Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to discover! A quick week brings us a great latter-day Hall & Oates track, a classic Lil Wayne mixtape, unreleased gems from The Art of Noise and more.
Daryl Hall & John Oates, "Romeo is Bleeding" (U-Watch/BMG Rights Management (U.K.)) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
It's been 50 years since the world's bestselling duo put out their first album Whole Oats in 1972 - and while they've got little to prove today (besides being a still-great live act), there's plenty of catalogue from them to enjoy. This week, Hall & Oates made "Romeo is Bleeding," the lead track from 1997's Marigold Sky, available to stream for the first time; stay tuned to see if and when the rest of the album follows suit!
The Art of Noise, Born Again (ZTT/UMC) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
The delightfully devilish ZTT label today announced on socials a "three-month digital voyage" into The Art of Noise's late '90s era discography. First up is an unreleased EP of tracks from 1998 that intended to kick off a new album, overseen by original members Trevor Horn and Paul Morley. Rapper Rakim makes an appearance here, as does actor John Hurt as a narrator!
Barbara Mandrell, The Essential Barbara Mandrell - The Columbia and Epic Years (Columbia/Epic/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
A country hitmaker in the late '70s and early '80s as a recording artist for the likes of Dot, ABC and MCA, Babara Mandrell got her start at the beginning of the '70s with hits like "Treat Him Right," "Tonight My Baby's Coming Home," "The Midnight Oil" and "This Time I Almost Made It." This 26-track digital collection includes all those and more, including some rarer-on-streaming duets with "Almost Persuaded" hitmaker David Houston.
Lil Wayne, Sorry 4 the Wait (Young Money) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
The prodigious New Orleans rapper put out this killer mixtape in 2011 as a way of making it up to fans for the delay of his next studio album, the hotly-anticipated The Carter IV. (That album would drop a month later.) Similar to 2009's No Ceilings, the set features Weezy adding his own unique verses to popular beats at the time, including tracks from Drake, Beyoncé, Rick Ross, Miguel and even Adele. For the first time, it's available to stream - notably, with every original sample cleared for release - and even features four new tracks at the top.
Hi-Five, Hi-FIve (Jive) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
This Texas-based R&B group scored a few hits like the No. 1 hit "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)" but their albums have been spotty on streaming. Now, the group's self-titled 1990 debut is available in full, including "I Like the Way" and Top 10 follow-up "Can't Wait Another Minute."
Various Artists, Nipper's Greatest Hits - The 30's (Volume 2) (RCA) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
The second volume of RCA's review of '30s pop (the first volume was backfilled last week) includes some stone-cold classics, including Glenn Miller's "In the Mood," Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing," Louis Armstrong's "St. Louis Blues" and 17 others.
Galley says
The tracklist for the Barbara Mandrell compilation matches "The Columbia/Epic Singles 1969-75", released on CD in 2002.