REVIEW: SCANDAL - MIRROR

4/5

Notes On A Scandal.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who is the most scandalous of them all? Japanese, female force, rock juggernaut, SCANDAL recently celebrated their 15th anniversary in the industry. Putting the J-Rock act next to the likes of the amazing Aimyon and legends on a cinematic concert farewell tour, Arashi, as the highest acclaimed achievers from the Far East music scene. You can see their autographed banner signed, sealed and delivered in Shibuya Station as you make your way to Tokyo’s Tower Records. Still standing as you pat Hachikō's head en route. And turning 15, the outfit from Osaka are gifting overseas with a deluxe package of dual albums for the reflective release of their new album 'MIRROR', that we got a look into last week. Tomomi, Haruna, Rina and Mami offering English and Romaji translations respectively to give fans more Scandal and a deeper meaning into their lyrics that explore their sensitivities beyond listeners language abilities, lost in a Japanese translation. This limited edition from JPU records also let's you read all about the latest volume (3) of the 'her' magazine printed exclusively in English and broadcasted in the bands latest music video. A documentary will also be revealed on the bands coronation celebration, before they hit the road on tour in the US this Summer, along with London, Paris and Berlin for the European stretch in September. 

That's all to come February 4th. But right now you can already see the 'Mirror' from the former Kyobashi high-school group that's now maturing in music to the tune of a decade and a half in the game. The garage to the street. Powering performances that riff rip into guitars like the sisterhood of Haim, from Akasaka Blitz to the House Of Blues. These women in music soundtracking everything including 'Pokemon' and 'Full Metal Alchemist' as they score and soar. From performing in Osaka Castle Park, to their own kingdom and 'her' record label. Now following 2020's 'Kiss From Darkness', Scandal's tenth album for year 15 sees them reach for that 'eternal' sound like the single 'One More Time'. Celebrating in the up periscope of a candy coated video the K-Pop 'Ice Cream' or 'Butter' of BLACKPINK or BTS would be proud of, making their own genre name, singing, "The long night has already broken/And the light creeping through feels so gentle/I rub my sleepy eyes and say to myself/"There's nothing to worry about, no more worries"", in the "eternal metamorphosis" of translation. All before the sweet sounds of 'eternal' reach for the stars and lyrics like, "I wonder why/Pain and joy as one/Even if I'm scared, I'll unlock it again/Look at me/Look at it/Dazzling Hikari/Shower of love pouring down/Please solve your heart/To a friendly world/Dazzling Hikari/There is love/Please solve your heart/Touch the gentle world." The power of these women proving beauty lasts forever. Eternal like celestial Marvel Chloé Zhao in this Nomadland. 

Baby...touch that heart like beautiful ballads ('Honey's' 'Mado wo Aketara'). All white like a Diddy party in promotion of this piece and their 'Ivory' strong single like the visual storytelling. "Fuwari fuwari boyaketa shikai de/Sagutte sagutte boku mo tesaguri da yo/Yurari yurari yureru kanjou de/Modokashiku tanoshiku ikiteru", Mami sings with signature personal reason as the light of a new day shines through her curtains. 'Mirror's' self-titled track like a Timberlake one of the same name is as "killer" on this nine track wonder, as Mami describes it to Billboard in all its uptempo percussion and punctuation. Perfect for being performed on the live stage they're about to return to after two years since their last album and COVID shut everything down in quarantine. But in the genre boundary expression of this envelope pushing, it's the gospel roots explored like Dylan taking it to a Hozier church in the 80's that really sings and shows this band can defy any pigeon holed convention like when they graduated from the school uniform sound. Tomomi writing 'Ai no shotai' and taking it to higher ground for our deeper understanding of their background. It's the kind of "selfless love" she talks about, now in her 30's. With many of her friends settling down with family. All whilst she won't quiet her voice in support for the LGBTQ community and all the have to endure in the world as a whole...let alone just this traditional country that in some corners still has a problem with Rui and another Osaka. It's the kind of 'Kanojo wa Wave' ("she's a wave") anthem that will have everyone's hands up like an Alicia Keys 'Superwoman' soaring for the sky like you. Yes you are and yes you can. All from a band that already broke new ground back in 2006 when they formed and forged female dominance in an ignorant industry. Its quite poetic like the melting dusk of 'Yugure, tokeru' for these freedom writers. New York, Anaheim, Dallas! You ready for this, in all of 'Mirror's' shimmers and shines? Seamlessly shapeshifting across beautifully blended genres that feels like anything but a musical mutation, the mystique of this act is mesmerising. So, so scandalous. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'One More Time', 'eternal', 'Kanojo wa Wave.'

