Nirvana's In Utero (33 1/3)
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Nirvana's in Utero (33 1/3) Paperback – September 1, 2006
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Gillian G. Gaar is the author of She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock'n'Roll and Green Day: Rebels With a Cause. She served as project consultant on the Nirvana box set With the Lights Out. She lives in Seattle.
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The record was replete with references to babies, childbirth, and reproduction (the album’s very title means "in the womb"); witch hunts, the loss of privacy, illness and disease, and ambivalence about fame. The songs expressed a heartfelt anguish that would later cause some to interpret the entire album as a cry for help, but even at the time of its release In Utero could easily be read as an album focused on physical and spiritual sickness. Rather than being overwhelmed by circumstances, however, Cobain’s songs on In Utero show him – for the most part – still able and willing to fight back. As such, among Nirvana’s recorded efforts, it stands as Cobain’s most personal work.
More About the Author
Gillian G. Gaar is a Seattle-based author. Her first book, She's A Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll was published in 1992. In addition to her own books, she has appeared in various anthologies, including The Nirvana Companion, Trouble Girls: The Rolling Stone Guide to Women in Rock, Goldmine: The Beatles Digest (volumes one and two), Best of the Beatles Book, The Stranger Guide To Seattle, Music: The Little Black Book, 33 1/3 Greatest Hits Vol 2, A Survey of American Culture, and various editions of The Scribner Encylopedia of American Lives. She was editorial assistant for Krist Novoselic's book From Grunge To Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy!
She was also a project consultant/liner note writer for Nirvana's box set "With The Lights Out." She has written for numerous magazines, including Rolling Stone, Mojo, Q, Goldmine, The Seattle Times, The Stranger, Option, and No Depression, and was a senior editor at Seattle music paper The Rocket.
She has also written liner notes for collections by Laurie Anderson, Judy Collins, Heart, Pat Benatar, Paula Cole and Mat Kearney, among others.
She was also a project consultant/liner note writer for Nirvana's box set "With The Lights Out." She has written for numerous magazines, including Rolling Stone, Mojo, Q, Goldmine, The Seattle Times, The Stranger, Option, and No Depression, and was a senior editor at Seattle music paper The Rocket.
She has also written liner notes for collections by Laurie Anderson, Judy Collins, Heart, Pat Benatar, Paula Cole and Mat Kearney, among others.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By
Scott Bresinger
on October 6, 2006
Format: Paperback
1 Comment
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At the time of its release in 1993, Nirvana's final studio album, "In Utero," was so hotly anticipated that controversies arose before most people had even heard it. As a successor to a bajillion-selling behemoth ('91's "Nevermind," in case you've been under a very large rock for the last 20 years), how could it not be? Of course, once the album hit stores, and especially since Kurt Cobain's suicide, none of the backstory seemed to matter. Now, more than a decade later, author Gillian G. Gaar (apparently, a true "G") revisits the album that confirmed that Nirvana was a serious rock band and not some grunge-pop poseurs (and I can't tell you how many times I've had to defend my Nirvana t-shirt to passers by back in the day!).
This short book, one of Continuum Publishing's 33 1/3 series of books about classic pop music albums, focuses mainly on known facts. Therefore, many chapters detail the varied recording sessions that eventually resulted in the finished album. For instance, in the first chapter, Gaar covers the history of the song "Sappy," the best song the band wrote that never made it onto a proper album. We find out about the musical and lyrical changes the song had over the years. Unfortunately, Gaar doesn't print most of the lyrics from any version, so it's hard to appreciate these changes, much less interpret them. This sets up a pattern for the rest of the book, so mostly we get a string of dates and studios with relatively little context.
Also absent are details about the state of Cobain's physical and mental health during the "In Utero" sessions. Of course, based on the lyrics he wrote (we learn that Cobain would wait until the day of the vocal recording to finish them), it couldn't have been very good.Read more ›
This short book, one of Continuum Publishing's 33 1/3 series of books about classic pop music albums, focuses mainly on known facts. Therefore, many chapters detail the varied recording sessions that eventually resulted in the finished album. For instance, in the first chapter, Gaar covers the history of the song "Sappy," the best song the band wrote that never made it onto a proper album. We find out about the musical and lyrical changes the song had over the years. Unfortunately, Gaar doesn't print most of the lyrics from any version, so it's hard to appreciate these changes, much less interpret them. This sets up a pattern for the rest of the book, so mostly we get a string of dates and studios with relatively little context.
Also absent are details about the state of Cobain's physical and mental health during the "In Utero" sessions. Of course, based on the lyrics he wrote (we learn that Cobain would wait until the day of the vocal recording to finish them), it couldn't have been very good.Read more ›
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By
J. Little
on September 27, 2006
Format: Paperback
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Great Read, there are lots of tidbits that have come out over the years organized for you to make sense out of. There are several previously points that are clarified as the author did a thorough job researching the ambiguous nuggets of information and rumors floating about. She interviewed those in the know close to the band, members of the band, as well as renowned experts in the field of live recordings and concerts. Is everything in this book a revelation? No, but with Nirvana existence 12 years in the past and with all session and demo information that we've learned about over the years, the constant expectation of something groundbreaking and new is probably going to leave you disappointed more often than not. There is some new info, yes. Did I buy it for that? No, not at all. Personally, I like hearing information that we've known presented in a nice, organized, and well written fashion as much as (if not more than) new information. The new stuff is just icing on the cake. Great job on the book, Gillian. I hope that you continue to share Nirvana with us in all the various ways you have already.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By
C. Moise
on December 7, 2006
Format: Paperback
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Anyone that is interested in questions like what Nirvana outtakes are still in the vaults or how many takes of a particular song were recorded will love this book. Most of the interviews are brand new and add insight to Nirvana's post Nevermind recording sessions. Let hope Gillian gets a chance to write books on Bleach and Nevermind for 33 1/3 as well..
Chris
Chris
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By
Mom Fears My Music
on June 21, 2014
Format: Paperback
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This series is great but this one in particular is special for me because In Utero is my favorite album. This book tells a lot of stories about recording the album as well as some of the issues that were happening with the record company and production.
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By
HuntleyMC
on July 13, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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This book was alright. I felt like it was a little disjointed in how it covered the album. I was hoping it would be a chapter covering each song on the album but it was not written that way at all. Gaar discusses the creation of some of the songs and than the recording of the songs. She interviews the producers, record executives, members of Nirvana and gathers quotes by Kurt Cobain from interviews done at the time. There is a chapter that covers the creation of the art work that is interesting.
Over all I don't really think I got a better understanding of the Nirvana or their recording process from this book.
Over all I don't really think I got a better understanding of the Nirvana or their recording process from this book.
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