DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: AMERICAN SYMPHONY

 

4/5

Great Orchestration. 

103 Mins. Starring: Jon Batiste & Suleika Jaouad. Director: Matthew Heineman. On: Netflix.

We are, as individuals and collectively as people, a collection of both our best and worst moments. American artist and spirited musician Jon Batiste, whose name evokes both John the Baptist and the art of New York's very own Basquiat, had one of the greatest moments of his career on stage at the Late Night Stephen Colbert show, all whilst going through truly tragic times back home. Garnering more Grammy nominations than any other American artist or otherwise that year, as he and his wife were fighting for her life with her ongoing battle with cancer. The wonderful writer Suleika Jaouad turned her leukaemia diagnosis into a New York Times bestselling book, but both successes for this power couple couldn't compare to just their absolute and resolute will and endurance in the face of it all to just get through this together. 

A new Netflix documentary 'American Symphony', which you can stream next to this year's best, takes us behind the scenes of what that really means, for the 'World Music', 'Soul' singer and the love of his life that is more than his muse, but an accomplished artist in her own right (notice the name and the billing of this film, it's not just Jon). You think you've seen your fair share of inspiring TED talks? Then wait until you witness her stirring speech in the fight of her life. Beginning with the aftermath of fireworks, car horns punctuate a New York New Year's night. But all that outside white noise doesn't mean much to the couple sitting on their sofa, together through life like Dylan in their apartment uptown. All they have and all they need is curled up in each other's hands. The perfect way to ring in the new calendar after a resolute twelve months of sweet success and bitter struggles. Right by each other's side.

Taylor Swift's concert film may be taking over cinemas this year like she has done all the world's stages, but this is also the Batiste era. Jon's version. And yes, of course anyone trying to promote, not provoke, or preach, positivity is going to be met with outlandish opposition on the too critical and negative front. But he and Suleika have faced far worse. Critics called for his classic nomination to be revoked because he was a pop artist. That sounds like something else, doesn't it? Like when golf tried to oust Tiger. Well, just like that, Jon replied in not so subtle, but beautiful kind without needing to clap back. Although you can see and feel his frustration, palpable, like for so many other Americans who and just trying to make their own way and money in the so-called opportune land of the free. Even though they don't see their faces on the same money that was made off of their backbreaking work.

Batiste doesn't brood, but instead brews up some of the best music you've ever heard in this mainstream of malaise, hitting the spot like a fresh cup of coffee, or the feeling of a new romance. Singing and dancing in the streets with kids instruments to the stages of Hollywood with the like of Gagas and Biebers looking on in admiration. Because after all it's like NBA legend Kevin Garnett said to begin KG's game-changing 'A to Z' autobiography encyclopedia, "he who angers you, owns you." If Jon Batiste fell into the same negativity critics try to drown him in, he'd sink. But instead he positively and powerfully rises above all the tides, to emerge as epic and great as you've never seen him before. The first person to congratulate him after his Grammy performance collecting the gold like Adele, or when Norah Jones told you to come away with her, Billie Eilish...who he just beat for record of the year. 

Intimate and inspired, this Netflix 'Symphony' on an unfinished career and life is major. Directed delicately and brilliantly by Matthew Heineman, there are some mesmerizing moments between all the hard work it has taken for Batiste to perfect his craft, and the even tougher struggle that is gone into Jaouad's health battles. One moment of them on a snow sled for Jon's first time is absolutely lovely and will remind that even though this time of the year is the coldest, you couldn't feel any warmer than with the one who beats closest to your heart. Remixing Beethoven and reaching for Higher Ground like Stevie, this is the second co-Netflix production from the Obama's on black power in as much as a month, after their revelatory 'Rustin', starring surely the Best Actor Oscar winner come next February, Colman Domingo. 

This marching band leader has a dream too. Culminating in a classic concert in the legendary, as he's about to be, Carnegie Hall. One of the most terrific and telling moments in this doc however, is when we see Jon getting his shoes shined at an airport with the kindly business owner. Intrigued by the camera, he doesn't know quite what he's seeing yet, the morning after the Grammys. Then, terminal to terminal, many a passer-by begins to recognize Batiste, even masked up during the pandemic, and rushing to make a connection. Following that, the man looks at the front page of the day's paper. The shy joy when he reveals to Jon who it is simply beautiful like an Al Green song. As is their brief but warmth filled communication. Right on. Batiste is best. This is America's greatest modern symphony. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Beyoncé: Homecoming', 'Gaga: Five Foot Two', 'Soul'.

REVIEW: BUSTA RHYMES - BLOCKBUSTA

3.5/5

Check The Rhyme. 

Blockbuster was the king of home movie rental, like Busta Rhymes was the throne taker of rap music videos. So much hype like Williams back in the 90s of the MTV generation. This is a man who once asked in hilarious dubbed overtones, "you want to ram with me", before having a headbutting competition with an actual ram and throwing the towel on him. Steamrolling through with Dr. Dre as he broke your neck. Back when rap was rap and music videos were exactly that too. Giving us some more with his looney tunes and breaking budgets back then with Janet Jackson and Terminator 2 quicksilver, telling us, 'What's It Gonna Be'. Those two classics came off of his legendary album 'Extinction Level Event'. Busta's 'ELE2' sequel album 'The Wrath Of God' bought him back to rap's elite with Rhymes galore during the pandemic of 2020, when it really did feel like the end of the world for the rapper who always prophesied that in-between his party and bulls###. From passing the Courvoisier, to touching it, Trevor Smith has never fallen off. But the most recent run of the former dreadlocked beast who started his days on quests with Tribe (bringing it all back for their own big reunion) has been worthy of tearing up and tearing the roof off of his lifetime achievement award (BET). What better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, in its celebratory curtain calling months, than with the man that brought an amazing, animated energy like no other?