REVIEW: ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS - THE BOY NAMED IF

4/5

Imposter Syndrome.

'Smokin' Fish' is the perfect place (no pun intended) in Yokohama to get a bite to eat or a drink at the bar on just another Saturday night. Sure, this writers home for the last two years away from England may be most famous for tires (see Chelsea football clubs sponsor) and nowhere near as on the map as its neighbour in neon Tokyo. But neither is my hometown of sunny Southport (that still has the too pricey to post cinder block of Elvis Costello's 'Unfaithful Music' memoir waiting for me when I can cross the borders and see my family. Thank you, Mum and Dad) of the Great British coast when compared to Liverpool. Which coincidentally is the same distance on the train from home that Tokyo is my new one. "From Liverpool (Southport) to Tokyo (Yokohama), what a way to go", as John and Yoko once said. Southport may be known for the Royal Birkdale golf open and some top bizarre to be believed theory that the Parisian who designed the Champs-Élysées was inspired by Lord Street. But Liverpool is the home of The Beatles...and by way of a move from Twickenham (like the Fab Four to the Apple Studios rooftops for an impromptu lunch to 'Get Back' with 'Lord Of The Rings' Peter Jackson), Elvis Costello making his way at 16, close to his mother's home in Birkenhead. Anyway, this bar in Yokohama was so slick it was decked out in vinyls and turntables and even had classic dust jackets for its menu covers (which to a wax purist may be tantamount to sacrilege). And the owner knew how to spin a tune or two for me and an old flame, setting fire to something romantic. Bjork's jazz album. Some classic Elvis Costello music with The Attractions and those drums that still sound as crisp as the day they came stampeding in like elephants in 1979 like a Smashing Pumpkin. But forget the main attraction. Just a calendar and a little bit of change after Costello said 'Hey, Clockface' to the year that was 2020, the man from Paddington is back to bear arms with The Imposters on an album that is anything but an imposition. 

Johnny Cash may rule everything around me, Man in Black, y'all, but forget 'A Boy Named Sue', 'The Boy Named If' is the best Costello collaboration since he laid down new ground with The Roots like Jimmy Fallon for 'Wise Up Ghost'...if I do say so myself. In a new year were we have new albums from the stripped down Lumineers for your 'Brightside', Mister, this is the selection to spin the wheel of fortune for. The oil painting artwork is back as Elvis rock and rolls with The Imposter for the first time since his 30th studio album 'Look Now' in 2018. Now four years later with his 32nd, proceedings get started with 'Farewell, OK' that rocks you out of nowhere. A heavy record that is not to be listened to in a library when you forget that your headphones were turned all the way up. Just trust me on that one. After that kick start, the title track of this album affair comes into play. But it's the storytelling of one Lady 'Penelope Halfpenny' that really takes us away like Parker. "Penelope she came and went/We assumed that all her savings were spent/Her style of drama and her shape of face/Disappeared with the dot of a decimal place/While Beckett in blue and Ruth in red/Might for all I know be dead/And to the church door both were driven/Or could be somewhere, happily living/Just in time to be forgiven", Elvis tells us of his new muse that he could have called 'She', if Penelope was not gone as the blowin' in the wind answer to a letter that just says, "return to sender". The spectacle continues on 'The Difference', before Costello takes off his hat and lays it down on 'What If I Can't Give You Anything But Love', an ode with dedication that he makes his home. "Once hearing confession was my profession/Telling me things I don't need to know/So he opened up that door for you/The kind of thrill we'll never have/What if I can't give you anything but love?/Do you love me?/It's dangerous to answer in the dark/Do you need me?/Hold on while I negotiate that spark." One humble abode set alight. 

