The Weekend Stream: October 3, 2026
Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life – The EP (Motown/UMe) (Apple / Amazon)
On September 28 – five decades to the day since Motown Records welcomed Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life into the world – another miracle occurred. Loosed from Wonder’s vaults (a phrase that’s almost never been applicable in the modern catalogue music era) comes another “A Something’s Extra” collecting four outtakes from the original double album-plus-EP. (Unlike, say, Timeless, these tracks appear to be free of contemporary overdubs, only newly mixed from their original sources by John Fischbach and Gary O Adante – the latter then known as Gary Olazabal – who helped engineer and mix the original album.) These tracks are pure dazzlement. “It’s Easier” is a head-bopping shuffle with rich harmonies in the refrain and great guitar chop and bass by Michael Sembello and Nathan Watts. The breezy “My Life Story of Love,” co-written with Susaye Greene – the pair also penned “I Can’t Help It” for Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall – offers effortless additional keyboards by Greg Phillinganes and “I’m Into Livin'” bubbles around a drum machine and synths, with saxophone color by Jim Horn and backing vocals from R&B icons-in-waiting Thelma Houston and Deniece Williams. The “single,” however, may be the one track that’s known: “I Can See the Sun in Late December,” a heartfelt track Wonder gave to Roberta Flack for her Feel Like Makin’ Love a year earlier. (Wonder also performed it at a memorial performance last year after her passing.) It’s impossible to say if any of these tracks would replace or coexist among the mind-boggling perfection of Key of Life, but it is now possible to say that, at least in this moment, the door to Wonder’s assuredly inestimable vault is open.
The Chicks, Taking the Long Way (20th Anniversary Edition) (Columbia/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)
More than two decades ago, The Chicks came crashing down from the top of the country music world when they lightly criticized president George W. Bush for his handling of the Iraq war from a stage in England. We throw around “cancelled” a lot today, but the twangy trio was all but blacklisted from radio, endured the barbs of late country singer Toby Keith and looked on as people organized mass destruction of their albums. Their follow-up album, produced by Rick Rubin – the last before an extended hiatus – was a defiant refusal to apologize and a sharp set of songs that mostly addressed the controversy, fallout and hollowness that followed. “Not Ready to Make Nice,” “The Long Way Round,” “I Hope” and “Silent House” (co-written with Neil Finn and covered the next year by a reunited Crowded House) remain just as stirring as they did after the record became a hit with faithful fans and critics; the album ended up taking home five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and for “Not Ready,” Record and Song of the Year. Two decades later, as the trio tour in support of the milestone anniversary, a new expanded edition (also available on vinyl but not CD) adds two non-album cuts and three unreleased demos.
Rocky 50th Orchestra, Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Rocky (MGM Studios) (Apple / Amazon)
From a million-to-one shot to one of the greatest American film franchises, Rocky remains a powerfully uplifting film (along with many of its five sequels and three spin-offs courtesy of Ryan Coogler’s Creed trilogy). The story behind the fictional Philadelphia boxer is of particular interest five decades on. Screenwriter and star Sylvester Stallone has just published The Steps, his memoir about the years leading up to selling and filming his Rocky screenplay; in November, Amazon MGM will release I Play Rocky, a dramatization of Stallone’s life-imitating-art-imitating-life underdog journey from director Peter Farrelly and starring actor Anthony Ippolito as an uncanny capture of a young Stallone. And now, MGM has issued a delightful three-track EP from an unidentified orchestra offering new recordings of cues from Bill Conti’s tremendous score to the original film, including a newly-orchestrated medley and a take on the chart-topping theme “Gonna Fly Now.” (Dare we hope for more expanded scores to follow Intrada’s reissue of Rocky II earlier this year?)
John Williams, JAWS 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2026 Mix) (Geffen/UMe) (Apple / Amazon)
Hot off the release of Intrada’s new restoration of John Williams’ score to JAWS 2, the project’s second disc – a new assembly and mix of the original soundtrack album from multi-track elements by Williams’ archivist Mike Matessino – is digitally available. Apple Music subscribers with the proper equipment can hear this title in Dolby Atmos, as newly mixed by engineer Steve Genewick.
