REVIEW: BEN HARPER - WIDE OPEN LIGHT

4/5

Where The Light Goes. 

This Friday may just be one of the biggest days this year for the release of new music. Five albums highlighted by the first Ben Folds record in an age ('What Matters Most'). The Foo Fighters' first album since the tragic loss of dear drummer Taylor Hawkins ('But Here We Are'). A live album from the songbook of the greatest, Bob Dylan ('Shadow Kingdom'). And even a remix album from Jack Johnson ('In Between Dub') amongst many more. The surfer sings, "Love is a yard sale/Strangers wander up on your grass/To hold your future hostage/And bargain for your past/But all sales are final/No returns, not that you would/I'm pretty sure she's gone for good", on the lawn of Ben Harper's 'Yard Sale' too. The lead single from Harper's brand-new album, 'Wide Open Light'. Ben and Jack, frequent collaborators for the cream, like Ben and Jerry. All as Ben broods, "She came to gather/All of her personal effects/It seemed a bit too late/For goodbye sex/Out the window an engine idled/Some guy leaning on the hood/I'm pretty sure she's gone for good." Yet this record doesn't register on NPR's weekly reliable roster of releases every New Music Friday. 

It's probably merely due to the sheer amount of albums out this week, but his instant vintage vinyl shouldn't be lost in a Spotify shuffle. Like the solitary smoking figure in the lonesome window of a typical, traditional New York apartment block in the middle of a summer that scorches like the lighter. All for some amazing artwork that ranks amongst Ben's best, between 'Both Sides Of The Gun' and 'My Childhood Home' too. Ben of the Folds variety may have the best album of the week. The Foo, the deepest. And out of the darkness, Dylan and Johnson give collectors more for their catalogue, but Harper's latest put his bazaar of versatile music is the most diverse, even if it is mostly all acoustic like the instrumental 'Heart and Crown' opening, similar to the 'January Rain' of a David Gray 'Serendipity'. 

You only have to listen to the phantom piano playing of album standout (in more ways than one) 'Trying Not To Fall In Love With You' to see the bluesy, folk hero who can relentlessly rock with 7, sing spirituals with Blind Boys and form supergroups with the son of a Beatle has another level like Jay-Z working with UK R&B. All in a whole new key for something almost akin to operatic staged moments. This epic, smokey lounge jazz takes you as high as the kingdoms of Dylan's concert film soundtrack shadows. Yet, it's 'Love After Love' that is classic Ben Harper, complete with those compelling couplets that over time have become his signature. "Some run for cover/Some chase the storm/Flags raised with a vengeance/Battle-ready and worn/The hardest words/That I'll ever have to say/Is nothing to the debt silence can never pay", he laments with love. Talking about days that run away with all the pretty wild horses, even though this rolling stone could never, like Jagger, be dragged away. 

With no agenda, the songs are more than enough. Haunting like 'Giving Ghosts', or the spiritual of the album's amazing title-track that lets the same light Matchbox Twenty wondered about last week, in. Whilst he paints his 'Masterpiece', Harper harmonies "There's no time like now/There's no place like here/So throw your loving arms around me dear/And I'll lean on you like a beggar/Leans upon the moonlit street/Loving you is my masterpiece." Originally written for the Rickie Lee Jones album 'The Devil You Know', it's a better way is found with this heaven sent talent you know. There really is no time like now, or place like this album as the ode of our greatest masterpiece and life's greatest magnum opus resides with the one we love like an R.E.M. dream. FIRE! 

Night-swimming between the '8 Minutes' that feel more like two, Ben tells us, "Today I turned 33/My oldest didn't call/Middle's outta state/And the youngest lives here with me/It's not just a town/It's a final resting place/When I die from choices I refused to make." A deep-dive, poetic and profound look at love and life. What it takes...and what we make of it. All before it's deeper and deeper, 'Growing, Growing Gone' with the auction of "Your feet barely touched the ground/By the time I turned around/When dreams come true/It's hard to sleep/Slowly drifting in the deep/She's growing/Growing/She's gone", for the heartbreaking house that always wins like the father time of life. Adding, "She's quite a sight behind the wheel/Now I'm in the passenger seat/With nerves of steel/I'm misery in harmony/Now that you're wild and free", for what could be a lover lost, or a daughter all grown up, looking into her father's eyes. It's just 'One More Change' Our bodies, hearts and minds go and grow through over the seasons like, "Been holding on/Too long to let go/Been running too hard to slow down/Believing too deep to not have faith/I've got one more change to make/One more chain to break." The poetry. The profundity. 

