REVIEW: HAIM-WOMEN IN MUSIC PART III

4/5

Independent Women Pt. III.

'Summer Girl' your 'Women In Music' are back for Part III (or the awesomely abbreviated 'WIMPIII') like a child of destiny. A calendar after that iconic saxophone stalked the Hollywood Boulevard streets of Los Angeles to the "do, da, do, do, do's" that 'Walk On The Wild Side' with Lou Reed as hauntingly as the heartbreaking fact that Lana Del Rey (she has a new, last year, 'Norman F###### Rockwell' following album coming out this Summer too girl. Like this following the roots return of both Norah Jones' 'Pick Me Up Off The Floor' last week and Lady Gaga's pure pop art of 'Chromatica' last month) too late flew on a red eye to record 'Brooklyn Baby' with Lou Reed the night the late legend passed away. Which makes the almost identical, impersonating backing vocals of the said Black Keys produced track even more haunting now. Now if you thought that and the change clothes, hot in here video directed by family friend and 'Punch Drunk Love's' Paul Thomas Anderson was iconic than check this phantom thread out my magnolia's.  Just like the studio stripped down 'Valentine' special of 'Right Now', 'Nothing's Wrong' and 'Something To Tell You' off the album of the same name from 'The Master' director that shows the power of these women who can all chop and change (like their live show equal stage holding. Or even the in sync NPR 'Tiny Desk (Home) Concert', perfectly in time, quarantined in other houses...let alone living rooms like 'Forever') and play even more instruments than the men that got paid ten times as much as them on what should have been an equal billing festival bill, right now, right now. Just wait until you hear the rest or this anticipated album of the year a year and change after Maggie Rogers', 'Heard It In A Past Life' classic became 2019's right in January, despite King Princess and her 'Cheap Queen' fall challenge for a generation of girl power. One for these Spice Girls Stans that was already a California classic like every leaf brown when we first heard that horn for your grey skies my mamas and papas. The sax hasn't sounded this sexy since Michael Hutchence told us they could 'Never Tear Us Apart' with INXS in Prague. Six pre-release diverse and definitive tracks (on an album so good half of them now are as a bonus) have sealed this fate and P.T.A. has directed a fantastic four of these videos as Haim and the 'There Will Be Blood' director drink your milkshake (now look out for that Easter Egg movie buffs). Complete with that confident and knowing look from Danielle breaking all kinds of walls. At the car wash there was the waitress to black dress costume change, shades, pink telephone and stretcher faint recovery of the lonely club hopping and bed generations, 'Now I'm In It'. A clever camera trick 'Hallelujah' rope pulled you in, sitting in the air sans chair as hauntingly beautiful as Buckley. One that pointed to putting these Valley girls names in bright lights for this cinematic curtain call. But the sisterhood of Haim weren't done like, "three hearts, one mind" and returned with Mr. Anderson for this music matrix with 'The Steps' of an angsty blood and lipstick drum roll that pre-COVID spat toothpaste and the bitter taste of a toxic ex at the bathroom mirror. But then like crawling all over their bathroom sink, after throwing everything at this record including the kitchen one, COVID-19 happened to a heartbreaking 2020 that should have been roaring again like Gatsby, but instead was tragic like Kobe and GiGi and what's happening right now as we tweet and take to the street about how Black Lives Matter. But still even quarantined in concert and lockdown dance lessons, corona couldn't even stop these sisters as they offer Zoom classes in learning the steps of their greatest hits. Which even has this writer in the Far East of Japan dancing in his loving room at 4 in the morning in unison and wondering why he's still single. The first being their social isolation anthem 'I Know Alone' (actually wrote before the pandemic but perfectly placed now like Norah Jones' 'Pick Me Up' Target bonus bullseye, 'Tryin' To Keep It Together') and its brilliant and creative 'Don't Save Me' like Basketball court video in the backyard backed at a ballplayer six feet apart distance. Head in hands, almost homaging P.T.A's 'Anima' underground musical film with Radiohead's Thom Yorke. Bored scrolling through phones like a zombified treadmill, before the pace picks up perfectly. And how about the bass for your face latest of the pure pop of 'Don't Wanna' from a big three as versatile and therefore criminally underrated as multiple bandsman across town, Ben Harper? Danielle believes if they didn't dance they would maybe get more respect from their male peers. I say f### all that. Their instrumental and iconic whilst those hating instead of BTS STANdoming are has beens already anyway. And whilst we're at it you can save it and face with those Este (like the Brits, call me?) memes and jokes. Anyone that puts that much muscular devotion into their instrument and sound because they love it so feels music much more than anyone taking it lightly does. Besides those people could probably never make anyone make that kind of face anyway if they really want to get that crass (does that answer your question misogynistic 'Man From The Magazine' for a track as making a point good as Lenny Kravitz's 'Mr. Cab Driver'?). Not that it's about that. Besides it actually looks as cool as f###. Forever in love with the faces she makes. "We've both woke up in strangers beds", Danielle Haim sings on the relationship on a rocks with a twist song as all sorts of loneliness is delved into on this album for the summertime sadness record. From quarantining, to finally coming back out at night like a once 'Mellon Collie' with the 'Infinite Sadness' Smashing Pumpkin for another shot. We're in it now. 

