Nirvana – From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah (Live) (Music CD)
The electric smashes and thrashes compiled on FROM THE MUDDY BANKS OF THE
WISHKAH were originally intended as half of a double album; the other half would
have been the acoustic show released as MTV UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK. But after
Kurt Cobain’s death, UNPLUGGED was released on its own, and the task of putting
together a live electric disc was put aside for a couple years.
Now completed, FROM THE MUDDY BANKS OF THE WISHKAH (named for a river that cuts
through Nirvana’s hometown, Aberdeen, Washington) serves as a perfect mirror to
UNPLUGGED. Where that one offered a recontextualisation of Nirvana’s oeuvre,
this one offers a reaffirmation of the band’s raw power. All the elements that
made the band a legend are present here: pile driver rhythm section, scabrous
guitar work that combines a Neil Young-ish tone with a punk sensibility, and
Cobain’s anguished, sandpaper vocal delivery.
Many of Nirvana’s best-known songs are included in versions that double the
intensity and aggression (and sometimes the speed) of the original recordings.
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” finds the band charging at a pace that
suggests its life depends on reaching the end of the song. “Scentless
Apprentice” is a raging howl that makes the original version sound like a
beer commercial.
