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 Christmas cheer from The Damnwells and Jody Miller, a Record Store Day reissue from Tegan and Sara, mid-'70s fun from The Flying Burrito Brothers to Freddie Prinze and a new spin on a John Williams classic. Plus, a way to help a dear friend and collaborator of the TSD team.
The Damnwells, Xmas Eve (Poor Man/Pasadena Records) (iTunes / Amazon)
Cult-favorite Brooklyn-bred quartet The Damnwells put out one of the sleeper favorite albums of this year: Bad At Beautiful, their first release in nine years and, like its self-titled predecessor, featuring all four original members after several years with a rotating line-up around frontman/songwriter Alex Dezen. In honor of the season, the group has put out fan-favorite B-side "Xmas Eve" on streaming and download services for the first time, and promise fans an additional surprise of some sort when Christmas comes this year.
Tegan and Sara, So Jealous (20th Anniversary Edition) (Sire/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon)
A Record Store Day Black Friday exclusive, this expansion of the twin alt-pop duo's 2004 album (their first to be gold certified in their homeland of Canada) features 19 bonus remixes and demos.
Reba McEntire, Keep On Loving You (15th Anniversary Edition) (MCA Nashville) (iTunes / Amazon)
The Reba renaissance has kicked off in recent months: one of country's reigning queens is a current judge on NBC's The Voice and also stars in a new sitcom for the network: Happy's Place, which she executive produces and stars in alongside Melissa Peterman (her co-star in the '00s favorite Reba on The WB). Keep On Loving You was Reba's 27th studio album, ending a long association with MCA Nashville as well as a six-year gap between albums. (She's since returned to the label with this album in tow.) The chart-topping album is now digitally expanded for its 15th anniversary with a dance remix of the track "I Want a Cowboy" and several live cuts from a session recorded for AOL. (A new vinyl pressing is also available.) Thanks so much to our reader Dustin for sharing the news with us!
Jody Miller, Christmas EP (Epic/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon)
Recently chronicled with a new digital title in Legacy's Essential product line, country singer Jody Miller recorded five classic carols for Epic in 1973 that were gradually distributed on various CBS Special Products holiday compilations, years after they were completed. A new digital EP collects all five in one place for the first time.
The Flying Burrito Brothers, Flying Again / Airborne (Columbia)
Flying Again: iTunes / Amazon
Airborne: iTunes / Amazon
The Flying Burrito Brothers, initially formed around ex-Byrds Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, broke up in 1972 but were "refried" some time after the death of Parsons the following year (which even spurred A&M Records to assemble the compilation Close Up the Honky-Tonks). Two original members - pedal steel legend Sneaky Pete Kleinow and bassist Chris Ethridge were joined by singer/guitarist Joel Scott Hill (formerly of Canned Heat), singer/guitarist/fiddler Gib Guilbeau and drummer and fellow former ex-Byrd Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram). 1975's Flying Again turned out to be their highest charter on the Billboard 200, and was followed by Airborne the following year, which featured another former Byrd, Skip Battin, subbing for Ethridge on bass. (This album also has a lovely, little-heard cut called "She's a Sailor," written by and featuring piano from Stevie Wonder.)
Zulema, Zulema / R.S.V.P. (RCA Victor)
Zulema: iTunes / Amazon
R.S.V.P.: iTunes / Amazon
Zulema Cusseaux was a member of an early line-up of vocal soul trio Faith, Hope and Charity before striking out on her own as a recording artist for Sussex Records, during which time she opened for labelmate Bill Withers and also appeared at Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH expo in Chicago in 1972 (chronicled in the concert film Save the Children, which was recently revived on Netflix after years of low availability). Signing to RCA in 1975, she issued two albums that year, which mixed originals with covers of Goffin and King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and Michael Jackson's early solo hit, the Arthur Ross-Leon Ware cut "I Wanna Be Where You Are." (Zulema's version was her highest charter at that time, reaching No. 58 on the Billboard R&B charts. A longtime associate of Van McCoy, the late singer (who died in 2013) gave him a track of hers, "Half a Love," which was sung by Aretha Franklin on her disco-flavored La Diva in 1979.
