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. A solo record from a Prince associate gets expanded with rare tracks, another classic Tom Petty track gets a new mix, and new music from Sugar, a Monkee and a killer pop songstress (those are all different songs!) help kick off our latest round-up!

Morris Day, Color of Success (Deluxe Edition) (Warner/Rhino) (Apple / Amazon)

Rhino offers a dual celebration of Black Music Month and the 40th anniversary of Morris Day’s first solo album with a remastered and expanded presentation of 1985’s Color of Success. Distancing himself temporarily from The Time and the extended universe of friend and fellow Minneapolis icon Prince, Color of Success is Day’s take on the funk group’s flash and style, down to the track list matching their three previous albums’ six-song lengths and a humorous call for an original dance on “The Oak Tree,” a Top 5 R&B hit. Day writes, plays drums, produces and even co-mixes the entire album, but has some help from worthy friends including keyboardists Greg Phillinganes, Larry Dunn of Earth, Wind & Fire and Ricky “Freeze” Smith, who’d later join Day on his own mid-’90s and 21st century lineup of The Time. This reissue is packed with a dozen vintage remixes, edits and bonus versions, so Success has never smelled so sweet.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Breakdown” (2026 Mix – Extended Version) (Gone Gator/UMe) (Apple / Amazon)

Continuing from a few weeks ago, when Petty and The Heartbreakers’ signature “American Girl” was remixed with a newly extended ending from the master tapes, a similar new gloss has been added to the group’s debut single “Breakdown,” off that same self-titled 1976 album – soon to celebrate its 50th anniversary. And as you can guess, this isn’t the last word we’re hearing on that era, as Petty’s daughter Adria and mix engineer Ryan Ulyate shared with our pal Matt Wardlaw at Ultimate Classic Rock last week.

Sugar, “Keep Looping” (Granary/BMG) (Apple / Amazon)

Not just the third killer new song from recently reunited ’90s pop/rock trio Sugar (fronted once more by Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü), but the first song of theirs to directly address the grind of scrolling on your phone? Time is a heck of a thing, and so is the group, whose reunion shows this spring were absolutely terrific. The rest of their tour commences in August.

Micky Dolenz, “Terri” (Friday Rights Management) (Apple / Amazon)

You might not have heard the last Monkee like this! On the forthcoming EP Timeless, Micky Dolenz reprises the formula that made his old group’s late-period comeback so thrilling, taking on songcraft from admirers including XTC’s Andy Partridge, the late Adam Schlesinger, and The Replacements’ Paul Westerberg, whose “Terri” is the lead single here. (It was previously released by Westerberg as “Who You Gonna Marry,” the lead track off 2008’s 49:00.) Might this indicate Timeless is going in a slightly rootsier direction? It’s going to be exciting to find out on or before September 4, when the EP is released.

Carly Rae Jepsen, “On Wires” (School Boy/Interscope) (Apple / Amazon)

Life got busy for prolific pop queen Carly Rae Jepsen after the release of The Loneliest Time and its companion album The Loveliest Time in 2022 and 2023. The Canadian singer/songwriter got engaged to producer Cole M.G.N. in 2024, married him in 2025, and the couple welcomed their daughter in 2026. But nothing gets between CRJ and her music: in September she’ll release Day and Night, a 24-track double album – and lead single from the Day half “On Wires,” co-written and produced by longtime collaborator Kyle Shearer, sounds like a fun departure from her usual sleek, sugary production, offering slinkiness and bombast in equal measure.

Sarah McLachlan, Better Broken (Extended Version) (Concord) (Apple / Amazon)

The Canadian songstress made a welcome return to recording on last year’s Better Broken, McLachlan’s first album in nine years (and first of entirely original material in 11). Co-produced by Tony Berg, who’s given a shine to the records of Phoebe Bridgers (as well as Michael Penn’s beloved 1989 debut March and Squeeze’s deeply underrated Play), Better Broken also featured contributions from Wendy Melvoin of Prince and The Revolution and MUNA singer Katie Gavin. This digital reissue adds two bonus tracks: the Target-exclusive “All This Disaster” and the previously unreleased “The Kiss.”

Duran Duran feat. Nile Rodgers, Free to Love: Hot Star Remixes (Tape Modern/BMG) (Apple / Amazon)

The Birmingham icons have prepped a fair amount of remixes for their latest one-off single, a peppy Pride Month anthem reuniting them with their old pal Nile Rodgers on guitar. The Hot Star Remixes EP reprises the four mixes already released in recent weeks (including takes by Horse Meat Disco and HARRISON), adding another four (including a revision by drag queen and prolific musician Trixie Mattel) and closing with the original. (Excitingly, this nine-track affair will also be released as a physical CD later this season.)

Clodagh Rodgers, Come Back and Shake Me (RCA) (Apple / Amazon)

The catalogue of late Northern Irish singer Clodagh Rodgers continues with this compilation, originally issued on RCA in 1973. Come Back and Shake Me boasts the Kenny Young-composed title track along with songs by Gilbert O’Sullivan, Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, and others. One more compilation has been promised in this series – presumably the 1971 self-titled set featuring a number of otherwise-unavailable non-LP single sides.

Glen Campbell, No More Night (Word/Curb) (Apple / Amazon)

Curb has brought Glen Campbell’s 1985 Word LP No More Night (never on CD as a standalone album) to digital services for the first time. No More Night arrived between Campbell’s Atlantic and MCA years, and was his first dedicated album in the contemporary Christian/gospel genre. Co-producing with Ken Harding, Glen assembled a strong roster of songs from many of his favorite songwriters including Jimmy Webb (“Before There Could Be Me”), Michael Smotherman (“Suffer Little Children”), and Dave Loggins (“Good Side of Tomorrow”) while also newly arranging traditional hymns such as “When All of God’s Singers Get Home” and “Trust in God and Do the Right.” Thanks to our pal Tim Dillinger of God’s Music Is My Life for the tip!

