The Weekend Stream: January 3, 2026
Welcome back, from holiday break, to 2026’s first edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts! We’re starting in rare form with news of a surprise new album from one of England’s most beloved rock musicians, plus some tantalizing rare and unreleased ’60s and ’70s pop treats. There’s a lot to love here – and we can’t wait for you to listen!
Peter Gabriel, “Been Undone” (Dark-Side Mix) (Real World) (Apple / Amazon)
The iconic British singer/songwriter’s long-gestating i/o was finally released in 2023, ending a gap between albums of original material that spanned from 2002’s Up. Gabriel, who turns 76 next month, seemingly has no plans to wait that long again. He’s just released “Been Undone,” the first song from follow-up o\i; like its predecessors, two mixes – the “dark-side” by Tchad Blake and the “bright-side” by Mark “Spike” Stent – will be meted out track by track at the occurrence of every full and new moon in 2026. The album, cut with his longtime core band (guitarist David Rhodes, bassist Tony Levin and drummer Manu Katche), is described by Gabriel as “a mix of thoughts and feelings…i/o: the inside has a new way out and o\i: the outside has a new way in.” In addition to digital streams and downloads, fans can subscribe to Gabriel on Bandcamp to get immediate access to each track plus other rarities from his back catalogue and other surprises.
Motörhead, The Löst Tapes, Vol. 7 (Lemmy’s 50th Birthday, Live in West Hollywood, 1995) (BMG) (Apple / Amazon)
Released on Christmas Eve last year – what would have been Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister’s 80th birthday – the latest in the rock trio’s archival series wound the clocks back to his 50th birthday with a fierce club set at The Whisky a Go Go that kicks off with “Ace of Spades” and doesn’t let up from there.
Rita Jean Bodine, Sitting on Top of My World (20th Century/Republic) (Apple / Amazon)
Sort of a soulful spin on Bette Midler’s glossy, high-camp pop, Rita Jean Bodine cut a pair of albums for 20th Century Records in 1974, but little was heard from her since. Our friends at SuperVisible Multi Media have put in the legwork to rescue her work from the digital dustbin, with the first, Sitting on Top of My World, now available to stream or download. Keep it tuned to The Second Disc for more editorial insight on Miss Bodine’s incredible career in the not-too-distant future!
The Sequence, Sugar Hill Presents The Sequence (Sugar Hill) (Apple / Amazon)
Already one of the top labels for the burgeoning hip-hop genre, Sugar Hill Records showed off something new with The Sequence, a rare trio of female emcees (Angela “Angie B.” Brown, Gwendolyn “Blondy” Chisholm and Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook), whose debut 12″ (1979’s “Funk You Up”) sold around half a million copies. Their first of three LPs wouldn’t arrive until 1981, featuring the favorite “Funky Sound (Tear the Roof Off).” In the ’90s, Brown would find a new wave of success as R&B singer Angie Stone.
The Mike Post Coalition, Fused (Warner) (Apple / Amazon)
Wow! Recently added to digital music stores is this cratedigger classic from a studio supergroup spearheaded by music legend Mike Post; fresh off the Grammy-winning No. 2 “Classical Gas,” which he produced and arranged for Mason Williams, and years from an incredible second career as an in-demand TV composer with immortal themes for The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, Hill Street Blues, The A-Team, Doogie Howser, M.D., L.A. Law and Law and Order. On The Coalition’s Fused, he goes for his own “Gas”-style crossover with an instrumental grab bag featuring star turns from session legends like guitarist Al Casey, keyboardists Larry Knechtel and Mike Melvoin, Derek and The Dominos drummer Jim Gordon, and Post’s co-arranger/conductor and longtime collaborator Pete Carpenter. Standouts include “Bubble Gum Breakthrough” and Northern soul favorite “Afternoon of the Rhino,” a minor U.K. hit in the mid-’70s.
