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. Lots of Fourth of July musical statements were made this week, from a Prince rarity coming out of the vaults to Ben Folds' surprisingly politically charged, surprise live album. Plus, the last two albums by a terrific British rock band and a new song from an American classic rock act reflecting on its 30 years together (even the last few tough
Review: Robin Trower, "For Earth Below: 50th Anniversary Edition"
1975's For Earth Below proved a turning point for Robin Trower. The ex-Procol Harum guitarist's third solo set, it introduced drummer Bill Lordan to Trower's power trio which also included singer-bassist James Dewar. Building on the success of its predecessor, Bridge of Sighs, the album became Trower's most successful in the United States and solidified his place in the guitar-hero pantheon. Now, Chrysalis Records has revisited the blues-rock classic in a new 4CD mediabook edition, mirroring
The Weekend Stream: June 28, 2025
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. There's new music from Sarah McLachlan, Public Enemy and Liam Finn, plus a new video to a one-hit wonder, a Record Store Day single gone digital, and tributes to musicians we lost this week. Peter Gabriel, In the Big Room (Real World) (Apple / Amazon) The legendary pop/rock voice has loosed a recording from his vault for larger public
Release Round-Up: Week of June 27
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Bruce Springsteen, Tracks II: The Lost Albums 1983-2018 (Columbia/Legacy) 7CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 9LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Lost and Found: Selections from the Lost Albums (Columbia/Legacy) 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon
The Weekend Stream Extra: A Guide to 'MTV Unplugged' on Paramount+ (Part 5)
Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV's great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We're running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that's currently streaming on the station's parent streaming network Paramount+! (Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 can be read here, here, here and here.) The turn-of-the-millennium shot in the arm afforded to MTV by a big-budget teen-pop explosion and the
The Weekend Stream: June 21, 2025
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. A classic film score gets remixed for a major anniversary; a modern jazz great reunites two-thirds of a classic rock band; and it's funny how time flies for Tears for Fears. All this, plus morsels of news on potential reissues from Bruce Springsteen and Duran Duran, and two tributes to singers we lost this week. John Williams, JAWS
Release Round-Up: Week of June 20
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Christopher Cross, Christopher Cross: Expanded Edition (Omnivore) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Omnivore will offer an expanded reissue of the self-titled debut album from Christopher Cross, the unforgettable 1979 release that became a commercial juggernaut and
The Weekend Stream Extra: A Guide to 'MTV Unplugged' on Paramount+ (Part 4)
Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV's great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We're running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that's currently streaming on the station's parent streaming network Paramount+! (Parts 1, 2 and 3 can be read here, here and here.) The seventh and eighth seasons of MTV Unplugged aired in 1996 and 1997, which were sort of its last years as a
The Weekend Stream: June 14, 2025
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. This week we've got it all, from Bakersfield country to Billy Joel on Broadway; actors who sing and singer-songwriters who act in short films; Tony Joe White going disco and Josh Groban's hits going super-size. You'll find something to love - we guarantee it! Wynn Stewart, Songs of Wynn Stewart (Capitol Nashville) (Apple / Amazon) After
A Second Disc Interview: Timothy J. Smith Forges a New Path with SuperVisible
If you've been reading The Second Disc for some time, you know that one of our highlights is The Weekend Stream, our spotlight of catalogue material that makes its way - either first or primarily - to streaming and download services. The TSD team has the shelves to prove our love of CDs or vinyl, but the joy of discovering a lost classic or future favorite from the past is what really drives us, and The Weekend Stream is run in that spirit. And it might not run at all if not for the help of one
Release Round-Up: Week of June 13
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Grateful Dead, Gratest Hits (Grateful Dead/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino assembles a single-CD or single-LP, nine-song Gratest Hits [sic] from Grateful Dead, marking the band's 60th anniversary with the original studio versions of such classics as "Truckin'," "Sugar Magnolia," and "Touch of Grey." Read
The Weekend Stream: June 7, 2025
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. This week brings posthumous recordings by Prince and Donna Summer, a new spin on Star Wars disco, and plenty of cast recordings leading into the Tony Awards this Sunday! And just a quick programming note: our Unplugged series is taking the week off, but will be back with some new and exciting Weekend Stream extra content very soon! Prince,
Release Round-Up: Week of June 6
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Dusty Springfield, Longing (Real Gone Music) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Real Gone Music premieres a lost album from Dusty Springfield: 1974's Longing. Produced by Brooks Arthur, the album features a number of singer-songwriter-oriented compositions including
