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 a real party mix for you this week: alt-rock, soft rock, classic rock (in Spanish!), post-hardcore, funk, Barbra Streisand -  you name it, we're spinning it!

R.E.M., Radio Free Europe 2025 EP (Craft) (Apple / Amazon / Bandcamp)

The legendary Athens, Georgia rockers have a special, timely treat for fans this weekend. With the real and nonpartisan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's grants under fire from the current presidential administration, R.E.M. took Friday, May 2 - World Press Freedom Day and the service's 75th anniversary - to release a new EP that'll donate proceeds to the organization. It'll include a new mix of the track by producer Jacknife Lee as well as the contents of the band's original Drive-In Studio session with producer Mitch Easter in 1981, which yielded the original single versions of "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still" (issued on a single by the short-lived Hib-Tone label that same year), the instrumental "White Tornado" (making its digital debut here), and a never-before-released dub mix created by Easter. (An orange 12" single is available to order, and expected to arrive in September.)

Fugazi, Fugazi (Live at Wilson Center, Washington DC, USA, 09/03/1987) FLS0001 / Live at The Forum London UK 11/04/2002 FLS1045 (Dischord)

FLS0001: Apple / Amazon / Bandcamp
FLS1045: Apple / Amazon / Bandcamp

The influential DIY post-hardcore quartet from Washington, D.C. has been on an indefinite hiatus since 2003, but all four members remain friends - they even play together in private - and not long after said hiatus, frontman Ian McKaye's Dischord label began releasing live recordings of the group's performances (most of them recorded by board engineers as they happened). Now, entries in the Fugazi Live Series will start rolling out to general music services on a monthly basis throughout the year, kicking off with the band's first and last sets.

Christopher Cross, Christopher Cross (Expanded Edition) (Seeker Music) (Apple / Amazon)

Rest assured we'll go into greater depth on this next week, but a newly-announced deluxe edition from Omnivore Recordings of Christopher Cross' landmark soft-rock debut is digitally available now! It features rare demos and non-album material - 10 tracks, including demos of "Sailing" and "Ride Like the Wind." We'll report details on the CD and vinyl editions on Monday!

Barbra Streisand & Hozier, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (Columbia) (Apple / Amazon)

La Streisand's 37th studio album, The Secret of Life: Partners Volume 2, hits stores on June 27. A follow-up to the superstar's 2014 album, this second volume of duets welcomes such guests as Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Sting, Paul McCartney, Josh Groban, Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande, Laufey, and Seal. The honor of the first single, however, goes to Irish singer-songwriter Hozier, whose voice blends beautifully with Streisand's on a rendition of Ewan MacColl's classic "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." Walter Afanasieff and Peter Asher have co-produced The Secret of Life.

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (with Vandelux) (Motown/UMe) (Apple / Amazon)

A new take on what may be Motown's greatest duet, released in honor of what would have been Tammi Terrell's 80th birthday on April 29. The minimalist remix by Vandelux - an unlikely Canadian musician who traded in a career as the COO of a hedge fund to follow his passion - features a percussion loop derived from unique elements on the isolated tracks, including Marvin Gaye's rhythmic foot stomping.

The S.O.S. Band, S.O.S. / Too / S.O.S. III / On the Rise / Just the Way You Like It / Sands of Time / Diamonds in the Raw / One of Many Nights (Tabu)

S.O.S.: Apple / Amazon
Too: Apple / Amazon
III: Apple / Amazon
Rise: Apple / Amazon
Just the Way: Apple / Amazon
Sands: Apple / Amazon
Diamonds: Apple / Amazon
Nights: Apple / Amazon

Last week, The Roots drummer/documentarian/historian Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson offered a jubilant Instagram post noting that The S.O.S. Band's discography was digitally available, even tagging his friend, collaborator, and UMe vice-president Harry Weinger in the process. While we're not exactly sure when this happened - none of the titles show up when filtered on Amazon's recent digital releases of the last 30 or 90 days, the surest way to know if titles often stamped with older release years are indeed new-to-digital - why let that stop you from appreciating the sheer power of funky, soulful hits like "Take Your Time (Do It Right)" and "Just Be Good to Me" (an early writing and production hit for Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis)?