Order up like the "now serving 69", tongue in all sorts of cheeks, iconic Anderson delicatessen album artwork that almost turned into a tour of delis like Katz before COVID that's now going to go virtual. We haven't seen this many pre-album single hits like this for years. 'Falling', 'Forever', 'The Wire', 'Don't Save Me', 'My Song 5', 'Go Slow', 'Let Me Go', 'Running If You Call My Name' and the album-titled, 'Days Are Gone'. 'Want You Back', 'Nothing's Wrong', 'Little Of Your Love', 'Found It In Silence', 'Walking Away', 'Right Now', 'Night So Long' and the album-titled 'Something To Tell You' (look let's be real. We wanted to name all tracks off both albums. Whose setting off these fireworks with all these bangers?). 'Pray To God' like Calvin Harris for a Shania Twain cover that does impress us much, Haim's albums bring a powerhouse of perfect playlist picks longer than Paul Thomas Anderson's straw. But nothing drinks quite like this that will bring everyone to the yard or the Hollywood bowl and California desert once that and Cochella opens back up like don't dance so close to me. With L.A. on her mind and an LGBT cinema cap on Danielle sings, "Peer around the corner at you/From over my shoulder I need you/I need you to understand/These are the earthquake drills that we ran/Under the freeway overpasses/The tears behind your dark sunglasses/The fears inside your heart as deep as gashes/You walk beside me, not behind me/Feel my unconditional love," on the scorching 'Summer Girl'. Before going through the car wash of Saturday night to Sunday morning cleansing and singing, "Locking all the doors to my house/I'm alone in my head/But I wish you were in my bed/Can't get a read on myself/Gotta change this situation/Something in the way that I felt when I woke up/Told me that I shouldn't give in, give up hope/Told me that I shouldn't fight what I felt/Told me I should not let go," the depression recovery solidarity that will help you find your way even if it's been a minute. Just like 'The Steps' of telling someone, "everytime I think I've been taking the steps/you get mad at me for a mess/I can't understand/why you don't understand me." The hurt meets healing on 'Hallelujah' as Alana Haim laments the loss of, "a best friend but she has come to pass/One I wish I could see now/You always remind me that memories will last/These arms reach out/You were there to protect me like a shield/Long hair running with me through the field/Everywhere you've been with me all along", as these sisters keepers harmonize about meeting an "angel but in disguise," since '95. "Why me?" But for these 'Days Are Gone' siblings, "days get slow like counting cell towers on the road" as they are no stranger to solitude like the rest of us too, as Danielle Haim from her car and full glove compartment sings, "'Cause nights turn to days/They turn to grey/Keep turning over/Some things never grow/I know alone like no one else does." That's why sometimes you end up in the "strangers bed" of the last single, 'Don't Wanna' that talks about the all too familiar feeling of, "don't know what I mean to you/dont know what to say to you". You may not get the feelings of those that left you riding solo, but this holy trinity of a heaven sent big-three will help you understand the hurt as they too like shouting all the words to the Canyon girl Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now' know alone. 