Freddie Prinze, Looking Good (Columbia) (iTunes / Amazon)
One of the most winning overnight successes in comedy history, Freddie Prinze's "Hunga-Rican" observational stand-up was lauded by industry professionals from the jump. He was the first comedian to be invited for a post-set chat on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson after their first appearance, and was winning over millions weekly on the sitcom Chico and the Man. This live set, taped at Mister Kelly's in Chicago not long after Chico began airing - the title was, of course, Prinze's catchphrase on the show - offers a brilliant reminder of his talents, sadly lost after Prinze died of a self-inflicted gunshot in 1977, at just 22 years old.
J. Cole, 2014 Forest Hills Drive (10 Year Anniversary Edition) (Cole World/Interscope) (Even)
It's a funny meme now, but J. Cole's third album - a chart-topper and Grammy-nominated work featuring the singles "Apparently" and "No Role Models" - really did go platinum with no features. A new digital deluxe edition, only available on a direct download platform called Even, features eight tracks considered for an early double album configuration of the LP.
Gordy Haab, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Original Video Game Soundtrack) (Lucasfilm) (iTunes / Amazon)
The man with the hat is back! Fans of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's whip-cracking adventurer can now put on his virtual fedora in a new, well-received video game currently available on the Xbox Series X/S (and coming to Playstation 5 next year). Gordy Haab, who's scored several games for Lucasfilm (including the first two Star Wars: Battlefront titles and even the last Indy game, 2009's Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings), mixes John Williams' iconic march into his fun original score.
Plus: help one of our engineers. Donald Cleveland is a name you will no doubt recognize for his work mastering countless CD reissues, including titles for SoulMusic and Iconoclassic. He's had some complications recovering from a recent heart surgery and could use the help of his community - especially around the holidays. A GoFundMe has been set up if you would like to contribute.
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During the early 1970's many of the artists on the Columbia & Epic country rosters recorded holiday songs that were released on multiple Columbia Special Product various artist compilation LP's. They were also licensed to other labels for similar collections. In the CD era many of those tracks were issued on Sony Special Product various artist holiday CD comps and also licensed for holiday CD comps released by many other labels. George Jones, Charlie Rich, Sonny James, Tanya Tucker and Jody Miller were the acts that participated in those recordings.
The first four tracks on this new Jody Miller Christmas EP were all recorded for those Special Product releases. However the final track, Silent Night, Lonely Night was only released as a non-LP Epic single for the 1973 holiday season. The radio promotional copy, a double A side mono/stereo release has been more commonly found than the very rare stock copy with O Holy Night as the B side.
Silent Night, Lonely Night is not the familiar Christmas carol but rather an adaptation that uses a portion of the original melody with lyrics written by Jody's producer Billy Sherrill and his frequent co-writer Glenn Sutton. To date the song has never appeared on any other vinyl LP or CD compilation so this is a digital debut for this rare recording.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BWDlIyGUz8
It should be noted that Merle Haggard recorded a similar song titled Lonely Night for his 1982 Goin' Home For Christmas album. Not the same as Jody's song but very similar in intent. That version was composed by frequent Haggard collaborator Freddy Powers & Freddy's sister Mary Lou Butler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAB0KSVd5ac
Why no mention of these 2 new digital (only for now) Elton John soundtracks to his Disney Plus documentary "Never Too Late"?? The first is a 40-song 3 hour long collection, the actual soundtrack with the title track as the sole new song, a great duet with Brandi Carlile, and the tracklisting is nice, career-spanning, with hits, deep cuts & fan faves...and speaking of deep cuts, there is a more expansive companion piece, a 4 1/2 hour deep dive, called "Never Too Late: The Deeper Cuts"...it doesn't have the Brandi duet BUT it's 58 tracks...i wonder what physical editions will be?? Boxsets?? Highlights collections?? Being this is digital only for now, i expect physical editions out 1st quarter 2025...
Oooh, never got any press release about this! Thank you Larry - will include it in next week's Stream (one more for the year!).