Porter Wagoner, Sing Some Love Songs, Porter Wagoner (RCA Victor) (Apple / Amazon)
Recently put back into print, one of Porter Wagoner’s last albums for RCA was released in 1975, not long after his professional separation from longtime duet partner Dolly Parton. Parton wrote two tracks on the self-produced album of unfussy Nashville style: “The Last One to Touch Me” and “Something to Reach For” (the latter of which also appeared on the duo’s Say Forever You’ll Be Mine, released that same year).
Reunion, The RCA Singles (RCA/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)
One of the strangest one-hit wonders of the 1970s was “Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me),” a slick slice of bubblegum that combined a catchy chorus with pre-“We Didn’t Start the Fire” bursts of verse name-checking a few decades’ worth of pop, rock and soul favorites (and even quoting a few at the end). “Life is a Rock” reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974 and was later covered by Tracey Ullman, but what became of Reunion? The group of studio musicians, fronted by lead singer Joey Levine – a Super K veteran who co-wrote and sang The Ohio Express’ “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” six years prior – cut a fistful of singles for Bell Records and later RCA Victor; this digital EP offers all five sides from the latter period, including A-sides “Disco-Tekin” and “They Don’t Make ‘Em Like That Anymore.”
Sweet Pete, Skyhigh (RCA) (Apple / Amazon)
Some other intriguing, mostly unreleased albums from the RCA vaults – surely the by-product of copyright extension exercises – close out our Weekend Stream offerings. First up is Skyhigh, an intended album from Sweet Pete – better known as Peter Hewlett, a Pittsburgh-based musician who released two singles in 1974 (including a cover of the Motown favorite “Dancing in the Street”) and had this album in the vaults for a half-century. Hewlett, who also cut some singles under his own name for MCA, has had a journeyman career as a musician: he sang with the Cleveland-based Euclid Beach Band (whose sole album for Epic/Cleveland International was produced by Eric Carmen) before working in the studio and onstage with Carly Simon, Billy Joel and Joe Jackson, among others.
Guy Thomas, American Heaven (RCA) (Apple / Amazon)
Another seemingly shelved album of soft rock for RCA Victor, the title track of Guy Thomas‘ American Heaven is all that was released on 45 at the time. The Ohio-born singer-songwriter carved out a fine career for himself in the years since, working for some time with Kenny Loggins and co-writing his 1991 adult contemporary chart hit “Conviction of the Heart.” He also toured with Sheena Easton and Laura Branigan and has composed a host of library music for film and television.
We want to close, as we often do, with a few words of tribute to artists we lost over the holiday break. Jerry Kasenetz, who passed away on December 6, was, with partner Jeffry Katz, the godfather of bubblegum pop, producing dozens of hits and favorite singles as part of the Super K production team – from acts like The 1910 Fruitgum Company (“1, 2, 3 Red Light”), The Ohio Express (“Yummy, Yummy, Yummy”) and The Music Explosion (“Little Bit O’ Soul”). Perry Bamonte, who passed on Christmas Eve, was a key member of The Cure during their ’90s pop renaissance; the multi-instrumentalist graduated from Robert Smith’s guitar tech to a full-fledged member of the band from 1990 to 2005 – famously playing keyboards on the hit “Friday I’m in Love” – and again starting in 2022, three years after he was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the 26th, we said goodbye to Don Bryant, a veteran songwriter for the Hi Records label most known for penning, with wife Ann Peebles, her signature hit “I Can’t Stand the Rain,” famously covered by Tina Turner and sampled by Missy Elliott. Finally, a note of praise to veteran gospel singer Richard Smallwood, who died December 30; his incredible body of work in the inspirational field included inductions into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, multiple Grammy nominations and a catalogue of song that’s been covered by the likes of Whitney Houston, Destiny’s Child and Aretha Franklin.
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Happy New Year! There are a couple Bob Dylan copyright extensions that appeared on Spotify only. (The October 31, 1975 Plymouth show and a couple of others)