Nirvana

‘In Utero 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition’

NIRVANA was probably rock ‘n’ roll’s last truly unifying band, and it’s completely polarizing third album, “In Utero,” stands as a puzzling final word from Kurt Cobain. Designed to send mainstream fans to the exits after “Nevermind” rewrote the rules, “In Utero” did just that as Cobain bared his conflicted soul.

The recently released 20th-anniversary super deluxe edition will do little to clear up the debate over where “In Utero” stands in the band’s very short history before Cobain’s suicide. Hovering somewhere between the spit-polish of “Nevermind” and the blue blowtorch flame of debut, “Bleach,” Cobain remains inscrutable here, making people hum along to songs about alienation and withdrawal almost against their will.

The best moments in the three-CD, one-DVD set are the live ones. The box includes a CD and DVD of the band’s December 1993 “Live ‘n’ Loud” performance in Seattle, and the show serves as a reminder of just how powerful the band was. Cobain rarely smiles until the end, when he spits on the camera lens with an impish grin and then begins to trash the stage.

It looked like he was having fun, and it makes you wish he still was. (AP)