Blowing up again like an atomic bomb, Busta is back with another 'Blockbusta' like his 'New Jack City' mixt...excuse me, album with Clinton Sparks or those music videos that were as important an integral to his career catalogue like the perfect portrait album covers of Nas. Jay-Z. Prince. Springsteen. Haim. In this writer's life, I've had many dubbed "best artists" who remain at the untouchable forefront of my fondest favourites. Back in college, Busta Rhymes was that guy...and still is. First concert, he always knew how to rock it. My best friend sent me a video of his latest show in London. No words needed. We already know what it is. He's the best in the business when it comes to the stage with the G.O.A.T. of hype men, Spliff Starr, still front and centre in all the music videos as we miss the rest of the Flipmode Squad, from Rampage to the first lady, Rah Digga. Now as the smoke clears on the bolt of those big, bold blockbuster yellow and red, heavy metal letters, you have to respect the Conglomerate of the new label...in an English accent. 

This eleventh studio album remains raw, dialling it up with real raps. This Epic record on the heel of Andre 3000's flutes is forged by the executive producer big-three of Pharrell Williams, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, so you know the production is going to be prolific. BabeTruth, Focus and Cool & Dre also crash the boards like Barkley on an album that features classic collaborations with Quavo ('Remind Em'), Bia ('Beach Ball'), Young Thug ('OK'), Blxst and Young Bleu ('Could It Be You'), Coi Leray ('Luxury Life'), DeBaby and T-Pain ('Big Everything'), BurnaBoy ('Roboshotta'), Blackway ('The Return Of Mansa Musa'), Jnr Choi ('Stand Up'), Chris Brown and Shenseea ('Open Wide'), Giggs ('The Hive' for a rapper who once shouted out all his people in Preston), Kodak Black ('Homage'), Morray ('Legend'), Cie, Trillian and Rai ('Legacy'), and who else to close it, but Big Tigger? 

'If You Don't Know, Now You Know' like Biggie notoriously said. But if you have two black eyes, I guess you do have to be told twice. Part 2 in outro with the legendary radio host Tigger takes us back again in retrospect for this rap legend's life. In the creative collaborative form of an interview rap in line with how this Big DJ ended Ginuwine's graduation in 2003 as 'The Senior'. It's a hallmark highlight in this powerhouse of a big-name and produced album like the Voltron big-three singles of the bouncing 'Beach Ball' Summer smash, the Jay-Z 'Ain't No...' sampling 'Luxury Life' with Coi Leray playing Foxy Brown, and the latest, greatest, 'OK'. Not to mention the big DaBaby number bringing T-Pain back to the charts his autotune trademark dialled up, all before he proved to Shawn Carter and every other naysayer that he really could sing on his last soulful set. 

However, in 'The Statement' of this album, it seems like the 'Murda' with the great Bilal will remain on a milk carton, under further investigation on the cutting-room floor. Just another one for the crate digging as the soil spills like that still scary Dr. Dre bucket and spade coffin produced, 'Legends Of The Fall' from 'The Big Bang'. These 'Tings' are big and before Rhymes lets it 'Slide' like a smooth Missy Elliott for you gossip folks, he tells us to 'Hold Up' like one of his many legendary catchphrases. "N####, hold up/Every time my money fold up (Ayy)/When I show up/Every single block, I sew up (Oh)/Like a needle to the thread or a seamstress, so I tell her every time I go up (Boom)/Just in case you n####s thought it couldn't happen any more, b####, I'm forever gonna blow up." Here's your theory, like catching lightning in a bottle, you can have a big bang twice. Explosive like the good doctor that prescribed him, Busta is going nuclear. The block is hot. Bus it! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Luxury Life (Feat. Coi Leray)', 'Big Everything (Feat. DaBaby & T-Pain)', 'Hold Up'.

REVIEW: 2 CHAINZ & LIL' WAYNE - WELCOME 2 COLLEGROVE

4/5

TuneChainz. 

You can see it with his eyes closed. Peep the perfect portrait of Lil' Wayne on the amazing album artwork for his new album 'Welcome 2 Collegrove' with your rapper's favourite megastar rapper, 2 Chainz (a sequel to Chainz' third-studio album 'ColleGrove'), and you may wonder why you just see Wayne when this is a collaborative affair. And that's exactly the point. Inked like a deal set to dry, look at all the art on Weezy F. Baby's (please say the baby) profile. The only thing Lil Tunechi has more than tats is records. From all the Carter's we've got with 'No Ceilings'. Not to mention all the rock albums and mixtapes in-between that prove the most prolific man in rap is not a human being. Yet, despite this outstanding output, label pains prevented him from releasing collaborative albums like his Young Money brethren Drake (who also surprise released his third 'Scary Hours' EP on the same New Music Friday to complete his October output 'For All The Dogs'). Now you know why you could never feel your face with Juelz Santana. Or get those long awaited albums with R&B royalty Lloyd ('Best Of Young Worlds') and T-Pain ('He Rap, He Sing'). I can't believe it. 

Peep the amazing artwork from the 2016 'ColleGrove' album from Chainz and you get the picture. It's the same song. And despite the Cash Money issues (please, don't say the Baby), Tha Carter put bars down on every song on the album, bar four. Now, what happened to that boy is a thing of the past. As the sequel to their unofficial collaborative album on wax is here almost a decade later for your Def Jam. Justice is served, and for just us as rap fans, it's done so with the coldest lines, laced like revenge. This definitive Def Jam Recordings album really is a duet as Chainz and Wayne bring an A-list of urban music guest features to the fore, featuring 21 Savage ('Big Diamonds', bigger than Drake's rings), Usher ('Transparency'), Fabolous ('PPA'), Benny the Butcher ('Oprah and Gayle' (you get an album, you get an album), Vory (the monstrous 'Godzilla'), Rick Ross ('Can't Believe You') and Marsha Ambrosius (the shining 'Moonlight' closing). 

Ambition can't match the ceiling of a rap GOAT who started his career as a child actor in this game like a young Usher Raymond, scheming and looking hard, and raps Most Improved Player, the artist formerly known as Tity Boi, who Disturbed Tha Peace with Ludacris who also has his own new release this week (albeit a Disney Christmas movie 'Dashing Through The Snow', hey, it's worth an unwrap). You better tighten the zips on those duffel bags, boyz, because in this player's circle these two are winning like the sheen on their caddy, stunting like daddy. VROOM! After 17 years, OutKast, Andre 3000 may have finally released a new album, 'New Blue Sun', featuring nothing but flutes (and it's f#####g fantastic), but these two are still the pied piper's of rap, now the former self-proclaimed one should have never been allowed to lead people in the first place.

