REVIEW: PUSHA T - IT'S ALMOST DRY

4/5

Crack Music.

Clips of Pusha T's career highlights of underground, urban legend bury you in snow like a Young Jeezy trap in Winter. Whether it's 'Grindin'' with The Neptunes and Clipse brotherhood for all the hip-hop N.E.R.D.'s. Or giving Kanye a G.O.O.D. Friday, week-after-week like it was Easter, before getting down with Mr. West Music's 'Cruel Summer', 'Clique'...clique...clique. But following his brother Malice finding the Lord like Pastor Ma$e, after the long awaited 'Hell Hath No Fury'. Your pusher like Curtis Mayfield has been going solo dolo for almost a decade now, following 2013's 'My Name Is My Name'. King Push's last album 'Daytona' was four years ago. But now in the first quarter of the year he gives us one of 2022's best already with his fourth record and last LP for Def Jam, 'It's Almost Dry'. All as the ink is still wet on the pages of the is rhyme book legends next contract. Yeah...we know that's not what it means, but here's another hip-hop classic worthy of all the mics from the man who made more off cocaine than Joey Crack. Check the sample. Even the Snowman from the ATL couldn't shovel this much white that could break Scarface's desk for all you wannabe Tony Montana's, looking like Hannah, not Miley. But cutting this crack music down the middle are super producer's Pharrell Williams from back in the day AND Kanye West from his one-man career recharged resurgence. Because this jam that is most certainly def also finds itself on the G.O.O.D. Music imprint. And what results isn't a mismatch of styles that go to war over substance, but a product of the twin careers of the solo and group icon who remains "a legend in two games like Pee Wee Kirkland."

It ain't hard to tell from the amazing artwork of an album the same that Basquiat or Jay-Z (he's here too) would be proud of. Even if we thought that infamous Instagram pic of Lana Del Rey would have been the perfect serve. Just wait for the remix down the bannisters like chemtrails over the country club. 'Dry' that leaves the competition Sahara opens with the brilliant 'Brambleton' that is a Neptune's produced prolific classic as Pusha T pushes raps to a tee like, "had a million answers, didn't have a clue/why Michael kissed Fredo in 'Godfather II'." Yeah, we knew it wasn't just us. We still think about that one too. Just like Jack White starting his first of two new albums this year with the raucous buzzsaw of both 'Taking Me Back' and the title track 'Fear Of The Dawn' to begin this month, T doesn't let up like a buzzkill. '(Letting) The Smokers Shine The Coupes' and calling himself the "cocaine Dr. Seuss" with more under the hat as Horton hears this who. But it's 'Dreamin' Of The Past' featuring Donda's own Kanye West sick sampling Donny Hathaway covering Lennon live that will leave everyone who didn't make this record a jealous guy. "Didn't have to reinvent the wheel, just a better design/Critics: "He's out of his mind"; haters: "He's out of his prime" (I began to lose control)/Yet, always where the money's at like lottery signs/Still I climb, rockstar, Third Eye Blind," Pusha raps on the standout for all those 80's babies who grew up with 90's bands like this. Asking you to "pass the champagne to the champion", whilst Kanye's braggadocious raps talk about abilities to buy the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air mansion in the wake of the Will Smith slap. But spoiler alert, he doesn't like the kitchen. No sale! 

Sinks, faucets and flambé raps get thrown as this Grammy family rapper spits at you like Will trying to put out that house fire, or the one in his career right now (but forgive a man for his mistakes. Even one so out of order. 10 years?! You kidding me?! You give Weinstein that much, Academy?). 'Neck and Wrist' shining with Pharrell and Jay-Z is obviously the big single that doesn't lie, but how about the B.I.G. lyric on this banger like the fourth of November? "They like,"if BIG was alive, Hov wouldn't be in this position/if BIG had survived, y'all would have got The Commission", Shawn says in yet another lyric to add to his legacy of legendary lines like Jay Electronica's last album. We need new Hov like '4:44' as The Carter mourns and bigs up his brother. All whilst lamenting The Commission and what would have been one of the greatest supergroups of all-time (like his murderous one with Ja Rule and the late, great DMX), let alone the best name for one ever. 'Just So You Remember' like 'Diet Coke' and all the tracks that fizz and bang as soon as they are pulled like the ring. Kiss the finger that wears one as there is a crown to watch on this throne too. You can surely tell the difference between a king and prince. Or what's real and what's Pepsi. Don't misunderstand like Dr. Pepper. But for all the big numbers here, it might be the 'Rock N Roll' with the kids that see ghosts in Kanye and Kid Cudi that really keeps this with music cracking. Or maybe it just really helped me with my last set in the gym. Power bar music like Jeezy, with a great hand on 'Call My Bluff'. Re-upping and getting it for cheap with Chanel expensive raps with Lil Uzi Vert and Don Toliver ('Scrape It Off') and Nigo ('Hear Me Clearly'). But after 'Open Air' airs out the remaining competition like a latched window the final curtain for Def Jam is a classic in the making for all the collaborations here from 'Ye to Jay and Skateboard P in-between. Great British rapper and singer Labrinth bakes up a beautiful chorus like only he can, but on the classic closer 'I Pray For You', Pusha T puts his hands together with his brother Malice one more time. Passing the mic to the pastor. And as Malicious asks, "what did I miss", the chills that go down your spine remind you of the new millennium movie like excitement of rap. The bars that come next in this multiverse, we simply don't want to spoil like a Spider-Man movie. Just heat it up yourselves. They found their way home. In a last contractually obliged album that samples 50 Cent's 'Window Shopper', Rick Ross' 'Free Mason' and Fat Joe's 'Get It Poppin'' amongst some Verzuz verses nothing hits harder on this pure white. If this really is it for Def Jam, how about we push a Clipse reunion for Star Trak? Live long and prosper. It's still not dry. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Brambleton', 'Dreamin' Of The Past (Feat. Kanye West)', 'Rock N Roll (Feat. Kanye West & Kid Cudi)'. 