HAIMsters what more could you expect from the threes most personal and prolific project yet? How can this not be a Californian classic like Best Coast and their latest greatest this year ('Always Tomorrow') when this album hip-hop drum snaring opener is called 'Los Angeles' like the Lakers, as Henry Solomon's signature 'Summer' sax returns like a reverse reprise? But caught in the smog of La La Land like a city of coughing stars it's not all Randy Newman in the City of Angels for these sisters are searching for a "miracle" like being stuck in the towns notorious gridlock as "sometimes I speed down Crescent Heights/I can hardly feel it runnin' every light". But still for these Valley sisters, "New York is cold/I tried the Winter there once (nope)". These L.A. women open the doors to even more 'Gasoline', igniting fender to bumper like the cinematic opening to Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's said movie. And this is worthy of a great American soundtrack with bold as love, beautiful lyrics like,"we're watching the sunrise from the kitchen counter/when you lie in between my legs, it doesn't matter" (man I miss being in love). After the drill siren of an alarm wakes them 'Up From A Dream' for two back-to-back like Magic California chill tracks for your Venice boardwalk from these Queens that are still Chili Pepper hot by the way. Dreaming of Californication has never sounded so good, even zoning at '3AM'. Picking up the phone for you know what. But 'Another Try' answers the call for an album that is soaked in as much lamenting loneliness like the Hollywood city of angels when the wings turn in for night as it is sunshine amongst the stars. "You take care of us/When I make this tough/Because it takes all I got/Not to f### this up", Danielle sings on the beautifully honest 'Leaning On You'. Because records like the raw and beat served hard, 'I've Been Down' take depression head on and headstrong for these incredible young artists who have found their true selves and sound over years of compelling maturation in both style and substance for an act who have always sounded as real as it gets, yet nothing right now comes quite as close to this. 'All That Ever Mattered' is screamingly scary good, breaking into the best riff of the set. Whilst on the f##### up but true, 'FUBT' and its beautiful bass Danielle sings this lyric, "I spend my mornings overthinking all my old mistakes/But I would never judge your problems in the same way." Now have you ever heard a line that describes the anxiety of our modern day relationship with others and ourselves more plainly in an album that tells this generation of their audience that there is nothing wrong with vulnerability? No overthinking required on this one...even from a man like me. Even if the debate for the albums best riff just got amp reinvigorated. Just like the steps of what's your favourite track from these summer girls now we're in it again walking to that beat on Instagram like knowing alone. But right now at this very moment one thing has no contest. Best band alive. This is women in music wimps! After a dynamic debut and surviving and striving the sophomore slump, the third times the charm for these three. And judging from their discography catalogue it's only going to be more of a grower over time. California classic after California classic. Album of the Summer. Album of the year. Album of their career. "Now that's how you f###### do it!" TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Summer Girl', 'Now I'm In It', 'Hallelujah'. 

REVIEW: BOB DYLAN-ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS

4/5

The Times They Are A-Rowdy.