Ben is back once again. And this new Chrysalis record is organically minimalist, yet magnificent. With his own stellar songbook with a wide range of chapters that could have their own series of novels, Ben Harper is a living legend who should not be mentioned as a footnote, playing in the margins. He belongs with the Johnson's and the Folds. The best bands like Grohl's fighting for a Springsteen songbook that chases (like Benjamin's middle name) the poets like Dylan. Sliding through his guitar work, the only surf this Californian rides more than the tides of different genres is a realm of relentless releases. From Innocent Criminals to legends like Charlie Musselwhite. Just like Jack, it's not even been a year since his last album 'Bloodline Maintenance' (22/the days after my birthday in July (thanks, Ben)/22), that honoured his father. But this one with the 'Childhood Home' duet of his mother Ellen's voice creeping in strikes another chord. Bookended by acoustics like his 2020 pandemic shut-in of 'Winter Is For Lovers' with the final 'Thank You, Pat Bayer' beautiful tribute. It's time we pay respect to another real one too. Needle dropped with this raw and ready record that crackles like lit cigarettes for the stores today. Even in a wide world open to darkness these days, there will be a light again. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Yard Sale (Feat. Jack Johnson)', 'Trying Not To Fall In Love With You', 'Love After Love'. 

REVIEW: BOB DYLAN - SHADOW KINGDOM

4/5

Kingdoms In The Night.

Tokyo, Japan. Fortunately this writer was finally able to see Bob Dylan live last month. A once in a lifetime experience akin to a religious one. Blooming in the epic Eden of the cities Garden Theatre as he painted his masterpiece. The sublime set list part of his huge world tour supporting the 'Rough and Rowdy Ways' album that only COVID could stop in a brief hiatus. In this age of curating collections digitally for the great American songbook, Dylan's new live album like this 'Shadow Kingdom' sits on a throne above any bootleg. Shining a light on a live classic whilst all looking to make a quick buck off the inspired icon cower back into the darkness from which they came. 

This soundtrack to a concert film from Thom Zimmy, shot during the pandemic when the closest we could get to all the stars was a laptop screen, is a big score. Even without the black and white smokey look of a soundstage that smouldered like Norah Jones. Lucky for us, we now get to hear 13 of these tracks hand-picked by the man himself. Outstandingly opening with the art of 'When I Paint My Masterpiece' and the brilliant break-up ballad of 'Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I Go Mine)'. A double-act threat that anyone who recently saw him in concert will be nostalgically and fondly familiar with. 

"Now when all of the bandits that you turned your other cheek to/All lay down their bandanas and complain/And you want somebody ya' don’t have to speak to/Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane?/Aw, won’t you come see me, Queen Jane?" Zimmerman asks approximately on 'Queen Jane', revisiting 'Highway 61'. The gravitas of the gravel in his voice isn't lost on the 82-year-old who once declared that he couldn't sing. But he'll be your baby tonight as you kick off your shoes and bring the bottle over here. Poetically yearning, "Well, that Mockingbird's gonna sail away/We're gonna forget it/That big, fat moon is gonna shine like a spoon/But we're gonna let it, you won't regret it", as his classics lull you into a mystic reverie at the bluesy live show that brings you folks to somewhere in New Orleans like a Tennessee train. 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues', classic standard after classic standard plays out over strings and harmonicas that sing. You'll be given a heavy dose of the 'Tombstone Blues' for the pain you thought would kill you. All before his words are right beside you like 'To Be Alone With You' in an ode to the heart, never to depart. 

'What Was It You Wanted'? Compelling classics like that, singing, "Was there somebody looking/When you give me that kiss/Someone there in the shadows/Someone that I might have missed?/Is there something you needed/Something I don’t understand/What was it you wanted/Do I have it here in my hand?" Evergreen records like this will stay 'Forever Young', just like we wish we could. Lyrics carved in stone, or engraved in Grammys, rhyming "May God bless and keep you always/May your wishes all come true/May you always do for others/And let others do for you/May you build a ladder to the stars/And climb on every rung/May you stay forever young" to the reason of this beautiful devotion to your dearest. On the 'Blonde and Blonde' of 'Pledging My Time', Bob asks and promises "Won’t you come with me, baby?/I’ll take you where you want to go/And if it don’t work out/You’ll be the first to know." Although a hobo steals his baby away like 'A Wicked Messenger'. 

