REVIEW: SHERYL CROW - EVOLUTION

3/5

A Change Will Do You Good 

A Crow left of the genre. On the same New Music Friday that sees Queen B Beyoncé drop the "R" to rule another genre like 'Texas Hold Em' with her 'Cowboy Carter' certified classic, country pop star like Shania and Swift, Sheryl Crow leaves that very genre for more rock and roll fame with her latest career 'Evolution'. After all, if it makes you happy...you know the rest. Just like all the Crow classics. This isn't the first time one of modern day America's greatest singer-songwriters Sheryl has pushed the envelope like the 'Visions' of Norah Jones earlier this month in her El Michels Affair spectacle prescription. Sheryl once shot us with a stirring Pierce Brosnan era Bond theme that shook up the world. And refusing to stay in one place, the rock goddess continues her growth and proof that tomorrow really well and truly never dies. If 2020 was the year of 'Women In Music' like Haim, or Taylor Swift heading to a 'Folklore' cabin in the woods, and great Brit Lianne La Havas giving us her self-titled, personal best lyrics lacing love. Then 2024. The year of the Girl Dad, late, great Kobe is the calendar that crafts creativity from the better half. Jones. The artist formerly known as Knowles. And now this queen. All before the new throne taker, Maggie Rogers, makes sure you don't forget about her in the April Spring showers for this Breakfast Club that's truly eating this first quarter.

The latest from Bey's hive is another almost hour and a half movie-making classic. This, on the other hand, is a half-hour of all power and a nice album that goes down easy like coffee on a Sunday morning. In promoting this piece, Crow admits that albums and their promotion are a waste of time and money. But nothing is wanted not here, showcasing her skill-set and the fact that real fans know. It's the album tracks that settle all that. Just like the concluding big-three of 'Don't Walk Away', 'Broken Record' and 'Waiting In The Wings' that make this epic 'Evolution' album what it is. This 90s megastar like the Chicago Bulls or F.R.I.E.N.D.S. was so big in the decade of 'Jurassic Park' like good old days, golden era blockbusters, she could have formed a supergroup with Shania Twain and the like, like a Travelling Wilbury. But who needs that, when Sheryl gives you everything she has each time out? This time, spearheaded by the singles 'Alarm Clock' (the opening wake up which might hit snooze), the self-titled 'Evolution', 'Do It Again' and the latest 'Digging In The Dirt' crate finding hit in this Big Machine of an Americana record. The first album since the social media ahead of its time 'Threads' in 2019 comes as a pleasant surprise in more ways than one. Sheryl said she wouldn't release another record after that because of aforementioned reasons. We're glad a change of heart here has done us all good.

The Genesis of Peter Gabriel help her dig for more than dirt in this gold album that would surely go platinum back in the day. Not just her heyday. Because Crow has still got it. Not when best, but still one of her brightest, this is a victory lap for Sheryl's inspired induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of the Fame. All in the same weekend, Beyoncé shoots for the country one with a stronghold. Armed up with her trusty guitar along for the ride in this evolution, never to leave her side, even in these times, Sheryl sings "And you could add up all the tears that fill a river/Or trace the words that break a heart/But you'd miss the blue jay and the message he delivers/Every moment has a brand-new start" on 'You Can't Change The Weather'. Perfect poetic prose, even though change sometimes can't come. No matter how much good, it would do you in the long run. Yet you've still got to 'Love Life' like the ever optimistic and outstanding songbook singer tells it in another anthem for the album we're glad she 360'd on from the pessimism like Carter's left turn. 'Where?' Right here, where you stand. In this very moment. Singing along to, "Waters rise up on the freeway/While little hands are clapping in the snow/And in the tree, there lives a blackbird/Singing songs not meant for anyone below." This is Crow's elevating 'Evolution' era. And we love Sheryl's version. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Don't Walk Away', 'Broken Record', 'Waiting In The Wings'.