'Paint The Red Rose Blue' for a devotion as true and you really have some of the best songwriting from one of the leaders of this school for the record, in years. But don't fall for the masquerade like the carnival of Guillermo del Toro's 'Nightmare Alley' with Bradley Cooper. On 'Mistook Me For A Friend', Elvis takes it the wrong way before making 'My Most Beautiful Mistake' for the albums prettiest picture of songwriting prose. "She was a part-time waitress with a dream of greatness/That nobody knew of or even suspected/Though it was sometimes reflected in the slant of a mirror/It was buried so deep and so dear", he storytells us like he was going for the gold of another Grammy for his trophy cabinet's family. Its the kind of perfectly painted picture of a crooked frame that leads to a 'Magnificent Hurt' that in its art for this discography gallery is jusg that decadent. Singing, "I speak low and intimate/Like a cardboard sophisticate/What if this is true love?/Not some town hall certificate/It’s the way you make me feel/Magnificent Hurt." Oxymoronic in the beauty of its ugly truth to be told. With lyrics like these there's no way this could be 'The Man You Love To Hate'. Just ask jazz legend Diana Krall, who married Costello in none other than Elton John's home. It's a little bit funny, how wonderful life is. And now we have 'The Death Of Magic Thinking' in the world. The mask is off in a time were we need to keep ours on. "Sullen as a Summers day/Even as a Winter's evening." It's the kind of dare of a reveal that 'Tricks Out The Truth'. And just like that, it's a treat. Like the classic closer 'Mr. Crescent' before this LP's moon. Dynamite Dylan and Springsteen storytelling under the rim of his glasses writing, "Heard the song of both the lark and the linnet/Played them both upon a parlour spinnet/One with only nine strings in it/Clinging to the sounding board/For that was all he could afford." But this album pays more in full. And boy can you already name it one of this years best, not three weeks into the New Year. No if about it and to that notion no imposter. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Penelope Halfpenny', 'Paint The Red Rose Blue', 'My Most Beautiful Mistake'. 

REVIEW: THE LUMINEERS - BRIGHTSIDE

4/5

Mr. Brightside. 

Luminaries of The Lumineers like Mumford and Sons and Vampire Weekend had their time around the early 2010's like Strokes and Stripes did a decade earlier. And what a time it was. A time to be alive. And one that still resonates in the reverie of a reminder to this day. These new age folk of acoustic meets electric, patient but not with haste bands from beautiful corners of their own worlds embraced us with a sound that was like a warm hug. Or an arm on our shoulder that reassured us that everything was going to be alright. And boy how we need that now in these days of our planets pandemic, crippled by coronavirus and a pre-COVID-19 social distance we already had from each other in mistrust. Now when we extend a hand, it's palm is held out in defence. It's getting harder to breathe now like the air of the Mile High City of Denver, Colorado where this band comes from. But despite losing more members than The Killers, The Lumineers are still alive with 'Brightside' looking for that very notion of their new nine track album whose artwork reaches for the sun with an outstretched hand. Soundtracking out solace, 'Brightside' opens with the self-titled opening single that is legendary Lumineers like 'Cleopatra', or singer and guitarist Wesley Schultz and percussion and piano player Jeremiah Fraites working together like they always have since their inception in Ramsey, New Jersey. Singing for the same Americana Springsteen, Dylan and Tom Petty did in heartbreak. "I can see it in the air/Every word was like a smoke from a cigarette/You were blowin' in your hands/The heater broke in the Oldsmobile/And the light in your eyes/Alone on the freeway." Alone on the freeway, this one will take you away, like smoke from an ashtray blowin' in the wind. 

My friend, this is the answer. One to wake you up from the dispondence of 2020 that has lasted two years into this new calendar. An alarm like the 'A.M. Radio' of the second track and latest single to tune into like an Abel 'Dawn FM' last Weeknd. Coming in the morning on this 'Groundhog Day' radio as the digits turn in a flap with lyrics like, "Standin’ on the corner, I could listen to the radio/When the savior sang from the fire escape on the second floor/You were always sayin’ we would make it to the catacombs/In the end, it came when you wrote my name on the bathroom stall." Dreams of Paris stalled and scattered on the bathroom floor like a lost number from a bag of tricks spilled in a stupor. 'Where We Are' is somewhere on a highway that's no longer lonely when we sing along in karaoke. And on the track 'Birthday' for your special day, The Lumineers give us the best birth song since the 'Birthday Girl' dedication by The Roots and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, or an ode from Murakami's short 'Birthday Stories' for your prose. "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright/It's your birthday, dear (Alright)/It's alright, it's okay, and wе will carry on/And you know, and you know, and you know/It's your birthday (Ooh-oh)/Every word, every word/And we will sing it along." You've just found your new anniversary anthem for another trip around the sun like the wonder of Stevie singing for Martin Luther. 