The storybook of this live show continues its chapters 'Watching The River Flow' to words that stream the same, whether on Spotify or on the paper in your mind's eye. 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' he breaks again on the powerful, penultimate live take that's so lovingly cared for that it sounds like a studio session. Poetry for the microphone, clicking, "The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense/Take what you have gathered from coincidence/The empty-handed painter from your streets/Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets/The sky, too, is folding under you/And it's all over now, Baby Blue/All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home/Your empty-handed armies are going home/Your lover, who just walked out the door/Has taken all his blankets from the floor/The carpet, too, is moving under you/And it's all over now, Baby Blue." 

And then it is, as the shimmering 'Sierra's Theme' sails you away like Sara, in smoke and a reflection of bar mirrors below the bottles on the wall. In black and white, Bob Dylan, like The Beatles, has been covered more times than manholes, rock and soul. But nothing compares to the testimonials he dedicates to his own live takes of his greatest hits. Twisting and turning like the cigarette smoke that stains the ceiling, as the spirits in these bars carry on up above into the skies. All the way to the heavens that only the purest forms are allowed in. From Michelangelo to Beethoven. Concerts of chapels and churches. This is how you paint your masterpiece. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'When I Paint My Masterpiece', 'Most Likely You Go You Way (And I Go Mine)', 'Forever Young'. 

REVIEW: FOO FIGHTERS - BUT HERE WE ARE

4/5

Hereafter.

Summer blockbuster season is upon us. Soon we will see Hollywood franchises like 'Indiana Jones', 'The Flash' and Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible' hit movie screens. Grab your popcorn...and your amp, as it seems we are in a scorching blockbuster season for big bands and music too this sweltering summertime. Especially this New Music Friday that sees new albums from Ben Harper (where's the love NPR?), Jack Johnson, Ben Folds, and even Bob Dylan amongst others. Headlining all this it's the new album from the Foo Fighters that strikes the deepest chord. 'But Here We Are' after tragedy for the rockers epic eleventh album, but first without their beloved drummer Taylor Hawkins, who tragically passed away last year. Now his stepping in front of the skins to sing the powerful 'Cold Day In The Sun' is even more profound. May he rest peacefully and forever rock in our memory. 

Frontman Dave Grohl has been through this type of hell before-losing Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain-but it doesn't make the pain any less raw. Now working and rocking through grief, the daddy of our generation's guitar God's and heroes performs all the kick and snare drum pieces (although Josh Freese will play with the Foos on tour) like the multi-talented, Queens Of The Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures bandsman that he is. All whilst 'The Storyteller' gives us more for the songbook like his awesome autobiography that we are still audibly making our way through (perhaps it's because we just don't want it to end...if you know what we mean). But these songs are all too real. Like the Roswell record opening single and album track 'Rescued' for their first album since 2021's post pandemic 'Medicine At Midnight'. "It came in a flash, it came outta nowhere/it happened so fast, and then it was over", the first verse soberingly tells us. 

The second single gets 'Under You' too, in all its skin and bone. "Someone said I'll never see your face again/Part of me just can't believe it's true/Pictures of us sharing songs and cigarettes/This is how I'll always picture you/Over it, think I'm getting over it/But there's no getting over it", Grohl mourns, raging against the pain, this is just utterly heartbreaking. Like on 'Show Me How', looking for the light at the end of this tunnel of grief that began and will always need with love. "Where have you gone?/Walk in circles back to square one/Made it through yesterday/Spilling wine, thinking of the time/Wrote you a melody/Rolling your eyes, I held your hand a while/Need not say anything to me/Hear you loud and clear, loud and clear." As fans, we miss Hawkins, but when we hear these words written we just wish someone (not to mention someone we revere in rock and roll legend) didn't have to go through a pain like this. We know it from our own experiences, but can't even begin to imagine what it's like for someone so close to a friend who's been through so much on their own once in a lifetime journey together. We just wish we could make it easier. Maybe singing along and chanting his name in stadium rocking unison could serve as the best solidarity we could provide at this time. 

