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 new (and vintage) tracks from some of pop’s greatest women, rarities from Captain Beefheart, even more Billy Joel (in a slightly different way) and a tribute to one of the greatest discographies you can download for free. Chappell Roan, “The Subway” (Island) (Apple / Amazon) Does last year’s biggest pop star have a new album coming out? After dropping country-flavored “The Giver” earlier this year, the “Pink…
The Weekend Stream: July 19, 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 a gem from Linda Ronstadt’s vault, a new update of a Disney classic and a fascinating sit-down with one of folk’s most important matriarchs – plus tributes to artists we lost this week and a potential hint at a very exciting reissue from one of the pivotal duos in ’70s rock. Linda Ronstadt, “How Do I Make You” / “Rambler Gambler” (Asylum/Rhino) (Apple / Amazon) This week, song…
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 consumption: highlights from an intimate 2003 performance at his Real World…
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, “Free” (Acoustic) (NPG/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon) “The Vault is now…
Sky Fits Heaven: Madonna to Release Scrapped ‘Ray of Light’ Remix EP
The fitful reissues of Madonna’s back catalogue (following an expansive deal to put her material under her original major label partner Warner Music) are yielding some choice archival fruit with the release of a long-rumored remix companion to her 1998 smash Ray of Light. The eight-track Veronica Electronica, coming to vinyl and digital music services on July 25, offers new edits of previously released dance remixes to hits like “Frozen,” “Nothing Really Matters,” “The Power of Good-bye” and the rousing title track. It’ll also feature the unreleased demo “Gone, Gone, Gone,” written with songwriter…
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 touring Europe this week. Perhaps you’ve heard about it: he had a…
Wake Me Up: New Compilation Honors Life and Career of Avicii
In his too-brief career, Swedish DJ/producer Avicii became one of the most dynamic figures of the early 2010s electronic dance boom. A new collection, sanctioned by his estate, will honor that body of work. Avicii Forever offers, on CD or two LPs, 20 tracks from his albums and EPs, including the worldwide hits “Wake Me Up,” “Levels,” “Hey Brother” and “The Days.” The set also includes a previously unreleased track, “Let’s Ride Away,” featuring vocals by Elle King. Physical copies of the album will also include the recent single “Forever Yours (Tim’s…
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 / Amazon Philadelphia: Apple / Amazon Detroit: Apple / Amazon The Doors have been issuing live sets from their 25-year-old…
A Man Could Get Lost: Soft Cell to Expand ‘Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing’ with Rare Remixes
After expanding their debut album for a box set in 2023, Soft Cell will revisit the next entry in their discography: the remix album Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing. Available June 20, the collection comes back to two CDs or two LPs with a host of bonus material, including vintage non-LP singles and remixes plus a host of rare promo remixes issued in the last decade. (While UMC’s solicitation notes three of the 12 tracks on the set’s bonus disc are unreleased, our research puts it at one, with the rest sourced from promo releases,…
The Weekend Stream: April 25, 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. Strap in for a killer line-up of titles this week: two more Record Store Day debuts, an incredible posthumous collaboration between two ’80s icons, the return of one of glam’s most beloved bands, new music by some of our favorite pop girls, a hotly anticipated new take on a Broadway favorite, exciting moments in gospel/soul, an exciting new song from a forthcoming West End musical by one of…
Oooh, This I Need: Adam Mattera Talks ‘Dearly Beloved: A Prince Songbook’
Last year, The Second Disc had nothing but good things to say about Dearly Beloved: A Prince Songbook, Cherry Red’s triple-disc tribute to the music of Prince. The set told a story of The Artist’s massive impact on pop, rock and soul by way of songs he gave others to record and a galaxy of genre-bending covers. In a year of considerable challenges in Prince fandom, it was a veritable oasis in a desert. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of speaking with Adam Mattera, the curator and producer of Dearly Beloved. For…
The Weekend Stream: April 12, 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. By now, you might have hit your participating local shop for Record Store Day – and happily, we’re kicking off this Saturday’s column to share material from five exclusive vinyl titles that are getting a second life in the streaming and download world too. It’s a great way to check out some titles if you missed them, or weren’t sure if you wanted to add them to your…
Have You Heard? Rhino’s Newest Quadio Batch Includes Rod Stewart, ZZ Top, Beaver and Krause, Modern Jazz Quartet
Rhino’s Quadio series is back! The ongoing series of four-channel surround Blu-ray Audio Discs has announced its latest four titles, available now directly from Rhino.com. This eclectic group encompasses releases from Rod Stewart, ZZ Top, The Modern Jazz Quartet, and Beaver and Krause. Rod Stewart’s sixth album, 1975’s Atlantic Crossing marked a new chapter for the Faces singer. Produced by Tom Dowd and recorded across various studios in North America, the album was sequenced with one “fast side” and one “slow side,” allowing for the full range of the vocalist’s talents to…
