracks though. Including "Mrs. Butterworth" on disc 1. Where Cobain goes on a tirade about Ply Wood, Burlap, & Seashells. Only to end his story of a beach trip with the ever sarcastic: "But I'm still sleeping on that P*ss stained mattress," before ripping back into the song.
The DVD features rare performences & private band footage. Including a 1988 rehersal taped @ the home of bassist Krist Noveselic's mother. The Sub Pop video of Neverminds "In Bloom." The debut performence of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and a rare look inside the studio with the band as they record "Season's In The Sun" in Rio de Jeniro, Brazil. This performance includes a rare mix-up of the band lin-up. Cobain trading in his guitar for his first insturment, the drums. Drummer Dave Grohl (also of the Foo Fighters) moves outta the drummers seat to pick-up a bass. Krist Noveselic, takes off the weight of his bass for an all white Fender Strat. The music is at it's best. What we loved. What we lost. Cobain has freshly dyed brown hair. Wearing a ratty old sweater. His boyish giggle can be heard through his vocals towards the end of the song. A rare smile spreading across his face. It's an emotional final farewell from an epic part of musical history. As Cobain sings: "Goodbye Papa It's Hard To Die/When All The Birds Are Singing In The Sky." You just have to wonder.
Why couldn't something as simple as a bird save him?

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NIRVANA'S BEST CD, BUT NOT FOR EVERYONE, November 26, 2004

By	cheikl - See all my reviews

With The Lights Out is Nirvana's best release. Its combination of gritty home recordings, demos, b-sides and outtakes make any hard-core Nirvana fan love the band even more (if possible). But when I say "hard-core," I really do mean hard-core. With The Lights Out contains many unfinished songs, some poorly recorded, others too short or too long. Songs like Oh The Guilt and Curmudgeon were so overly grunge that they weren't released on Nirvana's maintstream albums. Very Ape, in the middle of a verse, was recorded over with Kurt Cobain randomly singing "A da da dum da da da da." This truly is Nirvana's greatest release, but for those who aren't regular listeners, don't waste your money.

For the fans, especially bootleggers, With The Lights Out is a dream. The set features the rarest of available bootlegs. Even the most avid bootleggers will only have 15 of these songs. Multiply that by 4 and you've got 60 extraordinarily rare songs, a bootlegger's heaven. I had only six of the tracks featured in the set, and i searched for hours. Most of the songs are better than those released mainstream. All the songs, rare or different versions, are amazing.

With The Lights Out serves two purposes. First, any songs that hadn't been released finally are. Second, it tells the short history of Nirvana. The first CD is filled with raw songs, horrible vocals and guitaring, and even worse drumming. The second CD is much better. Many of the songs are put together better and they sound great. The third CD is just as amazing, but it's also very emotional. As I listened to it, particularly You Know You're Right, Kurt Cobain's voice was incredible. The emotion in that CD, the knowledge that Kurt Cobain would kill himself, it makes listening madly depressing. When All Apologies (the last song) finished, I sat in silence for a really long time. It was the first time I gave serious thought to how horrible Kurt Cobain's life had been when he killed himself. In the songs near the end, he sounded weak, almost like he out-did himself and lost his voice. But he hadn't lost his voice. These songs were still unbelievably great, even in his depression. With The Lights Out is a great CD, especially if it can evoke such emotion.

Overall, the music is great, emotional, and explains a lot about Nirvana's history. Its poorly recorded songs, which so many people complain about, are only bad for about 10 seconds in each song. These rough parts are no worse than a CD with minor scratches that makes one song have a few pops for 2 seconds. I am not trying to defend Nirvana. Some of the rough songs are horrible, but it is so brief that there really isn't any reason to complain.

The DVD is horrible except for the last three videos which are awesome. It is horribly edited, terrible sound, etc. But the last three, Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam, Talk To Me, and Seasons in the Sun are great. In Jesus..., Dave Grohl's symbol collapses in the middle of a concert. It is also profesionally recorded, so the sound is DVD quality. Talk to Me has good sound, and it was performed well. Seasons in the Sun is hilarious. The band spoofs it so much, pretending to get emotional. Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic are really funny. The DVD is screwed up at one point. The order is different than printed in the 60 page booklet. The In Bloom video isn't in the right place on the DVD. When i watched the DVD for the first time, I almost fell asleep. But the last three videos pull it back up to 5 STARS.

GET THIS CD IF YOU'RE A FAN.