CD OF THE WEEK

NIRVANA With The Lights Out Geffen/Universal

Originally due out three years ago to mark the 10th anniversary of Nevermind, this three-CD and one-DVD box set has been held up by legal disputes (ie Courtney Love). Following the release of You Know You're Right and the Greatest Hits package, one hopes this is the last time that Geffen makes its lucrative trip to the Nirvana back catalogue.

Arranged chronologically, it begins with a Led Zeppelin cover from the band's debut show in 1987 and ends with some sparse but affecting Cobain solo acoustic performances. Bundled up in between are early versions of familiar tracks, demo recordings, rarities, cover versions and unreleased tracks. An important historical document in that it methodically plots the musical/creative advancement of one of rock's truly stellar bands, the building blocks of "grunge" are assembled in front of you here, and there's a discernible sense of how many parts metal and how many parts punk went into the resulting feral squall. Highlights include a trio of Leadbelly songs; the acoustic versions of All Apologies and Lithium and the original Butch Vig mix of Smells Like Teen Spirit. In between, though, there's plenty of stuff that has For Nirvana Completists Only stamped all over it.

The DVD is uniformly excellent - it contains a previously unreleased video of nine songs performed in 1988 at Krist Novoselic's house; the ultra rare In Bloom Sub Pop video; and a surreal cover of Jacques Brel's Seasons in the Sun shot at a Rio de Janeiro studio. A very well assembled set, it comes complete with a 60-page illustrated book, an annotated time-line, sleeve notes by Thurston Moore and a weird looking "heat-sensitive" gatefold box. More for the committed than the casual fan though.

www.nirvanabox.com