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. We've got all the usual stuff you'd expect - reissues from Usher, rarities from The Alan Parsons Project, and another unique Daryl Hall-related EP - and some stuff you might not, like truly unusual Christmas collections and a new app from one of the best places for music in video games!

Nintendo Music app

One genre the Second Disc team has always wished had a stronger catalog presence: classic video game music. Though fairly rudimentary creations, born of sound chips and synthesizers, some early game music is as recognizable as any pop song around; just last year, Koji Kondo's "ground theme" from Nintendo's 1985 blockbuster Super Mario Bros. was added to the National Recording Registry (the same year composer Brian Tyler integrated dozens of Nintendo motifs in his score to the hit animated adaptation of the game series).

Physical copies of game soundtracks are usually very hard to come by, available most often as out-of-print import discs. (David Wise's beloved score to the Super Nintendo hit Donkey Kong Country, which turns 30 this year, commands hundreds of dollars on the secondary market.) But now, Nintendo has surprised fans with a new smartphone app that essentially functions like Spotify or Apple Music for game music, offering albums and curated playlists from four decades of game music history. It's available only with a Nintendo Switch Online membership, which grants you access to various game functions on their system of the same name; the membership is $3.99 a month or $19.99 a year, which is actually far less than the other major streaming music services - so if you're a fan of the music but not necessarily a hardcore gamer, it might be worth a listen.

Usher, Confessions (20th Anniversary Edition) (Arista/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon)

One of the bona fide smash albums of the 2000s (in fact, the second-best seller of the decade), Usher's Confessions spawned four No. 1 hits that spent a combined 28 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100: the crunk classic "Yeah!" - featuring producer Lil Jon's unforgettable interjections and a rap from Ludacris - the lovelorn slow jams "Burn" and "Confessions," and "My Boo," a euphoric duet with Alicia Keys released on a special edition of the album. To coincide with a recent anniversary vinyl pressing, a new digital edition features all the original and special edition tracks plus new orchestral mixes of "Burn" and "Superstar."

B-Legit feat. Daryl Hall, Ghetto Smile EP (Jive) (iTunes / Amazon)

A cousin of prolific Bay Area rapper E-40, B-Legit's biggest moment in the spotlight was this catchy cut, released as a single to promote the Ice Cube film Dangerous Ground. As you might have guessed from the featured credit and title, the song is based on the hook of Daryl Hall & John Oates "Sara Smile," and Hall contributes new vocals to the track (including the unforgettable line "Why don't the homies smile for me?"). This digital EP, continuing on from the digital drops from Hall, features an instrumental and TV track alongside the original single.

INXS, Disappear (Red Zone Mix) / I Send a Message (Vocal Remixed Version) (Petrol/Atlantic)

Disappear: iTunes / Amazon
Message: iTunes / Amazon

It took longer than expected, but the last three volumes of INXS' All Juiced Up Part 2 - a series of nine 12" EPs of rare and vintage remixes - are shipping before the year is out. That means those EPs' tracks will drip out over the next few months, one at a time. First up: a great classic remix of "I Send a Message," the second single from 1984's The Swing, and a remix of '90s favorite "Disappear" by David Morales that actually appeared on the original All Juiced Up.

The Alan Parsons Project, Ammonia Avenue (Sessions) (Arista/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon)

More than two and a half hours of demos, outtakes, rarities and more from the sessions to The Alan Parsons Project's seventh album, released in 1984.

Magne Furuholmen, "living with ourselves" (Multitainment AB) (iTunes / Amazon)

Best known as the keyboardist for Norwegian hitmakers a-ha, Magne Furuholmen has just released a new single, his first solo work in four years.

Anais Mitchell, Talking Hadestown (Arts Music/Sing It Again) (iTunes / Amazon)

With nearly 1,700 performances since its opening at the Walter Kerr Theatre on April 17, 2019, Anais Mitchell's Hadestown has established itself as one of Broadway's mainstays. To mark the fifth anniversary of its original cast recording (starring Andre DeShields, Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, Amber Gray, and Patrick Page), composer-lyricist-librettist Mitchell has revisited that album for a digital spoken-word supplement. Talking Hadestown is just that: over 16 tracks, Mitchell takes a deep-dive into the musical and its recording, going (nearly) track-by-track through that best-selling cast album (which remains available on two CDs or three LPs) with her reflections and insights.

Sleigh bells ring - are you listening? Five more Christmas treasures are digitally available from Legacy Recordings - interesting albums of a more recent vintage than usual.

Dennis Day & The Mitchell Boychoir, Sings Favorite Christmas Songs (RCA Victor) (iTunes / Amazon)

An Irish-American singer and comedian known for a long association with Jack Benny on radio and television, Dennis Day cut this EP of holiday standards with a radio-famous Sunday Mass choir in Los Angeles in 1950.

Carol Service in a Country Church, Christmas in England (RCA Victor) (iTunes / Amazon)

Virtually nothing is known of this 1957 collection of traditional choral carols, other than original liner notes that indicated its attempt to reflect what a traditional British Christmas was supposed to sound like.

The Henry Hadaway Orchestra and Chorus, Turned On Christmas (RCA Victor) (iTunes / Amazon)

Perhaps best known for producing a U.K. No. 2 called "The Birdie Song" under the name "The Tweets" - Americans might know it better as "The Chicken Dance" - music impresario Henry Hadaway arranged, conducted and drummed on this slick, small-band and chorus collection of nonstop holiday medleys, first issued in 1982. It's easy listening fare not unlike RCA Victor's earlier Living Stereo initiatives, and was in fact produced by Ethel Gabriel, the mastermind of those records.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with the Chicago Synthesizer-Rhythm Ensemble, Turned On Christmas (Columbia) (iTunes / Amazon)

This 1985 record, also called Turned On Christmas, offers a similar sonic palette to Hadaway's orchestra, albeit on a slightly larger scale, with lush orchestral arrangements of the famed Royal Philharmonic Orchestra pollinated with glossy pop stylings of the Chicago Synthesizer-Rhythm Ensemble (which sounds a lot more electronic than it actually is).

Ottmar Liebert, Christmas + Santa Fe (Epic) (iTunes / Amazon)

Finally, a spirited selection from 2000 by German-born flamenco guitarist Ottmar Liebert. It was his second album of holiday material after an independent release a decade earlier, and offers a unique sonic spin on traditional seasonal fare.