New Album Releases Nov. 3, 2009: Nirvana, Rolling Stones, Carrie Underwood, Weezer, Julian Casablancas, Glee

Author: Josh Hathaway

Each week we draw closer to the mystical Black Friday and the official kickoff of the Christmas shopping season, and each week we see our new album release schedule just a little fuller than the last. Last week's offerings had two major offerings that I happily scooped up, and the same is true for this week.

Nirvana
Bleach (20th Anniversary Edition)
Live at Reading

It must be time to help the widow Cobain pay for some of those lawyers because we have two big releases from the Nirvana vaults this week. First up is a re-release of the band's SubPop debut, Bleach. This is the album that featured the song they'd later make famous on Unplugged, "About a Girl." To mark the occasion, SubPop has had the album remastered and has expanded it, adding a complete 1990 performance by the band in Portland, Oregon from the Bleach tour, prior to the arrival of drummer Dave Grohl.

The Stones in '72. Dylan in '74. Springsteen on the Darkness tour. The Beatles and Elvis on Ed Sullivan. These are some of the landmark live performances that stand out in rock history. Nirvana had two such moments. The first was their performance at the Reading Festival in the UK in 1992. British fans and rock journalist hipsters all claim to have been there that day because this is one of those events we all wish we could have witnessed. The audio and video have smoldered in the vaults until now. Live at Reading is being released as a CD/DVD package as well as a standalone CD. Note: The DVD contains one song not found on the CD.

I've preordered both of these.

Weezer
Ratitude

I love the Weezer. Rivers Cuomo is brilliant and the first several Weezer records are essential. I don't know if it's me or Rivers, but Make Believe and "The Red Album" just haven't delivered the goods for me. I like "Red" better than MB but neither stand with the debut, Pinkerton or "Green" for me. I'm sure I'm going to try this one out, but the Lil' Wayne cameo already has me heading for the door.

The Rolling Stones
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out (40th Anniversary Edition)

The only essential Rolling Stones live album from that aforementioned '72 tour is getting the deluxe treatment to mark its 40th birthday. The album has been remastered — not sure if this is the same remaster from the SACD transfer undertaken by ABKCO a few years back or yet another remaster — and a second disc has been added that contains five previously unreleased tracks from the band's two-night run at Madison Square Garden, the source for the original release. A third CD has been added that includes performances by the opening acts for those shows: B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner. There's also a DVD, bringing this set out to 3 CD/1DVD.

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