Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 31/10/05
Label: Geffen

Courtney Love is $4m in debt. Four million bucks! What is she, a drug addict? Actually, don't answer that.

It is Love's fiduciary difficulties that have prompted the release of "Sliver", yet another trawl through Nirvana's cutting-room floor. To be fair, there are some more valid justifications one can make for it. You could argue that anything featuring Kurt Cobain singing and/or some of his songwriting is probably worth hearing. You could also argue that, with the Foo Fighters' boundary-pushing awfulness threatening to seep back in time and infect the Nirvana catalogue, counter-measures are required.

If you wanted to get high-brow, you could point out that Franz Kafka's writings would never have been published if his mate hadn't overlooked a dying request that they be thrown in a river. Those in possession of creative genius are sometimes dangerously modest, so Kurt may have discarded brilliant songs at a whim - right? Well, in theory maybe. But no one could argue that 1985 demo "Spank Thru" which opens "Sliver" is unworthy of the band-name under which it was recorded: Fecal Matter. Listening to it is more a trial than "The Trial", yeah?

Elsewhere, the bulk of "Sliver" - a compilation of highlights from last year's "With the Lights Out" box-set, plus three previously-unreleased alternate takes - is made up of poorly-recorded demo versions of Nirvana classics ("Teen Spirit", "Heart-Shaped Box" and "Come as You Are" among them). From an archivist's perspective, it's nice to know these demos exists - they're fledgling versions of epoch-defining songs, sometimes with different lyrics - just as it's nice to know that someone recorded Nirvana's first-ever gig (represented by "Heartbreaker"). But ultimately, no Nirvana fan really needs to hear the demos, as the songs were later perfected by their composer and recorded beautifully on the studio albums. Like, listen to those instead.

Look beyond the multiple demos of "Rape Me", though, and you do find a couple of blinding treasures to reward a speculative purchase of "Sliver". One is "Oh the Guilt", an electrifying track recorded in 1992 for a split single with the Jesus Lizard, at a time when Nirvana - despite all the fame and the smack - were operating as a veritable production-line of grunge-pop classics. Another is "Blandest", somehow denied a release during Nirvana's lifespan but indisputably worthy of their name.

Yet ultimately, this 22-track album is defined by the version of "All Apologies" that closes it. For this reporter's money, "All Apologies" is the greatest song ever written, but you'd never tell to listen to the clumsily-performed, half-assed demo version. Maybe Courtney Love could sell off a few assets or something? Let's hope so, because a band as potent and powerful as Nirvana should never be rendered ordinary.

    by Niall O'Keeffe