Who's getting this? There are so many great reissues and box sets that have come out in the last few years, it's hard to keep up. But I'll definitely be getting this on Tuesday. I've been waiting 10 years for something like this, and the more time went on, the less chance I thought there'd be it would happen. I know Dave Grohl wanted it out awhile back. But Courtney apparently had different ideas. This is gonna rule!

And for those that are curious, here's a review from AMG to give you an idea of what you're in for.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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.

i'll probably be getting this for my mom for christmas...yes, that's right...my mama's a nirvana fan. but i want one too!!!

Anxiety said:

That's fucking awesome. I think it'll probably be pretty cheap first week at Best Buy.

The MJ one that just came out with 4 audio discs and 1 dvd was only $29.99.

GangstaFam said:

the nirvana set is going for fifty-three bucks on amazon.com - i'm gonna scope it out at beast buy first, i'm guessing you're right. maybe i'll just buy two copies.

Anxiety said:

I hope I'm right. I'll get it either way, but I've been spending WAY too much money on music this month.

i never fell into nirvana. i think i was the one kid in my high school who didn't like them.

SassyBritches said:

i don't think you should get this box set then. unless of course it's for me.

Anxiety said:

Cute!

Anxiety said:

i'll keep that in mind

SassyBritches said:

I didn't really get into them either at first. I became a after Cobain left us I thought they were just hype until I took time out to really listen to all of their material.

GangstaFam said:

Best Buy lists it in their ad for $39.99, but Target lists it for $27.98 (this is Sunday paper ads ONLY).
Target did this with the Bon Jovi box & it was incredibly hard to get. Do the smart thing, get the Target ad & take it to Best Buy (they match prices), and get that sucker for UNDER $30.

lyricsdaddy said:

Thanks for the advice!

lyricsdaddy said:

holy moley, $27.98??? the target web site has it listed at $47.99 - that's some sale! heck, i might forego best buy and just schlep over to target.

Anxiety said:

Are there even Targets in Chicago?

Yer all rich mf's.

GooeyTheHamster said:

You can always download! Busy beaver.

GangstaFam said:

just barely.

Anxiety said:

That's what I thought.

GangstaFam said:

my sweetie and i went to the closest one to us a few weeks ago, and spent the entire day shopping there - the place is huge! and now he goes at least once a week, he's hooked. maybe i'll just ask him to pick me up a copy.

Anxiety said:

I know. When my best friend lived there and I used to visit, it took forever to find a WalMart. And it was in a really obscure location. And the parking was ridiculous. Chicago has no idea what to do with their department stores!

Okay, so who got it? And what do y'all think?

GangstaFam said:

i think all Nirvana music is banned here in Chicago..i think its called "the group who ruined music law"

Mazerati said:

What do you mean?

GangstaFam said:

I think he's being a sarcastic Nirvana hater.
Either way, I picked it up yesterday, and I love it, especially the DVD. I'm glad that they threw in what they did, regardless of how some of the songs sound (I guess the best technology in the world can only clean up old cassettes so much).
The guy had so much going for him, and it's just a shame that his personality didn't allow him to enjoy it. But it's nice to have this collection, and the packaging is really nice, too.
Did you get it, do you like it?

It's on my Christmas list.