If that wasn't enough star power for your unit (cue, the Wong 'Avengers: Endgame' meme), more comes in the form of the legendary 50 Cent who narrates the interludes to this story from the intro to the outro, bringing that 'Power' acting back for the forthcoming star of 'The Expendables 4'. This portmanteau to 2 Chainz' College Park, Georgia hometown, and Lil' Wayne's birthplace of New Orleans, Louisiana was preluded by the pre-release of 'Presha' produced by long-time Wayne affiliate Bangladesh. The pressure, so much so that Nicki Minaj pushed back the release of her 'Pink Friday 2' sequel to another New Music Friday in December. The reality is, it's actually, so everyone can eat with the pre-orders this Thanksgiving and Christmas season. We know Roman is just reloading. 'Long Story Short' like the stunning second single, this dynamic duo are no longer 'ColleGrove' dropouts. 

Poking fun and playing games like bringing back the original point-making artwork that D'Angelo would be proud of, and even pointing to it in the album's title, "welcome" "2". They need no more introduction, balling and popping bottles like a 'G6'. As famous as a Far East Movement. After all, 'Don't Dope Sell Itself?' This fix before 'Tha VI' is bound to make 'Millions From Now' with platinum lyrics like, "Been in the kitchen, you know I ain't payin'/You can ask chef, let me know how I pan out/Garage full of food, and I'm gon' pull the Lamb' out/Mm, yeah, you know what I'm sayin'?/The handshake I gave you was my last handout/Mm, yeah, you know what I'm sayin'? (Chainz)". And, "A million dollars from now/I won't remember you, I done forgot/I won't forget how I got what I got/Cry me a river 'cause I'm on a yacht/Stack night after night, after commas it's dots/Remind me, forgot that it's slime over thots/Don't make me pop, cast a nine on the opps/It's Tunechi and Tity Boi, minus the bra (Wayne)."

Genius loves company, like Ray Charles, and these two are taking everyone who got in their way to school. It's 'Crazy Thick' like a 'Significant Other'. 'Shame' on a you know what with a Wu-Tang sample for this clan's chambers. Moving like 36 with a savage 21 tracks that do something for you. Putting up numbers like it was your 21st year in the game, no shame. Just under an hour in runtime, but prolific in its production like the hours Drizzy is putting in, there's even more 'Bars' here than when Lil' Wayne was just a "guest feature" on the true welcome to 'ColleGrove'. Mobbing deep over Havoc beats (rest peacefully Prodigy) with 2 rapping, "Touchin' the sky, I could skateboard in the cloud/Put 'em on some much loud that they won't make sound/This that body walk nonchalant, don't make sense/Like a n#### with dreads tryna own his own barber shop/Heart not hard to stop, take a new whip then karate chop/Turn the f#####' top to a halter top/Concrete jungle, I'll f### Jane though/Industry, a bunch of n####s swing on the same rope/Sit in the same room, f### on the same h#/We on different planes if we is in the same boat/Captivate 'em and creative/Potato head, turn 'em into mashed potatoes." 

To Lil's big planet lines, world reaching with "Uh, b###### flow, I had to though, I'm natural and practical/Infatuated with the dope, fanatical, banana clip, you're apple though/I got more tools than Apple Store/You're screwed up and now them goons is at your door with ransom notes/And we gon' need some answers though, answer more/Your modern family can suddenly become a canceled show, that's standard though/I have your cousin be the one to cut your throat, my standards low/I'm from New Orleans, you either be man or h## and now they know/You mash and go and cash it slow, whatever go and that you know/Got more techs than Apple Store, I have more sex than Scorpios/And I don't text or call them h##s, restaurant 'em all them h##s/I slept with foreign h##s that only heard Tha Carter IV." Now, whose snatching the crown? Those who, "Send blood hounds at you, send my rounds at you" with Ludacrs lines, dashing through the blow and decking your halls. Welcome back to ColleGrove for the first time. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Big Diamonds (Feat. 21 Savage)', 'Transparency (Feat. Usher)', 'Godzilla (Feat. Vory)'.

REVIEW: ANDRE 3000 - NEW BLUE SUN

4/5

We Love You, 3000.

A kind of blue. It's felt like forever (forever, ever? Forever, ever!) since the last time we heard an album from André 3000. Almost two decades to be almost exact, with 2016's 'Idelwild' soundtrack from the prince's of Atlanta, OutKast. Nah, make that the kings of the A. Big Boi has still been dropping records like a 'Royal Flush' since then, whilst 'Dré has become the best guest verse rapper of all-time. Not to mention all around top five, dead or alive. Big is ready for another 'Kast album, and so are we, boy. We still want to hear '10 The Hard Way'. We're fiending for the ATL's finest, so much that their 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below' double header had just been certified 13 times platinum this year. Lucky enough for the best-selling rap album of all-time. One day we may hear new raps from André the giant, but as three-stacks told GQ's Zach Baron in the magazine's first ever video cover story feature in an LA laundromat, he's 48. What's he supposed to rap about? Going for a colonoscopy (please)? Until then, it's time for a 'New Blue Sun', and this new dawn is beautiful as you just let it play like the end of the day. 

"Flutes?" Like Dipset's Julez Santana with 'Diplomatic Immunity' for his own 'Monster Music' once said, 'From Me To U'. That's right, André three-stacks' latest record to add to the decks features no vocals, save those he blows through wonderful wood instruments. I guess, "I'll do the fingering", like Michael Fassbender literally playing with himself in Ridley Scott's 'Alien-Covenant'. But don't think this blows, André Benjamin brings boundless beauty and artistic impression to these long-winded (but in a good way), freewheeling pieces of improvisation with his session players Carlos Niño, Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau, Diego Gaeta, V.C.R and Matthewdavid. 17 years later on November the 17th, Benjamin begins again with an epic record for Epic Records. When he's not playing a flute atop a washing machine, or outside on the sidewalk, as his clothes are being cleaned and the world turns, he's sculpting and creating art he wants to remain thousands of years later. Not to mention all his fashion variants, as ants ('Ants to You, Gods to Who?') move his overalls in a colony of consumer sought after branded apparel ('BuyPoloDisorder's Daughter Wears a 3000® Button Down Embroidered'). But this piece of work in itself is already art, and probably one of the most mesmerizing pieces and portraits from the mainstream in a long time. Like Em and Elton, if you think 'Dré is playing career Russian roulette, then just cool it. One of Stacks' boys once told another one of his records would put an end to his career. That song was 'Hey Ya'. Ya! 