The four formidable singles that preceded this 'Here We Are' album finish with the lessons learned from the ten-minute epic 'The Teacher'. An album standout that falls into the beautiful closing 'Rest' where hopefully this band of brothers can find a measure of peace. Someone's at the door, telling you to wake up as, "Hurry now boy, time won't wait/The here and the now will separate/There are some things you cannot choose/Soul and spirit movin' through/Hey kid, what's the plan for tomorrow?/Where will I wake up? Where will I wake up?/Hey kid, what's the plan for tomorrow?/Where will I wake up? Where will I wake up?" helps you begin to move on as you rock through like the ending of 'Come Back'. If only the ones we love the dearest could. But in reality, right here in our hearts, they never really left. 

'Hearing Voices' will haunt you, and the title track will also take you there, through everything you've been through. The lamenting lyrics, "Hey (Hey)/Lay your burden down/Turn around/Turn around/Fate (Fate)/Written in the stars/Arm in arm/Arm in arm we are forever" making for a spiritual anthem. 'The Glass' will shatter you too, before 'Nothing At All' finds something between the cracks like, "I've been meanin’ to tell you/I've been out of my head/Left my heart on your doorstep/Left you out of my bed/Maybe I'm delusional/Is that so unusual?/Didn’t mean to offend you/Was it somethin' I said?/Put me into your locket/And pulled me off of the ledge/Maybe I'm insatiable/I'm feelin' so sensational." Respites from the unanswered questions until death do us back together again are all too brief. We just have to carry on in their honour. 

It's 'Beyond Me' and all of us, until we meet again. But as Dave sings, "Everything we love must grow old/Or, so I'm told/Or, so I'm told/You must release what you hold dear/Or, so I fear/Or, so I fear/But it's beyond me/Forever young and free/But it's beyond me/Forever young and free," we can see meaning in the space between the here and now and the great beyond. Life is not promised, even in the seeming invincibility of youth and the heroes we put on our walls as teenagers. Yet as we watch them before we go we see that this life, albeit so fleeting, is meant to go on. To keep living and loving. Just like we did all that came before us. Just like Taylor. That's what makes it great. That's what they'd want. To fight like the Foos. Even the two Ben's and even Bob couldn't make something more meaningful this week, Jack. Dark times may have bereaved this band, but as you can see from the light of their album artwork, this is their white album. With the power of their courageous chords and the memory of their drummer beating in their hearts, the Foo Fighters will never fade to black. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Rescued', 'The Teacher', 'Rest'. 

REVIEW: MATCHBOX TWENTY - WHERE THE LIGHT GOES

3.5/5

Light The Match.

MB20 release an album one week after DMB! What is this? The 90s (our hairlines and guts wish)? When Matchbox 20's lead singer Rob Thomas had a summer 'Smooth' smash single with Carlos for the super successful Santana 'Supernatural' album like Dave Matthews' 'Love Of My Life'? Either way, in a day and age where we seem to be stuck in a cycle of negativity, it's nice to have some positivity again like this golden era music, no matter who thinks it's cornier than your snack draw. A time when we were Counting Crows on a Train, even if our Third Eye Was Blind to Semisonic like a Timberlake friend with benefits. Nostalgia we wish for like dreaming of R.E.M. so we can be 'Shiny Happy People' again, even if they hated that song with the B52's. Matchbox Twenty's first album in over a decade (since 2012's 'North') has a lot in common with the album ten years before that-'More Than You Think You Are' and its 'Hand Me Down' and 'The Difference' standouts-all the way down to the artwork. 'Yourself Or Someone Like You', their definitive debut, remains their signature classic out the matchbook in this 'Mad Season', but approaching their 30th anniversary, 20 give us a fresh new album with their fifth strike. 

'Where The Light Goes' is right here, and it shines on the favourite 'Friends' opener that will be there for you like your nearest and dearest. No rain will start to pour on this sunny parade. Yes, it's cheesy (so is this review), but it's feel good in a time when the long day feels like 3am. It's a good hallmark to be greeted with right now. Besides, it's not patronizing positivity, they know the pain After the out there opener for the Orlando, Florida act's grand return we are treated to the new single 'Wild Dogs (Running In A Slow Dream)' that keeps that same energy for these wild hogs. This Atlantic album is your new North as the 'Rebels' sing, "When you lose yourself/In photographs/And the room gets heavy/'Cause you can't go back to 16/Rainbow hair and ripped jeans", looking at faded youth in dark denim. This 'One Hit Love' and sure-fire single is not a one hit wonder though as Twenty know how to bring the good old day back, even if that decade is a drive or two in the rearview. 

