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. There's new music from Sarah McLachlan, Public Enemy and Liam Finn, plus a new video to a one-hit wonder, a Record Store Day single gone digital, and tributes to musicians we lost this week.

Peter Gabriel, In the Big Room (Real World) (Apple / Amazon)

The legendary pop/rock voice has loosed a recording from his vault for larger public consumption: highlights from an intimate 2003 performance at his Real World Studio. (It was previously released through his Bandcamp subscription service, the Full Moon Club and is nearly complete, only missing a version of "Solsbury Hill.") Gabriel's team says a physical version is planned for release this year!

Sarah McLachlan, "Better Broken" (Concord) (Apple / Amazon)

The Canadian folk-pop singer returns with her first album of original material in more than a decade! (The last was 2016's Wonderland, a holiday album.) The title track to Better Broken, which comes out in full in September, is one of 11 new originals produced by Tony Berg and Will Maclellan, consistent collaborators with Phoebe Bridgers and her supergroup Boygenius, alongside Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. (Berg also produced Michael Penn's "No Myth" and Squeeze's Play - what a career!)

Liam Finn, Hyperverse (Occasional Music) (Apple / Amazon)

The eldest son (and bandmate of!) Crowded House frontman Neil Finn released an eclectic new solo album last week. It features his solo rendition of "The Howl," a terrific song first heard on Crowded House's Gravity Stairs last year - one of several that proves that Finn clan is one talented musical family.

Public Enemy, Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025 (Enemy) (Bandcamp)

Chuck D and Flavor Flav surprise-released their 16th album yesterday; it'll be out on CD and vinyl this year, but you can get it digitally on Bandcamp through the weekend at whatever price you'd like.

David Gilmour with Romany Gilmour, "Between Two Points" (GENTRY Remix) (Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)

Released on vinyl this spring for Record Store Day, here's "Between Two Points," off David Gilmour's 2024 solo album Luck and Strange, remixed by his keyboardist Rob Gentry.

Kool & The Gang, "Celebration" (DJ Crazy Jersey Club Remix) (Mercury/UMe) (Apple / Amazon)

Philadelphia mixer DJ Crazy has given a new high-speed spin on one of Kool and The Gang's seminal hits, following Young Franco's take on "Get Down on It" a few weeks ago.

K.K. Downing, "Never Satisfied" (feat. Tim "Ripper" Owens) (Exciter/Hellfire Thunderbird) (Apple / Amazon)

Judas Priest's debut album Rocka Rolla was recently given a remix for its 50th anniversary. Now, K.K. Downing - one of the band's key members from 1970 to 2011 - has done his own celebration with a new recording of that album's "Never Satisfied," which he wrote with the band's founding vocalist Al Atkins. (Atkins left several years before Rocka Rolla was recorded, with Rob Halford stepping in; Downing's version offers vocals from Halford's late '90s/early '00s replacement, Tim "Ripper" Owens.)

Leo Sayer & Marcella Detroit, "Soul Mining" (KS Music) (Apple / Amazon)

Two acclaimed singer-songwriters, Leo Sayer and Marcella Detroit of Shakespears Sister, have teamed up for a new single that's part of a new collection called Think Loud 4 Parkinson's, which will raise money for the charity Cure Parkinson's. The album features studio and live tracks from Mike + The Mechanics, The Waterboys, Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet, Procol Harum's Gary Brooker, Richard Thompson with Hugh Cromwell of The Stranglers, and many more.

Alexandre Desplat, "Boat Chase" (Back Lot Music) (Apple / Amazon)

Jurassic World Rebirth, the seventh film in Universal Studios' long-running franchise based on Michael Crichton's novel about genetically-recreated dinosaurs, is due in theaters next week. For this latest installment, French composer Alexandre Desplat picks up the baton previously held for three films by Michael Giacchino. (Ironically, Giacchino was a last-minute fill-in for Desplat on 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.) This pulse-quickening action cue does not feature any of John Williams' legendary themes from the 1993 film, but you'd be crazy to imagine they won't show up somewhere when the full album is released next week.

Norman Greenbaum, "Spirit in the Sky" (Craft)

Here's a fun one: Norman Greenbaum's fuzzed-out 1969 classic - arguably one of the most recognizable one-hit wonders of all time - just got an official music video! The song soundtracks a present-day West Coast teen fantasy spurred on by a grounded teen with no phone. (The shop clerk midway through the video is sure to make fans smile: it's Greenbaum himself!)

And as always, we'd like to take an opportunity to recognize the great musicians we've lost this week. First up is Joe with a remembrance of Bobby Sherman, then Mike with short tributes to Mick Ralphs of Bad Company, film composer Lalo Schifrin and Walter Scott of The Whispers.