'I swear, I Really Wanted to Make a 'Rap' Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time', André declares on the opening, from the jump. Yep, the album titles of this amazing ambient, new-age, spiritual jazz album are long-winded too. And we love it, like, 'The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off the Tongue with Far Better Ease Than the Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?' Yep, literally rolls off the tongue. Classic like the cover in Badu one-piece lime, this eight track, 80-plus minute affair is an experimental piece of minimalistic magic, sonic like the Sony imprint that is putting it out. 'That Night in Hawaii When I Turned into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn't Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild'. Amen to all of that. The 17-minute closing 'Dreams Once Buried Beneath the Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout into Undying Gardens' have finally come true for a flautist who on the low-end theory has appeared on more records than you think. Setting scores for the Daniels' on the Oscar winning Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan movie 'Everything Everywhere All At Once', an epic piece of artwork in itself. For 'Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy' going 'Ninety Three 'Til Infinity and Beyoncé', this album ain't s###. As a matter of fact, it is the s###, stank you very much. Like yours doesn't. It's time to readily accept this, like Common's experimental 'Electric Circus' in retrospect and Mos Def's rocking 'New Danger' should have always been. Rappers have always pushed the envelope, this practically retired one has just folded it up into a paper plane instead and let it fly. My, oh my! Here comes the sun. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks:  'I swear, I Really Wanted to Make a 'Rap' Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time',  'The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off the Tongue with Far Better Ease Than the Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?',  'That Night in Hawaii When I Turned into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn't Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild'.

REVIEW: DRAKE - SCARY HOURS 3 EP

4/5

After Dogs.

The dogs have had their day, so now it's high chow time for the surprise threequel conclusion to Drake's 'Scary Hours' extended plays. It's not even Halloween any more, yet the Durantula, Phoenix Sun's NBA superstar Kevin Durant executive produces in-part this third EP as the hours set. The only thing that was stopping this post 'For The Dogs' set was Taylor Swift. After '1989', the real version, Drizzy Drake waited for a blank space in the fall music schedule to write his name. Although coming out on the same day as his old friend Lil' Wayne's album with 2 Chainz 'Welcome To Collegrove', not to mention experimental epics from 'Rockstar' Dolly Parton and OutKast's Andre 3000's first new album in 17 years under a 'New Blue Sun' playing a flute, is no mean Feat. But as Aubrey says about the 'Red' album maker, pushing the 'Red Button', "Taylor Swift the only n---- that I ever rated/Only one could make me drop the album just a little later/ Rest of y’all, I treat you like you never made it." Shall we tell him? Make if it what you will on a play that also storms the stage and talks about his love/hate relationship with Kanye West. Can we expect another showdown on 'Donda'?

Heading to 'Virginia Beach' like Clipse and Pharrell with Frank Ocean, Drake deluxe open things like the vivid views from a beautiful balcony. "Lean in, lean in soda, Fanta, fantasizin'/That's not love you're in, it's more like compromisin'/I move mountains for you, f### that social climbin'/Lean into me, lean into me/Yeah, lean in, lean into me." Sun kissed with a roofing bliss, this is him at his best. With Teezo Touchdown taking off from the studio runway as the faders are pushed up like planes on tarmac, Toronto's very own gives us November in all its fall nuance, just after the month he calls his. Putting his hands together for 'Amen' he prays, "God, forgive me/Father, I've sinned/Sent more than your father ever sent/Spent more than your baby father did/And you my baby, so I gotta put you in the crib/Same neighborhood where Ashton Kutcher live/I'm just doin' what that punk should have did (Thank You, Lord)/She prayin' for me while I'm on the road/Prayin' for me while I hold her close/Prayin' that there's not no other girl/I'm prayin' that these girls'll never know." His collaboration like Chainz and Wayne with 21 Savage is still 'Calling For You' like King James putting up billboards in year 21, down in Hollywood. Can you do something for me with lyrics like, "I was in the club 'fore she even had it/She was twenty-one, I don't see a savage/She wanna be the one, she know I'm comin' static/She wanna hold the gun, if you want it, you can have it/Shawty still young, so she don't know the classics/I see her body, one-of-one, yeah." With his eyes on you like Hall & Oates, hold on! We ain't going home yet.

Because that's 'For The Dogs', for example. The 'Hours' Drake puts in to expand this edition go harder still. On 'Stories About My Brother' this conductor tells us like a Bradley Cooper maestro, "This is the decompress before the intermission/Done a lot of postgame talkin', but this one different/I told Lee to put him in the car, but don't pistol whip him/And definitely do not shoot his ass 'til you get permission/People got a heavy misread on my disposition/Talkin' loose, then hit me up after on some "Please, Drake listen, listen"/Energy they bringin' is inconsistent", on the most prolific year, or time to be alive, of his career. 'The Shoe Fits' and this rapaholic and genre great who has become a massive mainstream, music monster wears it like Jordan's fresh out the box. Lacing us with J. Cole about their 'Evil Ways' on another classic collaboration heater for all you sinners on a collection that like Cole's world has no more guest features unlike 50 Cent narrating Weezy and Tity Boi. 

That is, unless you count Keanu Reeves, as OVO's compares himself to the Baba Yaga John in his latest chapter of cuts with 'The Wick Man'. The fire from this man on wax won't flicker like a candle, but before he's out on this pink angelic album that rocks like a Smashing Pumpkins set, he talks about the one who 'Broke My Heart'. "My notepad caught many bodies/Screenshots solved plenty problems/Voice notes bagged plenty hotties/Can't just talk to me like anybody/Can't just talk to me like anybody/Man, you b#####s know that I'm a somebody/And lil' baby bad, she got a drum body/Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah/Bunch of feelings I just couldn't shake/Disrespect that I just shouldn't take/You just couldn't see the good in Drake/Four months not a long time, but you f####d somebody, you just couldn't wait/You broke my heart, you broke my heart." Damn! Crestfallen like that and still creating and crafting classic?! Straight scary. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Red Button', 'The Wick Man', 'Evil Ways (Feat. J. Cole)'.

