The Weekend Stream: December 20, 2025
Welcome to 2025’s final edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. We’re wrapping up the month with a wicked good time: hip-hop instrumentals, unearthed ’70s rock and country, and a whole lot of zydeco!
Wicked: For Good – The Soundtrack (Sing-Along) / For Good EP (Republic/Verve)
Sing-Along: Apple / Amazon
For Good: Apple / Amazon
With the second part of Universal’s big-budget adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical adapted from author Gregory Maguire’s alternative take on The Wizard of Oz cleaning up at movie theaters, fans have been clamoring for even more from the film’s thrillifying soundtrack (including two new songs written for the film: “No Place Like Home,” sung by Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and “The Girl in the Bubble,” a new tune for Ariana Grande’s Glinda the Good Witch). With the cast album landing at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, there’s a few new digital products to enjoy, including an all-instrumental version and an EP of penultimate track “For Good,” featuring a unique single edit along with the instrumental and even the live version broadcast on a recent NBC television special featuring Erivo and Grande singing with Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, the original stars of the Broadway version.
The Alan Parsons Project, Stereotomy (Sessions) (Cooking Vinyl) (Apple / Amazon)
The Alan Parsons Project have been revisiting their digital catalogue over the years, further expanding albums and making suites of bonus tracks from albums available as their own products instead of appended to late ’00s CD reissues. These outtakes from a reissue of 1985’s Stereotomy – APP’s penultimate album and first all-digital recording – actually have a little bonus in the form of an unreleased demo from the same era, “Rumor Goin’ Round.”
The Notorious B.I.G., Duets: The Final Chapter (20th Anniversary Deluxe) (Bad Boy/Rhino) (Apple / Amazon)
The second posthumous album from acclaimed rapper The Notorious B.I.G. was surprisingly, more or less, the last word in his discography. The Top 5 album was largely created from previously-released, lesser-known verses, with guest appearances by rappers who weren’t yet popular (Eminem, Lil Wayne, Nelly and Ludacris, among others), artists from completely different genres (nu-metal rockers Korn, late reggae icon Bob Marley) and even rappers who were already deceased themselves (Biggie’s rival 2Pac, fellow New York emcee Big Pun). This digital deluxe version adds instrumental versions of 10 of the original album’s 22 tracks.
Clifton Chenier, Louisiana Blues and Zydeco / Bon Ton Roulet! / Black Snake Blues / King of the Bayous / Live / Out West (feat. Elvin Bishop) / Bogalusa Boogie / Clifton Chenier and His Red Hot Louisiana Band / Classic Clifton / The King of Zydeco / Live At The San Francisco Blues Festival / SIngs the Blues and related singles (Arhoolie/Smithsonian Folkways)
“Ay Ai Ai”: Apple / Amazon
Blues and Zydeco: Apple / Amazon
“Zydeco et Pas Sale”: Apple / Amazon
“It’s Hard”: Apple / Amazon
“Hot Rod”: Apple / Amazon
Bon Ton Roulet!: Apple / Amazon
Black Snake: Apple / Amazon
Bayous: Apple / Amazon
Live: Apple / Amazon
Out West: Apple / Amazon
“Calinda”: Apple / Amazon
“You’re Fussin’ Too Much”: Apple / Amazon
“Someone Told Me It Was All Over”: Apple / Amazon
“I’m on the Wonder”: Apple / Amazon
Bogalusa: Apple / Amazon
“One Step At a Time”: Apple / Am azon
“Ti Na Na”: Apple / Amazon
“I’m a Farmer”: Apple / Amazon
“Come Go Along with Me”: Apple / Amazon
“Bogalusa Boogie”: Apple / Amazon
“Party Down At Blue Angel Club”: Apple / Amazon
“Hungry Man Blues”: Apple / Amazon
“Highway Blues”: Apple / Amazon
Red Hot: Apple / Amazon
Classic: Apple / Amazon
King: Apple / Amazon
“Jambalaya”: Apple / Amazon
San Francisco Blues Festival: Apple / Amazon
Sings the Blues: Apple (TBD) / Amazon
“Ain’t No Need of Cryin'”: Apple / Amazon
A pioneering singer and accordionist, Clifton Chenier was a pioneer in the blend of Cajun, Creole and R&B known as zydeco. Ahead of King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco, a 4CD or 6LP anthology of Chenier’s work for the Arhoolie label due in February, Smithsonian Folkways has made 12 studio and live albums for Arhoolie (and 18 single releases!) available digitally, newly remastered from the original tapes and with original sequences and artwork restored.