REVIEW: BEYONCE - COWBOY CARTER

4/5

Cowboy Bey-Bop

A little bit country. A little bit Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When beau Jay-Z received the award of a lifetime at the Grammys, he dedicated the moment to Bey, like if Kanye had stormed the stage and done the right thing by Tay, instead of being a jerk. Yes, Beyoncé has one of the greatest music careers of all-time, and this was the moment for Mr. Carter to remind music's Oscars to give her her flowers. It's crazy in a lack of love that this child of Destiny and Blue's mother hasn't nabbed the coveted Best Album golden gramophone yet. But that's all about to change with the eighth wonder, as the 'Renaissance' continues. Here is 'Act II' of B's trilogy idea, conceived during COVID. Another almost 90 minute cinematic piece, as we can't wait to hear what the Carter's got next, like an unchained Tarantino trilogy once upon a time in Hollywood. Or is that Nashville? As 'Cowboy Carter' swings and gets it spurs on in the land that cultivated Swift's career. All on the same Friday, fellow all-American legend Sheryl Crow makes her own musical 'Evolution' away from the great American genre. Renaissance riding on the back of the same steed, but this time with a Stetson and the Stars and Stripes (not to mention, a few more stitches of clothing), country music stations at first refused to roll out Beyoncé's terrific 'Texas Hold 'Em' singles. But that ain't Texas. That was until 'Hold 'Em' broke streaming records and stacked chips. Now with actual album country camaraderie co-sings from the genre greats like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson (playing 'Smoke Hour' radio DJ like Jim Carrey for The Weeknd), you're looking at a country classic as well as one of Bey's best. Album of the Year? Make that the country one too. This is gospel. Hold that.

YEE-HAW (you knew it was coming)! As country as Dallas, Texas' own Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé rides into a new dawn on a sweet '16 Carriages' with a beautiful 'American Requiem' for the new dream that sings "Can we stand for something?/Now is the time to face the wind (Ow)/Coming in peace and love, y'all/Oh, a lot of takin' up space/Salty tears beyond my gaze/Can you stand me?/(Can you stand me? Can you stand me? Can you stand me?)/Ooh, ah/Can we stand?/(Can you stand me? Can you stand me? Can you stand me?/Can you stand me? Can you stand me? Can you stand me?)/Can you stand with me?" Yes we can...together in an all-encompassing anthem that blends the blues, soul and R&B of this country folk and genre bender into one perfect, punctuated package. Wrapping up a peacefully prophetic protest song in subtle beauty to begin this whole thing. Iconic. The legends are here with the biggest one, as are some of the next legacy makers. As Post Malone, fresh off his 'Road House' remake left turn, knuckled up cameo (the all-American star pressed and superb singing 'Levis' Jeans') and Dolly's God-daughter and her own incredible individual Miley Cyrus ('II Most Wanted' like Tupac and Snoop) appear on two of the best country cuts. But how internet breaking and world dominating would a Swift collaboration have been? Going Gaga over the 'Telephone'. But bye bye to all that as the Beatle 'Blackbiird' with Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts is the Macca excellence personified. Whilst the 'Spaghettii' western with legend Linda Martell and Shaboozey (also in the smoke house for some 'Sweet Honey Buckin'') shoots straight like Eastwood with a 'Desert Eagle' on a wild west drawing showdown that is good, the baddest, and ugly face inducing.

Take off your hats to the new album of the year in the same month the 'Visions' of Norah Jones with an El Michels Affair pushes the envelope of her career. You can expect these two legends of women in music like Haim to go head-to-head in the same saloon door category as we away part III. Guitar God Nile Rodgers, his get lucky punk partner and N.E.R.D. Pharrell Williams, and the new American songbook writer Jon Batiste also manns these Tennessee like whiskey boards. Not to mention the one and only Stevie. What a wonder indeed. Whilst another little Willie in the form of Jones leaves us with a country one 'Just For Fun'. But it's Rumi Carter who shows us what this 'Protector' is really looking out for as Beyoncé Carter sings, "And I will lead you down that road if you lose your way/Born to be a protector, mm-hmm/Even though I know someday you're gonna shine on your own/I will be your projector, mm." A 'Bodyguard' that will always love you like "Leave my lipstick on the cigarette/Just toss it, and you stomp it out, out, out/Inhalin' whiskey when you kiss my neck'." My Rose' blooms in boundless beauty as the 'Daughter' of Matthew gets redefiant on songbooks as legendary as the Old Testament. "They keep sayin' that I ain't nothin' like my father/But I'm the furthest thing from choir boys and altars/If you cross me, I'm just like my father/I am colder than Titanic water." A ravishing refrain that does anything but as Carter kills it like Jones to 'Miriam' for the new 'Jolene'. Everyone from Norah to her old 'Rome' friend Jack While have covered this Parton classic, working it 9 to 5. But don't hurt yourself, because God herself has the best take in this new age of those with the good hair that even Dolly takes shots at. "Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/I'm warnin’ you, don't come for my man (Jolene)/Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/Don't take the chance because you think you can." When life gives you cheaters, you make 'Lemonade', and piss on the parade of anyone who thinks they can do the same. The begging has stopped. Real women take what they want. Just like Parton's own 'Rockstar' album. Crossing the borders of genres.