As the Frasier episode "The Unnatural" concludes, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) brings his producer Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin) a trio of gifts. Roz squeals in delight upon receiving a vinyl LP of Bobby Sherman's Greatest Hits...then a Bobby Sherman T-shirt...and finally, a visit from Bobby Sherman himself. The onetime teen idol is, of course, frightened when Roz gets ready to pounce! In reality, though, Bobby Sherman was used to such effusive displays. The teenage pinup, Here Come the Brides star, and recording artist enjoyed a series of hit singles on Metromedia Records before giving up show business for a life in public service.

Sherman, who died at the age of 81 after a valiant battle with cancer, is best-remembered as the epitome of bubblegum. But what's bubblegum music except well-crafted, sturdy pop designed to make you feel good? Bobby Sherman's buoyant records sure did: "Little Woman" (No. 3, 1969), "La La La (If I Had You)" (No. 9, 1970), "Julie, Do Ya Love Me" (No. 5, 1970), "Easy Come, Easy Go" (No. 9, 1970), "Cried Like a Baby" (No. 16, 1971), just to name a few. (Bobby recorded a version of the Here Come the Brides theme "Seattle," but his version was never released as a single; Perry Como's became a Top 40 hit.) While at Metromedia, the fresh-faced star also recorded a Christmas album that remains among the most delightful of the era, highlighted by his spunky "Jingle Bell Rock." His deeper cuts are well worth exploring, too, including songs by Peter Allen ("Jennifer," "I Think I'm Gonna Be All Right"), Alan O'Day ("The Drum," "Caress Me, Pretty Music"), Paul Williams ("The Lady is Waiting"), Jerry Marcellino and Mel Larson ("Turtles and Trees"), and Jule Styne and Bob Merrill ("I'm in a Tree" from their fascinating if ill-fated musical and Angela Lansbury vehicle Prettybelle).

Though Sherman kept one foot in the entertainment world - guest-starring on Lansbury's Murder, She Wrote in 1985 and touring with Davy Jones and Peter Noone in 1999 - he spent most of his post-teen idol career out of the spotlight. After having appeared on an episode of the medical drama Emergency! in 1974, Sherman became a paramedic. He worked closely with the LAPD, becoming a Reserve Police Officer and serving as a Medical Training Officer at the Police Academy; in the latter capacity, he instructed thousands of police officers in saving lives with first aid and CPR. He also turned to philanthropy, creating a foundation to help underprivileged children abroad. A lifelong Disney fan, he built a 1/5 scale replica of two blocks of Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A. in his backyard, showcasing it from time to time on various television programs. Bobby's music has never been far from rotation on oldies stations, and his so-called bubblegum records have aged better than many of the heavier hits of the day.  In his music, he's eternally youthful, bringing smiles, joy, and light. Crank it up and sing along now: La la la, la la la...

Here's a fun little bit of trivia: Mick Ralphs had periods where he wasn't a member of either Mott the Hoople or Bad Company - two very distinct bands with success in the '70s that he co-founded - but he nonetheless appeared on every studio album credited to either band. And what work it was. With Mott's classic line-up (including frontman Ian Hunter), he helped codify the idea of glam rock thanks to the U.K. smash "All the Young Dudes"; David Bowie may have penned and produced it, but Ralph's guitar made it sing. Later, he'd co-found the supergroup Bad Company, penning their biggest hit "Can't Get Enough" and co-writing the acclaimed "Feel Like Makin' Love." Beset by health issues for following a stroke not long after his last tour with Bad Company in 2016, he left us this week with a sizable contribution to a generation of British rock in his wake.

Last month, the eighth and (presumably!) final installment of the Mission: Impossible film series - starring Tom Cruise in a series of increasingly death-defying stunts - was released. There may be fans who don't even know the series was based on a television show - one whose stars had a complicated relationship with the original 1996 film, for making the series' original hero a villain. But as far from the nest as the M:I movies flew, they could never quit Lalo Schifrin's iconic opening theme, a heart-pounder in 5/4 time that heralded daring adventures. The Argentinian composer's music was hard to shake like that: scores as diverse as Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, Dirty Harry, Enter the Dragon, The Amityville Horror and three Rush Hour films kept him well-regarded as a film music maestro of class and curiosity. Falling in love with his work is a mission we can happily choose to accept.

The title of The Whispers' biggest pop hit, "Rock Steady," was an apt description of the vocal group. Twin brothers Walter and Wallace Scott formed the group in 1963 alongside singers Marcus Hutson, Gordy Harmon and Nicholas Caldwell; Harmon was replaced in 1973 by Leavell Degree, and that quintet stayed together until the '90s, only losing members when they retired or died. (Walter Scott's passing this week after a battle with cancer leaves only his brother and Degree.) They had quite the body of work to show for it, adapting with trends in soul music through the '60s, '70s and '80s, from the sumptuous Top 10 R&B hit "Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong" to the burgeoning pop success of the spacey disco "And the Beat Goes On" and the new jack jam of "Rock Steady" (co-written and produced by genre architects Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Antonio "L.A." Reid). All three of these sound like highlights from different bands, but the consistency helped them never lose a step. The beat goes on, indeed.