Mr. 'Big Shot' this all comes together in luminous beauty for a band and their second single who has scored many a soundtrack with their goal to be the harmonies in everyone's heads and the lyrics on all our lips. But it's the breakup ballad of 'Never Really Mine' that really stays with you like the one that got away. "Love was not designed for child/You were never really mine/Love was not designеd for child/You were nevеr really mine", Schultz yearns like "you're a woman on the run, I'm the silence on the staircase." "All alone at the traffic stop light", begging "don't you fade, don't you fade away" until those very words do that very thing on the tracks out. It's just part of love's 'Rollercoaster' like the Chili's once covered, animatedly like a bunch of Buttheads. Now in this post-MTV generation, it's the Lumineers legacy that engineers evocative words to the muse such as, "I wish I could sail away/And find another island/I wish we could start it over/Have another child." "Sittin' on a rollercoaster/Holdin' on for dear life." You know those YouTube videos of 'House Of Gucci' star Lady Gaga riding a rollercoaster (basically her iconic 'Star Is Born' "haaa, oooh's" over a first person video view of a ride) or Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins doing the loop-de-loop ('1979' babies, you need to search for this one)? These earworms will stay in your mind in kind. All the way to the already familiar 'Reprise' of 'Brightside' on this album shining the same in closing to a half hour of eight wonders. After the Springsteen storytelling of 'Remington' that could find itself somewhere in Atlantic City. "I awoke from the sleep of a hundred days/To the fire station bells/And the smell of the smoke brought me back in time/When my father killed the cold", Wesley says in woe. This low cuts like the cold steel of a sharp razor this winter. But still in reflection on the shimmer, they still bring the light. Even in these times, the new album from The Lumineers reminds us in all caps to always look on the 'Brightside' of life. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Brightside', 'Birthday', 'A.M. Radio'. 

BOOK REVIEW: WILL SMITH - WILL

 

4/5

When There's A Will.

West Philadelphia, born and raised. Will Smith doesn't have to start his autobiography this way to sell books. But I do, so f...wait a minute. I'm not Eminem. Want to know why the man who won the first rap Grammy (alongside DJ Jazzy Jeff) doesn't cuss in his raps (apart from one powerful moment with Mary J. Blige demanding 'Tell Me Why', albeit with a bleeped censor)? Want to talk about "the only reason your a## went to Miami", becoming a 'Bad Boy' and the King of the fourth of July like 'Independence Day', as this new 'Man In Black' cashed in on movies and music, sometimes at the same "here come the" damn time? Want to go for a battle of Will's when most tricks are unarmed? Or even learn why he throws up after orgasm (WHAT?!). Then pick up the Agent Smith who turned down 'The Matrix' and still became the one's memoirs for recent showbiz memory. And 'Will' yourself to read all about one of the most epic lives in all of entertainment across genres and platforms. Or listen to the audiobook accompaniment, narrated and rapped by the man himself in all its "whoo's", "haha's" and scoring sound effects. Closing with a real new rap for the record. From a Bel-Air mansion to a YouTube star in every home and all the Fresh Prince's and Big Willie's in between that had hilarious consequences for the British press and fan base. Nothing says cocky like "big d### weekend." But for all the hallmark hubris that never segues into arrogance despite his charismatic charm, Will is missing one of those from his head. 'Bad Boys', 'Independence Day', 'Men In Black', 'Enemy Of The State', ('Wild Wild West' (open bracket, we actually love it, like 'Bagger Vance'), 'Ali', the 'MIB' and 'Bad Boys' sequel (whatcha gonna do?), 'I, Robot', 'Shark Tale', 'Hitch', 'The Pursuit Of Happyness', 'I Am Legend', 'Hancock'. He may start off some chapters by listing off his decade plus reign as a Hollywood king (and that's before the music) and how much all those movies made grossly like we don't have IMDB, or he doesn't know how to read the room of who's reading his book. But believe me he's as self aware as the road leading to some of his longest highways to hell have been paved with good intentions. The central theme of 'Will' is that nothing is more important than love and family and getting and more importantly keeping both of those that are one in the same, dear reader has nothing to do with how much you make in terms of money or grand gestures (see a certain birthday gift). Even if you have the will like Smith, there needs to be a better way. 

The man that saved the world almost as many times as he saved the box office will show you the way, but you have to open that door, or in this case, turn that page. Giving you the 'Green Lights' like Matthew McConaughey's 2020 autobiography. This is akin to his good friend Tyrese Gibson's 'How To Get Out Of Your Own Way' self help or Keith B. Real of 'Big Willie Style' himself, 'Ali' cornerman Jamie Foxx also releasing a memoir of what really matters last fall with 'Act Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me'. If you think you've had your fill of cinder block books, it's time to lay another brick. Save stories with the 'Ali' crew in Africa, the line learning between him and the late, great James Avery during that iconic "how come he don't want me, man" 'Fresh Prince' scene that has been meme'd and bastardised every time LeBron James fails to win a ring and the time he was so method he fell in love with Stockard Channing on the set of 'Six Degrees Of Separation'. There's not much in the way of 'Will' towards behind the scenes back-ups to those bodacious, braggadocious box-office boasts. But it's not tricking if you got it. And we are still treated to tales from the 'He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper' Jazzy Jeff days and the real reason Townes was thrown out the crib every time he rocked that gold shirt in the house. We also get inspired impressions. From grandma Gigi, to Daddio (check out his emotional tribute and life lesson that has now become a TikTok of all things for this generation on a book tour with 'When They See Us' director Ava DuVernay) and Charlie Mack ('First Out The Limo'), that we may not know personally, but feel like we do now. Not to mention the Smith family legacy the legend made like 'Dallas' years later. Talking about striving, struggling and soaring again after his first marriage with the love of his life Jada. Giving it up for her rocking heavy metal band Wicked Wisdom and the sage story behind it's skeleton key conception. All whilst getting candid about why he couldn't say a word to the late, great GOAT of rapping, the poet Tupac Shakur. 

