Nirvana – In Utero: A Classic Album Under Review (Documentary)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Documentary: B
The Classic Albums series has been such a
success that it is no wonder others are duplicating it or trying to even pick
up and counter it. That begs the
question of whether one artist can have more than one classic. With Def Leppard, I don’t think so, but it is
another story with Nirvana. The Nevermind album was a watershed album
and Classic Albums covered it, as
featured in the following review:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2205/Classic+Albums:+Nirvana+-+Nevermind
Get album
and great documentary coverage, but their In
Utero album followed and was also a big commercial and critical success, if
not the blockbuster Nevermind
was. Since Kurt Cobain lost his life,
the true power and importance of In
Utero may have been shortchanged as a result. In the latest of the Under Review series to focus on certain albums continues with a
look at In Utero, which is a very
thorough and articulate look at and argument for its greatness. The best way to say this is that the band was
not capable of making a bad album and in retrospect only made great ones.
The 63
minutes offer (as usual) more great clips, interview moments, facts and great
observations made that are musically literate and culturally aware. It makes the case that Nirvana would have
went on to be innovative and it certainly occurs to the viewer that if Cobain
became more political, he would have been a threat to the establishment and
more innovations were on the way as well.
For the record, the tracks form the album are:
- Serve The Servants
- Scentless Apprentice
- Heart-Shaped Box
- Rape Me
- Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle
- Dumb
- Very Ape
- Milk It
- Pennyroyal Tea
- Radio Friendly
Unit Shifter
- Tourette's
- All Apologies
Several
of those songs were instant classics upon arrival, but it is more and more
apparent that this band is more important in a way that the rest of the world
has not caught up with yet. Nirvana – In Utero: A Classic Album Under
Review is a must-see installment whose only flaw is that it should have
been twice as long.
The 1.33
X 1 image originated on analog professional PAL video and looks good despite
some limits and reconversion to NTSC. Of
course, many of the clips of the band are from U.S. TV and originated in NTSC,
so you can imagine the variance in definition.
The PCM 16bit/48kHz 2.0 Stereo is very good, if not totally
audiophile. Extras include a two-minutes
piece asking if the band’s MTV Unplugged
release is also a classic, lasting just over two minutes. There is also another tough quiz, other
Nirvana titles from the Classic label and text on the interviewees.
- Nicholas Sheffo