Matchbox are always at their most mesmerizing when they slow things down though, and a trifecta of takes in that turn sandwich the album with its real filling, no album filler. 'Warm Blood' like a Norah Jones 'Young Blood' will really stir yours as the best of this set, handing itself down. Thomas is terrific, singing, "You got all your eggshells/Hidden underneath your stares/I've got my distractions to rеplace you/Oh, we act like thеre's a reason/Left for you to care/I act like there's some reason left to face you", bringing us break-up ballads sounding beautiful, but also, at their most brutal. Such is love and life like the crowning of the 'Queen Of New York City' that celebrates the one you put on the throne like a regal affair. "She says, "Man, I'm gonna leave this town/'Cause I got wings under my feet"/Then she tells you she gets vertigo/When she goes above 14th Street", this is classic Twenty, like yellow cabs and hot dogs on the steamy streets of NYC this summer. 

The album title track of 'WTLG' takes you even deeper, before MB20 'Hang On Every Word' and its "Don't let your falling stars blow out/No matter what you've heard/Don't let the rainy days/Cloud what you’re seeing/I know you're thinking that you've shown up/With so much you need to learn/But all you have to do is talk to me/And I will hang", sticking around with you devotion. But 'Don't Get Me Wrong' on the band's second single, it may have been a decade and some change, but they're still the same and here to stay. Rob Thomas may have become a solo star, but he knows where it was all set off from. 'I Know Better'? Nah! But this concept song does like a 'Man From The Magazine' for Haim. As Thomas plays master manipulator in character at a mansplaining song that feels like it's taking shots at DeSantis and the state of their Florida home.  "I will always know better/So I really don't see/A problem with knowing the answer/In the absence of those who agree/I've got access to information/That's very hard to find/So you must forgive me/For taking up your time/You see, I've done my research/A lesson should be taught/So when you tell me why you're right/I'll show you how you're not", Rob sings, sounding sinister in this subversive song. 

It's not all snake oil 'Selling Faith' though on an album you can believe in thanks to that classic conclusion and the penultimate perfect precursor in 'No Other Love' featuring the heart of Amanda Shires. The fiddler on the roof and The Highwomen country supergroup founder like a rock Boygenius with the talents of Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby and acclaimed artist of the moment Bradi Carlile. Taking it like a man, the boys are back in town with faith as we sing along, "You and me and all this love/Ring the bell til summer comes/Calling out from a long long way/We’ll hold it down for one more day/And when that day turns into night/We’ll dance with the devil in the pale moonlight" like The Joker of Jack Nicholson to Kim Basinger and Michael Keaton's Batman under a purple rain like Prince. Keaton and Tim Burton's classic character creation is unbelievably back in a flash this summer season in cinema. And when it comes to blockbuster music, one of the biggest bands are back to light the fuse like a 'Mission: Impossible' reckoning. Slide open the matchbox and strike the stick across the side, as you drop the needle on a record that crackles like a flame, Twenty are back, simple and plain. In the end, I guess they do make them like they used to. Let the light in and shine. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Wild Dogs (Running In A Slow Dream)', 'Warm Blood', 'Queen Of New York City'. 

REVIEW: DAVE MATTHEWS BAND - WALK AROUND THE MOON

4/5

Matthews On The Moon.

Giants steps are what Dave Matthews band take, taking a 'Walk Around The Moon'. All for DMB's first album since the 'Come Tomorrow' of 2018. Also, sadly the group's first album since the loss of founding member Boyd Tinsley. May he rest peacefully. Dave Matthews and his band of brothers remain one of the best bands of all-time...let alone the most successful and 'Crash Into Me' famous. They've even had 'Dream Girl' Julia Roberts in one of theor music videos. Some may hate, but what about the love they show? The act may have sold out shows in Central Park, but the Charlottesville, Virginia born band have also performed benefit concerts, raising money and spirits, rallying a cry for freedom in the state of today's America that's missing the United front. Their call to embracing arms, reaching everyday people in all sorts of ways. All as DMB try to remove the DMV of their and the fans', who still sleep in line for a place at the front of the stage, carbon footprint. And you thought the broken Moe's Tavern bottle glass shard recycling R.E.M. were the golden 90s era, environmentally friendly act of modern American music. 