Parents just don't understand. But the 'Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble' rapper is trying his damndest. From the privacy of Trey Smith shunning the spotlight, to Jaden wanting emancipation after 'After Earth'. It's all part of the purist of a real happiness, no typo as this family goes and gets it...period. One of the most inspired stories being the time that Willow wanted to stop whipping her hair. No matter what Daddy or Jay-Z had to say. And just wait until you find out how this kid who now grown up gave us one of hers and last years best in 'Lately I Feel Everything' with Willow Wisdom. Lately the biggest movie star has turned into a smartphone one across all platforms. Missing out on making a killing with 'The Suicide Squad' Summer sequel smash, but instead hitting new balls towards the Academy like Wimbledon, or the US Open. Advantage, the one that used to get jiggy with it. He's also presented Netflix ('Amend: The Fight For America') and Disney + (whoever came up with the title for National Geographic's 'Welcome To Earth' deserves a raise) shows concerning life's history and nature. But through it all. Declaring bankruptcy and almost losing his family. The threat of divorce and death. Losing loved one's and blending his family, Will has always remained Will. And 'Will' will show you why. Including the closing chapters that detail his physical and metaphysical recovery to both his love and life. This is why this book can end on a literal high. Standing on the side of a helicopter about to bungee jump into the Grand Canyon, carved from water that he was once afraid of (I also can't swim, although now I need Smith's will as he can), because someone on the Internet told him too (give me a part in the next 'Bad Boy' or 'Men In Black'...hey, you can't blame a guy for trying). The same heli jump that gave us the grace of that iconic image that had Smith looking like his dearly departed Uncle Phil. Because after a life like this, you can let go and live a little. Wise in its words, chapter and verse. Vulnerable and quotable (but you need to share that for yourself) this book is the perfect guide and tell all on a life truly lived. Just like his mother who in retirement travelled the globe with James Avery's mother. One day diabetes set in and she was stuck in hospital. A couple of weeks recovery would do the trick but Caroline Bright didn't want to stop. She told them to take her leg. She was back up in no time and then a few days later an earthquake levelled the hospital she was in as so many lost their lives. "All I lost was a leg", she said. On the set of Netflix's 'Bright', finding a light in downtown Los Angeles at night for a FaceTime, director David Ayer told Will he had to call his dying Daddio...right now. The two just looked at each other on the video call for about 20 minutes in stunning silence. Nothing more needed to be said. Love was all they needed. Let that be the last word. But in epilogue, this Golden Globe winner for 'Best Actor' may just serve up doubles at the Oscar's for his biopic on the father of Venus and Serena Williams, 'King Richard' (he came close with 'Concussion'). But before we read that envelope, it's signed, sealed and delivered that when it came to his crowning year in the last one of his greatest hits, Smith also has the best book of the calendar. When there's a 'Will', there's a great read. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

REVIEW: THE WEEKND - DAWN FM

4/5

Ladies and Gentlemen.

