So here it is: after two years of bitter rows between Courtney Love, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, a single-CD Nirvana compilation has finally been released just in time for the Christmas market. Kurt Cobain fans might be tempted to give a shrug of the shoulders; after all, the back catalogue of this most ill-fated of bands could hardly be more familiar by now, and no Best Of can really compensate for hearing the original albums themselves. There is, however, one mighty sting in the tail: 'You Know You're Right' was the final track the band ever recorded and it sees the light of day here for the first time. Stark, anguished and thrillingly cathartic, it's an extraordinary song that inevitably gains added resonance from the fact that its 26-year-old writer blew his brains out a mere two months later. Elsewhere, the music on Nirvana is just as you remember it - raw, visceral, occasionally hysterical and, if you're in a certain mood, absolutely devastating. Love it or loathe it, it's now an integral part of rock music history - and deserves, at the very least, more respect than its custodians have often appeared to pay it.
