In what appears to be a repeat of a successful formula and a sign of what it takes to get even the biggest catalogue releases to big box retail shelves, Universal will again pair with Target stores for an exclusive version of a Nirvana reissue.
Following 2011's exclusive single-disc expansion of Nevermind - which put the first disc of the deluxe edition in its own jewel case, allowing fans to buy simply the remastered album and all the original B-sides in one set instead of any of the unreleased outtakes - Target will do the same for the forthcoming In Utero expansion next week. The remastered disc will feature the eight bonus tracks featured in the other deluxe formats, including six contemporaneous B-sides and two unreleased mixes of "Heart Shaped Box" and "All Apologies" by album producer Steve Albini. (Scott Litt remixed those songs and "Pennyroyal Tea" for singles.)
It is presently unclear if the two-disc In Utero will sit on shelves alongside its Target-exclusive partner, as was the case for Nevermind. A cursory look at big box retailer shelves often turns up little in the way of deluxe reissues; Target's last non-exclusive packages of such kind, to this writer's memory, were probably Universal's reissues of U2's Achtung Baby and The Rolling Stones' Some Girls. (A Target edition of Michael Jackson's Bad 25 had a bonus DVD, and a spring sale involved gift card incentives with the purchase of specially marked, previously-released entries in Sony's Legacy Edition product line.)
All formats of In Utero hit stores next Tuesday, September 24. If a remastered, expanded one-disc set is what you want, pre-order the Target version after the jump.
In Utero: 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition (originally released as DGC Records DGCD-24607, 1993 - reissued Geffen/UMe B0019191-02, 2013)
- Serve the Servants
- Scentless Apprentice
- Heart-Shaped Box
- Rape Me
- Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle
- Dumb
- Very Ape
- Milk It
- Pennyroyal Tea
- Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
- tourette’s
- All Apologies
- Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip (ex-U.S. bonus track – Geffen GED 24536)
- Marigold (B-side to “Heart Shaped Box” – Geffen GFS 54 (U.K.), 1993)
- Moist Vagina (B-side to “All Apologies” – Geffen GFS 66 (U.K.), 1993)
- Sappy (from No Alternative compilation – Arista 07822 18737-2, 1993)
- I Hate Myself And Want to Die (from The Beavis and Butt-head Experience compilation – Geffen GEFD-24613, 1993)
- Pennyroyal Tea (Scott Litt mix) (from European CD single – Geffen GED 21907, 1994)
- Heart-Shaped Box (Steve Albini Mix) *
- All Apologies (Steve Albini Mix) *
Release Round-Up: Week of October 27
Heart-Shaped Box: Nirvana's "In Utero" Returns in 30th Anniversary Box Set Editions
Release Round-Up: Week of November 12
Endless, Nameless: Nirvana's 'Nevermind' Goes Deluxe (Again) with Bonus Live Concerts
I was a fan of the deluxe Nevermind package, but this slimmed version of In Utero is much more my speed. Not a whole lot of relevant material on the deluxe package, and much of it has been released elsewhere.
Looking forward to this as well, but DO NOT PRE-ORDER!!
Usually (but not always) the price WILL come down ON the
Release Date. I was wallet-raped 3 times (once for $1.00
and twice for $2.00) for not waiting - no more!!
This is yet anothet one of Target's 'games' they play.
Also, you might want to hold off on ordering some other (more
expensive upcoming exclusives) until the Black Friday sales -
I did pretty well at Target last year.
$1 or $2 equates to rape? I'm not a PC junkie, but that's a bit overstated.
Not really - it adds up - with my last online order, the 4 Exclusive CD's were a total of $7.00 cheaper ordering them AFTER the Street Date instead of pre-ordering. (Janelle Monae, Sheryl Crow, Gloria Estefan and Earth Wing & Fire) So instad of nickel and diming me, they were $1 and $2-ing instead - no more!! When you think about all the (probably) thousands of pre-orders that customers do, this practice adds up to big bucks for Target.
Also, this week Jack Johnson's new exclusive CD is $13.99 online, but in Sunday's ad, it will be $11.99 on Street Date.
The Target version of this and Nevermind are a great deal. I'm not into Nirvana enough to want all the live stuff and demos, but the B-sides and Albini mixes of All Apologies and Heart Shaped Box are exactly what I'd want anyway!
Remember when the big-box retailers refused to stock this album unless Nirvana altered the artwork and the tracklisting--and Nirvana actually capitulated to this?
It was specifically one big box retailer: Wal-Mart.
And yet Wal-Mart still think it's perfectly okay to sell guns and ammo... or did Michael Moore (as seen in Bowling For Columbine) finally shame them into stopping this practice?
And K Mart
Cobain capitulated because he acknowledged that in great stretches of the United States kids had only one option for buying music: Wal-Mart. He said he'd rather change the artwork and song title of "Rape Me" than know that hundreds of thousands of kids in rural areas wouldn't be able to get the album.
The funny thing is, nowadays I see uncensored copies of In Utero all the time in Wal-Mart's $5 CD bin. I always get a kick out of that.
Also--the budget Nirvana comp "Icon" found at every Walmart not only lists "Rape Me" by name--but lists it on the COVER.
Another "Big Box Retailer" who doesn't give a F**K about music is rewarded by the recording industry. I guess Record Store Day isn't a big enough check for Universal Music.