The Rodeo Queen continues her proud stand on the fabulous, like Vegas 'Flamenco'. So all you flamingos save those 'Alligator Tears' (like me when I realized I missed her yesterday in Shibuya, Tokyo) in your swamps. Because these boots were made for Nancy Sinatra walking. No Crocs! 'Oh Louisiana' this record breaker of a towering album features many an anthem as it continues to shine in all its rhinestones. 'Ya, Ya' singing like, "Hello, girls (Hello, Beyoncé)/Hello, fellas (You're pretty swell)/Those petty ones can't fuck with me (Why?)/'Cause I'm a clever girl, we snappin'/(Pretty please) Toms, please/We wanna welcome you to the Beyoncé Cowboy/Carter: Act II, ah/And a rodeo chitlin circuit/We gon' make it do what it do, ya-ya/Put them hands together." Still running the world like girls, to a renaissance in every genre. You could never break the soul of this survivor. A 'Riiverdance' like Flatley with no flat feet, this two-step is going to twist everything else up and carbon date it like the Charleston. This 'Tyrant' is punishing the game like the time she lyrically bodied her own G.O.A.T. husband on The Carters Louvre rap, going 'Apes###' after all the 'Lemonade'. "II Hands II Heaven' on God like, "Bottle in my hand, the whiskey up high/Two hands to Heaven, wild horses run wild, oh/God only knows why, though (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)/Rhinestones and diamonds both shine in the light." Just when you thought making lemons was Queen B's career crown, she delivers her magnum opus in a soon-to-be concluded trilogy that could go next to 'The Godfather', 'The Dark Knight's, or 'The Lord of the Rings' like Dune, this month. Like the last track from the messiah herself, can I get an 'Amen'?! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Texas Hold 'Em', 'Jolene', 'Daughter'.

MOVIE REVIEW: TAYLOR SWIFT - THE ERAS TOUR (TAYLOR'S VERSION)

4/5

The Americana Dream.

211 Mins. Starring: Taylor Swift. Director: Sam Wrench. On: Disney +.

Tokyo, Japan. The middle of February means Valentine's Day (fun fact, in Japan, February the 14th is the day when women attempt to woo men like a leap year. Whereas, one month later on 'White Day', the men reply with a gift. Talk about getting left on read). Football fans know different, though. On any given Sunday in February, it's Super Bowl time. And as Taylor Swift played almost a week's worth of shows in the Rising Sun's capital, many 'Lovers' wondered whether she would make it back in time for the Sunday showcase featuring her partner, Kansas City Chief tight-end Travis Kelce. Especially with the last show on Saturday night. But the superstar, hero and biggest star on the planet did like only she could...and of course time zones would allow. But I wouldn't put it past Swift being able to go back in time as she brings all her eras back, like re-recording her albums so she could own it all in a master move. The same way the "Swiftenomics" of the biggest tour of all-time has stimulated the American economy (we need that here in Japan too). Prior to all this, the Japanese government had even issued a Taylor made official deceleration on paper that the Super Bowl would not get in the way of the singer performing the entirety of her Tokyo leg, day-by-day. An album announcement as big as best baseball player Shohei Ohtani (check out his Disney doc 'Beyond A Dream') revealing his wife to be Fujitsu Red Wave basketball star Mamiko Tanaka (expect a Kelce wave of fame now) also came in Japan for 'The Tortured Poets Department' (best Wes Anderson movie name ever). This is just how big Miss Americana is. She's an international incident. You could just tell from the legions of fans queueing up like only the Japanese could in a merch line that would equate to most major groups gig lines for the first day of sales of the actual tickets. And for those who couldn't cop a last minute one (hands up), for reasons we won't get into, they congregated and sang together outside, making new friends and memories in beautiful moments that showed how much Swift really does break down barriers, even in a socially shy land like Japan.

