Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts. Our first streaming round-up of the year has surprises from INXS, a '00s U.K. hit going viral, and some '90s alt-rock goodness!
INXS, Selections from All Juiced Up Volume 2 (Petrol/Atlantic)
"I'm Only Looking" (Morales Bad Yard Mix): iTunes / Amazon
"Bitter Tears" (Lorimer 12" Mix): iTunes / Amazon
"Need You Tonight" (Liebrand 12" Mix): iTunes / Amazon
"Listen Like Thieves" (Extended Remix): iTunes / Amazon
"Not Enough Time" (Ralphie Rosario Mix): iTunes / Amazon
"Original Sin" (Dance Dub): iTunes / Amazon
"Underneath the Colours" (Cement Mixer): iTunes / Amazon
The INXS catalogue is a tricky proposition: for one, drumming up support for their discography is a challenge without the presence of the band's late frontman Michael Hutchence, who died at a time before '80s nostalgia and digital consumption could have properly re-introduced them to a new generation. For another, they're a rare A-list act whose recording rights are split between two major labels (Warner Music in the U.S. and Canada, and Universal Muisc Group in the rest of the world). And when projects are announced - like All Juiced Up Volume 2, a spiritual sequel to a 1994 remix compilation that will present a dozen classic remixes on nine limited 12" records issued between October 2023 and May 2024 - it's hard to know how exactly to generate enthusiasm beyond the faithful.
So it's a genuine thrill to note that, at least on the Warner side, All Juiced Up Volume 2 has a life beyond wax, with songs from the first three 12" singles being drip-fed onto digital music services since the beginning of December. Thus far, the contents of record one are present in full - mixes of "I'm Only Looking," "Bitter Tears," "Need You Tonight" and "Listen Like Thieves" (one of this author's favorite 12" versions) - while three-quarters of the second record, remixes of "Not Enough Time" and "Underneath the Colours" and a dub of "Original Sin," have appeared as of this week. (That leaves the extended version of "Freedom Deep" and mixes of "Please (You Got That...)," "New Sensation," "Taste It" and "To Look At You" as yet to bow from the first phase of the set.) They're all available as single-track products, but perhaps may be best to roll up into one collection when all the physical singles are released; the next wave of those singles will be announced in February. Perhaps, if you're one of our kind, you're as excited about this surprise development as we are!
Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Murder on the Dancefloor (Polydor/UMO) (iTunes / Amazon)
British pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor scored a No. 2 U.K. hit in early 2002 with the catchy "Murder on the Dancefloor," co-written by songwriter icon Gregg Alexander of New Radicals. Exactly 21 years later, "Murder" earned an unlikely resurgence in America when it was used in the finale to last year's divisive dramedy Saltburn. As it makes its first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, Universal's U.K. arm has done a neat thing and uploaded an EP featuring the single, its original B-side "Never Let Me Down," and a quintet of vintage remixes.
G. Love & Special Sauce, G. Love & Special Sauce (30th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (Epic/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon)
The genre-bending debut from Philadelphia hip-hop/blues trio G. Love & Special Sauce - featuring the laid-back college rock hit "Cold Beverage" - gets a digital deluxe version with 11 live bonus tracks culled from sets at Brooklyn's Knitting Factory in the summer of 1994.
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