Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. This week's lineup includes a rare Prince B-side, classic remixes by U2, a country icon taking on a rock legend and much more! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Prince, "United States of Division" (NPG/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon)
Late March marked the 20th anniversary of 2004's Musicology, Prince's first Top 10 album in nine years (thanks to a combination one-off deal with Columbia Records, an innovative and precedent-setting bundled release with tickets to his latest tour, and an epochal performance at his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction). To celebrate, the Prince estate and Legacy Recordings have teamed up to digitally release "United States of Division," one of the non-LP studio B-sides from the era. (Fans have noted it's a slightly updated mix, with a slightly punchier horn section.)
Dolly Parton, "Southern Accents" (Big Machine Label Group) (iTunes / Amazon)
Country label Big Machine will pair with the estate of Tom Petty for Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty, to be released this June. Among the featured acts include Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, Lady A, Willie Nelson and his son Lukas, George Strait, Margo Price (whose version of "Ways to Be Wicked" will feature Petty's longtime guitarist Mike Campbell) and Rhiannon Giddens (with Petty's keyboardist Benmont Tench guesting on "Don't Come Around Here No More"). The first single is a rendition of the title track of 1985's Southern Accents, done by one of country's reigning queens, Dolly Parton.
U2, "Discothèque" (Island) (iTunes / Amazon)
The legendary Irish rockers today announced a digital campaign called To Love and Only Love: Deep Dives and B-Sides, which will, as the name suggests, unearth an ongoing selection of digitally unavailable material. First up is an EP of mixes of "Discothèque," the opening track from 1997's divisive Pop, as well as its non-album B-side "Holy Joe."
Modest Mouse, Good News for People Who Love Bad News (20th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (Epic/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon)
April 6 marks the 20th anniversary of Modest Mouse's fourth studio album (and second for Epic Records), an unlikely crossover hit thanks to the unlikely radio staple "Float On." (The LP went double platinum and picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album.) Bonus tracks include eight remixes of various tracks on the album (seven of them brand new) by the likes of Dan The Automator, Poolside, Jacknife Lee, Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT and others.
Henry Mancini, Our Man in Hollywood (RCA Victor) (iTunes / Amazon)
Boy, was he ever! Henry Mancini was already well known as the composer of themes for Peter Gunn, Breakfast At Tiffany's and Hatari, and would record the score for Charade in 1963, the same year this LP was released. As is somewhat typical of Mancini's RCA discography, the composer's own repertoire only partially takes center stage here, on full-ensemble recordings of themes from Days of Wine and Roses (this version would chart just a few rungs lower than Andy Williams' masterful take), Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation and Bachelor in Paradise. There's also takes on other contemporary film composers, from Elmer Bernstein (Walk on the Wild Side) to Bronislau Kaper (Mutiny on the Bounty), Franz Waxman (Taras Bulba) and even Meredith Willson's The Music Man ("Seventy-Six Trombones")!
Jim Weatherly, The Songs of Jim Weatherly (Buddah) (iTunes / Amazon)
A star quarterback at Ole Miss, Jim Weatherly instead pursued songwriting in earnest and found a brilliant meeting point between country and soul. Gladys Knight and The Pips took three of his songs - "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye," "Midnight Plane to Houston" (rewritten as "Midnight Train to Georgia") and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" - to the upper three positions of the Billboard Hot 100 between 1972 and 1973. A year later came this album - his fourth overall and first for the Buddah label - that finally earned him hits of his own as a singer-songwriter: the pop and adult contemporary favorite "The Need to Be" and a country Top 10, "I'll Still Love You."
Phoebe Snow, Against the Grain (Columbia) (iTunes / Amazon)
New York City-born singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow rose to prominence after her signature "Poetry Man," from her self-titled Shelter Records debut, topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. Four albums followed for Columbia; the last of them, 1978's Against the Grain, featured sterling production from Phil Ramone and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section's Barry Beckett and covers of Paul McCartney's "Every Night" and Aretha Franklin's "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man."
Harry Cohen says
Phoebe Snow's Columbia albums are all gems. Her version of Love Makes A Woman on Against the Grain is fantastic.
Brian Hargett says
Jim Weatherly is local in my part of Mississippi and I love this period of Mancini. New music to drown out the neighborhood yard sale traffic outside.
J says
In the early days of iTunes, there was an iTunes exclusive called The Complete U2 with lots of early b-sides and remixes including the tracks just released.