REVIEW: DOLLY PARTON - ROCKSTAR

4/5

Dollyrock.

A Parton in a peartree. 'Tis the season and time of year to be putting that Dolly Parton 'Christmas On The Square' movie musical she gifted us with, during our quarantined 2020 during the planet's pandemic that sometimes feels like worlds away now, back up. But the 77-year-old country legend with her 49th set is no rerun, hey, hey, what's happening? Even with this album of classic covers. Since lockdown, she's being doing exactly that, locking it down. One of the greatest across generations, is still nine 'till five'ing it. Whether releasing some of her best work to date with albums like 'Run Rose Run', or co-authoring books with legend James Patterson (like President, Bill Clinton did) and her own country twang. Now, she's proving she's a 'Rockstar', baby, like Nickleback, as Dollywood flips the script. Spreading her wings on Butterfly records, she collaborates with everyone from The Beatles to her own god-daughter. Taking the leopard print steering wheel on this Big Machine of 30 tracks in all their gold, Dolly has never looked better. Rock with this star. Because following last year's greatest hits collection of 'Diamonds and Rhinestones', she takes it to the great American songbook that was thwacked on stage along with that smashed guitar and kicked drum.

The flaming 'World Of Fire' or tricks of the 'Magic Man' meet the 'Bygones' of previous eras. All in a melody for the Queen over Olympic achievements that say 'We Are The Champions' after she rocks you to the Mercury and May beat. 'What's Up?', even the great stage presence of Adam Lambert couldn't last this long. 'Let It Be' like another last song from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr 'Now and Then', following Macca writing 'Feeling The Sunlight' for the Japanese for apples 'Rewind Forward' EP last month. And just wait until she comes in like a 'Wrecking Ball' with Miley like their 'Rainbowland' collaboration for the 'Younger Now' country. Collaborating with the respective likes of Ann Wilson, Rob Halford, Nikki Sixx, John 5, and Linda Perry on these seven signed and sealed singles. All for the clever concept of a career left turn, in the same week Andre 3000 proves he's even more of an outcast with his outstanding woodwind instrument inspired turn on 'New Blue Sun'. His first album in 17 tears that's already hit 3 million streams with nary a punch or promotion, save a graceful GQ interview, videoed in a Los Angeles laundromat the times are chasing and turning like your laundry's load. But what spurred this fork in the long and winding road? Last year, Dolly Parton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Initially, she declined the nomination. Not because she was being a diva, but because she thought she wasn't 'Wayne's World' worthy. Being a little bit country. So she decided to right this wrong herself and rock out over an album of guitar hero riffs forged from the God's. She's all rock and roll now. Pave the hall for her most famous deceleration yet. She is THE woman in music, hear her roar over electrics, like when Dylan put on those specs.

After her original 'Rockin'' song at the induction, Dolly decided to take it back on the classics and what result is a massive monster truck of an album that breathes fire into her greatest stunt that sticks the landing. Reaching out to all the stars to make this an actual rock and roll Hall of Fame record. She collaborated with everyone from Sting for 'Every Breath You Take' (an absolute classic like Diddy's take, but someone call The Police like LCD Soundsystem over these lyrics. And you thought, 'Baby It's Cold Outside' was bad this time of year) to this generation's greatest closest to her P!nk, and the next one in Brandi Carlile. Fellow HOF inductees including Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo, Simon Le Bon and Rob Halford and guest like Sheryl Crow, ready for her turn, being at the ceremony helped. Then calls were made to the likes of Peter Frampton ('Baby, I Love Your Way') and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith ('I Want You Back') for some real magic. Chris Stapleton stepped in for Bob Seger stapling together 'Night Moves' after Seger's sessions experienced and exposed some problems with his voice. The 'Hackney Diamonds' of Mick Jagger had a scheduling conflict, not getting any satisfaction (it's never a guarantee). Whereas Parton tried but couldn't reunite Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant for a new 'Stairway To Heaven' (denied). 

You can imagine the compelling calls, "come on, sugar!" And as for the dearly departed Prince, Parton will move you to the eyes of doves with her powerful 'Purple Rain' cover. All before, she flirts with the ghost of King Presley for 'I Dreamed About Elvis' ("He was standing in the light/Looking radiant and beautiful, just like he did in life/I said, "E, it's good to see you, look so healthy and at peace"/He said "You know, I’m really happy here, how's things in Tennessee?"/Well, I told him we all missed him, that the whole world loved the King/He said "You know, if things were different, I'd ask you to wear my ring"/I said, "El, uh, can I call you El?"/"Ah, Elvis, El, or E"/I said, "Am I just dreamin’, or were you just flirtin' with me?"). Highlight after highlight like the 'Bittersweet' voice of Michael Mcdonald that you just can't forget like the one you lost. Or the notch that will never retire (and we hope so too), Elton John coming in like the strongest chord, on an album similar to when he remixed his own classics with the industry's finest, to show the sun will never go down on this record or the artist making it and all the hits her very own. Never to be taken again like 'Jolene' as a bonus. See, she already was a rock star like a White Stripe. This one just goes even harder. Greet the end of this Journey with 'Open Arms', this talent that can't stop has to be seen and heard to be believed. Covering all bases and knocking it out the park, no one could clone this Dolly. With a 'Heart of Glass' like fellow Blonde, Debbie Harry, 'What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done To You' she asks? This! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You', 'Purple Rain', 'Let It Be (Feat. Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr).

SONG FOR THE MOMENT: THE BEATLES - 'NOW AND THEN'

4/5

Come Together. 

"I know it's true/It's all because of you/And if I make it through It's all because of you." The lovely refrain from John Lennon was given to Sir Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono years ago. It was just John playing around, with a tumble dryer and the air conditioning providing backing vocals. But Paul thought they really had something. They did. And so, the first Beatles song since they 'Let It Be' was born.

