The concert special aired on December 16, 1993, and in a break with MTV Unplugged tradition, Nirvana played mainly lesser-known material and covers of songs by artists including the Vaselines, David Bowie, Lead Belly, and Meat Puppets.
Released in November of 1994, Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York, which Nivrana will perform during the band's December 10 engagement, features an acoustic performance recorded a year prior at New York City's Sony Music Studios for the television series MTV Unplugged. In 2004, Rolling Stone named Nirvana among the 100 greatest artists of all time, and its musicians were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility in 2014. They achieved five number-one hits on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart (for songs including "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Lithium") and four number-one albums on the Billboard 200 (for recording including their biggest smashes Nevermind and In Utero). During their three years as a mainstream act, Nirvana received an American Music Award, Brit Award, and Grammy Award, as well as seven MTV Video Music Awards and two NME Awards. Although the group disbanded following Cobain's suicide in 1994, Nirvana is one of the best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Nirvana's success popularized alternative rock, and they were often referenced as the figurehead band of Generation X, with their music maintaining a popular following and continuing to influence modern rock culture. In celebration of one of the best-selling and most popular bands of all time, the alt-rock musicians of Nivrana: A Tribute to Nirvana will take on an ambitious challenge in their December 10 concert at Davenport's Redstone Room, with the artists' first set a performance of the Grammy-winning MTV Unplugged in New York, and the evening's second half a recreation of the set Nirvana played at Davenport's Palmer Auditorium on October 22 of 1993.įormed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987, Nirvana was founded by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, and the band went through a succession of drummers before recruiting Dave Grohl in 1990.
Combining blues, jazz and soul elements, it’s a hugely influential album and over 40 years after its release, still highly relevant and relatable.ĭownload What’s Going On (44.The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA Gaye tackles poverty, drug addiction and even environmental issues not through angry political rants but from the point of a dismayed man who believes love – not more hatred and violence – is the answer.Īs a recording the album exhibits a rare spaciousness, with each element able to be picked out clearly.
Stream it at the Neil Young Archive (24-bit/192kHz) hereĭeeply affected by his brother’s experiences returning from the Vietnam War and what he viewed as rampant, widespread injustice in America, Marvin Gaye shrugged off his soul loverman image and recorded a concept album about the state of the world.Īll nine of its songs flow into one another and it ends with a reprise of its opening theme, all the better to tell the story of a Vietnam veteran who has come home from war to see his country in a new light. Make sure to listen to it in 24-bit/192kHz master quality (should your bandwidth be broad enough) at Young’s online archive, which currently features almost his entire catalogue, for free, in high resolution.īuy Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live (24-bit/192kHz AIFF/FLAC/ALAC/WAV) here But here, presented in the concert context with jokey stage banter intact, those same songs (and a couple of others) take on a livelier, more vibrant tone – this is a party, not a wake for departed friends. Despite its critical success, the studio version of Tonight’s The Night is among Young’s thornier records, consisting mostly of loose, off-kilter one-take recordings and festering with end-of-the-hippie-dream cynicism death, drugs and darkness abound.
Released in 2018 but recorded 45 years earlier, this exceptional album perfectly captures the atmosphere, warmth and raucous energy of Young’s live show with The Santa Monica Flyers – the inaugural gig at now-legendary LA nightclub The Roxy.
Neil Young – Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live (2018)