Release Round-Up: Week of September 24

Nirvana, In Utero: 20th Anniversary Edition (DGC/UMe)

The grunge icon’s final album is greatly expanded in numerous formats for its two-decade mark, with B-sides, a new mix of the album and the band’s Live and Loud concert feature from MTV on CD and DVD. Check the post above to figure out which one suits you best!

1CD Standard remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1CD Expanded remaster: Target (U.S.)
2CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3CD/1DVD Super Deluxe Box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Live and Loud DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

The Waitresses, Just Desserts: The Complete Waitresses (Omnivore)

We know what boys (and girls) like: two discs of the Akron, Ohio-based rock band, including both their LPs for Polydor and nine non-LP bonus tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Lenny Kravitz, Are You Gonna Go My Way: 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Virgin/UMe)

The singer/songwriter/guitarist’s third hit album is expanded as a double-disc set with B-sides and unreleased demos. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Safe as Milk: Mono Edition / The Mamas and the Papas, The Mamas and the Papas: Mono Edition / Deliver: Stereo Edition (Sundazed)

Sundazed releases these new masters of The Mamas and The Papas’ second and third albums, along with Captain Beefheart’s debut, on CD and vinyl for the first time in years.

Safe As Milk: Amazon U.S. – LP / CD; Amazon U.K. – LP / CD
The Mamas and The Papas: Amazon U.S. – LP / CD; Amazon U.K. – LP / CD
Deliver: Amazon U.S. – LP / CD; Amazon U.K. – LP / CD

The Band, The Last Waltz (Warner Bros./Rhino) / Various Artists, Woodstock: 40 Years On (Atlantic/Rhino)

These two Rhino box sets, originally released in 2002 and 2009, respectively, get reissued as budget-packaged editions in smaller boxes.

The Last Waltz: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Woodstock: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful? Omnivore Serves “The Complete Waitresses”

After Omnivore’s exciting announcement of the Humble Pie Fillmore box set, the label now turns to one of the most underrated American New Wave groups of the ’80s: The Waitresses, whose complete Polydor output is coming from Omnivore in September.

Anchored by guitarist/producer Chris Butler and irascible lead vocalist Patty Donahue, the Akron-based Waitresses cut two albums and one EP for Polydor between 1982 and 1984. They enjoyed at least three notable songs in their short lifespan: “I Know What Boys Like,” a smirking dance-rock tune that peaked at No. 62 on the Billboard charts; the theme to the cult TV series Square Pegs (which featured a then-unknown Sarah Jessica Parker as a new high schooler attempting to fit in with the popular crowd); and the too-catchy-to-be-seasonal “Christmas Wrapping,” still a perennial favorite on radio around the end of the year. Though the band never had much commercial traction, their tightly-produced pop/rock offerings made them a cult name. (Butler continues to make music as a solo artist; Donahue died of cancer in 1996 after working in A&R for MCA.)

Just Desserts: The Complete Waitresses contains all of the band’s works for Polydor: albums Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful? (1982) and Bruiseology (1984), the 1983 EP I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts, three single tracks (“Hangover 1/1/83,” the B-side to “Christmas Wrapping,” and two remixes of I Could Rule the World single “Bread and Butter”) and one unreleased track, an alternate version of Bruiseology‘s title track. This two-disc set, produced by Butler with longtime reissue producer Bill Levenson, marks the first time all of these albums have been released in full on CD in the United States.

This set is served on September 24; the full track list and Amazon link is after the jump!