The Weeknd is the King of Halloween. Jack Nicholson's Joker. Eddie Murphy's Nutty Professor. Marlon Brando's Don Corleone. Dressing up like this GQ cover star stylishly always does, Abel is The Godfather of the cinematic costume department. And now fresh off the holidays and into the lull of New Year he picks us up out of our raw reverie like he did with those red light suited 'Blinding Lights', 'After Hours'. Right when we went into quarantine in the dawn of 2020 following the coronavirus planet pandemic, locking us all down like Tesfaye in the studio. All the way to the Surperbowl halftime shows of Surperbowl halftime shows, save Prince bringing out the doves and purple rain. But it album artwork appears like these years haven't been too kind to him (they haven't to any of us). Alas don't worry, that's just the incredible anti Oil of Olay ageing make-up of the iconic cover of his new classic album out of nowhere, 'Dawn FM'. Tune in and let comedy movie star legend and good friend, 'Ace Ventura' himself Jim Carrey be your presenter and guide through these airwaves as Abel carries on like he is always able to. Even when we can't. He's there for us. To nurse our heartbreak over the 808's akin to Kanye releasing definitive albums like 'Donda' when he wants. Word to his fellow countryman and the one who put him on, 'Certified Lover Boy' Drake. Which Toronto star is bigger? We couldn't tell you right now, but read all about the man with the voice and the sound so thrilling he can change the game like when a man called Michael walked on the moon. He even has 'A Tale From Quincy' (who has many about love and life in 'Will' Smith's memoirs) for this thriller album of movie making music. Now how's that for some giant steps? Add a Carter and Tyler creation, some Swedish House Mafia and Calvin Harris stepping in for the broke up Daft Punk and a soundbite from Josh Safdie of those 'Good Time' filmmaking siblings and the man who stole Adam Sandler's on-screen girl, playing a parody of himself and boasts about doing it in real life to someone else on wax really gives us another uncut gem that even 'Da Kid' Kevin Garnett would be proud of. Anything is possible. 

Podium placed in pole position of the game. After giving us the biggest album of the worst year (not so for studio time music) in 2020. The Weeknd avoids Adele unlike Rich Paul to start the year off right out the gates with a contender for this one waving from the other side. The 'Take My Breath' like Berlin single was debuted at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last summer in Japan with NBC like it was their new theme and hitting gold it still sounds like a personal best, world record breaker. A pop pulp classic through the halls of a 'Blade Runner 2049' set like video, all the way to the 80's artwork. "I saw the fire in your eyes/I saw the fire when I looked into your eyes/You tell me things you wanna try/I know temptation is the devil in disguise/You risk it all to feel alive, oh yeah/You're offering yourself to me like you sacrifice/You said you did this all the time/Tell me you love me if I bring you to the light", the 'Can't Feel My Face' singer harmonises just when we thought the decapitated head dancing around his own music videos couldn't take ours off anymore with Abel's lyrical cain. But it's a new day, let alone a New Year and he's here with a new psychedelic sound of existentialism for us to hear. One that pricking your ears up, sets fire on the outstanding opening of 'Gasoline', as explosive as an Outkast dream from 'Stankonia'. Stank him later. Smelly much. 'How Do I Make You Love Me' he asks in song on a beautiful ballad of the new age like Tank covering Bonnie Raitt, adding, "And all the things you tolerated/Made you cold inside/But I can light you up again/Like embers of a fire." The fires stay lit on this suprise calendar turn album like a 'Magic' Nas Christmas on the Swedish House 'Sacrifice' of Mafia that for The Weeknd will be as big of a gesture as this song of the same name was for Elton John. Another pure vocal powerhouse of vivid songwriting. The second stellar single of this famous fifth album is disco-funk all the way to the spotlights, as the ball falls like Dick Clark. Rockin 'Out Of Time' to 'Here We Go...Again' with Tyler, the Creator whose 'Call Me If You Get Lost' was arguably the most acclaimed rap album of last year, even with Yeezy and Drizzy going at it before they made friends, made friends, never ever break friends. As the backpack raps, "Although this love is strong to me/Some things can change, go wrong with me/We don't know how it's gonna be/Forever is too long to me/We don't need the government involved because we like to touch/We don't need no damn religion telling us that we in love." Although we know what the real focus will be. The lyrics seemingly dissing ex Bella Hadid's new beau and at the same time hinting at a relationship with the 'Eternals' Angelina Jolie, talking about that actors leading lady. "Your girlfriend's tryna pair you with somebody more famous/But instead you ended up with someone so basic, faceless/Someone to take your pictures and frame it/And my new girl, she a movie star/My new girl, she a movie star/I loved her right, make her scream like Neve Campbell." Hell of a cutting reference from Wes Craven's classic slasher flick. Oh, and, sorry Brad!

