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. It’s a positively packed line-up today: pop icons old and new, unique stage experiences and two different trips to the land of Oz – plus a really cool recording summit opportunity for New Yorkers and a trio of tributes to some deceased musical heroes.

Madonna, Confessions on a Dance Floor (Twenty Years Edition) (Warner/Rhino) (Apple / Amazon)

The Queen of Pop’s next studio album, reportedly due out next year, is said to be a sequel to Confessions on a Dance Floor, the 2005 dance-oriented set that yielded the ABBA-sampling Top 10 “Hung Up.” (That song’s co-writer/producer Stuart Price is Madonna’s chief collaborator on the new LP.) Confessions turns 20 this Sunday, so it’s being celebrated with a new digital expansion featuring a host of remixes plus the rare bonus tracks “Fighting Spirit,” “Super Pop” and “History.”

The Wizard of Oz At Sphere: The Soundtrack (WaterTower Music) (Apple / Amazon)

One of the most appropriately over-the-top forms of American entertainment is a special adaptation of the Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz playing at The Sphere in Las Vegas. While the production has courted controversy over the considerable editing of the feature (from 101 minutes to 75) and the use of AI-generated characters and sets to expand the enormous image beyond its original framing and performances, one of the production’s unquestionable highlights is – as it’s been for nearly 90 years! – that classic song score. The Sphere production used cutting edge technology to isolate the original vocal performances of Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr and all the others, re-synchronizing it to a new stereo recording of the score conducted by David Newman and performed by an 80-piece orchestra on the same Culver City scoring stage where the original was recorded (now part of the Sony Pictures backlot). That full score is now finally available digitally, with two bonus cues mixed in binaural sound and a stunning a cappella take of Garland’s immortal “Over the Rainbow” vocal.

Wicked: One Wonderful Night (Live) – The Soundtrack (Republic/Verve) (Apple / Amazon)

If you’re not ready to click your heels out of Oz just yet, here’s a treat for you. Thursday night saw NBC premiere Wicked: One Wonderful Night, a concert special (now streaming on Peacock) featuring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo – the stars of last year’s film adaptation of the Broadway smash Wicked and its forthcoming second act Wicked: For Good – singing songs from the musical with a couple of special surprises, including a revival of the rendition of Great American Songbook medley “Get Happy”/”Happy Days Are Here Again” – which Oz star Garland and a rising talent named Barbra Streisand performed on television in 1963 – and a stirring rendition of Wicked‘s climax “For Good” featuring Grande and Erivo with Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, who originated the roles of Glinda and Elphaba on Broadway.

Hatchie, Liquorice (Secretly Canadian) (Apple / Amazon / Bandcamp)

A brief detour to bring you some of our favorite new music of the week! First, we’ve got the third full-length studio album by Australian dream-pop act Hatchie – recalling the shimmery guitar textures and rhythmic, melodic low ends of acts like the Cocteau Twins or Mazzy Star with a little bit of Kylie Minogue’s pop sensibility thrown in for good measure. (I first caught Hatchie opening for a bigger artist in Brooklyn and gave up a close spot to the stage as soon as her set ended to purchase her 2018 debut EP Sugar & Spice. -MD) Frontwoman Harriette Pilbeam and her longtime musical and personal partner Joe Agius worked with drummer Stella Mogzawa (Courtney Barnett, Warpaint) and producer Jay Som for an album that’s both ethereal and grounded, with Pilbeam’s melodic gift still in high supply.

Hilary Duff, “Mature” (Atlantic) (Apple / Amazon)

A gifted but not blockbuster vocalist during her teenage years as a star of the Disney series Lizzie McGuire, a lot of millennials’ eyebrows raised at the news that Hilary Duff was making a return to music after a career full of acting, fashion and beauty industry work. (Her last album was 2015’s Breathe In. Breathe Out.) This week’s release of “Mature” is a delightful surprise: co-written by Duff with pop songwriters Brian Phillips, Madison Love and Matthew Koma (the driving force of alt-pop band Winnetka Bowling League and, notably, Duff’s husband), it recalls the thoughtful lyrics and blissful textures of Carly Rae Jepsen‘s best work. A real fun surprise!

Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl + Acoustic Collection (Republic) (Apple / Amazon)

Leave it to Taylor Swift to never miss a trick. Just weeks after the release of her hotly-anticipated 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl broke Billboard‘s first-week sales record (one that will always come with a bit of an asterisk, thanks to the multiple collectible physical variants and greater presence on digital music stores than the previous record holder, Adele’s 2015 album 25), Swift has digitally reissued it with seven acoustic bonus tracks. Considering that these cuts were already available on four different limited collectible CD editions of the album issued shortly after its release, she at least deserves some credit for making the material a little more widely available so soon.

KISS, Rock and Roll All Nite (MOONLGHT Remix) (Mercury/UMe) (Apple / Amazon)

KISS are everywhere lately, releasing two deluxe box sets (of third studio album Dressed to Kill and breakthrough concert LP follow-up Alive!) in the span of just over a month. They’ve also released this digital single, an airy, vibe-y and brief dance makeover of their signature song “Rock and Roll All Nite” – the arguable centerpiece of both albums.

