The Review - Montage of Heck
Maybe I was jaded going in by reading other reviews. Maybe it’s the time of year when rain has moved in and the music releases are slow. Maybe I’m right and this album isn’t any good. Stick with me as I attempt to lie out my feelings regarding Kurt Cobain’s ‘Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings’, which accompanies the documentary film released earlier this year.
I’ll start from when Nirvana started for me. At the time, Guns N’ Roses had released the unbelievable combo of Use Your Illusion records and exposed me to a sound of music I hadn’t really been exposed too. Then came Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ and everything about music, for me, changed forever. If Guns N Roses was an introduction, Nirvana was a full-blown explosive relationship . . . and I loved it! Music could sound like this? It could be this raw? It was my introduction to punk rock and the catalyst that led me to listen to heavier music most of my life.
The Kurt Cobain documentary ‘Montage of Heck’ has received really favourable reviews: “David Fear of Rolling Stone described the film as "the unfiltered Kurt experience," noting that Cobain is shown "not [as] a spokesman for a generation," but as "a human being, and a husband, and a father."[21] Boyd van Hoeij of The Hollywood Reporter concluded that the film is "impressive in parts, but wildly uneven as a whole."[22] Consequence of Sound's Justin Gerber gave the film an "A" grade, writing that the film is "what can only be defined as the definitive Cobain documentary."[23] Katie Walsh of Indiewire described it as "a true achievement, both in documentary filmmaking, and in preserving the memory and legacy of Cobain."[24] Audrey Adler of NME wrote that the film is "the most holistic portrait of a rock icon ever created" and gave it a score of 9/10.[25] Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the film is "a portrait that's at turns confessional, confused, and yes, even at times happy, that bring bring [sic] Cobain ... to life in a way that no other film or book has."[26] Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote that the film is "absorbing stuff, amply conveying the magnetism of a conflicted leader who drew fanatical adoration, yet who one suspects wasn't easy company."” – via Wikipedia
I did not share the same sentiment about the movie and struggle to figure out what the goal of the documentary was. Fans, even casual ones, knew the struggles of Cobain’s life and to see it laid out via home videos, didn’t do anything to the Cobain story for me.
Months later we now find us with an album to accompany this documentary. Full honesty here, I couldn’t even finish listening to the entire album. I usually listen to an album three times and then continue to listen while I write these reviews. I could barely make it to track 9 ‘Clean Up Before She Comes’ before moving on. These songs are in such a rough and early form it’s hard to even imagine these came from the genius that created songs like ‘Lithium’ or ‘All Apologies’. The album bothers me but I’m not exactly sure why. Only thing I can think of is Kurt probably never intended for these song ‘sketches’ to see the light of day. It’s not like other artists don’t release demo and early versions of their songs (see Bob Dylan’s recent 18 disc The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 as an example) but it’s these Cobain cassette recordings that simply don’t work for me. I just can’t imagine a time when an album like this would be an enjoyable listen. I can’t even hear exciting moments of discovery here of early songs.
Look up ‘heck’ in the dictionary and you get: ‘expressing surprise, frustration, or dismay.’ It’s here the album actually succeeds, in its title, describing how we the listeners will feel.
And in case you were wondering, instead of listening to ‘Montage of Heck’ during writing this, I spent it with ‘From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah’ instead.
Track Listings
1. "The Yodel Song" 2. "Been a Son (Early Demo)" 3. "What More Can I Say" 4. "1988 Capitol Lake Jam Commercial" 5. "The Happy Guitar" 6. "Montage of Kurt" 7. "Beans" 8. "Burn the Rain" 9. "Clean Up Before She Comes (Early Demo)" 10. "Reverb Experiment" 11. "Montage of Kurt II" 12. "Rehash" 13. "You Can’t Change Me/Burn My Britches/Something in the Way (Early Demo) 14. "Scoff (Early Demo)" 15. "Aberdeen" 16. "Bright Smile" 17. "Underground Celebritism" 18. "Retreat" 19. "Desire" 20. "And I Love Her" 21. "Sea Monkeys" 22. "Sappy (Early Demo)" 23. "Letters to Frances" 24. "Scream" 25. "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (Demo)" 26. "Kurt Ambiance" 27. "She Only Lies" 28. "Kurt Audio Collage" 29 . "Poison's Gone" 30. "Rhesus Monkey" 31. "Do Re Mi (Medley)"
Montage of Heck Movie Trailer