The Rolling Stones, “Mr. Charm” b/w “Bad Luck Hideaway” (Polydor) (Apple / Amazon)
The Stones have issued Foreign Tongues track “Mr. Charm” as a single complete with music video starring Alexander Skarsgaard; “Bad Luck Hideaway,” featuring late drummer Charlie Watts, is the B-side. (It was previously an Apple Music exclusive.)
Jim Reeves, Moonlight and Roses (Expanded Edition) (RCA/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon)
The late country legend’s 1964 album produced by Chet Atkins – Reeves’ final studio album released in his lifetime and his first to top the Billboard Country Albums chart – returns from Legacy and our friends at SuperVisible in a slightly expanded edition adding “Teardrops on the Rocks” (one of many Reeves outtakes originally released posthumously by RCA Victor) to the tunestack.
Devo, Devoween EP (Rhino) (Apple / Amazon)
A five-track EP of previously released hits for all the spooky spuds out there.
Mac Miller, The Divine Feminine (10th Anniversary) (Warner) (Apple / Amazon)
The dearly-missed rapper Mac Miller broadened his horizons on The Divine Feminine, his fourth album, inspired by themes of romance and what one can learn from the women in your life (including Miller’s then-girlfriend Ariana Grande, who guests on “My Favorite Part”). For its 10th anniversary, it’s been expanded with three unreleased tracks.
Chrissy Amphlett, Some Times (ADA) (Apple / Amazon)
This new EP features three previously unreleased recordings from 1998 by the late DiVinyls frontwoman and Split Enz’s Tim Finn. These tracks recorded in Sydney also feature drummer Charley Drayton who later married Amphlett.
Amy Grant, The Me That Remains (Deluxe) (Thirty Tigers) (Apple / Amazon)
Amy Grant expands her twentieth studio album, originally released earlier this year, with a brace of alternate mixes and live tracks.
Starsailor, Love is Here (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (Parlophone/Rhino) (Apple / Amazon)
Starsailor’s 2001 debut album – a No. 2 smash in the band’s native England – returns in a deluxe edition available in various formats. Extras include BBC recordings, demos, live tracks, and more.
Frummox, Here to There (Geffen) (Apple / Amazon)
Country-folk artist Steven Fromholz, whose Frolicking in the Myth was covered here last week, is back! His duo Frummox, with Dan McCrimmon, gets the spotlight this week with this 1969 effort originally released on ABC’s Probe imprint. Deliverance virtuoso Eric Weissberg joined the duo on a variety of instruments.
Clannad, Magical Ring (2026 Remaster) (BMG) (Apple / Amazon)
The Irish folk band’s 1983 album featuring their hit “Theme from Harry’s Game” (from the 1982 ITV miniseries, set in Belfast during The Troubles) gets a freshly remastered edition.
Hector Lavoe, ¡Que Sentimiento! (Remastered 2026) (Craft Recordings) (Apple / Amazon)
The Puerto Rican salsa great’s 1981 album – his sixth overall LP and only self-produced set – returned to vinyl this year, and now that newly remastered version hits digital platforms.
Kyle Gordon, Kyle Gordon is Everywhere (BMG) (Apple / Amazon)
There hasn’t been (and probably never will be!) a true heir to “Weird Al” Yankovic, but Kyle Gordon sure comes close! The affable songwriter has mastered the art of sharp satires of very specific song styles, breaking out in 2023 with “Planet of the Bass,” an over-the-top take on late ’90s European dance music. Kyle Gordon is Everywhere, his third album, ratchets up the intensity (and the humor) even harder. Gordon traveled to Africa to shoot a ridiculous video for the Graceland goof “Mr. Jambo” and recently dropped “If You Break Up with Me,” a delightfully pathetic pop-punk number. The album even has a Yankovic-esque endorsement of sorts: actor Daniel Radcliffe, who played Al in the recent mock-biopic of the parodist, provides running commentary throughout the album.
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Don’t overlook the Gary Louris co-write “Everybody Knows” on “Taking the Long Way” which appears in an amazing Jayhawks version on their “Back Roads and Abandoned Motels” album.