'Kurt Cobain: About a Son' [DVD review]

Kurt Cobain: About a Son
Shout! Factory/Sidetrack Films (2/19/08)
Unrated
135 minutes



"There's this very hushed, late night, intimate feeling to those conversations that I didn't even really realize was there because it was just me talking to Kurt. But, looking back on it, there's this, you know... it's not like a regular interview situation. It's just two people talking."

—Michael Azerrad



The documentary Kurt Cobain: About a Son can be summed up two words: Simply phenomenal.


Culled from more than 25 hours of audiotaped conversations between Cobain and writer Michael Azerrad (who was working on his book Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana at the time) around the end of 1992 and beginning of 1993, the film basically tells the story of the fallen rock star in his own words. It is a moving tale, where Cobain shares intimate details of his early childhood growing up in Aberdeen, Wash., and subsequent moves to Olympia, Wash., and Seattle. He appears to hold nothing back, talking about his relationship with his mother and father, his unpleasant school years, his efforts to build a band, struggles with fame and drugs, and ultimate (apparent) acceptance of his life.


"Virtually all these conversations took place starting around midnight at Kurt's house," Azerrad said in an interview on the DVD. "He would wake up at three in the afternoon, or so, typically everyday, go about his business and then, you know, kind of call me that evening and say, 'OK, I’m ready. Come by.'


"And so, we'd sit down, either in the living room with the TV set on in the background, and talk, or we'd be up in the kitchen. ... His kitchen overlooked this lake where bi-planes would land sometimes. We'd just sit at his kitchen table and often talk 'til, you know, dawn. And the sun would come up and the bi-planes would start landing on the lake and we'd just kick back and watch."


Since the audience knows how the story ultimately ends, many of the discussions are all the more haunting—from Cobain's frank discussion about how and why he started using hard drugs, to his disgust and distain for the journalists that were always looking for an angle. Perhaps nothing is as striking as when, while discussing the physical pain he had endured for most of his life, he talks about "blowing [his] head off" and killing himself.


But for every haunting moment, there's also some extremely humanizing moments hidden on here, too. Most poignant is when, toward the end of the film, wife Courtney Love calls to Cobain and asks him to begin preparing a bottle for the baby in a few minutes. Sadly, a side of the star not many ever got the chance to see.


The film itself is extremely simple. The star here is the audio of Cobain. Director AJ Schnack traveled around Washington gathering images and video of the various places Cobain grew up, lived in or talked about. In an attempt to have a sort of underlying current, there are also many portraits of the locals, meant to show the juxtaposition between the towns that are in so close proximity to one another.


As a final touch, music from many of Cobain's favorite bands is mixed in for good measure. Tracks from Queen, David Bowie, Leadbelly, Scratch Acid and Butthole Surfers (to name only a few) accentuate the proceedings. When Cobain talks about taking a nap in his father's van when spending the day with him at work, and listening to an eight-track of Queen, you hear the song he's talking about.


About a Son debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, was nominated for a 2007 Independent Spirit Award and was screened at numerous top international film festivals around the world. Rolling Stone has called it "the movie that's moving audiences to tears."


Sure, there have been other documentaries about Cobain in the past; none of this is new material. But never before have you heard it all straight from him. The visuals are expertly shot, but not a necessity. At any point you can simply shut your eyes and listen to the stories.


The movie is presented in 16:9 widescreen, with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround. In addition to the movie, the DVD also contains a featurette on the making of the film (where the quotes in this review came from), some selected scene commentary with Schnack and another feature on scouting video.


This is, by far, not only the best Cobain documentary to come out, but one of the best rock documentaries to come out, period. As Schnack points out, nothing really ties this to a time or place. It's just the story of a man who had a not-so-great childhood, struggled for a few years and hit it big with his band. You don't have to be a fan of Nirvana to love this movie. At its core, it's nothing more than a moving true story with a tragic ending.


As Azerrad sums it up: "Kurt Cobain was a person just like everybody else. He cried and laughed and loved his child and loved his wife and was frustrated and happy and jovial and all those things. And, I think a lot of that has been taken away from his in the intervening years since his death. He's just become an icon, and an enigma. You know, kind of dehumanized."