Once upon a time in The Weeknd's Hollywood he wants you to imagine that the listener is dead. Does that make Carrey's disc jockey God like 'Bruce Almighty'? But this state of purgatory is one we want to remain in...as it's pure musical bliss from kiss land. In the leather jacket Matrix of the revolutionary Weeknd's resurrection, reloaded like another Saturday night at the movies, who cares what picture you see?! He is the one. This new wave of the motherf#####g 'Starboy's' synth-pop continues with 'Best Friends' on the big beat that "would never burn you/could never hurt you". No matter how bright the light shining over everything he's shouldering on this album cover is. It's an existential matter of life and death in this existence as he asks 'Is There Someone Else' like modern loves fateful question. All before going Ziggy for the Stardust like Bowie all with 'Starry Eyes', meeting love in his dreams and singing, "And now you’re my reality/And I wanna feel you close/But you’re defeated baby/Broken hurtin’ sufferin’/From a shattered soul" lyrics tastier than a licorice pizza for this life on Mars, word to Haim, Baby. 'Every Angel Is Terrifying', from whatever angle. And as this one spreads his wings like people posing for city graffiti on brick walls for their IG's, no one has come this close to the sexual and spiritual since The Artist formerly known. So symbolic and f#####g fantastic. Coming away with 'Don't Break My Heart' odes that vow to end it all for a make or break love that, "I see you drowning in the purple lights/Diamonds shinin' bright/I see every ice on you/You snatch my soul, I'm crucified/I feel paralyzed/I'm so mesmerized by you." It would be a lot to take for a first date, Bumble beware. But The Weeknd lives for the realest love like we do the two days of his name, 9-5. 'I Heard You Were Married' with Weezy F. Baby Lil'Wayne brining that "condo in Toronto" T-Pain slow flow back (I 'Can't Believe It'). Making the affair official with exclusive lines like, "Make me your obvious/If I ain't your husband, I can't be your hybrid/I heard you're married/I bet he treats you like Virgin Mary/You like it dirty and I'm Dirty Harry." DAMN! All before the closing dance number of 'Less Than Zero' takes the floor to 100, or a Spinal Tap 11 like the roof was on fire with all the disco ball blinding neon lights. The perfect swan song as Carrey's psychedelic radio host takes you to the other side of the tunnel of love like Springsteen's 'Brilliant Disguise' in a bolo-tie with this 'Phantom Regret' down this phantom thread for the phantom of the opera who is not dead. He was just stuck in traffic. Its just a transition on this transistor. Because in the headphones on, melancholia of a midnight hour escapism from depression, the night is always darkest before the dawn. But if people still sleep on the awakening talent of The Weeknd that is still with you after Saturday night, come Sunday morning...F.M. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Gasoline', 'Here We Go...Again (Feat. Tyler, the Creator)', 'Take My Breath'. 

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: THE BEATLES - GET BACK

4/5

Lord Of The Ringo's.

468 Mins. 3 Episodes: Starring: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston & Yoko Ono. Director: Peter Jackson. 

An anvil ominously sits in the middle of the studio, next to Billy Preston's piano. It's literally there to help record the clangs and bangs of 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer'. It could however figuratively represent the heaviest weight of expectations John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had to carry on this long and winding road. Holed up in a Savile Row studio, tailor made for the Apple core of the fab four like a Kingsman (how about that new movie, your majesty?), The Beatles are on the brink of break-up. They haven't played together in two years. And they're recording 14 new tracks for a new album that they're set to perform on the not so structurally sound rooftop of this very building on just another Great British lunchtime with bobbies working the beat and bringing their truncheons and whistles to this racket. Can't they just 'Let It Be'? Because in the recording of this album, this documentary curated by 'The Hobbit' and 'Lord Of The Rings' legendary New Zealand director moves along please with ease. As the man who took us to war in color for his groundbreaking documentary 'They Shall Not Grow Old' takes us back with John, Paul, George and Ringo for 'Get Back'. Something that in a whopping 468 minutes over three parts and millions of new Disney + subscribers ('Hawkeye's' bow can take some credit for that this Christmas too for the most overlooked Avenger and his new Bishop in a marvellous chess move of kingpins) is an eight hour film we could watch eight days a week, doc. Just like the happy days of another legendary director Ron Howard's documentary on wax out the jukebox. As for the story so far, a montage is all you need like love in introduction. All for four bowl cuts from a train ride outside my hometown who took over America via Ed Sullivan and claimed they were bigger than Jesus. Christ! 

