Features / The Weekend Stream

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. Two ’80s Top 5 hits get revisited in EP form, as does an early ’00s single from a classic ’80s rock band – and we’re also spotlighting one of our favorite new releases from a country hitmaker turning to pop (no, not that one). As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Madonna, Cherish (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon)

Doo-wop met ’80s pop on the third single from Like a Prayer, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. This digital single – chronicling the 35th anniversary of the original release this week – features both the 7″ and 12″ versions of the track as well as one of Madonna’s very few non-LP B-sides, the terrific “Supernatural.”

Daryl Hall, Dreamtime EP (RCA) (iTunes / Amazon)

He recently permanently split from longtime musical partner John Oates, but Daryl Hall has always done his own thing. In 1986, he released his second solo album, Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, his first collaboration with David A. Stewart of the Eurythmics. (The pair reunited for this year’s latest solo effort, D.) “Dreamtime,” the album’s baroque lead single, peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and its ornate instrumentation (including a string arrangement from the late Michael Kamen) was played around with in several remixes that are now available on a digital EP.

U2, Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (Island/UMO) (iTunes / Amazon)

Though U2’s ongoing installation of digital EP is repeating familiar territory (and likely stopping before 2004’s How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, which we wouldn’t be surprised to see get the deluxe treatment for its 20th anniversary this year), the inclusion of “Stuck in a Moment” – and several B-sides and live cuts – is significant, in that it appears to be the first commercial digital release of the song’s radio edit, which could be heard on American stations in the Northeast in the early part of the 21st century.

Maren Morris, Intermission (Columbia) (iTunes / Amazon)

Finally, a new one from one of our favorites at Second Disc HQ. Maren Morris has been one of the most whip-smart voices in country since her 2015 breakthrough Hero, and even made an unlikely venture into pop as the featured singer on dance producer Zedd’s Top 5 smash “The Middle.” She’d been pulling away from her original genre since 2022’s Humble Quest (produced by Greg Kurstin), but made the split official on last year’s two-track EP The Bridge (produced by Kurstin and Jack Antonoff), which saw her shuffle herself off of Columbia Records’ Nashville roster entirely, citing in part the industry’s discriminations against women, artists of color and the LGBTQ+ community. Since then, she divorced musician Ryan Hurd and has come out as bisexual – two facts that influence much of the new EP Intermission, featuring collaborations with Julia Michaels (“cut!”) and MUNA (“push me over”). Nearly 10 years since she first made a mainstream splash, she’s still as vital as ever.