After losing Lennon to a cruel and cowardly gunman outside the same 70s New York City Dakota building these words were put to cassette in, the Fab Four no more wanted to make one last jam with John for the record. So George Harrison and Ringo Starr made for Macca's studio in the countryside and went to work until the "job was done, son." These 1995 sessions with Starr's drumming and Harrison's guitar were put up a cupboard, under studio safe lock and key. It was always intended to be a bookend to their career like the new mix of 'Love Me Do' on this new single B-side. Bringing them back together 'Now and Then', from the mop tops to the grey and wrinkled vinyls of age. This 'Real Love' was set to be released as 'Free As A Bird', it just needed more time in the nest's twine, to be tooled and tweaked with. But then they lost beloved George.

During the planet's pandemic, we were able to 'Get Back' to the way things were then thanks to 'Lord Of The Rings' director Peter Jackson's incredible and inspired documentary. The 468-minute magnum opus of a last dance, showing that we could happily watch John, Paul, George and Ringo fart around in the studio for the rest of their lives and never get sick of them. So a new song based on a demo, some studio sessions and extra work from Ringo and Paul (who recently collaborated on Starr's 'Rewind Forward' EP this month with the McCartney penned 'Feeling The Sunlight')? Of course, we would be quids in. Even if this war against A.I. has us thinking that software will take over the world like that terminating Skynet. Besides, this is a one-off, and "the last song", "maybe". And it's nothing artificial, just their pure musical intelligence. It's not like they're going to start making posthumous albums and hologram shows like the estate of the late, great Tupac Shakur...we hope. And it's not like John wouldn't have liked it. The Beatles always experienced with different sounds and new techniques like the psychedelics of their 'Yellow Submarine'. It's like Jack Nicholson's character said in Martin Scorsese's 'The Departed', "I'm an artist. You give me a f#####g tuba, I'll get you something out of it."

Get on board, because the tech Jackson used to restore The Beatles to 'Get Back' has been able to draw those old Lennon vocals out...although we miss the applications of the electrical appliances. What results is a subtle, but beautiful swan song set to a moving music video bringing the band back together, albeit at times a little cheaply and cornily. But of course, we can forgive that. A 12-minute documentary joins the video on the Mickey Mouse streaming service Disney + for the fans to get their fill like those Paul conversations with super-producer Rick Rubin. If you thought seeing a young Macca dance to a Beck assisted remix on 'McCartney III', then you ain't heard anything yet. Three decades later, now is the time to remember what it was like back then. "And now and then/If we must start again/Well, we will know for sure/That I will love you." A letter to you from dear John. Getting back and by with a little help from his friends. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

REVIEW: SEMISONIC -LITTLE BIT OF SUN

3.5/5

Sonic Highways.

Justin Timberlake was wrong (boy, isn't that the truth?). In his romantic comedy with Mila Kunis, the singer and 'Reptile' actor said that 90s nostalgic classic 'Closing Time' (also making movie moments this week in the karaoke of the new Emily Blunt and Chris Evans movie 'Pain Hustlers') was by fellow American rock band of that era, Third Eye Blind. He realized the error of his ways in the end with an epic flash-mob in New York City's Grand Central Station, but to all of us whose sonic youth felt strangely fine, we knew better. That album was a mega-hit masterpiece of golden era Americana that those in the know, know about like a 'Secret Smile'. Spearhead by a big-three set of singles like the aforementioned and 'Singing In My Sleep'. The sophomore follow-up to the 'Great Divide' of their debut also featured amazing album tracks like 'Made To Last', 'DND', 'This Will Be My Year', 'California', 'She Spreads Her Wings' and 'Never You Mind' from the Drew Barrymore movie 'Never Been Kissed' to make it a certified classic. As a matter of fact, the whole 'Completely Pleased', and 'All Worked Out' thing was exactly that. A few years later they gave us 'All About Chemistry' behind the last word of that album title single. Getting a grip like Josh Hartnett's '40 Days and 40 Nights' with horny tracks like 'Bed' and 'Sunshine and Chocolate'. Although 'Act Naturally' and 'One True Love' really were the best of this band at their most R.E.M. beautiful.

But The Wallflowers CD ended way more than a half hour ago. As it's been 22 years since that college rock time. Feel old yet? Look in the reflection of your CD jewel case...yep, that's how old I am. I guess she really was 'Gone To The Movies' and "not coming back." Or is she? Over the years great singer/songwriter Dan Wilson has been making music and staying active on Twitter (it's still the STAPLES Center, and it's still Twitter. We get the, he's on X gag, and it's about as funny as Musk's memes. Stick to space and the electric car race), but recently the band (alongside Del Amitri for even more nostalgia) have been touring, supporting the Barenaked Ladies, who had their own album out this summer 'In Flight'. Showing that no matter how long it's been, it still all seems like 'One Week' in this life that is but a dream. Rising with the single of the same name 'Little Bit Of Sun' is what we need right now like the colour scheme of its album artwork solar spectrum. The more mature act don't sound the same, but that's more than strangely fine, in a reunion of good feeling after all these hell frozen over years. Going fourth, they 'Grown Your Own', singing, "I used to listen to that rock and roll music/Because it always soothed my soul/I used to listen to that rock and roll music/Because it made me lose control/And then I listened for the shock of the new, yeah/To learn how to grow my own/And now I listen to that rock and roll music/Remember how I felt before." Their hallmark sound still honed to a chef's kiss.

