NIRVANA
In Utero: 20th Anniversary Edition
[DGC-2013]
It’s a bittersweet irony that the 20th
anniversary edition of In Utero was released on another anniversary: that of its
predecessor, the album which made Kurt Cobain a household name and In Utero was
seemingly a reaction against. The latter meme has been bandied about for decades
and a song itself (“Radio Friendly Unit Shifter”) has been cited as the
torchbearer for Cobain’s disdain for Nevermind [DGC-1991]. But in the end the gambit
backfired: In Utero has never eclipsed Nevermind in any way, shape or form, and
despite being the final studio album by the most significant rock band of the
‘90s, it has largely receded to background status, barely eclipsing Bleach [Sub Pop-1989] in
that regard. Its best songs remain powerful, yet rarely heard these days
(“Serve the Servants”, “Heart Shaped Box”, the aforementioned “Radio Friendly
Unit Shifter”) and its two most enduring tunes (“Pennyroyal Tea” and the sadly,
beautiful “All Apologies”) live on in their stripped down versions from the
band’s live MTV Unplugged album instead. Nirvana never did become The Jesus
Lizard 2.0, either.
If there’s one thing accomplished by this expanded 20th
anniversary edition—which includes the album’s original mix, a 2013 mix, and assorted
b-sides, outtakes, demos—it’s to shine a light on how finely tuned a microscope
there was on Nirvana at this point in the band’s career. The infamous original
mixes by producer Steve Albini for singles “Heart Shaped Box” and “All
Apologies” (which garnered so much animosity and controversy between the
various factions involved, not to mention feeding the press’ obsessive appetite
for all things Nirvana in the wake of Nevermind), are not that far off from
Scott Litt’s later mixes. The Albini mix for “All Apologies” has louder, slightly more nuanced guitars.
That’s it.
As for the reissue itself, the main criteria from the fan
P.O.V. remains the same for In Utero as any other: Do you love this album
enough to repurchase it, along with the extras included in an expanded version?
Nirvana’s studio epitaph probably deserves better than a blunt, plain invitation to your collection—the 2013 Albini mixes could
be reason enough to re-evaluate In Utero, or at least judge it in a slightly
different light—but if its creator’s intent was to alienate and distance
ourselves from his last batch of songs, simply because we were partial to the
ones which came right before it, we should, at the very least, contemplate
honoring his last musical request.