The Swifties were out in full force in the Far East like only a BTS Army could match for the biggest act in pop, whose still a little bit country, like a diamond Shania Twain, and one of the best folks in the biz. If you missed out on 'The Eras Tour' in any arena (it's just wrapped up a spot in Singapore), and even the cinemas that became concert halls for the sold out shows of the movie, you can now catch it with Mickey Mouse in the comfort of your own home and laptop speakers that can still bring the full force of all the power she had to bear on the jumbotrons of football stadiums she touched down in all around the world before she embraced her beau after his big win. Disney + is now the home for the three and a half hour epic 'Eras' show, making sure no one will miss this one of a kind event. To watch crimson and clover until your heart's content. Following 'Folklore' behind the scenes tales on Disney, and the Netflix 'Americana' standing next to Beyoncé's and a 'Five Foot Two' Gaga, this is the best concert film available to stream since BTS gave you 'Permission To Dance'. Directed by Sam Wrench, this AMC and Cinemark Theatres landmark hit is as cinematic as the biggest blockbuster of last year ('Barbenheimer' we're looking in your direction). And when Taylor makes her epic 'Eras' entrance underneath some Las Vegas like showwomanship, it's like a superhero entered the picture as she really sticks the landing. Mining heartbreak into gold.

And this Elvis will never leave the building, as she makes planet earth her residency like a Hollywood star in the 90s when we were more concerned about what was on the big screen than what was reflected on our "smart" ones. Those major film studios that passed on this distribution might want to order a plate of humble pie the next time they book a table at Planet Hollywood. They needn't have had reservations. Outside of 'Oppenheimer' and 'Barbie's' world, this has done the popcorn business. It would have been the biggest Marvel movie of the year from the star who is rumoured to play Lady Deadpool in the forthcoming 'Deadpool and Wolverine' film starring her friend Blake Lively's husband. Another friend joked with Swift about all the albums she didn't tour, making some of her best, folky work during our socially isolated pandemic. "What are you going to do, tour them all and do three-hour shows?" Responding like Nashville's Man In Black Johnny Cash when told it looks like he was going to a funeral, "exactly". Swift got her Springsteen at sixty on and brought each and every house down, night after night, after night. And you can see the California love of the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood here for your inspiration. I mean, this is a major player who even has a banner in the Lakers arena, presented to her by the late, great Kobe Bryant, even before one of his two jerseys made it up to those rafters he raised 'chips in. This cinematic rendering like a Beyoncé 'Renaissance' is a revelation that even impressed Oscar winning director Christopher Nolan who had the best film of the year. And now, like 'Oppenheimer' showing in Japan this month after the controversy and sensitivity, you can finally see what we missed. Classic choreography of all the Taylor made hits and star power of pop and perhaps now movie's biggest star. The trend these days may be to call everything an era (even your fashion choices and life decisions), but none is quite like Taylor's version. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Taylor Swift-Miss Americana', 'Taylor Swift: Folklore (The Long Pond Studio Sessions)', 'BTS: Permission To Dance- On Stage LA'.

REVIEW: NORAH JONES - VISIONS

 

4/5

Norahvisions.