'The Rope' of this Pleasuresonic sound from Minneapolis, Minnesota, like 'The Vault' of more 'Diamonds and Pearls' from Prince last week offers you even more. "Promise that you're never gonna wake up in an ordinary bed/Swear you're never gonna tell a soul about the s### that I said/The LA sky never changes/But in my mind, thеre's no escaping." Modern love set to a music video as white-picket, good times America as the band once were, and still, thankfully in these times, are. 'Out Of The Dirt' they climb back to the prime. Clawing away at lines like, "Out of the dirt / out of the dirt/ back into the dirt we go / nothing to lose / nothing to lose / looking for a way back home". The grimy grunge is back as they continue to pass this home-grown sound. Aside from the pandemic EP of 2020 that told us 'You're Not Alone', it's been a long two decades and two years quarantined from Semisonic. But that doesn't matter now blending The Beatles and The Connells like '74/75'. 'Keep Me In Motion' ("Standing back in the shadows waiting/Look around for the only one/Turn the tables cos my hopes are fading/You always knew how to start me up") and 'Don't Fade Away'. It all keeps going 'All The Time' to the dual beautiful closers of 'Only Empathy' and a 'Beautiful Sky'. With songs that feel like they could have played on an episode of the Canadian classic set in Chicago, 'Due South', we are kindly thankful for this life and love of a group, even if 'It Wasn't Like We Thought It Would Be'. It's like they say on 'If You Say So'. Or the 'So Amazed' two minutes. Just like 'She Spreads Her Wings' when John Munson takes the mesmerizing lead in place of Wilson like the late, great Taylor Hawkins 'Cold Day In The Sun' with the Foos. Just when you thought it had all set, it comes back like you'd never forget. Get in sync with something that's no longer blind. Here comes the sun. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Little Bit Of Sun', 'Only Empathy', 'Beautiful Sky'. 

REVIEW: JUNGKOOK - GOLDEN

4/5

The Gold Rush.

Winners never quit. RM went in with 'Indigo', like a J-Hope 'Jack In The Box', or a Suga 'D-Day'. The 'Face' of Jimin, and the recent 'Layover' of V completes the set after BTS' break, aside from the mandatory military service of Jin. And now one year after singing for the 'Dreamers' of the 2022 FIFA football World Cup with an amazing anthem, Jungkook gives us his 'Golden' debut album ready for a certified platinum plaque that will hang from the Big Hit offices. This half-hour, all power and killer, no filler is a golden opportunity to capitalize on the pop power of his South Korean K-Pop giant ARMY and his own Seoul power. Featuring guests like Major Lazer, Latto, DJ Snake and rapper and 'White Men Can't Jump' remake actor and superstar Jack Harlow, who even standing next to 'Kook in' 3D' can't stand out quite like him. Although he doesn't for a second phone in his guest verse from the booth. "You my bae, just like Tampa/Speakin' of bucks, I got those/And as for f###s, well, not those/And as for thots, well, do you really wanna know?/I thought so/I'll fly you from Korea to Kentucky." You need glasses to see star shines like this in red and blue. Nah, let him Kook!

'Standing By You' in sweet solidarity, and the clean and dirty versions of 'Seven' with Latto seal the preceding gold singles. The 'Golden Maknae' and youngest member of BTS gets 'Closer To You' with Major Lazer. The Calvin Klein model like BLACKPINK's Jennie also begs you 'Please Don't Change' with DJ Snake. But in this modern world of toxicity when it comes to matters of the heart, he can only deal with a break-up be declaring 'Hate You', such is our young life in love sometimes. "So I'm gonna hate you/I'm gonna hate you/Paint you like the villain that you never were/I'm gonna blame you/For things that you don't do/Hating you's the only way it doesn't hurt." I understand, believe me. We all do. But there's a better way, and on this green and gold artwork like Lianne La Havas, that lies in the truth of 'Yes Or No', for the open-suit, naked ambition of the young king. He bares it all on some. Of the closing, most compelling tracks on the set, but not before he brings even more big hits for the tops of your future charts. "When you go out in the night/You're under the lights/Oh, I hope to find somebody/Hope to find somebody to ride/Somebody to die/Oh, I hope to find somebody/I hope you know that somebody ain't me." In the golden frame when love is just a game, he's simply looking for 'Someone'. 

Someone to love like Queen, so he's no longer 'Too Sad To Dance' in this club. "Last week I found a message in a bottle/It said go home ain’t nobody love you no more/I can’t disagree/So last night I went to the club/Had a couple too many threw up/Now everybody’s laughing at me." This one stings like The Police, or the next drink he takes arrested in the club like all our 20s looking for that forever love in a world looking for a less complicated status that isn't waiting for something better to come along. That's what makes 'Shot Glass Of Tears' the best and most brutal hit on the album. "It's a hard pill to swallow/This emotion, I bottle/Need somethin' strong for the sorrow/Somethin' strong for the pain, so I can wash it away/I was cold, now, I'm freezin'/Stuck in a permanent season/And we both know you're the reason/I'm not the same as before, I don't feel anymore/Tell me, am I ever gonna feel again?/Tell me, am I ever gonna heal again?/Got a shot glass full of tears/Drink, drink, drink, say: Cheers/I got all these diamonds runnin' down my face/And I ain't lettin' any of 'em go to waste." This kid's just 26 years old. In another quarter-century he'll have an army worth of albums, whether solo, or with his squad. He's already lived the life of the wildest dreamers. These moments are golden. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: '3D (Feat. Jack Harlow)', 'Standing Next To You', 'Shot Glass Of Tears'. 

REVIEW: PRINCE & THE NEW POWER GENERATION - DIAMONDS AND PEARLS (Super Deluxe Edition)

4/5

Diamonds Are Forever.

Draped in diamonds, Prince dropped pure pearls of wisdom in 1991 right in the midst of his 'Purple Rain' as the biggest star in the world like Michael. Jordan or Jackson (this was the 90s, after all). The multi-platinum, worldwide smash hit 'Diamonds and Pearls featured smash singles like the album's terrific title-track. Not to mention the 'Cream' of the crop like 'Gett Off' (like Eric Leeds) for a man who knew how to do exactly that without a parental advisory sticker (remember those? Feel old yet? You're parents now yourselves). An 'Insatiable' desire that believed in an elevator higher love that rained like a cinematic 'Thunder'. One that would give you the world like 'Diamonds and Pearls', but in actuality all that it has to offer is the best and the most we can give another, our hearts. Because like the jazzy album highlight 'Money Don't Matter 2 Night'. And it won't matter tomorrow when you wake up with the one who will still be there the morning after...and the day after that. 