Quarantined in lockdown, coronavirus may have f##### us more than Trump this year, but whilst everything from cinema screens to sports arenas have been put on hold until we drive into Disney World, it seems some of the worlds most amazing artists have gone back to the safe, social isolation at six feet and more distance of the studio. In 2020 that has roared the wrong way we've had albums released by everyone but Gatsby (until now with this old sport). So far we've had albums from artists like Childish Gambino, The Weeknd, Drake, Tank, Jay Electronica (finally...and featuring Jay-Z), The Strokes, Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon, Jezabel Hayley Mary, Lo-Fang, Lady Gaga and the South Korean, K-Pop juggernaut that is BTS and all their maps of the soul. Last week we got a new album from legend Norah Jones ('Pick Me Up Off The Floor') and next week we may just have the album of the year with Haim ('Women In Music Pt. III'). Even on this day we have some 'Bigger Love' from modern soul sensation John Legend becoming more of his last namesake and the sensational sophomore set from indie stirring singer Phoebe Bridgers, 'Punisher' that fits to the bone like crime. So with all this and so much more to come. From more diamond 'Confessions' from Usher like Part II and a new album from Lana Del Rey who only just did, 'Norman F###### Rockwell' last Summer, we may aswell get a new album from the American songbook of the G.O.A.T. like M.J. a long way from his last dance (although you can watch his and 'Irishman' Scorsese's 'Rolling Thunder Revue' on Netflix now) in the 'Rough and Rowdy Ways' of the one and only Bob Dylan.

79. Still dancing and swinging, pushing 80 Bob is back. The times they have been a-changing in his America of late. But the more they change...the more they stay the same. "Racism is still alive. They just be concealing it," like Kanye West once profoundly said when he walked with Jesus (like he does now as 'King'), but now he sides with Trump in a MAGA hat like Delroy Lindo's Vietnam vet in Spike Lee's new Netflix movie, 'Da 5 Bloods'. But just like America and U.S., they all 'Contain Multitudes' like Dylan's definitive opening track that shows like his career redux classic 'Modern Times' (Alicia Keys also has a new album out this calendar...Alicia Keeeeeys) he can still teach new Shakespearian storytelling depths like the 'Tempest' album at sea. With that famous white picket sign, 'I Can't Sing' voice actually getting fine wine better with the age of every gravel drive return home. Night after night. Somehow as bitter and smooth as a whiskey Dylan is producing at his distillery by the bar like one for the road and you know who. Multitudes. "I'm just like Anne Frank, Indiana Jones/And them British bad boys, the Rolling Stones/I go right to the edge, I go right to the end/I go right where all things lost are made good again", he sings shouting out Beethoven and Chopin names of history like a rolling stone. "I drive fast cars and I eat fast foods. I contain multitudes." Triggered. And just when he gets back in his groove to the two stepping album artwork he keeps the jukebox turning like Happy Days with the 'False Prophet' single you just have to believe in like faith. "I search the world over/For the Holy Grail/I sing songs of love/I sing songs of a betrayal," he sings for the songbook which may as well be a history one the way he engraves poetic chapter and verse into music's subconscious.

On 'My Own Version Of You' Dylan says he'll "take the Scarface Pacino and The Godfather Brando/Mix 'em up in a tank, and get a robot commando." Whilst on the beautiful, 'I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You' like 'Together Through Life' entwined asleep in the back of a station wagon, or 'Sittin' On My Terrace, lost in the stars/Listening to the sounds of the sad guitars," he dedicates himself like, "I'm giving myself to you, yes I am/From Salt Lake City to Birmingham/From East L.A. to San Antone/I don't think I can bear to live my life alone." Emotion hasn't sounded this much like devotion since Springsteen (who has his own 'Western Stars' album...and movie this time last Summer) said for all the lyrics to go in Dylan's great American songbook like Sinatra standards, his greatest line was when he repeated 'I Want You' over and over again because of how he meant it..."so bad". The bold and beautiful brilliance of 'Black Rider' itself sounds like something straight out of a western from Clint Eastwood or Cohen neo. Whilst the tribute that says, 'Goodbye Jimmy Reed' could be found on a Seeger session at its upbeat best that moves like the portraits of people on this album artwork. An album that is rough ('Murder Most Foul') and rowdy ('Crossing The Rubicon'). But for all the beauty of 'Mother Of Muses' like the one who brought you into this beautiful world and the Floridian traditions of 'Key West (Philosophers Pirate)', its the 15 plus minute story of a 'Murder Most Foul' on JFK from behind the grassy knoll that really storms through this set like a 'Hurricane' or his ode to wrongfully accused and imprisoned boxer Rubin Carter, singing until the day he was set free. "Twas a dark day in Dallas, November '63/A day that will live on in infamy/President Kennedy was a-ridin' high/Good day to be livin'and a good day to die," Dylan reports this dark day in American history from the shadows of the bookshelf. Talking about the King and the Fab Four. Martin. John, Paul, George and Ring. Playing 'Merchant To Venice', or "merchants of death", whilst "I'm riding in a long, black Lincoln limousine/Riding in the backseat next to by wife/Heading straight on into the afterlife." All as he says, "I'm leaning to the left, got my head on our lap," in a moment none of us will forget...but wish we could. Oh what this man has done for his country. Ask somebody. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'I Contain Multitudes', 'False Prophet', 'Murder Most Foul'. 