REVIEW: JACK WHITE - FEAR OF THE DAWN

4/5

Year Of The Detroit Tiger.

Baseball season is upon us and walking to the mound in this Year of the Tiger, Jack White is about to deliver the National Anthem on opening day for the stripes of Detroit's very own MLB franchise. But the piston of vinyl pressed Third Man Records off the assembly line of The White Stripes, Raconteurs and Dead Weather supergroups has another curveball to throw our way. He's about to double-up this year. Pitching and hitting like the best since the Bambino, Babe Ruth, Japan's big Shohei Ohtani, with two albums over the calendar, but not on the same Guns N' Roses day like a Nelly 'Sweatsuit'. First comes 'Fear Of The Dawn', knocking it out of the park on the first day of the season of taking us to the ball game. All before the slowed down, easy like Commodore Sunday morning 'Entering Heaven Alive' will round for home on the 22nd of July. Two days after my birthday...just saying! Music really is sacred for the Cochella speech statesman, swinging for the fence. One who back home spent time retooling not only his sound, but his interior design during lockdown. Forging himself a career in home furnishing during the planets pandemic. IKEA, look out! Not to mention, experimenting with a new look. No longer looking like Michael Jackson in raven curls, or the demon from 'Sinister'. Thank God. After seeing said Ethan Hawke movie I actually didn't want to go to a Jack White gig my friend invited me to, that s### was so scary. "Why not". "Erm...f### him! That's why. I'm just not going. Mind your business." But it's all love like the blue rinse that now gives White a fresh pallet. Albeit still looking a bit like Johnny Depp. But now with the dawn upon us, heaven can wait. You don't have to fear a Jack White planet, especially when the man who played on Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' and made James Bond songs with Alica Keys ('Another Way To Die' from Quantum Of Solace) is going on tribe's called quests with legends that turn in your ear. 'Hi-De-Ho'. 

Spin magazine in an influential interview with the icon spun a story about a White Striped studio session that heard a pop legend a few doors over. Jack was so intrigued he came out of his box and headed towards the door. His knuckles just a finger tip away from rapping on the door when he thought, 'nah'. "Mariah Carey will never go for it." Now for your what could have beens as all we want for Christmas is this collaboration, White is not afraid to ask Q-Tip. Especially after providing instrumental backing to the inspired Tribe return album 'We Got It From Here...Thank You For Your Service'. And on 'Hi-De-Ho', Tip's ad-lib and hip-hop quotables are on point like all the time. Especially with a Cab Calloway introduction. I'm glad Jack dug his jive with The Abstract rapping, "You're the wave, you'rе the rave, the unanimous conclusion/Hurtin' real bad like Stevie Wonder with contusions/It's a guitar chuck comin' from Chuck Berry/Hi-de-high tones, Minnie Rip, Mariah Carey/Olajuwon post moves, LeBron or Embiid/Everybody got it in 'em, find yours and succeed." On fire even referencing Mariah. Singing along with Jack's "find your joy/feel your vibrations/On the highest plain". It's a great tip on an amazing album, whose title track asks us, "When the moon is above you/Does it tell you "I love you" by screaming?/Like when the sun starts to fall/And it's crushing the walls and the ceiling", on a top gun for this Maverick like Cruise finally taking flight this Summer May day.  But 'Taking Me Back' to open proceedings on a rip roaring 'Blunderbuss', 'Lazaretto' and 'Over and Over and Over' and its classic Stripes era video in White blue off 'Boarding House Reach' really brings us right to it, this morning. "When I'm down on the floor/You'll see that no one will notice me/It's breaking my back/Breaking my back/When you drop the mail off to me/And make us both coffee/Are you taking it black?/Are you taking me back?" We are...and we ain't talking about the damn fine coffee. 