When Prince passed, vultures said, "this will be the day"...and raided his legendary vault in Paisley Park for the heart of the Minnesota Purple Yoda. The wolves may have come in Minnie, thinking they had the Big Ticket like Da Kid, KG, but A to Z, we know better. We know how the game works. It's strange in this day and age to be writing about this Super Deluxe Edition album, and not quite right. Especially in the same week that THIS generation's music megastar Taylor Swift releases her version of her classic '1989', to take creative control and power back from her masters. But like "being colour-blind" in 'Diamonds', let's let the 'Pearls' of "love decide". We have to give it up for the man we're streaming on YouTube, not the machine that keeps churning out his classics for profit. But as long as the money is going to his family, or foundation...we understand. The '91 jam recorded between Olympic, London and North Hollywood (and of course, Paisley) was a lucky 13th release this New Music Friday with New Power for your revolution's Generation. The first of its and their kind, getting closer than legendary Rosie Gaines close, front and centre like a Diamond, for this girl best friend. The funk of 'Daddy Pop' for you 'Jughead(s)' also kept this album 'Strollin'' ('Walk Don't Walk' like the most confusing crossing) and stone rolling. Whilst another album highlight 'Willing and Able' was ready for the Super Bowl XXVI closing CBS credits for a man who would bring that very house down years later.

'Push' play and play again on this remastered masterpiece painted by Prince. All the way to the 'Last Words From The Cockpit' that 'Live 4 Love'. Because like tracks of Springsteen sessions for your boot-cut American dream bootlegs, Prince's vault holds more diamonds than an Ian Fleming forever novel. New mixes and extended cuts of his classic add more legacy making layers to his MPLS love symbol sound. Especially getting off for 'Damn Near 10 Minutes' before the house-lights of the Houstyle remix as 'Violet The Organ Grinder' does exactly that. This is it. The best 'Cream' of the crop since Prince threw his rings into the Webster Hall crowd with his purple acoustic set he wouldn't start until the fans sang along ("nah-uh") the right way. This 'Horny Pony' keeps on rocking until a rocking horse s###s with hits like the 'Gangster Glam' of the B-side winning again. A K.C mix of 'Do Your Dance' continues to make love with your headphones. Whilst Tony M. raps 'Things Have Gotta Change' for the New Power and some generational music television. It's time to 'Call The Law', because it only gets more arresting from here on out. The 'Vault Tracks' of this album that came between the 'Graffiti Bridge' movie soundtrack and the '7' seal of 'The Love Symbol' album unlock even more. Beginning endlessly with the 'Schoolyard' days from the funkiest one, and 'My Tender Heart', at Prince's most beautiful. "I watch as the leaves turn from green to brown/And I know One by one they fall right to the ground/And I try not to wonder if I'll ever see you around/'Cause just like the winter you came in with a roar/And left without a sound." The fall of this Autumnal love too much for a man who spent 'Another Lonely Christmas' like '17 Days' as the rain came down, because you weren't there.

Drinking banana daiquiris until you're blind because the 'Pain' is exactly that, Rogers Nelson solidarity soothes. His pain, he shares it with you. Like a 'Streetwalker' looking for love. Maybe it's in the form of 'Lauriann', "The rhythm of her walk/Like a tall-tale talkin'/Ain't a boy around her/Ever been tame." There's a 'Darkside' to all these extended versions and alternate takes, and it's all so beautiful as you skip to my lou like Rafer Alston for 'Skip To My You My Darling'. Nelson cooks up more in 'Martika's Kitchen', originally off Martika's self-titled debut. But it's the soulful 'Spirit' of this Jehovah's witnesses 'Open Book' that really 'Works That Fat'. All until you 'Hold Me' over lines like, "I've tried so many times 2 erase your memory from my mind/Yet, it doesn't ever last 4 long/I see your picture then I hear your voice/Our love must be stronger than before." Brooding beauty until theirs 'Blood On The Sheets', instrumentally proving this guitar symbolic God can rock out the best of them like when he did for George Harrison, never coming down. Bang Pow Zoom and the Whole Nine act like Rodman and Pippen to the Jordan of 'The Last Dance'. But 'Don't Say U Love Me' when, "If ever there was a girl of contradiction, baby, that girl is you/One minute you are a stranger, the next you’re my guru/You used to hug me, kiss me, touch me, lick me, fill me with all your charms/That was then, this is now." This man has lyrics that lick to go like he's got "too many hits" in London's 02 run after party. 

'Get Blue' like Joni and the third disc of this vault trilogy keeps it purple, before it fades to black, never in the red. On the 'Tip o' My Tongue' Prince brings that cream feeling back...yeah I said it. 'The Voice' of explicit beauty like Murakami in Japan, preaching the gospel of, "Ching!/Mr. Politician goes on vacation (Oh)/Brings along a friend or two/In the disguise of taxes/Mr. Politician (Sends) sends the bill to you know who." If you thought it was all about sex, then what the f### were you thinking, as Prince gets political, a songbook spokesperson for a once great America like Bruce and Bob Dylan. He's 'Trouble' as he keeps you tumbling down the rabbit hole for the revelatory 'Alice Through The Looking Glass'. Taking it personally and then making it so for this next generation with the trouble in paradise of 'Standing At The Altar'. There is lonely and there is lonely. And then there is "Why?/I got the news just yesterday/They said you up and ran away/All because of what somebody said/I spent my wedding night alone in bed", in matrimony with many who have been jilted and left holding a broken heart until death does them part. 'Hey U', you know how it feels and Rogers has got you like Hammersmith. Live at the Apollo like a 'Letter 4 Miles' that still reaches you after all these years (over 30) and the death of the one who reigned supreme. Long live Prince, singing 'I Pledge Allegiance To Your Love', "So 4 U and all that is good and true/I hereby state my allegiance 4 U and all that is true/I hereby state my allegiance." Curtain concluding with the damn over ten-minute 'Thunder Ballet' to sign off these tracks that are slamming like the late, great Charlie Murphy once said. All before the in your face Live At Glam Slam set brings us back on home to the twin cities. Thunder, all around, volleying through the night until the pearls fall for the man who even gave 'Batman' a sick soundtrack. The NBA may have just celebrated three quarter's of a century, but nothing balls out like these tracks. Happy, boys and girls? I guess with this diamond mined out the rough, love is still the master plan. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Diamonds and Pearls', 'Thunder', 'Money Don't Matter 2 Night'.