REVIEW: PHOEBE BRIDGERS-PUNISHER

4/5

The Punisher. 

One batch. Two batch. Penny and dime. "Who is Phoebe f###### Bridgers" like her self-titled Spotify playlist? Well open up her atmospheric 'DVD Menu' opening, make a f###### selection and find out. The 'Motion Sickeness' of the haunting 'Stranger In The Alps' may have been the indie towering record of 2017. Just like the album artwork painted ghostly white sheet like independent film, 'A Ghost Story' starring Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, a sheet with two eye-holes and an 'Overwhelmed' Dark Rooms scoring soundtrack was the movie of the year. Showing that independence is often more inspired than the mess of the mainstream. Now after hiding under a white sheet we get to the jumpsuit, Jack Skeleton bones of Bridgers best work yet in the 'Punisher' album that like a Frank Castle skull gets deeper than a flesh and blood love. For something as awe, awesome inspiringly atmospheric as the opening book of 'Garden Song' and a flowering album that grows on the same stem. "I’ll plant a garden in the yard/Then I’ll glue in roses on a flatbed/You should see it, I mean thousands/I grew up here ’til it all went up in flames/Except the notches in the door frame," she sings. Evoking memories of a home life growing up like pencilling in your height every year that could never be lost in translation. All before taking us to the Far East of Japan.

Alone in 'Kyoto' like Air or the soundtrack of Scarlett Johansson taking a Shinkansen there in bullet time to Sofia Coppola's compelling classic, Bridgers bridges the gap of another relationship failing to change with the times there, like traditional temples to nocturnal neon in the most beautiful place in the world. All to an old DVD like music video for this singers menu as she flies around the city and one's like Osaka and Tokyo in a Madonna 'Ray Of Light'. "Day off in Kyoto, got bored at the temple/Looked around at the 7-11/The band took the speed train, went to the arcade," she sings in the land of the rising sun, Conbini's and Pachinko slots. Then getting her Castle on with the album-titled 'Punisher', Phoebe shoots more from the hip with the "drugstores open all night" as she sings, "when the speed kicks in/I go to the store for nothing/And walk right by/The house where you lived with Snow White/I wonder if she ever thought/The storybook tiles on the wall were too much." Continuing to haunt on 'Halloween' the boygenius singer is scary good already in costume. But with no cover up to the yearning vulnerability she marks all her tracks with to the marrow. "I hate living by the hospital/The sirens go all night/I used to joke if they woke you up/Somebody better be dying," she rawly recalls before taking down her muses not so brilliant disguise as she says, "But I can count on you to tell me the truth/When you've been drinking and wear a mask". All too sobering we all know this kind of relationship hangover, love is hell, all too well. Calling more on 'Chinese Satellite' on the other side of the world, the artist from Los Angeles, California sends up a lantern, lamenting, "sometimes when I can't sleep/It's just a matter of time before I'm hearing things/Swore I could feel you through the walls/But that's impossible." Yet it always feels like that. If only.