'It Was Fifty Years Ago Today'. Or something like that as Jackson's action joins the big-three documentaries about the former St. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band. Above it only the sky of the John and Yoko one ("from Liverpool to Tokyo. What a way to go" in this 'Double Fantasy'). Just like The Beatles own films of 'Yellow Submarine' 'Help!' over 'A Hard Days Night'. Dig this pony. It's a purists pleasure. Even though may think it's too long a ride and want to get off. The public below love it like the bands legendary Savile Row set in concert. The last time the four former Quarrymen performed in public together ever...ever, ever. Should have cherished it, coppers. I remember 'Yesterday'...well, yesterday I spent New Years Day cleaning my apartment to welcome in the New Year like the Japanese do (I see you, Yoko) and watching all parts of this documentary in its eight hour wonder entirety for those who want to give me s### for how late this review is to the party (you should see my 'Squid Game' one...it's not even done). But determined to finish like Ringo all those thank you fan letters in 'The Simpsons' or this very album before his own movie ('The Magic Christian'), sharing a soundstage in Twickenham here it is at long last. 'Yesterday' (it's been long enough, we can give the game away. It's not like we're spoiling Spider-Man. Seven days until we get it in Japan people. Seven days) starring the great Himesh Patel (who you can see right now if you 'Don't Look Up' in the new Netflix Adam McKay, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep for President amongst others movie) gave us something beautiful. A moving performance by the legendary Robert Carlyle of 'The Full Monty' fame. Leaving more than his hat on in a powerfully poignant part that showed us if The Beatles didn't exist in yet another clever, classic concept from iconic British director Danny Boyle, than John Lennon would still be with us. Not murdered so maddeningly outside the Dakota building in New York City. We'll that was it. I was gone. I couldn't contain my tears. And here, it's like him and George are still here like Prince throwing up his guitar to the heavens in tribute after he made his guitar more than gently weep and it not coming down...because you know who caught it. Like a fly on the wall here, you feel a part of these studio sessions like a subtle cigarette resting on an ashtray. The smell of smoke and sweat hanging in the air like the legendary makings of another timeless masterpiece of an album on film. Forget an anvil. 

Pissing around in the studio for even more hours a day than binging this documentary takes, some may find taking this in is f#####g frustrating, especially those who would kill for the studio time. But who are we to judge their creative process? Especially as cutting loose, now it is a joy to behold for all that was lost afterwords. From the band themselves to the individual members. Dear John, by George. It's them at their vulnerable, personal best. From breaking up at this things so hard to do, to coming together like their classic track "over me" (steady). All long hair, don't care and cider beard this is Paul at his most beautiful intimate. Surrounded by family. Trying to keep his music one in harmony. You'll have a new respect for him and his raw vocal range like 'McCartney III' last year this wonderful Christmas time. Or Lennon as a pure peacemaker and Yoko, standing (or sitting) quietly by her man, before rocking out with John and Paul. Take note. We've known for years that this Yoko Ono hate is unwarranted, unjustified, outdated and let's be honest, more than a little racist. This documentary proves it was a product of the press and people's minds who were behind the times. Just know that all Yoko did for Lennon and McCartney and the rest of the band was expand their minds like whatever got them on that 'Yellow Submarine' (we can leave it up to your imagination) and we loved taking that musical trip. The real problems lied internally. And you can see that in the tension with the undisputed soul of the band George Harrison and the songwriting he brought to the band that was truly 'Something' (it's no coincidence that all The Beatles songs covered by R&B artists making them even more funky and soulful, were written by George). Hearing John at one breaking point say, "we'll just get Clapton" is heartbreaking on so many levels. But it'll all be right on the night...or middle of the afternoon. Especially as this movie is justice for Ringo and an appreciation for the drumming Starr's talent. As Lennon with a needed cigarette reluctantly gets behind the skins for 'Octopus's Garden' it's clear Richard Starkey isn't just one of the greatest drummers in the world, but the best in The Beatles. More than a Thomas the Tank Engine train announcer. And how about the fifth Beatle? No, not Stuart Sutcliffe, or George Martin (yes, to Brian Epstein, here and mourned in spirit), but a scene stealing Texan, Billy Preston behind the electric piano keys. Camaraderie and professionalism personified. Getting back to what made them rock and roll music cover stars, before a rolling stone. And make Jackson the six Beatle as he finds new ways to curate 50 hours of footage and cut through 130 hours of audio to cut through to the core of something that at almost half a day of run time still feels clear and concise. This is their last dance. And if we can watch ten hours of basketball's Beatles in the Chicago Bulls on Netflix (Jordan and Pippen the Lennon and McCartney and erm Dennis Rodman as George?!), then we can certainly cross the road a few more times with this fab four dynasty. From biplanes circling the Empire State Building in Lower Manhattan, to one ring to rule them all, walking into Mordor like one simply does not do, the 'King Kong', 'LOTR' director Peter Jackson is known to direct giant epics of goliath proportions. But on the rooftops of a big Apple building with the biggest band in the world, he's never hit heights like this...until now. When it comes to 'Get Back', it's time to get on it. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'The Beatles-Eight Days A Week', 'Yesterday', 'They Shall Not Grow Old'.