The Weekend Stream: April 5, 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 quiet, mostly contemplative week means a small batch of understated titles and a big public ask for clarity from one of our missing comrades in catalogue… Dan Fogelberg, Souvenirs (50th Anniversary Edition) (Epic/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon) The late, great Fogelberg’s double-platinum sophomore album, produced by Joe Walsh (a year before he joined the Eagles), gets the red carpet treatment with three outtakes and one never-before-heard song. Impex will release…
The Weekend Stream: March 8, 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’s offerings are particularly reflective, packed with tributes and goodbyes (both editorial and musical) and a little dust of new Disney magic. Dolly Parton, “If You Hadn’t Been There” (Butterfly) (iTunes / Amazon) On her first day in Nashville at the age of 18, a rising country musician named Dolly Parton had a chance encounter with Carl Dean, owner of a local asphalt business, at a laundromat. In 1966,…
Release Round-Up: Week of March 7
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. Yes, Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition (Rhino/Atlantic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com (with signed lithograph) Yes’ fifth album, Close to the Edge, returns as a 5CD/LP/Blu-ray set anchored by new surround (Dolby Atmos and 5.1) and stereo remixes by Steven Wilson. This Super Deluxe box follows in the footsteps of similarly lavish reissues of The Yes Album and Fragile. The original 1972 mix has been remastered by Bernie Grundman on…
Moments of a Visionary: Tangerine Dream Plan ‘Phaedra’ 50th Anniversary Box
Tangerine Dream’s breakthrough album will be celebrated in a box set that features a host of audiovisual material taken from a bigger box set. Virgin/UMR will reissue the German group’s 1974 hit Phaedra as a 5CD/Blu-ray box set featuring all the relevant album-related material featured in 2019’s 16 CD/2BD In Search of Hades (The Virgin Recordings 1973-1979). Beyond the remastered album, extras include two discs of outtakes, the band’s first U.K. concert and some 5.1 surround and stereo remixes of the album material by celebrated engineer Steven Wilson. The set also comes with…
The Weekend Stream: December 21, 2024 – and a Merry Discmas to All!
Welcome to 2024’s final edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts! With no Release Round-Up this Friday and a few weeks of peace and quite from (and for!) us until 2025, we’ve got a few more treats for you under the tree from Wham!, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Archie Bell & The Drells and so much more! Wham!, Last Christmas (Epic/Legacy/Sony Music U.K.) (iTunes / Amazon) For its 40th anniversary, Wham!’s holiday classic was reissued on various physical…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: ‘Dearly Beloved: A Prince Celebration’
The holidays are a time of good cheer and gratitude, where we all (in theory) come together to share in a common joy. There has not been a lot of common joy if you’re a Prince fan; we don’t need to re-litigate it more than we did this summer, but it’s worth noting that the quest to make intriguing, posthumous Prince projects under the current estate organization has maybe gotten worse than when we published our editorial. But there have been celebrations of The Purple One that honor his restless creative spirit….
Release Round-Up: Week of November 22
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today including a Christmas classic from Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music and a whole bunch of massive box sets! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Sings Christmas Carols (Expanded Edition) (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music) Over the past decade, we here at TSD have happily partnered with Real Gone Music on an array of Christmas releases from such evergreen artists as Johnny Mathis, The Supremes, Chet Atkins,…
Shot Right Through with a Bolt of Blue: New Order Outline Definitive Edition of ‘Brotherhood’
New Order will release the latest in their Definitive Edition series of album reissues: their fourth album, 1986’s Brotherhood. Available November 22, Brotherhood (Definitive Edition) will follow the previous three release formats, offering the remastered album on CD and vinyl along with a bonus disc of material (including nine previously unreleased tracks) and two DVDs of unseen video footage, including live concerts and TV appearances. As with previous releases, the Definitive Edition will not port over all the extra material from bonus discs in the 2008 reissue of the same album, but many of…
Smalltown Boy: Bronski Beat’s Debut Goes Deluxe for 40th Anniversary
One of the most striking (and oft-reissued) albums in U.K. ’80s pop gets its biggest look this fall, with a new box set edition of Bronski Beat’s The Age of Consent. The new 4CD/1DVD edition, available October 18, packages the original 1984 album with 1985 remix album Hundreds and Thousands, plus 19 remixes, edits and B-sides as well as three unreleased remixes and a disc of 19 never-before-released studio outtakes and radio sessions. The DVD features both restored music videos and Top of the Pops performances for the four singles: “Smalltown Boy,” “Why,” “It Ain’t…
Release Round-Up: Week of April 26
Welcome to this week’s post-Record Store Day Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Tina Turner, What’s Love Got to Do with It: 30th Anniversary Edition (Parlophone) 4CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Just months after the career-spanning compilation The Queen of Rock and Roll, Parlophone and Rhino will reissue another one of the late Queen’s classic albums in several deluxe formats: 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do with It. The companion album to the biopic…















