Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. We've got Beach Boys covers with some fascinating history related to the band, a tribute to one of the greatest musical icons we lost this year, a new single from a legend of R&B and much more - plus a call to action to help a family in need.

California Music, Don't Worry Baby EP (RCA) (iTunes / Amazon)

One of the most unusual branches of the sprawling family tree of The Beach Boys, California Music was a loose assortment of band members, associates and session musicians, including Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher (whose joint label, Equinox, distributed the group's three singles), Curt Boettcher, and - in a shocking coup - Brian Wilson himself, who was, per Johnston, "desperate for an outlet" while his old band were on the road. Wilson's contributions were not as substantial as anyone had hoped; he produced a cover of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" and made uncredited contributions to a version of the mento "Jamaican Farewell." Melcher later recalled his sadness over Wilson's precarious condition at the time, and reportedly Elvis Presley dismissed the tracks at a visit to RCA's Hollywood studio, not realizing that he panned them to Wilson. But these recordings, which also include the immortal Beach Boys tune that gives the EP its name and the Johnston original "Ten Years' Harmony" (which later became "Endless Harmony," the closer to The Beach Boys' Keepin' the Summer Alive (1980)), are worth a listen for hardcore fans of the summer's most beloved group - and the fresh scan of a Japanese single sleeve as cover art is a nice touch, too. (The California Music name was revived in 2021 for an album released by Omnivore, which featured Johnston and his former bandmates Mike Love, Al Jardine and David Marks, plus children of Love, Jardine and both Carl and Brian Wilson (including Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips).)

Quincy Jones, The Soul of Quincy Jones (Verve/UMG) (iTunes / Amazon)

Trying to wrap your head around the career and significance of the late, great Quincy Jones is no small task: the dude did a lot. Let this recent 20-song collection, drawn largely from his mostly instrumental jazz-soul albums for the A&M label - now under the purview of Verve Records - set a soundtrack for you. It features favorites like themes for Sanford & Son ("The Streetbeater") and Ironside and covers of Marvin Gaye ("What's Going On"), The Lovin' Spoonful ("Summer in the City"), Benny Golson ("Killer Joe") and Vince Guaraldi ("Cast Your Fate to the Wind").

Al Green, Everybody Hurts (Fat Possum) (iTunes / Amazon)

Oh, did you need a reason to hear a 78-year-old living legend of soul sing the heck out of a new cover of the classic R.E.M. ballad?

John Williams & The Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Imperial March (Deutsche Grammophon) (iTunes / Amazon)

One of the legendary film composer's best-known themes and a musical shorthand for theatrical evil, John Williams wrote "The Imperial March" as a theme for Star Wars villain Darth Vader in the original film's first sequel, 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. Williams' current label home, Deutsche Grammophon, last week released a picture disc, cut in the shape of Vader's helmet, featuring previously released live versions of the march conducted by The Maestro with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics and Japan's Saito Kinen Orchestra as well as a previously unreleased version with the Boston Symphony Orchestra - and that version is also available today as a digital single.

Madonna, Open Your Heart EP (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon)

Watch out, watch out! Another vintage Madonna remix EP is available to stream and download worldwide. Features a 10-minute extension of the chart-topping 1987 hit!

Frantique, Frantique (Expanded Edition) (Philadelphia Internatinoal Records/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon)

A lesser-known disco trio from PIR's latter years with CBS as a distributor, Frantique's sole album spun off a U.K. Top 10 in 1979 with "Strut Your Funky Stuff." Released on CD by Big Break Records in 2012, this is the same expanded master of that reissue, offering two non-LP tracks and two U.K.-only remixes.

Christina Aguilera, The 25th Anniversary of Christina Aguilera LIVE EP (5020) (iTunes / Amazon)

Earlier this year, the huge-voiced pop hitmaker of the '90s and '00s celebrated a quarter century of her debut not with any reissue activity from Legacy Recordings, but a live-in-studio set distributed by Sony's upstart label 5020. It featured new versions of the album's biggest singles and favorites (including No. 1 hits "Genie in a Bottle," "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want is You)"), plus guest appearances with modern acts inspired by her work, including Machine Gun Kelly and Sabrina Carpenter. Initially exclusive to Spotify, it's now available on all major digital platforms.

With just one weekend to go before the Christmas season officially kicks off, we've got some more holiday curiosities coming your way - plus a new holiday track by one of our favorites in the game right now...

Bartees Strange, Xmas (4AD) (iTunes / Amazon)

One of the most engaging new musical acts working today, Bartees Strange's blend of rock and R&B has powered his killer albums, the self-released Live Forever (2020) and Farm to Table, his 4AD debut from 2022; he's also toured with acts like The National (whose work he covered on his sophomore EP) and will open for the reunited TV on the Radio next week at New York's Webster Hall. Ahead of his third studio album Horror, to be released in February, Strange has released a non-album original Christmas song that takes a few cues from Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" while also remaining true to his idiosyncratic style. "Do you know how hard writing a Christmas song is?" he wrote in a post accompanying its release. "It makes you a bit inside out - even for something as light and weird as it is."

Phil Spitalny, Christmas Carols by the Hour of Charm (RCA Victor) (iTunes / Amazon)

A Ukranian bandleader who made his career thanks to an unusual novelty - his orchestras were entirely assembled from female players - Spitalny's Hour of Charm Orchestra (named after his popular radio program which ran on CBS and NBC between 1934 and 1948) can be heard here taking on renditions of classic holiday fare from "Joy to the World" to "Silent Night."

Arthur Lynds Bigelow, Christmas Carillon (Columbia) (iTunes / Amazon)

Princeton University's resident bell master, last heard in The Weekend Stream alongside organist Marjorie MacComb, actually cut three holiday albums for Columbia Records. Christmas Carillon, a 17-track assortment of classic carols from "Deck the Halls" to "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," was his first.

University of Redlands Choir, Choral Christmas (Harmony) (iTunes / Amazon)

Five years before the annual "Feast of Lights" captured on tape by Epic Records, there was this this album of sacred seasonal favorites from the California college, released on the Columbia sub-label Harmony Records.

Finally, a call to action for a family in need. Friends of The Second Disc, Robert and Bianca Hunter Macnaughton, recently organized a GoFundMe for their friend Sally May, whose 15-y]ear-old son Caleb tragically passed away last week when he was struck by a train. Sally and the two daughters she raises are going through one of the worst situations a family can imagine - with only weeks before Christmas, which is innumerably tougher. If you are able to, your donation to a family in crisis is deeply, deeply appreciated.