The long delayed Nirvana rarities compilation has finally surfaced! Therefore, this is the long delayed review of With The Lights Out! The set includes three discs of Nirvana live versions, demos both solo-acoustic and full-band, radio shows, and B-sides, totaling 61 tracks. Disc Four is a DVD with 20 songs, most of them early live film. The metallic front of the package displays the near-serious faces of the trio as though they were staring out from your television. The case unfolds to a shadowy photograph of a pile of studio tapes you can illuminate by applying warmth to the heat-sensitive surface. This is even cooler than that peelable banana on the Velvet Underground box.

The set opens up like a shotgun blast to the face with a handful of pre-Bleach radio performances and party gigs. The recording quality on these first tracks is pretty bad, reflecting the dirt-poor DIY life the band members were living before Sub Pop took them in. The seldom heard demos for "If You Must" and "Pen Cap Chew" produced by Jack Endino in 1988 are the first standout tracks. There are some heavy live bombs and some homemade experimental tracks like the tape-fractured "Beans" and "Don't Want It All."

Melody hangs back for the first half of the disc until the smoky harmonies begin to stack up on "Clean Up Before She Comes." That song is the first inkling of the Nirvana to come. Then comes the first home demo of the notorious "Polly," sealing the deal. Everybody loves the cover of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" but did you know that there was also a Leadbelly cover band fronted by Kurt Cobain called The Jury? Three awesome songs from that session made it to this collection!

Disc Two begins simply with the raw acoustic spleen of "Opinion." Rare acoustic versions of "Lithium," "Been A Son," "Sliver," and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" give way to the all-out fury of "Pay To Play," a superior predecessor to Nevermind's "Stay Away." The demo for "Aneurysm" brings back nostalgia for the old import Hormoaning EP, most of which was released by Geffen on Incesticide. Hey, "D-7" made it onto this set too! And there is the original boom box demo of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It ends on a celebratory note with a remaster of Butch Vig's anthemic production on "Smells Like Teen Spirit," but the highlights of this disc are the twin mixes of the original "Verse Chorus Verse" and "Old Age" recreated by Adam Kasper.

The third disc is the most colorful, beginning with two mixes of In Utero's "Rape Me." One is an odd, vague solo acoustic demo of the song; the other is a full band demo featuring the cries of little Frances Bean. The rehearsal demo of "Scentless Apprentice" sounds like a chunk of stone ready to be carved down into its final form. The Beavis and Butthead Experience album boasted a rocking Nirvana B-side called "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die," which was a working title for In Utero. Thurston Moore's favorite was "Moist Vagina," another out take from In Utero which he thought should have been the first track on the album, with its cries of "Marijuana! Marijuana!"

Nirvana's improvisation skills as a band were particularly hot at this time, as evidenced by the awesome jams "Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip" and "The Other Improv." There are some especially scrappy acoustic demos for In Utero and, finally, the long-overdue "Sappy" makes its appearance. "He'll keep you in a jar and you'll think you're happy/ He'll give you breathing holes then you'll think you're happy..." "Sappy" is one of the best Nirvana songs ever, but somehow it never fit on an album and ended up as the hidden track on a No Alternative compilation. Another cool B-side is Dave Grohl's "Marigold," a hypnotic song with a hazy Meat Puppets feel to it.

Of course the real treat here is the inclusion of two demos destined for the never-to-come next Nirvana album. Anybody who heard the cheesy mix of "You Know You're Right" on the radio a couple years ago has been jonesing for a stripped down version of this amazing song for some time now. This is the song that held up release of this set, since Courtney Love wanted to release it on her lame Nirvana "Greatest Hits" collection. The other late gem on this disc is the unforgettable "Do Re Mi," an ultra-catchy Lennonesque ditty.

The DVD is excellent, with a seemingly endless supply of behind the scenes tour footage and performances. The old Sub Pop video for "In Bloom" is included, as is a studio taping of "Seasons In The Sun" in Rio de Janeiro. It is fun to see the home videos of Nirvana practicing at Krist's mother's house in 1988. With a booklet documenting the Nirvana chronology and liner notes from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and writer Neil Strauss, the package is complete; the removable track-listing on the back is a handy guide to the extensive collection.

I am not going to try to sum up this review with some wide-sweeping cultural observation about our generation or whatever. You know Nirvana rule. Now if you have any Christmas money left over, go buy With The Lights Out. It goes for only about $40.

If you already have it, listen to it again.

Rating: 5