The Weekend Stream Extra: A Guide to 'MTV Unplugged' on Paramount+ (Part 3)
Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV's great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We're running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that's currently streaming on the station's parent streaming network Paramount+! (Part 1 and 2 can be read here and here.) With rock music undergoing a transformation after the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, MTV Unplugged continued to settle
The Weekend Stream: May 31, 2025
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 solo appearances aplenty: Bono, Al Jardine, Grace Potter, John Fogerty, and more new/old music - plus a new subscription service from Crowded House, a Barry Manilow music video, and a tribute to one of the undisputed guitar gods of his generation. Bono, Stories of Surrender EP (Island/Interscope/UMe) (Apple / Amazon) In 2023,
Release Round-Up: Week of May 30
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Grateful Dead, The Music Never Stopped (Rhino) 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 6LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada This live 3CD or 6LP compendium (also available digitally) from Grateful Dead to commemorate the band's 60th anniversary includes 27 tracks representing every one of the venues in the
Pryor Conviction: An Interview with Dan Schlissel of Stand Up! Records
If you'll forgive the stupidly obvious lede, Dan Schlissel takes comedy pretty seriously. As the founder of Minneapolis-based Stand Up! Records, he's carved a considerable niche in the music industry as one of the longest-lasting and most stalwart homes for stand-up comedy on CD, LP and many other formats. Schlissel, a first generation American whose parents came from Israel, first started the indie-rock label -ismist, which provided a crucial stepping stone to an up-and-coming band of masked
The Weekend Stream Extra: A Guide to 'MTV Unplugged' on Paramount+ (Part 2)
Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV's great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We're running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that's currently streaming on the station's parent streaming network Paramount+! (Part 1 can be read here.) The evolution of MTV Unplugged was not unlike that of the network itself. If those first years on the air from 1989 to 1991 were
The Weekend Stream: May 24, 2025
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. This week offers a trio of classic rockers advancing a cause through new tracks, rare covers and live material, plus a new take on Peggy Lee's "Fever" and a pair of dance albums getting greatly, unexpectedly expanded. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Land of Hope & Dreams EP (Columbia) (Apple / Amazon) The Boss has been
Release Round-Up: Week of May 23
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Sheena Easton, Modern Girl: The Complete EMI Recordings Volume 1 (Cherry Pop) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Sheena Easton's latest reissue collaboration with Cherry Red covers familiar ground in a slightly new way. Modern Girl: The Complete EMI Recordings, Vol. 1 is a 5CD set that covers the bulk of the Scottish
The Weekend Stream Extra: A Guide to 'MTV Unplugged' on Paramount+ (Part 1)
Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV's great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We're kicking off a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that's currently streaming on the station's parent streaming network Paramount+! If the music video was the most significant concept MTV introduced back in 1981, the word "unplugged" might come in a close second. In 1989, as the cable
The Weekend Stream: May 17, 2025
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. A positively packed volume offers legends of pop, rock and country revisiting and interpreting some classic tracks; catalogue favorites from Britney to Sheena and Connie to Katrina; intriguing film scores and show tunes; and remembrances of a few legends we lost this week. Steve Perry & Willie Nelson, "Faithfully" (Dark Horse) (Apple /
Release Round-Up: Week of May 16
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Status Quo, Live! Deluxe Edition (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) A deluxe edition of Status Quo's first concert album will pair the original album - never a favorite of the band's leader Francis Rossi - with the full, newly-remixed shows that it was assembled from, all under the supervision of the band.
The Weekend Stream: May 10, 2025
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. This week, classic rock icons celebrate their live history, a modern music icon gets serious, a master of horror films (and soundtracks) revisits his first non-movie music and a former folk duo open their vault. The Doors, Live in Pittsburgh 1970 / Live in Philadelphia '70 / Live in Detroit (Bright Midnight/Rhino) Pittsburgh: Apple /
Release Round-Up: Week of May 9
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Jackie DeShannon, Love Forever: Demo Recordings 1966-1968 (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Jackie DeShannon signed with Liberty Records and Metric Music in 1960 as a performer and songwriter. Her big break would come in 1964 when she would open for The Beatles on their first U.S. tour. The next year
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