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. Our Black Friday bonanza offers the return of Let's Active, a new Stranger Things mini-mixtape, an unlikely team-up between two recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and one Record Store Day title that dropped yesterday. Plus, a tribute to a Minneapolis legend who was always on Time.
Let's Active, Afoot / Cypress / Big Plans for Everybody / Every Dog Has His Day (I.R.S./Capitol)
Afoot: Apple / Amazon
Cypress: Apple / Amazon
Big Plans: Apple / Amazon
Every Dog: Apple / Amazon
In conjunction with SuperVisible Multi Media, the full discography of '80s jangle-pop heroes Let's Active (led by songwriter/frontman Mitch Easter, a well-known behind-the-scenes collaborator to R.E.M., Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw and others) is now available to stream and download for the first time! (All four are available internationally, with Afoot and Cypress due over the next few days - check back for links!) Read our interview with Easter about the catalogue's trip into the digital world, plus insight into Easter's Let's Active-heavy live show happening in Winston-Salem, North Carolina tonight.
Various Artists, Stranger Things: Soundtrack from the Netflix Series, Season 5, Vol. 1 (Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)
With the final season of the popular sci-fi show starting to roll out this week, its mixtape-like soundtracks of pop cuts are starting to appear, too. (Like the episodes, the soundtrack will roll out in three digital volumes - the next two following on December 26 and January 1 - before a January 30 CD, vinyl and cassette release collects the best of all three.) This eight-track first volume features tracks from Michael Jackson (though hardly the ones you'd think, given the 1987 setting), Tiffany, The Psychedelic Furs, Yello and...uh...Freddy Martin and His Orchestra's "To Each His Own."
Carrie Underwood, Some Hearts (20th Anniversary) (Arista Nashville/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)
The fourth winner of American Idol proved she was more than just a pretty face on TV when her big-voiced debut hit stores in 2005. The Oklahoma singer scored three No. 1 country hits with "Jesus, Take the Wheel," "Wasted" and the vengeful crossover hit "Before He Cheats." (Like all nine of her studio albums and a 2014 hits compilation, Some Hearts hit the Top 10 on the Billboard 200.) For its 20th anniversary, it's got a new cover and four live-in-studio bonus tracks, including a rendition of her post-Idol win chart-topper "Inside Your Heaven."
The xx, xx (Deluxe) (Young) (Apple / Amazon)
The Mercury Prize-winning 2009 debut by U.K. indie heroes The XX has been digitally expanded with five bonus tracks including covers (Womack & Womack's "Teardrops," Aaliyah's "Hot Like Fire"), a B-side ("Insects") and a rare demo ("Blood Red Moon").
Kyle M, Winter's Wish (Stones Throw) (Apple / Amazon)
Former Saturday Night Live cast member Kyle Mooney made a big deal this year about sharing The Real Me, a fun, genre-hopping, self-produced and performed album. While his "pivot" to music is likely only part of his artistic arsenal (catch him on your preferred podcast app with fellow SNL player and college friend Beck Bennett on their uproarious What's Our Podcast?), he's got some more original tunes for the Christmas season with the new EP Winter's Wish.
Jack White & Eminem, Live At Ford Field (Third Man/Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) (Apple / Amazon)
While the Detroit Lions' fall to the Green Bay Packers during the NFL's Thanksgiving afternoon game was an incredible bummer for fans and locals, the halftime performance by recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jack White was pretty energetic. Rapper Eminem, a fellow Detroit native and Rock Hall member, partnered with his home team to produce the entertainment, and even made a surprise appearance halfway through the three-song set, performing "Till I Collapse" over The White Stripes' "Hello Operator"; the set closed with a rousing version of unlikely sports anthem "Seven Nation Army."
Bill Quateman, Shot in the Dark (RCA) (Apple / Amazon)
The third album (and second for RCA) by singer/songwriter Bill Quateman - whose work, like this one, has been backfilled with the support of SuperVisible Multi Media - features some of the biggest sidemen he ever worked with: guitarist Caleb Quaye (one of Elton John's earliest backing musicians), keyboards from Bill Payne of Little Feat and Denny Seiwell, drummer of Wings.
Various Artists, Jazz Dispensary: Green Bullets (Craft) (Apple / Amazon)
The amount of Record Store Day titles in April that got digitally released so close to their vinyl counterparts makes us think some label folks got yelled at, because there's almost none dropping quite as quickly for Black Friday. One notable exception is the latest in the Jazz Dispensary series, this time offering "high-octane funk and fusion-soaked heaters, soundtracking an imaginary 1970's action film about a heist gone very, very wrong." Features cuts by Dizzy Gillespie, the Isaac Hayes Movement, Mongo Santamaria and more.
So What, Face Yourself (Masterworks) (Apple)
Originally released by Virgin in 1989, Face Yourself is the debut album by synthpop duo So What, briefly popular in their native Sweden thanks to cuts like "I Was Lucky" and "You and I (Nathalie)." Fun trivia for Swedish pop heads: the album was an early producing credit (possibly the first) for Anders Bagge, who'd later co-write tracks with and for Janet Jackson, Celine Dion, Madonna and more.
Finally, The Second Disc would like to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of Garry "Jellybean" Johnson on November 19 at the age of 69; word spread shortly as last Saturday's Weekend Stream was finalized. Jellybean was perhaps best known as the drummer of The Time, the Prince-associated funk septet who featured prominently in the blockbuster Purple Rain. Johnson, who also joined the post-Time project The Family (who first recorded Prince's acclaimed "Nothing Compares 2 U"), was The Time's longest-tenured member after frontman Morris Day, lasting during the entire original period, the late '90s-era reunion and remained when Day reformed the group in 1995. But the gregarious musician - adept at both drums and guitar - was a fixture of the Minneapolis scene: he co-wrote the U.K. hit "Criticize" with singer Alexander O'Neal, co-wrote and co-produced (with bandmates Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) the Top 5 R&B single "Crucial" for New Edition, and co-produced Janet Jackson's rocking Rhythm Nation chart-topper "Black Cat" and the '90s ballad "Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)," the biggest pop hit by Mint Condition. "Jellybean, don't be so mean," Day proclaimed from the mic with The Time, but we can imagine few nicer.
A Second Disc Interview: Let's Revisit Let's Active with Mitch Easter
The Weekend Stream: November 22, 2025
You Must Ask the Heart: Craft Recordings' Record Store Day Black Friday Slate Includes Jonathan Richman, Vince Guaraldi, Alan Silvestri, More
While "Stranger Things" and its soundtrack may have garnered a mass audience those of a more "cultish" frame of mind may want to have a listen to the on-line "soundtrack" for the first/perhaps only season of "The Lowdown". Whether or not one sees or even likes this series, this is a great, bluesy (Tulsa inspired) playlist - playable on Spotify or Apple Music (maybe also Pandora, Amazon and perhaps YouTube)!
https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/the-lowdown/music/playlist
Philip