Confronting mortality like a band-leading GQ feature or the man Dave Matthews paid tribute to like his name was Al, Paul Simon. They release their mellow yellow spiritual new set on the same day Art Garfunkel's former partner in rhyme does for Simon's first album in five-years too ('Seven Psalms'). Highlighting a subtle but beautiful New Music Friday with the desert discs of amazing album artwork in compelling collage that extends a palm to you in black and white. All as their tribal blossoming roses from concrete welcome abroad new member Buddy Strong to their hold. From the sands where you can see the stars this trip 'Around The Moon' like a Michael Stipe sun was preceded by the protest single 'Madman's Eyes'. With the 'Wide Open Light' of activist and fellow accomplished artist Ben Harper's new album on the June bug horizon, this is the music of meaning we need tight now as we make our way through the woes of a world of worry and heartbreaking hurt. 

"Oh, little Billy's got a gun/Little Billy's having fun/Shooting bottles on the wall/Dreams the hero come home from war/Is this real?/Is this make-believe?/We think we know how everything's supposed to be/Like a train blowing full steam ahead/Can't hear what you're saying with everybody screaming", the storyteller tells us like it's all too real. Although Dave Matthews eggshell treads carefully as he doesn't want to be the white male telling us how wrong everything is. Yet, Matthews has always tried to convey a better way in his music, guided by love. He can get political like Dylan waxing lyrical all he wants if he's protesting for peace. We need to worry less about that in a world where we need to be more concerned about how some people's pride is boosted by shaming others. If we're trying to bring people together, there's nothing wrong with that...right? Rest assured, Dave will set you on the right path of feeling loved and appreciated in a time that sees the search through eyes a lot more weary and weathered by the storm than they once were. 

The amazing album track serves as not only the opening, but the latest chart release. Yet, it's the second single 'Monsters' that penultimately really roars. "Even if fear don't put you down/Oh, won't you lean on me while I'm around/No rope to hang the dead/No line to save the drowning man/Just the monsters in your head/Nothing in the closet/Nothing underneath the bed/Just the monsters in your head/Killer's eyes and painted faces/The Devil wants your soul, but Jesus saves/Traffic jam is a angry maze/The Devil wants your soul, but Jesus saves", Matthews growls with his own Psalms over a lyrical video and photographic collage of the people for our collective memory, reminding us the world is as one under the sun. 

Their COVID album 'Looking For A Vein' in the pandemic for the planet, finds one like the solo falsettos of 'Grey Blue Eyes' that was like a 'Lift Me Up' from a singing Springsteen. Stream 'The Ocean and the Butterfly' and you will find the same beauty in a song that spreads its wings as a new fan favourite. 'It Could Happen' to you too like Nicolas Cage's cop and Bridget Fonda's waitress winning the lotto as Matthews scores, "Oh, how it happened, blew the lid/And got a taste, some kind of magic/It could happen like it did/Like we awoke, we were still dreaming/When it happened like it did If I wasn't there, I wouldn't believe." The poetry and power of his prose remaining subtly profound to all around. 

But 'After Everything' (or before in this case) on an album that deals with the spectre of meeting your maker, it's the standout cut 'Something To Tell My Baby' that's the real deep cut. A classic you could leave your kids when you're gone. "Well, you know/Someday we're all gonna leave here/Maybe sooner than we wanted/But it's special because it's fleeting/All of the things that we did/What do we leave behind us?/Something that will remind them/Something to make them smile/When they think about it/Something to tell my baby/Something she could reach for", he tells us like it is, in a song that would make anyone respect their elders. The statesmen and veteran in this game stating it plain. Look out for those that did you, because we'll all be old one day...if we're even lucky to get that far. 

The break-up ballad 'All You Ever Wanted Was Tomorrow', in the same vein as when Bruno Mars yearned for the time he was your man (giving you all his flowers and hours in retrospect for love and life), could be steeped in the sadness of passing friends as much as it is relationship regret. "When all you wanted was tomorrow/Your picture albums on the wall/The good old days and times of sorrow/Yeah, but tomorrow never comes/Oh, tomorrow never comes", yearning for the friends of yesterday, to go along with the hearts. 'The Only Thing' continues this calm that hides a songwriting storm, before 'Break Free' does like Queen for these kings. Set for the stadiums it's showed out in. "I drink your poison if you fill the cup/You make me crazy baby, don’t let up/And if I’m fallin’ I don’t want to stop/I give up everything to have your love." Nobody sings about f#####g with this much heart. 