Redbone, Soliloquy in Red (Epic/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)
A delightful curio for fans of the Native American-rooted band, best known for the immortal rock radio staple “Come and Get Your Love.” Co-founders/brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas spearheaded this batch of tracks for release in 1975, but it was shelved for nearly half a century. (A single, “I’ve Got to Find the Right Woman” backed with “Physical Attraction,” was issued at the time, and another four were included on a CD reissue of 1974’s Beaded Dreams Through Turquoise Eyes, released by Wounded Bird. (The group would re-emerge on the RCA label with Cycles in 1977, one of their last works.)
Mac Davis, Songs I Grew Up With (Columbia/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)
Similarly, here’s a half-hour of previously unissued covers from the “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me” country legend, likely recorded at some point in the mid-to-late ’70s with producer Gary Klein (who’d helm several Davis albums for Columbia during this period). Here, Davis takes on great material from the early rock era: Elvis Presley (“Heartbreak Hotel”), Buddy Holly (“Everyday”), The Big Bopper (“Chantilly Lace”), Chuck Berry (“Maybelline”), Fats Domino (“Ain’t That a Shame”) and Sam Cooke (“You Send Me”) plus a great take on Goffin and King’s “Hey Girl.”
The National, Rome (Full Concert) (4AD) (Apple / Amazon)
Recorded live at Rome’s Cavea of the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone and released on CD and vinyl last year, this typically transformative set from The National now features the complete performance, with a further five tracks.
Night Ark, Moments (Novus/RCA) (Apple / Amazon)
The second and final album from the quartet Night Ark on the Novus label, issued in 1988 blended Western jazz and new age with the group’s shared Turkish and Armenian heritage. (Member Arto Tunçboyacıyan would later associate with Armenian hard rock band System of a Down.) It is the latest release courtesy of the fine folks at SuperVisible Multi Media.
Song Sung Blue: Music from the Motion Picture (Back Lot Music) (Apple / Amazon) / Neil Diamond, Song Sung Blue: Neil Diamond Originals (Universal) (Apple / Amazon)
On Christmas Day, the new film from writer/director Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) opens nationally: Song Sung Blue tells the alternately uplifting and tragic story of Mike and Claire Sardina, who rose to local fame in Wisconsin as the Neil Diamond tribute duo Lightning and Thunder. The Sardinas were already the subject of a well-received 2008 documentary; now, their lives are recreated in the starry personages of Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. The joyful soundtrack album captures the tribute vibe, with the duo faithfully recreating one Diamond anthem after another, from “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show” and “Holly Holy” to “I Am…I Said” and the inevitable “Sweet Caroline.” (What? No “Cracklin’ Rosie”?) It also features Michael Imperioli doing Buddy Holly, and Hudson doing Patsy Cline. If you’re more inclined to hear Neil himself doing his own tunes – no disrespect to Jackman and Hudson, both accomplished singers – Universal has delivered Song Sung Blue: Neil Diamond Originals with most of the same songs – plus “Cracklin’ Rosie” – as well as Neil’s recording of “O Holy Night” as heard in the film. The Song Sung Blue soundtrack arrives next month via Made by Mutant on CD, LP, and cassette (!).
Finally, as usual, The Second Disc extends condolences to artists we lost in the last week. Joe Ely (1947-2025), who died this week after a battle with Parkinson’s disease, was a pioneering force of alternative country in the Austin, TX scene of the ’70s and ’80s, but his work had international appeal, too: Ely was namechecked by The Clash and sang backing vocals on their “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” He also collaborated with Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp and John Prine, and opened for The Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – a solid sign of his enduring crossover appeal.
Though his work was only tangentially musical, TSD is, like so many pop culture fans, in shock over the killing of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele on Sunday, December 14. The son of the influential television comedian and writer-director Carl Reiner, Rob first rose to prominence as an actor, playing Mike “Meathead” Stivic, the foil for his onscreen father-in-law Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) in Norman Lear’s groundbreaking All in the Family (1971-1979). He earned even more acclaim in the years to come as a director of acclaimed comedies and dramas alike. 1984’s This is Spinal Tap was a winning mockumentary that sent up hard rock band and the music industry at large, with Reiner along for the ride as Marty DiBergi, the fictitious director of the film within the film. The oldies-packed soundtrack to 1986’s Stand by Me, an adaptation of a Stephen King novella, propelled Ben E. King’s song of the same name into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 for a second time. Soundtracks were a crucial part of some of Reiner’s biggest films, from Mark Knopfler’s stirring guitar work in the 1987 fantasy comedy The Princess Bride to the jazz standards in 1989’s When Harry Met Sally…, which offered a breakthrough for singer Harry Connick, Jr. Reiner – who used his fame and fortune to advance progressive causes (including the funding of the legal challenge against the California same-sex marriage ban Proposition 8) – was back in familiar musical territory before his tragic death, having released a Spinal Tap sequel this past fall and filming an as-yet concert film at Stonehenge with the comedic rockers.
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The Clifton Chenier sound GREAT! I was just listening the 60’s albums. They are a major upgrade. Really wonderful reissue(s).