Clocking in at 40 minutes exactly, no seconds out for his first of his twin peaks. Fear 'The White Raven' and its omens for your ball and biscuit no more, sugar. "A neutral peace comes from painted pieces/A brutal feast on the tainted beasts and/A white machine gun, a white machine gun/Baby blue grenade, a shade of kelly green machine gun," Jack's 'White Raven' calls. Did he just reference Machine Gun Kelly on this flying rocker? He is raven! So much so. 'Eosophobia' and its raw and ready reprise will scare and stir you like echoes. But before 'Dawn's' 'Dusk', 'Into The Twilight' will really take you into the woods like the creepy, cartoonish, amazing artwork of this album. To the "ba-da-ba's" of The Manhattan Transfer as William S. Borroughs warns us, "when you cut into the present, the future leaks out." Pray you pay heed before another dawn comes from the night darkest. On 'What's The Trick' Jack plays with "two gentlemen of elegant appearance' like Bradley Cooper in Guillermo del Toro's 'Nightmare Alley' noir. Button to button, the White Stripe, Raconteur under dead weather tells us about the two sides like fear, dawn and entry to heaven with 'That Was Then (This Is Now)'. Giving us a lyric to go that may be the line of our times, "when you're looking for love you've got no time to be patient." But before 'Heaven' gets hotter than Stevie this July, the wonder is previewed on the slow down double closer of 'Morning, Noon and Night' and the smoother than silk closer 'Shedding My Velvet' that crushes it whilst I wait for a Third Man record store here in Tokyo, one day and long for the London one after Nashville. Moving away from passive aggressive love that haunts ("Don't have time for martyrs, I don't have time for ghosts/No time for manipulations, what I want the most/Is more time for me and time for you/Is there any way I can sway you to stay for a minute or two?/Yeah/That's what I wanna do"). Hallowed in the name of making more sacred music with this moon night that we would even welcome him at the gates with a trilogy of albums these twelve months. Even when he sheds his blue velvet and his barbershop like suit jacket, we don't want him to shed any sound here to the cutting room floor of his prolific production like a rolling stone on his own songbook for the Motor City part of America. Taking us underground like Warhol pop art, never slipping on the banana, "can't you see/this is the real (he)?" After all, "it's better to illuminate, than merely to shine" and the blue dye is doing this like Japanese neon. All as the pearly lights lift us like a rapture before tomorrow morn. Fear not. Now you've made it through the dawn alive, you're about to enter heaven. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Taking Me Back', 'Hi-De-Ho (Feat. Q-Tip)', 'Shedding My Velvet'. 

REVIEW: RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - UNLIMITED LOVE

4/5

BLACKSUMMERnight. 

Under the bridge of Hollywood boulevard, across the Walk Of Fame, a star is laid for the Red Hot Chili Peppers...and we aren't talking about a movie one. It's going to be a 'Black Summer' tonight like a Maxwell trilogy album over the decade, because after all these years the Chili's are back. Now the guys that took Stevie Wonder covers to 'Higher Ground' in the hills of Californication (dream of it) are still flexing at (almost) 60 in a music video that puts the finger to the throat of the competition like a headless horseman. Screw sailing on a censorship. They're still red hot. These songs in the Kiedis of life are exactly what we need right now after the passing of contemporary college days rock forefathers, the Foo Fighters' beloved drummer Taylor Hawkins. One so good on the skins you don't even need the Nirvana of Dave Grohl, less it was your 'Cold Day In The Sun'. And yet all the world is talking about in Hollywood is a slap in the face that truly hit everyone around the world between a Rock (a great friend of this band) and the hard place the former Fresh Prince Of Bel Air now finds himself in. We need this right now like a 'Parallel Universe' in these Doctor Strange days. Re-enter John Frusciante through the doors. Back for the first time since 2006's 'Stadium Arcadium' double for another. Reminding us of that incredible tune were we took the pain from the 'Scar Tissue' of freebasing and turned it into the slow grind of two back-to-back, new millennium classic LP's, 'Californication' and 'By The Way'. A sublime solo artist in his own right (from 'Shadows Collide With People', to 'The Enclosure' and so many, many more albums just as (underground) classic as the ones with his fellow bandsmen). But it's so good to have him back 'Around The World' touring. With all due respect to the gracious and great Josh Klinghoffer who said 'I'm With You' like the Jane's Addiction of Dave Navarro for 'One Hot Minute'. Seamlessly becoming a part of the blend in dear John's stead. Josh's highlight including harmonising with Keidis across the 'Dark Necessities' of 'The Getaway' as a gang of girls skateboarded through the iconic Los Angeles storm drains like a Terminator too, to the tune of a classic video from 'Booksmart' Olivia Wilde. But now with Frusciante back in this shindig, these hot ones can't stop. 

No limit like Master P, 'Love Unlimited' is the brand new grand return on the double. Summer is on the horizon...and it could be a black one as Kiedis raps, introducing the lead single and their first in six years, "A lazy rain am I/The skies refuse to cry/Cremation takes its piece of your supply/The night is dressed like noon/A sailor spoke too soon/And China's on the dark side of the moon." Adding "my Greta weighs a tonne"  for Thunberg to the poetic lyrics of his own American songbook like no other. With more tangents in the margins that are all tied together across the yellow legal pad lines. All as the shirtless act, hands off cocks, on socks, shred and style in seasoned muscular monuments across videos of these Los Angeles times like that (then) before its time video game video or the flat circles of the highways McConaughey's 'True Detective' hammered home like a crushed beer tin. Tattooed like the broad shoulders of Anthony's native spirit. 'These Are The Ways', "when you come from America/The sights, the sounds, the smells", he sings on the second single released at the same time as the album and movie motel like music video on the run from the law the day they hit the streets of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After 'Summer' opens things like a 'Dani California' comes the 'Here Ever After' in all its atmospheric feel like the bands Cali' riding aesthetic. Taking us under the bridge again with the poetic beauty to counter the brutality of addiction, "Wet my beak and I give it up to that drugstore nose/So unique and I live it up 'til that liquor store close/In the laundry, queen ballistic/Mangy face with the messed up lipstick/My thing is blacked out loco/Smoke and tears, now take my photo", 'Acid For The Children' memoir writer Flea's bass moving overtime like his namesake on an unwashed dog. Having their day again, trumpet these Chili Peppers that are hot again, no chill, red. It's the kind of 'Aquatic Mouth Dance' to rinse around from one of the greatest American acts like Santa Monica Pier at the end of Route 66 for this drive. "Give me the love and I'll tell you when I want to come/Give me the love and I'll tell you when I want to run", this sets standout sings in a beautiful ballad that shows this raw riff ready act that blends genres like a purple Prince know when to slow it down like the snow of 'Hey, Oh'. 

