PJ Unlpugged vs Nirvana's

Crazy Mark wrote:

I think there are a lot of good points here but what makes this comparison a little unfair is that Unplugged may be the high point of Nirvana's career.

wow...

Jesika537 wrote:

Bleach, Nevermind, Incesticide, and In-Utero...

If you are being technical, but Incesticide was a compilation of b-sides and previously unreleased songs, so I don't count that as a brand new studio album.

PJ's wasnt that great, but it was good.

tough call between Nirvana and AiC. I've kinda worn out both though.

Igottago wrote:

Nirvana's was clearly better. One of the best recordings of all time.

agree, although PJ is a much better band. Nirvana's Unplugged was one of those special moments

walkunafraid wrote:

Interestingly, I have read multiple accounts of Kurt Cobain becoming very close to Michael Stipe in the months before his death. Around the time of Unplugged, he had indicated a desire to take Nirvana in a more R.E.M.-ish direction. Watching Unplugged only makes me wish more strongly that we would have been able to see this happen.

Apparently, Michael Stipe was going to produce an album with Kurt Cobain; the plan was for Michael to fly out to him the week after his death. Michael's said in interviews that Kurt was very interested in producing something closer to the sound of Automatic for the People. I'm with you; I would have loved to have seen what came about from that. Kurt had an unbelievable amount of respect for R.E.M., judging from the interviews he gave.

I actually enjoyed the high number of covers on the Nirvana unplugged session. I was about 12 when the Nirvana unplugged premiered on Mtv, and at that time my only source of new music was coming from the radio or Mtv. So to see a band like Nirvana playing The Vaselines, Leadbelly, Meat Puppets, Bowie, really opened my ears to new bands (new to me anyways).

I think that is why it works so well as an album on its own, because in a way, it kind of is a new recording. If I want to hear Polly or Dumb, I can go to Nevermind or In Utero, but you won't find Nirvana's version of Plateau on any of those albums.

In P.J.s defense, they were working with less material, and the version of Porch on their unplugged is my favorite version of that song.

I really love all 3 albums for different reasons.
Pearl jam- yeah, I like theirs best because they are in fact the band that got me into my own musical taste. As a matter of fact I remember being in 4rth or 5th grade and flipping the tv channels and happened to land on pj's unplugged. I was in awe. I had never heard music so catchy and good. I remember watching Ed surf the stool during "Porch" and was just like "wow" Just catchy song after catchy song. so great. It was short but it's been noted that they only had one album which is why it was short, but my god, they did an excellent job, considering (after obtaining a copy and re-watching it countless times the band didn't really want to be up there, they weren't to fond of the whole MTV media thing as we all know.
Nirvana- An epic performance because it showcased a side of Nirvana I had never seen. Dave used Brushes for the drums, and the arrangements on the originals were done flawlessly. I thought the covers were done really well, and I actually thought it was cool that Kurt invited the meat puppets to pertake in the performance while Nirvana covered their songs. They were done very nicely though way too many covers for one unplugged show I think. It would have been interesting to hear an acoustic "heart shaped box" or even some more stuff from "bleach" For the person who mentioned Pat Smear being there on stage well I believe he was a touring member of Nirvana during the career for quite some time. He is pictured in the Muddy banks cd booklet too.
Alice in chains- Agreed on all accounts. Honestly, I really didn't think their unplugged would ever work, I never envisioned them doing one, their sound was just too heavy. The show absolutely blew me away. I am honestly quite surprised how good it is considering how fucked up Layne was during the show. He was so sick and just out of it. You could so tell he was in the "nod" phase of a heroin high. It really is sad to see him so whacked out to that degree. He could barely even hold his guitar for the dong he played on. The show was so good though. i love it's rawness, especially on the dvd. When he screams "fuck" during "sludge factory", that was priceless. At first I was like "what the hell?" (I didn't recall that being on the cd version). reemed but this performance really showcased Jerry's work for me cause I got to see him in action. All original songs too. "Killer is me" is one of my favorite AIC songs and so haunting, Really liked "Got me wrong and Heaven beside you" too.

I think one other thing I prefer about Nirvana's Unplugged is the way they adapted their material; there were some pretty big re-inventions from songs that were extremely loud. Pearl Jam really just played the songs like they usually played them, except not electrified. They didn't really play around with them at all. Like most, I think they might have done it a bit too early; I would have loved to have seen a Vitalogy/No Code era Unplugged. And who's to say they won't do one in the future. But the way Nirvana adapted some of their songs to suit the evening was stellar.

State of Love and Trust, however...that is a hell of a version.

AiCPearlJamWeen wrote:

PJ would be non existent because Cobain's repetitive lyrics and dull sound would kill the band quicker than he killed himself.

yikes. that's f-ing ugly.

Igottago wrote:

Nirvana's was clearly better. One of the best recordings of all time.

what he said