'Moon Song' takes us out of this world and into her atmosphere again gone 4AM in the morning, zoning like K Pop's KATIE, echoing thinking about the one we love. "You asked to walk me home/But I had to carry you/And you pushed me in/And now my feet can't touch the bottom of you." Singing about hating Tears In Heaven and fighting about John Lennon, Bridgers broods over a punch drunk lover who won't sober up to her love. Waiting "like a dog with a bird at your door," when he could have "stuck (your) tongue down the throat of somebody who loves you more" at the nautical themed party. But as much as Phoebe wants the one she loves, she doesn't want to deal with a 'Saviour Complex' anymore. She's, "too tired to have a pissing contest". As, "emotional affair/Overly sincere/Smoking in the car/Windows up/Crocodile tears/Run the tap 'till it's clear," she's driving "around again". "One hand on the wheel. One in your mouth." And we see her like 'I See You', no celebrity avatar. But the independent real thing on her own two with her second solo set. The King, Presley would be proud like 'Graceland Too' or the 'Near Other Worlds' of fellow forest atmospheric artist Lo-Fang whose latest greatest came out last month and his astronaut out of this world cover or 'Don't Be Cruel' and Elvis soundbite of loneliness. Storming the gates of Graceland like a killing Brandon Flowers 'Wonderful, Wonderful,' going "back-to-back with Springsteen, as Bridgers sings, "so she picks a direction, it's nintey to Memphis/Turns up the music so thoughts don't intrude/Predictably winds up thinking about Elvis." But in the end, 'I Know The End' is the most epic track in classic closing with feral breathing for the bones of someone lost in the woods. But this punisher is predator, not prey. "Somewhere in Germany but I can't place it/Man I hate this part of Texas," she sings as following in the footsteps of friend Maggie Rogers', 'Heard It In A Past Life' and King Princess' 'Cheap Queen' best of last year, dynamic duo, dynamite debuts, Phoebe Bridgers sensational sophomore set and classic collection makes her a star like her native Hollywood's walk of fame. Although in this Best Coast year of California classics like 'Always Tomorrow', this woman in music is further from the hills like those Valley Girl sisters of Haim coming with part three next week. But between them and legend Norah Jones picking us up off the floor with her latest jazz greatest last week, Bridgers is making her own legacy. Punishment has never sounded so good. To not listen to this 'Punisher's' hit would be a crime. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Garden Song', 'Kyoto', 'Punisher'.

REVIEW: JOHN LEGEND-BIGGER LOVE

4/5

Love In The Present Day. 

Ordinary people have been taking to the streets to protest like the 'Glory' of Selma and becoming heroes like George Floyd's daughter Gianna in the process. In a tragic new year and decade of 2020 that began with the heartbreaking loss of Kobe, GiGi, the Altobelli and Chester family members, Christina Mauser and Ara Zobayan and has been marked and marred by the planets pandemic of COVID-19 that has cruelly taken so many lives and divided us like the U.S. with police brutality leading many protestor to take to the streets in a unison and understanding like peace and love that all Black Lives Matter. John was singing about this and making a moving music video that really hit home in March...of last year (like the perception is everything of Maxwell's 'The Glass House (We Never Saw It Coming)' video this problem has been systematic and within us for generations...let alone years). Just mere months in the New Year after just when you thought he was settling into the family life by the fire (and so he should have every right to) and turning into the new Michael Buble of Sinatra singing Christmas classics like Nat King Cole as the chestnuts roast with his home for the holidays 'A Legendary Christmas' that really was a cracker. But remember this is the same man that told us to 'Wake Up' with a protest album of old soul covers with hallmark hip-hop band The Roots. And you know Questlove and them are more than just Jimmy Fallon's Late Night house backing. With 'Preach' and the hash-tag campaign #CantJustPreach, Legend continued his closest thing to Sam Cooke one by demanding a change should have come by now. John waking up from his bed with Chrissy Teigen walked into a Basketball gym and took on everything from school shootings to border detained discrimination. And of course police brutality as being stalked by sirens he took to the streets in priest robes with all the "ordinary" everyday people like Arrested Development that have a name and deserve to be more than another number, whether that be on a jumpsuit or just another sobering statistic. "I can't sit and hope/I Can't just sit and pray, that/I can find a love, when/All I see is pain/Falling to my knees/And though I do believe/I can't just preach, baby, preach/Whoa, oh/I can't just preach, baby, preach," John Stephens sang on arguably his most personal and powerful track yet outside the Oscar 'Glory' he won with best conscious rapper alive Common from the movie 'Selma' as they performed at the Academy Awards and left not a dry eye in the auditorium from Captain Kirk, Chris Pine to 'Selma's' Martin Luther King Jr. himself David Oyelowo. But now when we thought like Obama that we had brought change and hope to the world then, John is back in 2020 and Trump's America with a new album in 'Electric Circus' colours like Sia or a Jenny Lewis 'Voyager' that is searching for a 'Bigger Love'.