But Imagine Peace like a 'War Is Over' black and white like billboard (if you want) across the world from New York's Times Square to London's Piccadilly Circus, standing with the Ukraine as our 'Poster Child' like a Liverpool Lennon, Keidis sings "you've got the best of my Yoko" on a tacked up track that is similar to his signature style like 'Anchorman' Will Ferrell is to sticksman Chad Smith laying the perfect beat on the skin. Try and take a breath like reading one of these lines in full as you sing along for a man whose moustache is rivalling a Magnum. Feeling lucky like an Eastwood on this Westside, punk! No fools this April 1st release day like King James joking he's done for the season. These Laker superfans who once wrote a 'Salute To Kareem' and a dedication to 'Magic Johnson' are in 'Winning Time' once again, even if their purple and gold brethren are not (we still have hope, no joke). It's still, Showtime like the Apollo somewhere in Hollywoodland as 'The Great Apes' make moviemaking music on this planet. Damn the dirty talk! 'It's Only Natural', like how love and people "will show you how to break it down". Oh and that Frusciante guitar for the red stars like a Rolling Stone logo lick. 'She's A Lover' and this band of brothers who are anything but fighters, perfect the slow jazz rock with a hip-hop flow. 'Whatchu Thinkin'' ("I got these things in mind, you know/South Dakota, show the buffalo/In the Black Hills you could find it all.")? They were done? Nah! Seconds out. These beautiful 'Bastards Of Light' are ready to set the city of angels on fire like the neon of the futuristic skyline. All the way to the 'White Braids and Pillow Chair' of the morning after and a "tangled tiger" that want to "rip it all to shreds." It's the kind of 'One Way Traffic' that's has given these Peppers a taste and sound like no other. And it's the empathetic dedication to 'Veronica' in first-person that really goes deeper as Anthony sings, "My name is Veronica/I come from the South Side of Chicago/Remember my raincoat/We love you the same way, and/My life is a rope swing/Always headin' back to from where I came/Got no need to blame you." It's the kind of devotion that leaves not a dry eye in the house like the late, great Meatloaf once rocked. And 'Let 'Em Cry' does the same, before 'The Heavy Wing' flies with lyrics like, "Death to rise/Subtraction of advice/The criminal ties of my rival/And I'll roll these dice/Cold supply/Scraping to get by/Blatantly flooding the low rise/And I'll throw this knife." But through all this introspective influence, they is a necessity in this time, the classic closer of 'Tangelo' will make sure we're not tangled up in blue like Dylan. Because there's no, no limits. Now that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are back with Frusciante and legendary, prolific producer Rick Rubin behind the boards they really have no ceiling like a Fun Lovin' Criminals 'Love Unlimited' (you know the time Huey Morgan said, "Barry White, saved my life") backwards. After the rollercoaster they've been on from the Beavis and Butthead MTV generation to this Tik Tok one now in father time like 'Bron, it's still all love. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Black Summer', 'Not The One', 'These Are The Ways'. 

REVIEW: BAND OF HORSES - THINGS ARE GREAT

4/5

All The Pretty Horses. 

How you doing? Nah, I'm not pulling a Joey Tribbiani, I'm seriously asking. I want to know. It's been a tough 2020. Wait...what do you mean it's two years later!? I know it's felt long, but seriously?! We're still a long way from escaping this lockdown. Two Christmases and still not home. But still, we shall overcome and we will get through this together. Meanwhile Seattle, Washington's own Band Of Horses for their sixth signature album are telling us 'Things Are Great'. And the coffee house favourites like their native Starbucks aren't needling us like their cities iconic, skyscraping landmark. The beautiful band and it's Lincoln bearded leader always give us a picturesque view of nature for their amazing album art. 'Everything All The Time', 'Cease To Begin', 'Infinite Arms', 'Mirage Rock' and their last album back in 2016 'Why Are You OK' (hun). But in times of quarantine for 'Great', they give us the most compelling look of their own drive in the suburbs. Cars piled up almost on the lawn for this studio session at a distance from the industry. And coming home, it's one of vivid vocalist Ben Bridwell and his band of steeds, most beautiful and brooding best yet.