'Singing From The Windows' calls the end to this album for all an audience to hear as you sing from your showers with a reckless abandon like you were in the mountains of this album's artwork. But herein lies the real rub, however. "When the war is over/And we go back to every day, every day/Will it be the same again/When you've been turned inside out and outside in?/Singing from the windows/Shadows on the wall, the way they dance/Not much of nothing/But look at this fire burning bright." Dave Matthews, who grew up in South Africa and now is as Seattle as Macklemore or Frasier Crane, sees peace after the protest. Love amongst all the hate. A mellowing mediation of meaningful joy between the misery and malaise. There's nothing to juxtapose here or look at in irony. The influence of DMB is one of positive inspiration. Dignified without a shred of preachy pretentiousness. After all, these are the small steps they practice every day to make their giant leap. Man, be kind. It's the only way to walk and make it around. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Madman's Eyes', 'Something To Tell My Baby', 'All You Wanted Was Tomorrow'. 

REVIEW: PAUL SIMON - SEVEN PSALMS

4/5

Simon Psalms.

In the same week that Dave Matthews makes an interview with GQ magazine a matter of life and death, as he and his name band take giants steps for a 'Walk Around The Moon', the man he once helped pay tribute to in the Grammy salute CBS special 'Homeward Bound', Paul Simon, confronts his own mortality. Coming out of what seemed like a retirement after a half-decade (2018's 'In The Blue Light'), the 81-year-old Jersey boy who grew up in Queens gets spiritual with his 'Seven Psalms'. You may Troy McClure know this man from such golden era jukebox hits like 'You Can Call Me Al' (that the DMB man was 'Bound' to cover with his own unique and endearing styling), but this is the most profoundly beautiful piece of music made by the man since the most iconic duo in music history (sorry Chas and Dave), Simon and Garfunkel gave us the powerful 'Sound Of Silence'. 

Simon says, "hello light, my old friend" this time out though as his Psalms keep him closer to the Holy Ghost. For his fifteenth set recorded for Owl and Legacy records it's all Acoustic, accompanied by stirring singing over the strings. It's a seven-part piece (hence, the name of course), intended to be listened to in its entirety for a true spiritual experience before you meet your maker. That's why if you stream it on Spotify this one track plays together for the just over half-hour run time. And trust me, bathed in its Holy waters, you won't want to experience anything else during its meditation. Just like turning the lights off and letting God in. This album shines. Like beautiful Eva Cassidy acoustics walking us through fields of gold. Sure, like Sting releasing albums on lutes about "crumpets roasting by the open-fire", or something to that effect, this might be too much for some Simon fans. But you'll remember it when the west wing blows. Besides, there's not much in this world better than crumpets roasting by the open-fire. 

Although this album is close to the Holy book, the lyrics to go with you as you walk with two footprints in the sand are all from Simon's great American songbook. It's his first original material in almost a decade since 2016's 'Stranger To Stranger', and it's outstanding. From 'Graceland' to the Holy one, he brings trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his beloved wife Edie Brickell to this communion. Together like the two owls perched atop a brand of a tree as the sun goes down on some amazing album artwork by Thomas Moran. It could be the Garden of Eden for the Big Apple singer. One thing is for sure mind, in beautiful bloom this album really does feel like heaven. 

Between 3.00 and 5.30am Simon would wake up with this album on his mind, now like another Paul he's doing 'The Lord's' work from its heaven sent like INXS opening. Writing lyrics as he burnt the oil in his home fire. These seven seals inspired by the Book Of Psalms play classically and cohesively together, but all still stand out in their own individual way, even if they are not separated in structure. Especially the standout track 'Love Is Like A Braid', where Simon sings, "Home, home/Sun on my doorstep/Shocks me to find/I'm a child again еntwined/In your love, in your light/In your cool summer shadе/The garden keeps a rose and a thorn/And once the choice is made/All that's left is/Mending what was torn/Love is like a braid/Love is like a braid."

Weaving the lyrical and the spiritual like plaited hair, this is Simon's 'Harvest'. Acoustics haven't sounded this pure since Neil Young sang under that same moon. Whether it's asking for 'Your Forgiveness', or giving 'My Professional Opinion', Paul Simon brings the beauty, even when dealing with the brutality of modern day apocalypses. Saying that "The Lord is the COVID virus". Are we in for the rapture of a reckoning as Paul prophesizes a 'Trail Of Volcanoes'? "When I was young/I carried my guitar/Down to the crossroads/And over the seas/Now those old roads/Are a trail of volcanoes/Exploding with refugees/It seems to me/We're all walking down/The same road/To wherever it ends", he story tells us. But before we 'Wait' for the seventh seal of the curtain like a new day reprise, Simon plays 'The Sacred Harp'. "The sacred harp/That David played to make his/Songs of praise/We long to hear those strings/That set his heart ablaze", he sings getting closer to him like the glory. Making and Hozier taking us to a church in a studio, embracing us in an extended hand like the arms of God. The Lord's work forever and ever done. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'The Lord', 'Love Is Like A Braid', 'Your Forgiveness'. 