Ahead of the release of yesterday's ninth wonder of a Norah Jones album ('Visions'), the Los Angeles Times ran a piece to celebrate this album coming out a day after International Women's Day (let's hear it for them, always). They called the legendary Jones, one of the last "success stories of the CD era". And the diamond 'Come Away With Me' released an amazing twenty years ago when Norah was just 23 shows. It went platinum four times in its first 12 months of release and resulted in an armful of Grammys and an iconic portrait from that event for the smoky and smouldering vocal singer and songwriter. Since then, from the 'Sunrise' of 'Feels Like Home', to the personal favourite for deeper meaning that Norah says is for each individual fan, 'Rosie's Lullaby' of 'Not Too Late', she's released classics by the millions. 'Chasing Pirates' and switching it up for 'The Fall', before taking 'Happy Pills' on a whole new style that killed it like 'Miriam'. When it came time to 'Begin Again', the amazing artist who has made albums with everyone from Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi ('Rome' with Jack White) to Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong ('Foreverly' for The Everly Brothers), not to mention formed supergroups like Puss N Boots, or The Little Willies (for Nelson, not your appendage), considered releasing playlists instead of albums. Thankfully, she brought it back to the basics of the 'Day Breaks' jazzy beginnings. All before 2020's pandemic, 'Pick Me Up Off The Floor' did the very same thing to us amidst our collective struggles.

It's been a long time, but Miss Jones has been busy since then. Touring (seeing her in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics Nippon Budokan in with someone I loved was an absolute dream) and putting festive albums under your tree. If you thought that Jones covering the Christmas classics like Beatles numbers atop the Empire State Building was cool (more like bitterly cold at that time of year), then you should hear the original Yuletide standards from this 'Jolly Jones' on a bicycle in Brooklyn. Now, New York's finest, and one of the America greats who deserves her place next to the Springsteens and Dylans like the ever underrated Ben Harper, takes another left turn for the bolder and better. Giving us one of the first marquee albums of the year, like her friends in Green Day. In what looks like a new Maggie Rogers treat of a first quarter. 'Running' with it like her stellar first single that brings those same 'Sunrise' sing-a-long harmonies back, this Blue Note beauty saves the best for last like the 'That's Life' outstanding original that could stand next to the Sinatra song of the same name. On the powerhouse penultimate, 'Alone With My Thoughts', Jones muses, "Let's try a test/Through space and through time/I'll whisper your name/It'll bounce down the line/Slowly explode into showers of shine/Ooh, ooh." And this album of rough but ready demos with the El Michels Affair Dap King Leon Michels does exactly that in the staples of its psychedelic seventies soul ready to surf.

'Paradise' perfect like the video filmed on a Super Bowl stranded Santa Monica pier in Los Angeles, looking like Coney Island, 'Visions' sees an even greater path at the end of Route 66. 'Staring At The Wall' like the studio session released in YouTube anticipation like a Tiny Desk Concert for your NPR. Norah's been doing this since the pandemic, and her title track cuts even deeper in these times. Telling us, "We met under the willow tree/You stood in front of me/Now I don't like surprises/But the look in your eyes/Is coming at me wise like a freight train." From the inspired intro 'All This Time', as iconic as the 'Good Morning' of those with 'Little Broken Hearts', this 'Queen Of The Sea' swims on a Bruce boardwalk. Born to ride the waves of change as the refrains of the revelatory 'I Just Wanna Dance' cuts the rug and all your troubles away. 'Swept Up In The Night' like the lyrics of, "Wings of God before my eyes/I stare but never act surprised/I need you so." Then in the morning after, "I'm finally awake/There were times when I lost my mind/But now I'm fine/I'm finally awake/Stuck in your sadness, swallowed me away/But I'm finally awake/The thumping in the walls is the beat of my own heart/But I'm finally awake" ('I'm Awake'). Whether it be the unreleased 'Until My Heart Is Found', or the "stop and stare/Breathe the air/No one cares what you have to say/Solitude makes me rude/But in time, we all laugh and play" of 'On My Way', Norah Jones has released another classic for her catalogue. Critics will call it like they see it, and over the decades of her great age, they'll cherry-pick and choose which albums they deem the best with their trends of what's in and what's out. What's clear to hear, however, is there has hardly been an amazing artist as consistent. They're all compelling chapters in her own great American songbook, but run with this spin off of sorts and all the trajectories her style might take her with substance. Like a tour t-shirt we'll always have a Jones for Norah. But this wonder of innervisions takes you even higher, breaking new ground. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Running', 'Alone With My Thoughts', 'That's Life'.