Includes bonus DVD disc and 60-page booklet.

"With The Lights Out" includes a DVD as well as a large booklet with pictures and liner notes.

Nirvana (US): Kurt Cobain (vocals, guitar); Dave Grohl (vocals, drums); Krist Novoselic (bass guitar).

Liner Note Author: Thurston Moore.

Within a matter of months after Kurt Cobain's suicide in April of 1994, fans started asking for the official release of all the demos, stray songs, alternate takes, and rarities in Nirvana's vaults. Due to various legal disputes between the surviving bandmembers and the Cobain estate, this long-awaited set of unreleased material did not appear until late 2004, when the three-disc, one-DVD box With the Lights Out finally appeared. Not counting the 20-song DVD, the box contains 61 tracks, with nearly two-thirds of this material seeing its first official release on this set (the remaining songs are B-sides, one-off singles, and compilation contributions that didn't make it to the compilation Incesticide, or appeared after its 1992 release). Much of this unreleased material has circulated frequently on bootlegs over the past ten years -- most notably on the 1995 box set Into the Black and the multi-volume Outcesticide series -- but the fidelity here is much, much better, and there are several items here that have never been bootlegged, including early alternate versions of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Heart Shaped Box." Just as importantly, no major item that appeared on the bootlegs does not appear here (with the arguable exception of the Kiss cover "Do You Love Me"), which makes this the definitive collection of Nirvana studio rarities and outtakes. As the sessionography in the liner notes indicates, this hardly contains all of the unreleased material, but it certainly contains all of the noteworthy unreleased material.

All of which covers what With the Lights Out is, but it doesn't cover whether the set is worthwhile, either as music or as a history lesson. For Nirvana fanatics, it certainly is. While the packaging is slightly irritating -- it opens lengthwise, making it a little difficult to navigate -- it is lovingly, carefully prepared, expertly sequenced and selected (each disc roughly corresponds to each of their three official albums, all following in chronological order), terrifically remastered, and given a book with plenty of rare photos, posters, and memorabilia replicated in the liner notes, along with a touching essay from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and a DVD filled with rare video, including a selection of songs filmed at a 1988 rehearsal at Krist Novoselic's mom's house, the public debut of "Teen Spirit," and a version of "Seasons in the Sun" recorded in a studio in Brazil. However, for listeners who are less dedicated, this set may not be quite as compelling as it initially seems. Listening to archival material like this, whether it's on an official release or a bootleg, is a bit of a chore, since it not only doesn't have the flow of a proper album, but the selections are chosen for historical reasons and therefore are interesting as curiosities as much as they are as full-fledged pieces of music. And that's the case here -- while there is much good music here, there isn't much that adds to Nirvana's legacy, nor is there much that's revelatory. To be sure, the demos are interesting, particularly when Cobain is testing different words to such well-known songs as "Teen Spirit" and "Rape Me," or performing such crushing, metallic rockers as "Serve the Servants" and "Very Ape" as acoustic numbers, but these are ultimately subtle differences that don't alter our understanding of the songs. Similarly, to hear the early, pre-Bleach band run through Led Zeppelin covers and formless but promising heavy rockers during the first portion of the set is worthwhile, if only to hear a great band in its embryonic stage, but it doesn't result in a disc that's likely to be played more than once or twice; it's for the historical record, but it's not necessarily musically significant, since it captures a band finding its voice, not immediately delivering undeniable music.

A handful of songs on With the Lights Out do qualify as both historically interesting and significant music, and these are mainly the songs that were completed and saw official release, or were heavily bootlegged because they were close to release. They include: the Nevermind outtakes "Verse Chorus Verse" and "Old Age"; the 1992 non-LP single "Oh the Guilt" and the "Lithium" B-side "Curmudgeon"; the compilation tracks "I Hate Myself and I Want to Die" (originally released on The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience) and "Sappy" (originally released on No Alternative, where it was titled "Verse Chorus Verse"); the solo acoustic demos of the unreleased songs "Do Re Mi" and "You Know You're Right" (the electric version, initially released on the hits compilation Nirvana, is not present here). That's eight songs. That's not to say that the rest of the box set is filler, since it isn't -- as far as unreleased demos and alternate takes from a major band go, it's interesting stuff. It's just that Nirvana's outtakes -- unlike Bob Dylan's, the Velvet Underground's, or the Beatles' -- are footnotes to their story, not part of their main narrative. As long as this is understood, nobody who gets this box set should be disappointed, since it is as good as it could possibly be. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Ten years after the death of Kurt Cobain, Nirvana fans finally got what they had been waiting for in the form of 2004's WITH THE LIGHTS OUT, an extensive three-CD/one-DVD box set spanning the deified rock band's career. Part of Nirvana's charm was its gleefully subversive aesthetic, and this trait is heavily featured on Disc One, which begins with a slaughtered version of Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" at the group's first gig in 1987. Distortion and low fidelity reign on most of these songs (including "Anorexorcist", "Pen Cap Chew," and a demo version of "Even in His Youth"), and Cobain probably wouldn't have had it any other way.

Disc Two covers the band's uneasy transition to superstar status and features the crucial addition of drummer Dave Grohl, whose powerhouse percussion worked perfectly with Krist Novoselic's rumbling bass and Cobain's tortured vocals and fiery guitar playing. In addition to Cobain's solo acoustic tracks and demo versions of well-known songs, excellent B-sides and compilation tracks are presented here, including a gorgeous reading of the Velvet Underground's "Here She Comes Now" and a fierce take on Greg Sage's "D-7" that rivals the most intense Nirvana studio tracks. Covering the post-NEVERMIND years, Disc Three features acoustic readings of IN UTERO tunes, along with rarities like the stomping (and rather prophetic) "I Hate Myself and I Want to Die" and the emotive "Sappy." The beautiful booklet and the DVD of archival footage serve to further illuminate Nirvana's legacy, which extends far beyond this well-compiled set.

Rolling Stone (p.154) - Included in Rolling Stone's The 10 Best Reissues & Anthologies Of 2004 - "Remember him this way: exploding with invention, fighting the pain and winning."

Spin (p.97) - "[M]ostly great....[With tracks] that show the band experimenting in ways they never did on their album releases." - Grade: A

Entertainment Weekly (p.89) - "[A] volcanic eruption of Nirvana material....Cobain's early songs burn with thrash-metal energy, bratty humor, and, most of all, ambition." - Grade: A-

Entertainment Weekly (p.184) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]he prizes are the full-fledged Nirvana songs that got away....You can't top the naked demo of 'Heart Shaped Box,' which has doomier lyrics and a bent noise-guitar solo."

Uncut (p.134) - 4 stars out of 5 - "A hardcore fan's wildest dreams fulfilled....It's consistently strong."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.120) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[F]ascinating is a career-spanning selection of radio broadcasts beginning with an April '87 appearance....LIGHTS offers multiple perspectives on well-known material."