SOUNDTRACK REVIEW: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY AWESOME MIX VOL. 3

4/5

Hooks With Feeling. 

Dust off your Zunes carrying more Soot Gremlins than your vinyls people. The classic conclusion to James Gunn's 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' is here for you to Marvel at before the director flies off to DC with his Superman script. All as Chris Pratt defeats himself at the box-office. Or should we say a Mario for the mega 'Super Mario Bros.' movie. What would Vol. 3 of these Galaxy Guardians be without another epic volume of music for your playlist? And as this one builds up yours, everything is awesome like another animated Pratt. 

'Hooked On A Feeling', these a-holes has given us timeless classic after timeless classic. Fooling around and falling in love with 'Mr. Blue Sky' again. Even last fall's 'The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special' precursor gave us more under the tree. Like the fact that the Smashing Pumpkins (who also complete their massive 'Atum' magnum-opus of 'A Rock Opera In Three Acts' this week) have a 'Christmastime' ode. Now, it's time for one last go around, spinning you right that way for the record. And Gunn and all he has in his chamber doesn't miss a beat. His musical curations hold just as much meaning as his direction as music and movies compliment each other in this entertainment industry, just like his 'The Suicide Squad' spin-off powerhouse 'Peacemaker' series, and it's all dancing theme. 

It all begins with 'A Star Is Born' director and actual reborn music man, Bradley Cooper's Rocket Racoon (whose origin story spearheads this final curtain from the outset) singing along to an awesome acoustic version of Radiohead's classic 'Creep'. After that you'll be jamming along to Heart's 'Crazy On You' and Rainbow's 'Since You've Been Gone' like your name was Kelly Clarkson. Reminding you of how the remix revitalized the trailer when Marvel were trailing from bad reviews and press in their wake. Spacehog ('In The Meantime') and The Flaming Lips ('Do You Realize'??) give this set more kick. But if you want any more 'Reasons' why you need to stream through this with no shuffle, then Earth Wind and Fire will give you exactly that with this epic. Motown standing side to side with rock and roll in this Hall of Fame like it always did and should remain. 

Faith No More cares a lot and the 'Koinu No Carnival' of the 'Minute Waltz' from EHAMIC powers a pivotal scene. Yet it's Alice Cooper who is 'Always Chasing Rainbows' and deserves his own cameo in a Marvel movie. The Mowgli's leave 'San Francisco' with some flowers in their hair as our Guardians head to a different world like the San Fran/Tokyo mash-up of Stan Lee's 'Big Hero 6'. The The tell us 'This Is The Day' and the 'Poor Girl' of X keeps the wheel on your rotating mp3 player spinning. But the best are truly saved for last. Like getting 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn' like the Beastie Boys for an epic throwdown. The best use of the New York rap pack since the 'Star Trek' Chris Pine as Kirk 'Sabotage'. I guess Pratt didn't tell Gunn that this was Mario's plumbing theme song too down the pipes. 

Retro has always been the vibe with the GOTG. But those 'Dog Days Are Over' now, Cosmo. And how this movie in its final frames uses Florence and the Machine will fondly find you, even if it feels a little funny. There's nothing better than hearing Bruce Springsteen's 'Badlands' in the closing credits, however. The Boss made it. That is until The Replacements '(I) Will Dare' to prove otherwise. Bringing it all to a classic close for these musical credits you stick around for even if there wasn't any traditional Marvel post picture scenes (there is, one trading song requests). Bringing back Redbone like 'Atlanta' awakening mine with 'Come and Get Your Love'. Playing out over a classic picture of the freaking 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' that actually looks like an album cover. We already know who has dropped the hottest mixtape of 2023. They've won the dance off, bro. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Zune Playlist Picks: Radiohead - 'Creep (Acoustic Version)', Beastie Boys - 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn', Bruce Springsteen - 'Badlands'.