Features / The Weekend Stream

Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. This week is all about pairs: a New Jersey rock legend covering a classic Irish punk; expanded editions from our friends at SuperVisible Multi Media; and out-of-print albums by Jimmy Smith, Oscar Peterson and more!

Bruce Springsteen, “A Rainy Night in Soho” (Rubyworks) (Apple / Amazon)

The Boss’ second new studio recording of the year just dropped: the lead single to a forthcoming compilation devoted to the songbook of the late, irascible Irish singer/songwriter Shane MacGowan. Though 20th Century Paddy: The Songs of Shane MacGowan won’t be out until November, the 2CD set will include tracks by Tom Waits, Dropkick Murphys, Glen Hansard, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Steve Earle and surviving members of The Pogues. “Shane’s voice was so deeply real, profane and honest, his writing so flashing, alive and historically rich its genesis appeared as a mystery to all including, I believe, its creator,” Springsteen said in a statement.

Jim Reeves, He’ll Have to Go (Expanded Edition) (RCA/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)

Another expansion of a title from Gentleman Jim’s deep RCA Victor discography; this 1960 album was devised of previously released single and EP tracks, including country No. 1s “Billy Bayou” and the title track, a No. 2 pop crossover that stands as one of Reeves’ most enduring songs. As with recent digital reissues of Reeves’ work, this one’s created in conjunction with SuperVisible Multi Media.

Wynn Stewart, After the Storm (Expanded Edition) (Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)

SuperVisible has also given the digital deluxe treatment to 1976’s After the Storm, the final studio album by Bakersfield sound progenitor Wynn Stewart. After a period of bouncing around labels – departing longtime home Capitol for RCA and even Atlantic – Stewart signed a deal with Playboy Records (yes, affiliated with the men’s magazine!) and cut the title track, penned by Dale Noe (who wrote Stewart’s signature song, “It’s Such a Pretty World Today”). It became his first Top 10 country hit after a five-year drought.

Jimmy Smith, Bashin’ – The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith / Organ Grinder Swing – The Incredible Jimmy Smith (Verve)

Bashin’: Apple / Amazon
Organ Grinder Swing: Apple / Amazon

Two LPs from the venerable jazz organist make their way to digital: 1962’s Bashin’, Smith’s first for Verve and featuring a largely big band arrangement (with conductor Oliver Nelson and horn players including Phil Woods and future Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen); and 1965’s Organ Grinder Swing, a return to his earlier trio style (this time with guitarist Kenny Burrell and drummer Grady Tate).

Oscar Peterson Trio, Affinity (Verve) / Oscar Peterson Trio + One, Clark Terry (Mercury)

Affinity: Apple / Amazon
+ One: Apple / Amazon

And from legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson come a pair of his formerly out-of-print ’60s albums produced with affection by Norman Granz: 1962’s Affinity and 1965’s + One, turning the trio of Peterson, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen into a quartet with Clark Terry on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Willie Colón, El Baquiné de Angelitos Negros (Remastered 2026) (Fania/Craft) (Apple / Amazon)

Another remastered album from the recently-deceased salsa innovator, this 1977 release is one of the strangest of Colón’s first decade on Fania – a thorny, conceptual soundtrack to a public television special of the same name.

Sonny James, 200 Years of Country Music / When Something is Wrong with My Baby (Columbia)

200 Years: Apple / Amazon
When Something: Apple / Amazon

Great things this week really come in pairs! Here’s two 1976 albums by beloved country balladeer Sonny James. 200 Years, a Top 10 country LP, offered the single “Prisoner’s Song,” which reached the Top 20 of the genre chart; follow-up When Something is Wrong with My Baby featured a Top 10 country cut in a unique take on the title track, written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter and made famous by R&B duo Sam and Dave.

Katy Moffatt, Katy (Columbia) (Apple / Amazon)

The sister of journeyman country songwriter Hugh Moffatt (Ronnie Milsap’s “Just in Case,” Johnny Cash’s “Rose of My Heart”) was a first-call live backing and duet vocalist, but got her first major look as a Columbia recording artist, starting with this Billy Sherrill-produced debut from 1976.

John Blair, Southern Love (Columbia) (Apple / Amazon)

John Blair was an academic musician who rose to minor prominence in the ’70s among fusion enthusiasts as a player of the “vi-tar,” a specially-designed electric violin/guitar hybrid. (Sideman credits include albums by Richie Havens, Alice Coltrane, Lalo Schifrin, McCoy Tyner and a memorable solo on “Lady Rain,” from Daryl Hall & John Oates’ sophomore album Abandoned Luncheonette.) He only cut three albums as a bandleader, and Southern Love is the second of them, released in (you guessed it, copyright hunters) 1976.

Joe Henderson, Tetragon (Remastered 2026) (Craft) (Apple / Amazon)

An appealing and newly remastered post-bop exercise from saxophonist Henderson (his second for the Milestone label); he’s backed by two quartets, both featuring bassist Ron Carter and piano and drums from either Don Friedman and Jack DeJohnette or Kenny Barron and Lewis Hayes.

Chelo, La Voz Ranchera (Remastered 2026) (Craft) (Apple / Amazon)

Paquita la del Barrio, Tres Veces Te Engañé (Remastered 2026) (Craft) (Apple / Amazon)

Two exciting Spanish-language releases get digital reissues. Chelo’s La Voz Ranchera, released in 1976, is a typical sampling of the Mexican singer’s prowess in ranchera and mariachi tunes; Paquita la del Barrio continued these traditions throughout her career as well, with the title track of 1993’s Tres Veces Te Engañé considered a female empowerment anthem within the genre.

PASSINGS

This week, country/psychedelia fans bade farewell to two giants of the genre notable for pushing country and rock to its fringes in the mid-to-late ’60s. Country Joe McDonald and musical partner Barry Melton formed Country Joe and The Fish in Berkeley and became one of the sharpest bands in the burgeoning San Francisco scene. Their signature anti-Vietnam War song “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag” sadly remains relevant in times of unpopular overseas conflicts, and McDonald famously took the stage at Woodstock not once, but twice: once with The Fish on the final night of the festival, and a solo performance nearly 24 hours prior – a last-minute addition to fill time while Santana prepped a set. (McDonald’s solo set featured a ribald version of live staple “The Fish Cheer,” leading a call-and-response not in “F-I-S-H” but another prominent four-letter word that began with the same letter.)

Also lost on March 7, the same day as McDonald, was Augie Meyers, a San Antonio native immersed in blues, straightforward rock and Tejano; with Doug Sahm, he founded the Sir Douglas Quintet and helped their sound stand out from the rest of the pack with the distinctive emissions of his Vox Continental organ. Sahm and Meyers, with conjunto and Tejano icons Flaco Jiménez and Freddy Fender, would also form the supergroup the Texas Tornados; Meyers was also a prolific local label impresario and session musician whose organ can be heard on Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft. Both men will be missed for their work keeping rock and roll a little weirder than usual.