Father of the unbridled. From the opening 'Warning Sign', it's clear they're still here, even with a new look. Don't worry, Ben hasn't shaved. This new band of brothers features Matt Gentling and Ian McDougall. Going through changes like Brandon Flowers' boys, but taking it back to their roots and making a killing. Singing, "Small talk with a registered nurse/Not to cry in front of people at work/Well that’s hard, hard, hard, at times you know/Get reminded of the earlier days/The end of April ’78/That was a long, long, long, long time ago." Just like 2020. Yet it's the 'Crutch' of the lead single that really picks up. Even if the past two have left us feeling like we're on one leg. The lines, "Not, not a long time ago when I knew all the answers/I couldn't pace myself or raise my standards/But one can hope, you need to know", feeling like the ones we're all drawing collectively together and apart from ourselves. Like each other at a more than social distance. For this world at war amongst the planets pandemic. It's a 'Tragedy Of The Commons' like "Feel the emptiness of creature comforts/I want some I want some/You’ve always gone/You’re never here/It’s hard to smile from ear to ear/Babe, I’m dog tired, can I cancel it all?/The hate train, pray that it crashes/Jaded chattering of neo-fascists/The clatter of the ever-warring classes/So we chose to look within/Off my rocker with the rest of them/The relatives we’ll never see again." I guess things aren't as great as expected, or advertised. But this tragedy like the will to start again is something we all have in common, if we'd just come together like the Beatles said love is all you need. 'In The Hard Times' that's all we need, staying in the sauce. "And everything has changed/Wait up wait another day/You’ll be coming around again/Shameful heavy-hearted/And reasons not to give in/Remembering now and then." We're all 'In Need Of Repair' like John Mayer once sang. "Stayin' friends is really fantastic/We'll be together from the cradle to the casket," Bridwell offers bridled.

In the 'Aftermath' like Dr. Dre and friends performing at the Superbowl show, at this album's halftime the band offer us a Hail Mary. Atmospheric over the whispers of growling guitars, harmonising, "I brought you back/Lost myself and you in the aftermath/Then what’s worse than that/That was falling asleep dead in the bath/Then the morning brought a scare/Holding a child falling down the stairs/Say what’s that over there/It’s the baby and me tumbling down the stairs/If I could say to you/It’s been a while, spend the afternoon/I got you back/I lost myself in the aftermath/Fought me through panic attacks/Cut me down I’m suffering the wrath." The tracks of these tears on this track may just lead us to the bands best lyrical recital yet for the record. It's these 'Lights' and this single that will show you the way to a new one for yourself. "Swept up all the charcoal dust for the fingerprints/Maybe under the wrong impression/So we had things that they want, all the items ya bought/Hey what you wanna know, two detectives on the patio/Hey, can the lights turn off, lights turn off ." Folk anthemic for all you Mumford's and all your sons. It's a nice night we're having hey?! Excuse me...an 'Ice Night We're Having'. In the cold of this Winter that's no longer coming like a 'Game Of Thrones', but rolling for us and this rock act. "Educated dropout living in a vacation home/I guess you never know when the wheels will fall off/He’s a happy old fella in a short sleeve shirt/Telling us stories of when he was at work/He’s barking louder, tales get taller every time he does." Storytelling like the diaries banded together beside the bed of their childhood home. Where the heart and the soul of these sessions are like "sleeping in the car" or "living on the floor." A new beat is hit and welcome on 'You Are Nice To Me' for a man who admits, "I shouldn't fight it, it's been a hell of a hard climb." But as the fingers still did in, like to the chords of the classic closer that keeps us closer, 'Coalinga'. It's worth the fight, like this Californian city in Fresno County worth the visit. Putting it on the map like Bon Iver and dedications including, "The first of days, on our way/Towards the biggest stage of the western states/At the Thunderbird Lodge the creeping resident gives a strong salute/Not the best shoes for shingles though/ Things are great, yeah things are great/In a cow s### smelling hellhole called Coalinga." Alright...maybe not exactly putting this roadside on the map. But just like things aren't so great (yet), more, so, so. There's still beauty to be had (have you tried Victorville for a welcome break?). And things are slowly getting that way towards the better. Wild horses couldn't drag us away from that. Now band together, brothers. These guys have, as the light shines from their home. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Crutch', 'Aftermath', 'Coalinga'.

REVIEW: DOLLY PARTON - RUN ROSE RUN

4/5

Kiss From A Rose. 

'Christmas On The Square' last yuletide season, feels like just an eve ago. But it's March already. Madness! We're almost a quarter of our way through the year and it won't be long before were "cutting down trees" and "putting up reindeer" like Joni Mitchell sang down the 'River' for the most underrated festive feeling song and stream (although not Spotify, as she stands with Neil Young as the 'Harvest' does all of us) this side of Springsteen's American dream. Or for that matter tuning into Parton's testimonial of a traditional festive fairytale from Dollywood. One we still can't believe came as far back as the decades seemingly ago 2020 year of quarantine. Let alone the fact that last Christmas was more than mere months ago. But locking it down in the studio, life goes on as we get back to work this new year like 9 to 5. And in the great American songbook, one of the land of the free's greatest from Nashville, Tennessee has never looked better in a cowboy hat, checked shirt and blue jeans. Complete with a stetson over those signature blonde bombshell curls and her trusty guitar. All as the Nashville skyline Dylan once wrote an album about sets in the background with the sun. Yep, that's right. Dolly is back with 'Run Rose Run' before she co-authors her first novel of the same name with 'Alex Cross' legend James Patterson. All as the 'Jolene' singer will take your tapping feet like that muse did her man.

