Kurt Cobain

“MONTAGE OF HECK — THE HOME RECORDINGS”

Universal Records

“Montage of Heck — The Home Recordings” is a companion to director Brett Morgen’s authorized Kurt Cobain documentary, “Montage of Heck.” Morgen was given access to Cobain’s massive archive, which contained about 200 hours of tape. Now they’ve been condensed into a 13-track CD, a double vinyl album and a 31-track box set.

Those fascinated by the prospect of playing fly-on-the-wall voyeur to Cobain’s creative process may be mildly intrigued at first. By presenting Cobain in this vulnerable setting — alone, unedited and unscrutinized, his mind wandering where it will — “The Home Recordings” aims to illuminate process, the missing link between inspiration and finished recording. Cobain, Nirvana’s singer and guitarist, killed himself in 1994 at age 27, leaving behind a small but influential body of work that decades later continues to fascinate, influence and sell.

And selling seems to be the sole reason for this collection of scraps to exist. It quickly becomes apparent that most of these low-fi recordings are just Cobain goofing and daydreaming, distractedly playing his guitar and breaking into strange voices for his own amusement while sitting on the couch and watching TV (his preferred work method, as he stated in several interviews).

The laws of capitalism tell us it’s all fair game. There are hard-core fans of these artists who will buy anything bearing their image, whether it’s Jerry Garcia underwear or Selena prayer candles. And now there’s a recording of Kurt Cobain talking about sea monkeys and Paula Abdul, and it can be yours for $16.99.

— Greg Kot,

Chicago Tribune