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. The Christmas season means favorites (quite) old and (sort of) new, plus Wang Chung's first album and a rock and hip-hop packed slasher film soundtrack.

Band Aid, Do They Know It's Christmas? EP (Band Aid Trading Limited/UMC)

EP: iTunes / Amazon
Single Version: iTunes / Amazon
Extended Version: iTunes / Amazon

Just over four decades from its original recording and release, Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" returns for a new 40th anniversary version, arguably its most baffling yet. Producer Trevor Horn has build a new "ultimate mix" out of the various instrumental and vocal pieces recorded for versions of the song in 1984, 2004 and 2014. (The Stock Aitken Waterman-produced Band Aid II, from 1989, is not included, reportedly because the tapes couldn't be found.) So you've got a mix of classic and contemporary, living and dead pop singers - and three, count 'em, three Bonos - joining forces for Bob Geldof's tireless cause to raise money to combat famine in Ethiopia. It's already attracted some controversy after one of the 2014 performers, Ed Sheeran, publicly wished he'd not been included, having reconsidered his stance on how much the recording actually helps its intended cause. (It's a fair point!) You can judge the effectiveness below, and take note of the three digital versions above: an EP collecting the four highlighted versions (1984, 2004, 2014 and 2024 - but no "Feed the World" B-side or original 12" mix) and a ramshackle live version recorded on stage at Live Aid in 1985; plus single-track products that include shorter and longer versions of the "ultimate mix."

Wang Chung, Huang Chung (Arista U.K.) (iTunes / Amazon)

A nice surprise now streaming around the world: the debut album by a U.K. new wave group then known as Huang Chung ("yellow bell"), who'd later change their name to Wang Chung and enjoy the hits "Dance Hall Days" and "Everybody Have Fun Tonight." This debut album doesn't have any of those songs, but features a rare glimpse of the group in one of their earliest incarnations, when Jack Hues and Nick Feldman were joined by drummer Darren Costin and saxophonist David Burnand, functioning as a quartet.

Yoko Ono & The Flaming Lips, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" (Chimera) (iTunes / Amazon)

A neat little holiday gift in the form of this 2014 re-recording of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1971 holiday classic, featuring Ono backed by The Flaming Lips. It was originally exclusive to Amazon Music and a 7" single, but is now available wherever digital music lives.

The Olivia Tremor Control, "Garden of Light"/ "The Same Place" (self-released)

"Garden": Bandcamp
"Place": Bandcamp

It's a day of triumph and tragedy for fans of Athens, GA alt-rock band The Olivia Tremor Control. After years in development, two songs from a planned final album from the group were surprise released yesterday - just hours before the group's cofounder, Will Cullen Hart, died of natural causes at the age of 53. (Cofounder Bill Doss died of an aneurysm in 2012, three years after the band ended a nine-year hiatus.)

INXS, "Need You Tonight (Mendelsohn Extended Remix)" (Petrol/Atlantic) (iTunes / Amazon)

The latest All Juiced Up Part 2 single is yet another that was digitally available before, thanks to the latest Kick reissue in 2017.

Various Artists, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (Music from the Motion Picture) (Jive) (iTunes / Amazon)

Certainly not Christmas-oriented, but the fifth Freddy Krueger flick, released in 1989, had a unique mix of metal (Bruce Dickinson's "Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter," Romeo's Daughter's "Heaven in the Backseat") and late '80s Jive Records hip-hop (Whodini, Schoolly D, Kool Moe Dee).

Jody Miller, The Essential Jody Miller - The Epic Years (Epic/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon)

After "Queen of the House," her 1965 answer song to Roger Miller's "King of the Road" (no relation, by the way), became a crossover pop hit and the second Grammy Winner for Best Female Vocal Country Performance, Jody Miller was off to a lengthy career in Nashville, continuing even up to her passing from complications due to Parkinson's disease in 2022. In the '70s, she was signed to Epic Records, and spun country chart hits out of unique, Billy Sherrill-produced pop and R&B covers like "He's So Fine," "Baby, I'm Yours," "To Know Him is to Love Him" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," which are all among the 37 singles included in this digital collection.

Various Artists, 40s Christmas Classics - Vol. 1 (Columbia/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon)

If you thought all the '50s fun we've been sharing from Legacy Recordings' yuletide drops was something, wait til you dig into these two dozen sides from the decade before! Features material from Eddie Cantor, Kate Smith, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and even "Powerhouse" composer Raymond Scott's positively off-the-wall "New Year's Eve in a Haunted House" (featuring Johnny Williams, the father of legendary film composer John Williams, on drums!).

The Three Suns, Sounds of Christmas (RCA Victor) (iTunes / Amazon)

The second LP of Christmas songs by the mid-century pop trio (singer/organist Artie Dunn and brothers Al and Monty Nevins on guitar and accordion) is positively packed: 20 carols and favorites from "Silent Night" and "Adeste Fideles" to "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."