Nirvana -- 'With the Lights Out' box set [review]

Nirvana
"With the Lights Out"
(DGC Records)


More than 10 years since the death of the band's front man led to an abrupt end of the group, Nirvana fans finally got their hands on a "holy grail" of sorts: a four disc box set of the groups demos, hard-to-find songs and other rare material.

I really want to love this set. When you first take a look at the contents, you can't help but think this is the best box set to ever be released -- there's just so much material included. But is the wealth of the sonic offerings really enough to sell "With the Lights Out?"

It's a real catch 22 when you look at it ...

On one hand, it would seem to be a fan's most treasured wish: to hear all the songs you grown to love stripped down to their barest forms in some cases; to be able to actually hear a song's progression from acoustic demo to rough track to finished product. Sprinkle in some obscure live tracks and some noteworthy b-sides and you should have a hit on your hands.

It depends on which side of the fence you're looking at this from.

Diehard Nirvana fans should, in theory, be chomping at the bit for something like this. For more casual listeners, it's something to easily overlook. In reality, this is simply a large collection of sub-par recordings that, for the most part, were never meant to be released. And that is the conundrum when you really take a look at this set.

Sure, it's fun to hear an early version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or "Rape Me," to hear how the lyrics evolved over time, to see how Cobain and Co. modified the song structures ... but ultimately you're just reminded of the strength of the actual songs and would rather just listen to those.

The initial excitement over hearing something like the acoustic tracks "Beans" or "Clean Up Before She Comes" is soon replaced (after a couple of listens) with a sense of "how often will I really want to listen to something this rough?"

Don't get me wrong, there are some gems here.

On the second disc, outtakes like "Oh the Guilt," "Return of the Rat" and "Old Age" are welcome additions to a fan's collection (for those who hadn't already tracked these songs down). Cobain's solo offering of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (which showed up as a live rendition on the "Unplugged" disc) is a nice gem among the collection.

Disc 3 kicks off with two versions of "Rape Me," an acoustic track with weak vocals, and a more polished demo. The acoustic version sounds more like Cobain still trying to figure out exactly what he wanted to do with the song. The demo is much more lively as the song was really starting to take shape at this point. As a bonus, baby Cobain can be heard (intentionally I'm thinking), crying in the background at various points throughout the song, a nice touch.

The demo of "Scentless Apprentice" is much more raw than the track that eventually found its way onto "In Utero." The whole song sounds like a pretty good jam session, though, it should be noted that the overall sound is almost more Foo Fighters (Grohl's eventual band) instead of Nirvana.

There's interesting acoustic versions of "Serve the Servants," "Very Ape" (sans lyrics with mumbling) and "Pennyroyal Tea" (which was surprising near-completion).

As for "Heart Shaped Box," this is another instance of Cobain still exploring for just the right lyrics ("I wish I could eat your cancer when I get sick;" "Locked in heart-shaped coffins"). The same goes for "Milk It" or "M.V." (a song that wasn't that accessible to being with, I was actually surprised they included a demo of the track instead of the finished version).

Though it isn't labeled as such (read: demo), "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" doesn't sound like the version that eventually went public, unlike "Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip" and "Marigold" (probably the crown jewel of songs that never made it on official Nirvana release with Grohl on vocals), which are pretty much the versions that showed up on international release and b-sides. Same goes for "Sappy" (also known as "Verse Chorus Verse") though the demo was on disc 2.

The most interesting aspects of the set as a whole, is not only the ability to see the songs develop over time, but to see the band actually attempt to fully realize songs. Watching Cobain take "Rape Me" from an acoustic mish-mosh to a raw demo and then to the finished track (on "In Utero") is something fans of bands are rarely able to experience. Then, on top of that, listening to something like "Other Improv" (off disc 3), obviously a glimpse of the band trying to find a song, is just amazing to be able to experience.

On the flip side, how many people really want to pull out demo material when they're in the mood to listen to music. When this set is, musically, over 70 minutes of material spaced out over three discs, one can't help but think there was some way to shorten things a little.

In the end, you are able to say that this is a fantastic look into the inner working of a band, but much like a history book is an interesting look into, well, history. Do you get something out of reading the book? Yes. Do you want to read it over and over? Maybe. "With the Lights Out" is the musical equivalent of a Nirvana text book. It's something that is worth listening to ... at least once in a while. It's just that the really good tracks are spaced out amongst the rawer material, which makes this something only Nirvana diehards would really be interested in.