On the blooming opening of 'Run', Dolly Parton won't stop, singing, "When you find yourself in a mess of trouble/Trapped amongst the trash and rubble/Prayin' for relief but gettin' none/You wanna start your life anew/You just don't know exactly how to/Find your opportunity and run." Just try and tell me our meaning doesn't need a message like this right now. Because it's these dreams that make for the new American anthem for the country of 'Big Dreams and Faded Jeans' that's trying to keep its bootcut work honest, whilst some are disappearing like washed denim. "Put on my jeans, my favorite shirt/Pull up my boots and hit the dirt/Finally doin' somethin' I've dreamed of for years/Don't know quite what to expect/A little scared, but what the heck/My desire is always greater than my fear/Big dreams and faded jeans/Fit together like a team/Always busting at the seams/Big dreams and faded jeans/Just my ol' guitar and me/Out to find my destiny Nashville is the place to be/For big dreams and faded jeans." Inspirationally and lyrically, this one just works like your favourite outfit. Put on your best dress and step out in big boots made for Nancy Sinatra strollin' and run from your 'Demons'. As Parton parts with past pain, singing with Ben Haggard, "I’ve been fighting demons most of my life/So fighting with you makes no sensе/I need some heaven, and I’vе had enough hell/I’m an expert in pain and torment/So if you can’t be with me, then please just dismiss me/I guess when it’s all said and done/We’ve all had our demons/I guess I was dreamin’ to think we could fight them as one." 'Driven' for  more and the perfect soundtrack scoring the road of this Tennessee highway or the one of your own heart. All before the tragic songbook storytelling of a 'Blue Bonnet Breeze' amongst these wind chimes. Reminding you to be aware of the 'Snakes In The Grass' and that, "You’d better move fast/You’ll be poisoned or be strangled to death/Their fangs, they bit deep/And their venom will creep/Inside you ’til you’re gasping for breath."

So cut the grass and the snakes will show as Jay-Z once said on the second 'Blueprint' ("I got to thank my homie Nas for that though.") and dust yourself off as Dolly vows to 'Woman Up (And Take It Like A Man)'. Woman, I feel like some Shania Twain empowerment as the gold standard of country icon status with a crown and throne even Taylor couldn't touch (yet) tells us, "I’m gonna woman up and take it like a man/I’m gonna buckle up, be tough enough/To take control and make demands/Look like a woman, think like a man/Be as good as or better than/Gotta woman up and take it like a man", tells us for the new national anthem like Lana Del Rey's 'Blue Jeans' in the land of faded dreams, coming back awake for the malaise of your weary eyes. 'Firecracker' is car chase music turned all the way up, pedal to metal as the strings of these scorched violins could even start fireworks with the blaze they're about to make from the heat of their friction. But tell me, is there a better whisper than the beautiful ballad of 'Secrets'. "Just know your safe with me" she reassures in reflective messages. "Secrets, you’re good at keeping secrets/Especially your own/You’re not alone/And you’ll feel much better if you try/To put some faith in you and I/I don’t gossip, I don’t lie/Try me Secrets, I’m good at keepin’ secrets/Especially my own." Straight out of Dollywood, this is why like Prince's Paisley Park, this legend has a whole arena of an area named after her. 'Lost and Found' with Josh Nichols for her own vault. Bringing more meaning to subtly searing lyrics like, "Lost count of all the countless things/I’ve lost throughout the years/Lost friends and time and interest in/The things I should hold dear/Lost sleep just pondering the things/That have been lost to me/Especially the loss of love/I’ve need desperately." Bringing Amazing Grace to the organs of this hands together recital. All for the 'Dark Night' of a 'Bright Future' darkest before the dawn, if you just know how to begin again. "Forgiveness is a magic wand, makes things disappear/Kindness wipes away regret, hope can conquer fear/Tenderness, a soothing balm, healing wounds and scars/Love says we can start anew right from where we are," devotions, declared from the heart will help. And as the beautiful 'Love Or Lust' over stirring strings and powerful piano brings this all to a close, Rose. Asking, "Love or lust/Do we doubt, do we trust?/Whatever it is, it’s stronger than us." We know what it is. It's love. Don't run. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Big Dreams and Faded Jeans', 'Blue Bonnet Breeze', 'Secrets'.

REVIEW: RZA & DJ SCRATCH - SATURDAY AFTERNOON KUNG FU THEATRE

4/5

Razor Scratch.