The Levellers, Zeitgeist (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (Warner Music U.K.) (Apple / Amazon)

A powerhouse moment in British mid-’90s alt-rock, Zeitgeist – featuring Top 20 hits “Hope St.,” “Fantasy” and “Just the One” – has been revisited for its 30th anniversary with a new set that includes the original album and a host of single sides in newly remixed form, plus a program of demos and outtakes. It’s also on CD!

Kristen Hall, Fact & Fiction (Daemon/Windham Hill) (Apple / Amazon)

An appealing folk-rock songwriter on the early ’90s Atlanta scene, Kristen Hall’s second album, released in 1992, predated her most commercial work as a short-lived songwriter and third member of the country act Sugarland, cowriting the group’s first two hits “Baby Girl” and “Something More” (both No. 2 on the country charts). Fun trivia: two tracks (“I Gave Everything” and “Out of the Country”) feature guitar playing from Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, while “Too Long Running” offers additional vocals from Cindy Wilson of The B-52’s. Another digital reissue with the assistance of SuperVisible Multi Media!

Bill Quateman, Lives (self-released) (Apple / Amazon)

SuperVisible also is responsible for the digital delivery of Lives, a collection of live tracks from Bill Quateman, the proto-yacht rocker turned holistic medical practitioner.

Rob Rokicki, The Lightning Thief (Original London Cast Recording) (Center Stage) (Apple / Amazon)

One of a handful of new-to-digital cast recordings includes a U.K. adaptation of Rob Rokicki’s music for the stage version of The Lightning Thief, the first installment in Rick Riordan’s bestselling young adult novel series about the adventures of demigod teen Percy Jackson, who discovers he’s the son of the Greek god Poseidon. (The second season of a Disney+ episodic adaptation of the series premieres in December.) Max Harwood (Stranger Things: The First Shadow) stars as Jackson. A CD pressing is available December 5.

Zack Zadek, DEATHLESS (Original Studio Cast Recording) (Ghostlight) (Apple / Amazon)

Another musical album premiering digitally is Zack Zadek’s indie-folk project Deathless, about a family road trip set in a not-too-distant future when a cure for aging and death is discovered. The recording features two-time Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan and Nicolette Robinson (Waitress); a show at Joe’s Pub in New York City next week will feature members of this recording and others performing songs from the album.

Stream Extra: Studio Confidential! If you’re in the New York City area this winter and are a liner notes junkie, there’s a show you won’t want to miss. Studio Confidential, playing at The Sheen Center for Art & Culture at the Laredo Theatre from February 3 to March 1, 2026 is an all-star summit of behind-the-scenes stories from a host of legendary producer/engineers. The participants are Chuck Ainlay (George Strait, Mark Knopfler), Niko Bolas (Neil Young, Toto, USA for Africa), Jimmy Douglass (Timbaland), Frank Filipetti (Foreigner, The Bangles, Carly Simon), George Massenburg (Earth, Wind & Fire, Little Feat), Sylvia Massy (Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers, System of a Down) and Elliot Scheiner (Eagles, Van Morrison). Tickets are available here!

Finally, Mike takes some time to remember those we lost this week.

With most musicians, you have two main tiers of songs. The first tier ropes you in and makes you take notice. The second tier – usually below the surface of the first, those “greatest hits” or most-streamed tracks – hits you even deeper, and by the time you come up for air, you know you’re going to be a superfan for life. For Squeeze, one of my favorite bands, I know where I had that second moment: after radio recurrents “Tempted” and “Pulling Mussels (from the Shell)” and “Black Coffee in Bed,” it was the whip-smart drum fills on “Up the Junction” (remember that “JUNG-ga-dung-JUN! JUNG-ga-dung-JUN!”) by the band’s original drummer Gilson Lavis (1951-2025). For a band with shockingly few consistent members outside of principal singer/songwriter Chris Difford (low voice, rhythm guitar) and Glenn Tilbrook (high voice, lead guitar), Lavis’ timekeeping – present on every one of their albums from debut EP Packet of Three (1977) to 1991’s deeply underrated Play – was a key component to their signature sound. Listen above to his swinging pocket on 1989 deep cut “Melody Motel” and be impressed at how easy he made it look. Lavis would spend much of the rest of his career playing drums with another Squeeze bandmate through Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, and fans of either will never forget his stellar contributions.

The idea of the Grateful Dead as a band for dudes only was well shattered by Donna Jean Godchaux (1947-2025), a key member throughout most of the ’70s. As a vocalist alongside her pianist husband Keith (who was also tenured with The Dead during this time), Donna bought Muscle Shoals grit (she’d sang background vocals on Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” and Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds”) to the psychedelic icons, and even got a spotlight on the group’s mid-to-late ’70s revival of Martha and The Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street,” committed to tape on the studio album Terrapin Station in 1977.

Finally, Jim Self (1943-2025) wasn’t a household name, but he was part of that great category and ecosystem of song: the Los Angeles session musician. The tuba player was not only an accomplished orchestra and chamber musician, but a favorite of film music icon John Williams, who gave him unique solos on scores like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (where he “voiced” the mothership) and Hook (where he accompanied a humorous “big bite” during the Lost Boys’ “Neverfeast” sequence). As a “Weird Al” Yankovic fan, I’m also delighted to note he played on the big polka medley from the master parodist’s last studio album to date, 2014’s Mandatory Fun. You don’t have to be a marquee name to have an impact on listeners.