548. Nirvana / In Utero. 1993. 3.5/5

Wow. All the pent up expectations and hopes for this album that were around when this was released in theory meant that it should have been less than the expectation and a disappointment overall. As it turned out, this wasn’t the case at all. It was edgy, it was unexpected. It was right for the time, and it satisfied the majority of the Nirvana fans who wanted something that wasn't a rehash of Nevermind but wasn't so far away from it that it alienated them (ie - the way many teenyboppa fans couldn't handle the brilliance of Faith No More's Angel Dust after the relatively radio-friendly The Real Thing.).

So this is a success, except for one thing that perhaps makes its presence felt more today than it did in 1994 - most of this is pretty boring. It's not a bad album, but in many aspects it is rather bland. Having listened to it for the past couple of days again I guess I was a little surprised, because my memories of the album in 1994-95 is of the great feel it had. Now, fifteen years later, my older and no doubt socially changed self finds that it isn't quite as good as I remember it to be.

Strangely enough, it is the commercially released songs that I found I enjoyed the most, while for the rest I was merely happy to enjoy in remembrance. It turns out that in listening to this album again, I am even more enamored by the fact that it was the Foo Fighters who rose from the ashes that fell following this album's release, and the excellent material that they have released since.

Rating: Perhaps an album that holds its own in its own time. 3.5/5