Nirvana (天堂)

Essentially a greatest-hits collection with one previously unreleased song, "You Know You're Right," and producer Scott Litt's 1994 remix of "Pennyroyal Tea," Nirvana the album is nevertheless a welcome addition to the band's canon. Crisp, elegant liner notes by Rolling Stone writer David Fricke put us squarely in Kurt Cobain's mindset as he entered a Seattle studio in January 1994--a full two days later than expected--to record what would be his final session with Nirvana. The resulting "You Know You're Right" locates Cobain at the apogee of his disenfranchisement with tongue nevertheless planted firmly in cheek. Bawdy, raucous, and venomous, "You Know You're Right" could have been lifted from Nevermind. A mix of tracks from that album ("Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Come as You Are," "Lithium," and "In Bloom") sits opposite stuff from early EPs and the Bleach disc ("About a Girl," "Been a Son," and "Sliver"), plus two from the MTV Unplugged sessions and several more from In Utero. Not the Nirvana treasure chest we hoped for, but solid nonetheless.