Saturday afternoon is alright for still knowing kung-fu. In the theatre of Wu-Tang Clan leader, The RZA's mind, he's back fighting his alter-ego Bobby Digital like he was actor Bokeem Woodbine in the 'Birth Of A Prince' 'Chi-Kung' black and white classic video back in 2003 like a legendary martial arts movie. But this time in setting the scene he's backed by legendary Puff Daddy, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest collaborator DJ Scratch on the ones and twos. On 'Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theatre's' title track for its scratched up artwork in black and Lakers purple and gold for the grill, the Razor raps, "Ayo I could take a rain drop/Turn it to an icicle/Pull off in that blue escalade/You still rockin’ tricycles/Michael Myers mask on my face/Copper filtered in N-95 edition boy/I’m a virus killa/Try to quarantine me/My chi increase like Akira/Money coming in the mail/I got cheese like quesadilla/You’re generic prosthetic pathetic/Your rap is too synthetic/You can’t cope with me kiddo/This is verbal athletics/Thirty-six/Pressure points we choose/Hit that fatal Aikido blow/tae-kwon-do/Whirlwind kicks, tornadoes." Judging from today's special on the opening of this rap menu with plenty of Scratch for your itch, it may be a short fight between the Wu's head honcho and Bob Digi. But seconds out, wait for the 'Pugilism' as these two parts of the same men take to the ring like Ali and Frazier.

Foreman haymakers come across punching piano over those classic Shaolin style samples. "Shaolin kung-fu, Wu-Tang pugilist. Yellow blue diamonds, black Buddah beads circle wrist/ You attack me from the back...that was foolishness/We move together as one like a school of fish/ Poison needle shot you tried to block. It went through your wrist/18 low hand stance this is laughing Buddah fist/Butterfly knifes lighting strike like a cumulous/Overthrow your quote, trap your throat like tuberculosis/2020 quarantine I developed perfect focus." Now you know what RZA has been doing during this planets pandemic. Locking it down in the studio. The man behind 'Tearz' and eyes so heavy 'I Cant Go To Sleep' brings even more evoking emotion on the standout 'Never Love Again'. "I could choosе to lose sleep for a week for it/Like we was made to do it I'm not afraid to do it/Pssh I do it for free/She gets paid to do it but/Vinny never really spends a penny on any/Why should he when they have so many/Laverna, Sherly, Thelma, or Penny/Mork Or Mindy, Louie or Fendi? Gucci or pucci?/Genie or lucy?/Her nose twinkle like bewitch/Not a wrinkle or a glitch like Smith and James/I wanted to get hitched/But then everything switched/Marilyn Monroe the 7 year itch/Tssh life can be a bitch." Word to Nas. The scribes of raps underrated GOAT in front of its greatest group is back to his storytelling best in this moviemaking 'Kung Fu Theatre'. And the 'Fate Of The World' and a Wu-Tang is for the children training video is in his hands. "All praises due to Allah/Respect to all my Christian brothers out there/All my synagogue brothers/All my haire krishna’s/Let’s build together/Let’s go Left, right come together/Left, right come together (Let’s get ’em)/Left, right come together (Let’s bring some light to it)/Put your hands up, Wu Tang is forever." It's the new anthem.

Forever ever, as the RZA warns and heeds for change, "A thousand years of darkness/The world got struck with sorrow/Hollow be thy name/We need a better tomorrow. Fishing for one like Hemingway's 'Old Man and The Sea' or Yukio Mishima's 'Sailor Who Fell From Grace and the Sea' on the bell tolling 'Fisherman'. Looking for samples from the same sea as Larry David, or Snoop Dogg getting his 'Crip Your Enthusiasm' on as the Superbowl halftime show star pulls the switch on chairing his new Death Row ownership. "No one knows for whom the bell tolls/Or how many souls does the hell hold/You find a soul it's more precious than gold/Some get bought, some get lost, some sold," he gives as prophecy like the omen. And treat this rap God's words as gospel on these seven seals. Because tracking this monster of a first part as we await the sequel with Scratch, it all ends with the roar of a 'Kaiju' like Godzilla in the Far East of Tokyo, Japan. Robert Diggs digging in his self Godzilla versus King of New York like Kong face off in this formidable finale, with a stunning sample of a classic chorus. Singing, "mosura ya mosura/Dongan kasakuyan indo muu/Rusuto uiraandoa, hanba hanbamuyan, randa banunradan/Tounjukanraa." Curtains calling whilst one of raps best producers with the genres most prolific pugilist on the turntables behind him goes nuclear. "Horrific beings from the rim of the Pacific/Ina cave of Monster Island they found two hand sized midgets/Appeared to defy the laws of physics/But at closer observation the mathematics added to a unknown digit/Pi times Radius Square by the golden ratio/Rza rector riding the back of Monster Zero/The rise of a kaiju from a sea that's inside you." Rectifying the game, the RZA is back for the first solo (ish) time since 2008's 'Digi Snacks'. And judging from this part and the one DJ Scratch plays this weekend in this afternoon of Kung-Fu for your theatre. We can't wait for Saturday night like Elton John fighting. Try this Wu-Tang style. The chambers are loaded. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Pugilism', 'Never Love Again', 'Kaiju'.

SONG FOR THE MOMENT: HAIM - LOST TRACK

4/5

Pizza Delivery. 