Foreigner, "Urgent" (Spanish Version) (Rhino) (Apple / Amazon)

As classic rock outfit Foreigner take stages across South America for a tour over the next week, they've gifted fans a faithful re-recording of their 1981 classic "Urgent," with Spanish verses sung by the group's guitarist Luis Maldonado.

Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets, (Not) Indoor Safari (Yep Roc) (Bandcamp)

Released for Record Store Day last month, the concert companion to Nick Lowe's 2024 album is now available digitally or in a second limited vinyl pressing on Bandcamp.

Mark Mulcahy, I Got Strangled (Mezzotint) (Bandcamp)

The latest from the jangle-pop hero who fronted Miracle Legion and Polaris. Four new original songs by Mulcahy, which you might hear on his upcoming trio of shows around New England.

Drew Barfield, It's Been a While (Vernall) (Apple / Amazon)

Though hardly a household name, Drew Barfield has had quite the career. The British musician, originally the bassist for short-lived power-pop act The Keys, has logged time writing for and with notable names like Level 42, Joan Armatrading and, most notably, Paul Young; the two play together in a Tex-Mex combo called Los Pecaminos. His first solo album of "more-or-less country songs," produced by Pacaminos producer/engineer Kevin Porée, features a killer session band that includes former Pretenders/Paul McCartney guitarist Robbie McIntosh, pedal steel/multi-instrumentalist Melvin Duffy (currently a highlight of Squeeze's line-up), and Joe Jackson on piano, coming full circle from producing The Keys' sole album back in 1981. (A physical release is planned for later in the year.)

Dead Outlaw (Original Broadway Cast Recording) [Part I] (Audible/Yellow Sound) (Apple / Amazon)

On Thursday, May 1, the audacious, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction musical Dead Outlaw received seven Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Itamar Moses), and Best Score (David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna). Now, Yellow Sound and Audible have dropped seven tracks from the show's upcoming cast album to all streaming services. These tracks feature Tony nominees Andrew Durand, Jeb Brown, and Julia Knitel as well as Eddie Cooper and Thom Sesma, and showcase Yazbek and Della Penna's darkly irreverent (and surprisingly moving) score. The complete album is due as an Audible Original on October 2; there's no news yet of a physical release. Dead Outlaw is playing eight times a week at Broadway's Longacre Theatre.  Yee-haw!

We'd also like to take a moment to remember some great musicians we recently lost.

On a continuum of epic, passionate, earnest, guitar-driven rock music that came out of Europe in the '80s - U2, Big Country, The Waterboys - The Alarm were one of its key practitioners. For a decade from 1981 to 1991 and continuously since 1999, frontman Mike Peters led the band with brio, bringing musical grandiosity with down-to-earth style cultivated from a humble upbringing in Wales. More than just a frontman, though, Peters was a giver, helping establish the Love Hope Strength Foundation to raise funds and awareness for cancer patients and their families. His 30-year-journey with cancer came to an end this week, but his music and memory will live forever.

While never as commercially massive or critically analyzed as fellow female singer-songwriters in the '90s, from Alanis Morissette to Liz Phair, Jill Sobule was content walking her own path with biting compositions like the LGBTQ+ anthem "I Kissed a Girl" (not to be confused with the far less measured Katy Perry hit) or the Clueless soundtrack standout "Supermodel." (Anyone whose debut album is produced by Todd Rundgren is bound to be a true original - to say nothing of her commitment to social justice and early adoption of crowdfunding campaigns to make her art.) The tragic nature of her passing - reportedly just before a planned announcement of a reissue of her self-titled 1995 breakthrough album for its 30th anniversary - only amplifies the need to celebrate those musicians to move us while they're still here to feel the radiant glow of our respect.