Chris Cornell, Carry On (Expanded Edition) (Interscope) (Apple / Amazon)

Something we missed a short time ago but is worth mentioning as a vinyl edition comes out this week: the sophomore solo album by the late rocker Chris Cornell has recently been reissued and expanded. The Steve Lillywhite-produced 2007 album finds Cornell shifting the alt-rock sounds he cultivated as frontman for Soundgarden and supergroup Audioslave into a more introspective, darker direction. Highlights include singles “No Such Thing” and “Arms Around Your Love,” a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” (here extended from its original album release) and the film mix of Cornell’s hard-driving “You Know My Name,” the terrific theme song to 2006’s Casino Royale, the first James Bond film to star Daniel Craig as the British spy. This digital edition also includes two studio bonus tracks initially available on U.K. and Japanese pressings.

Reba McEntire, Songs from Annie Get Your Gun (Angel) (Apple / Amazon)

Back in 2001 when Reba McEntire was Broadway’s reigning queen – having replaced Bernadette Peters in the revival of Irving Berlin, Herbert and Dorothy Fields’ Annie Get Your Gun – she recorded two songs from the score for a promotional CD that was included with purchases of the show’s program book. Now, those two classics – “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun” and “I Got Lost in His Arms” – are finally seeing wide release and making one wish anew that McEntire had recorded an album of the entire score.

Ed Bruce, Homecoming (RCA Victor) (Apple / Amazon)

Best known as the co-writer of “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” (a 1978 hit for Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson), Ed Bruce was a stalwart outlaw country-adjacent singer/songwriter with a consistent presence from the ’60s to the ’80s. After scoring a No. 1 country hit in 1982 with “You’re the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had,” Bruce commenced his third run of albums with RCA Records, and Homecoming boasted another country Top 5 in “You Turn Me On Like a Radio.” Thanks to the efforts of SuperVisible Multi Media, this is another country cratedigger classic that’s now available digitally.

Martha Reeves, “To Know You is to Love You” (Fun Day Records) (Apple / Amazon)

The Motown legend and Vandellas leader previews the August 14 release of her new album, Searching – her first in over two decades – with a funky and brassy take on Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright’s “To Know You is to Love You,” co-produced by New Orleans great Delfeayo Marsalis.

Nick Fradiani, “I’ve Been This Way Before” (Joy Machine) (Apple / Amazon)

The star of the national tour of the Neil Diamond bio-musical A Beautiful Noise has entered the studio to record one of Diamond’s most dramatic ballads – one which doesn’t appear in the stage musical, but did feature prominently as sung by Kate Hudson in the Diamond-inspired motion picture Song Sung Blue.

PASSINGS

David Clayton-Thomas (1941-2026)

When Canadian singer David Clayton-Thomas joined the ranks of Blood, Sweat & Tears, he transformed the jazz-rock horn band from a critics’ darling to a commercial powerhouse. With Clayton-Thomas’ deep, thunderous, soulful snarl leading the group, BS&T scored such indelible hits as “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “And When I Die,” and his own composition, “Spinning Wheel,” all of which still are prominent on oldies radio today. Born in England and raised in Canada, Clayton-Thomas had faced numerous personal demons in his teen years before channeling his energies into music – particularly rhythm and blues. Ronnie Hawkins took him under his wing. Judy Collins heard Clayton-Thomas and recommended him to Bobby Colomby, who brought him into the fold of the recently-disbanded Blood, Sweat & Tears, changing both Clayton-Thomas’ life and that of the group. The late Clive Davis was among those who instantly recognized his talent and his animal magnetism. DCT’s tenure with BS&T was a rocky one, and he left the group for the first time in 1972. He recorded three well-received solo sets in quick succession (just three of the many solo LPs in his career between 1965 and 2019) before rejoining BS&T. He remained with the group, more or less, until 2004, happily playing their hit songs to audiences around the world. He was also a passionate advocate for Peacebuilders Canada, a charitable organization dedicated to helping troubled youth via restorative justice, education, and alternatives to incarceration. Indeed, the powerful, full-throated, and commanding voice of David Clayton-Thomas made so many so very happy.

Harold Wheeler (1942-2026)

Burt Bacharach was effusive when he told Playbill in 1968 about a young man named Harold Wheeler: “He’s just a kid. He’s got the guts of a lion. He was hired originally as the dance arranger and rehearsal pianist and the only conducting he’d ever done before was in college, but he has the feel for the contemporary pop scene and particularly for my music.” Bacharach hired Wheeler to conduct his Broadway musical Promises, Promises, reportedly making him both the youngest-ever and first African-American conductor on Broadway. The gig kicked off Wheeler’s long and illustrious career as conductor, arranger, orchestrator, and musical director. In between his Broadway work – encompassing such shows as The Wiz, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Dreamgirls, The Tap Dance Kid, Hairspray, and The Full Monty – he also wrote jingles, and produced, arranged, played and conducted for acts from Nina Simone to Bruce Springsteen. He was longtime musical director of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, a role which he was only able to fill when his obligations ended for the flop Broadway musical Lennon (the flaws of which were no fault of Wheeler’s). Only a few albums bore Wheeler’s name as solo artist – a lone RCA album, 1975’s Black Cream, by The Harold Wheeler Consort and the soundtrack to Love! Valour! Compassion! among them – but his mighty contributions to the music of Bacharach, Galt MacDermot, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Charlie Smalls, and countless others earned Harold Wheeler his place in the musical pantheon.