PTA announcement. The classic California connection collaboration between the family friends of the best band in the world (yeah, I said it) Haim and master 'Magnolia' and 'Phantom Thread' director Paul Thomas Anderson (to 1970's California what 'The French Dispatch' director Wes Anderson is to the weird and wonderful) is back for a 'Lost Track' based on a lyric that lingered in Danielle Haim's mind like a cranberry finger or folded song in your back pocket. PTA and the sisterhood of Haim, the former Valley 'Valentine's' who used to cut extended studio takes together like there was 'Something To Tell You' have turned the viral music video back into an art form in this post-MTV generation. All for the best album of the quarantined and locked down year of 2020, 'Women In Music Pt. III' for all you wimps. It all sax started like a "doo, doo" Lou Reed. Walking on the wild side of downtown Los Angeles for the slow burning 'Summer Girl' anthem. Before cooling off in the car wash, coming out after a big break-up, 'Now I'm In It'. Then the real 'Hallelujah' came with an artistic hail Mary right before coronavirus crippled the calendar and pushed back Haim's schedule. Let alone their Hollywood music videos. Improvising themselves for a socially distant dance tutorial on a backyard basketball court for 'I Know Alone'. All before going for a footrace that Este won handily around the parking lot of the former home of the Los Angeles Lakers, the coliseum of the Great Western Forum. As the album finally dropped PTA reunion returned like a lost relative in this pandemic for the album cover like deli shop of 'Man From The Magazine' for all you "c###s!" But that wasn't it. Extra! Extra! Read all about it! 

W Mag is as stylish as they come when it comes to high press. And recently on an award tour it's been promoting this seasons stars in a collection of creative ways for your consideration. Alana Haim has gone From Baby Haim to arguably now the most famous face of this big-three. Thanks to the Oscar nominated 'Licorice Pizza' directed by Mr. Anderson. "I'm going to put you in a movie one day" PT told the youngest Haim. Little did Alana know that her powerful performance would be worthy of nomination amongst the legendary likes of Jessica Chastain ('The Eyes Of Tammy Faye') and music majesty, reborn as a movie star, Lady Gaga ('House Of Gucci'). And in her first movie too, like her co-star Cooper Hoffman as Gary Valentine. Son of the late, great and friend of Paul, Philip of 'The Master' fame. Worthy of all the proase too, even if he can't pronounce Barbara Streisand's name right in front of a glib and Gibb looking Bradley Cooper. Hey I'm guilty of that too. This sweet slice is no extended Haim video. Alana is amazing and a matter of fact the PTA, Haim videos themselves are almost like mini-movies. And the pure magic of the latest one, may be the best yet. Following their 'Cherry Flavoured Stomach Ache' from 'The Last Letter From Your Lover' for Netflix's soundtrack. A lost track about losing track of things like time, down the line. Turning a cut that could have been a B-Side into one of their best yet from the beginnings of its seventies LA, atmospheric keys. All the way to its burning playing card for these Queen of hearts with quite a hand to play.

Southern California shooting portrait pictures of these sisters for the magazine feature, Thomas Anderson decided to film a music video for this 'Lost Track' that really feels like something honed from Hollywood land's bygone era. Not cut together in one cool afternoon in the hills. Decked out in the finest phantom threads taking to the linoleum in a function room with the only group of women that can cut a rug better than these three that once shut down the roads of these City Of Angels just to tell someone they wanted them back like a Jackson 5 family affair. These steps belong to the knockout 'Balboa Ladies Society' at the Annual Balboa Gold Rush, hitting exactly that paydirt as Danielle dances inbetween them like a cipher. Skirt hiking and foot stomping or the beat. As this Dani California knocks over glasses and pushes rudely between her sisters. Doing it for herself like the time she poured coffee all over the customers counter between half-smiles and scolding scowls on 'Now I'm In It'. This Fashion Bazaar formulated by Paul Thomas Anderson is just the ticket, like taking your best dress out the plastic and off the dry cleaning rack. Honouring the San Fernando Valley women and their 1950's social club activities. In a shower of flowers and weddings all for Baby. Teeing off in Balboa's golf course restaurant and swinging big like today's special. Between Monterey and Encino, this is a banquet featuring a whole host of family and friends. Including Anderson's partner, comedy actor showstopper Maya Rudolph (did you see Minnie Riperton's daughter rip it up to the delight of Bill Murray in Sofia Coppola's Carlyle quarantined like a Park Hyatt, Tokyo 'Lost In Translation', as she begegd you to please come home for 'A Very Murray Christmas'?) and their daughter Pearl Anderson. Anderson and Alan's sisters all have a piece of 'Pizza' too. Making this licorice rope reaching video all the more amazing in its aesthetic, traditional texture and bonds of beautiful family feeling. All as Danielle sings, "Deepest cut that I can’t feel/Found a grip on the steering wheel/I know a piece’s stuck/You can sit down if you don’t mind me standin’ up (Mind me standin’ up)/I know I was too good to pass (Too good to pass)/So me and you caused a chain reaction (Chain reaction)/I’ll take the smallest crumb/But I’ll never get back what I lost track of." Taking the classic microphone and running around with these socialites on this grand parade. This isn't an old song reheated the next morning like pizza. It's the red rope of something that really pulls as you snap take a bite out of it. When lost tracks become found, the song you wear on your heart like the gamble of three Queens becomes your greatest gambit. And the winners are. Check the envelope propped up next to the flower arrangement place setting. The seat at the table is theirs to dance around like musical chairs. They're in their own Academy now. TIM DAVID HARVEY.