What the world needs now...is exactly that. 'Bigger Love'. 'Get Lifted' again. Because the man whose been as legendary as his name since the first time we heard it like John Stephens' iconic piano on Fugee Lauryn Hill's 'Everything Is Everything' is back. Taking you 'Higher' like Khaled as the Grammy winner is back 'Once Again' with another one. Following the 'Green Light' of his piano lid ("time to go"-Andre 3000) key change, 'Evolver' evolving and 'Love In The Future' like Hendrix sound for the roses. Before the 'Darkness and Light' of four years ago revealed his biggest song and every weddings first dance to date in 'All Of Me'. Even bigger than, "girl I'm in love with you". Now this ordinary person like a Beatles 'Revolver' isn't bigger than Jesus, he's playing 'Jesus Christ Superstar' himself. Praise the Lord and all that is holy and legendary. He has truly risen. In God's name. Jesus is king and still walks with him like Kanye. "You know I'm romantic/I'll cross the Atlantic", this Legend says for that 'Ooh Laa' on the second and minute he's home on the epic opener that samples a classic standard with a modern twist like real R&B. Which is kind of how this album means to go on as it starts with the mural like artwork of a dear John whose name is Legend, but is becoming a soul God. The same goes for the 'Actions' of a David McCallum 'Edge' which will make you never forget about Dre. Still this isn't the 'Chronic' of the good Dr., but 'The Next Episode' of what at two tracks in already sounds like Legend's best and latest greatest for his legacy as he sings, "actions speak louder than love songs/I've been doing it all wrong." But more than a man that can admit his wrong (and actually do something about it in turn), you're going to want to marry the funky bass on 'I Do'. Forever in matrimony.

"We're in motion, I'm emotional and I'm all over you", John songs wanting to not waste this 'One Life' as he "wants to taste the joy in every minute" even if he "forgets where he's going, but knows who he's going with," such is real love and life. Legend hasn't sounded this loving and carefree since he got lifted and 'She (Didn't) Have To Know'. Then things get 'Wild' on the album standout with Gary Clark Jr.'s full grown guitar, soaring as the vocals of the feel-good John do like,' If You're Out There'. Hear this. From G.O.O.D. Music to old soul, evolution, Christmas standards and feel good music that feels like love, Legend's discography is becoming a definitive discovery as John is constantly writing songs and rewriting his already untarnished legacy. 'U Move, I Move' continues this dance with Jhene Akio that really breaks into something beautiful as she sings, "if you ever hurt then I'm going to bleed/but I'll pick you up and out you back on your feet/that's how this works/I put your first." Sounds like big love to me. All before he gets to his 'Favourite Place' on a sensational set of the most perfect production yet. And this is a Legend who used to get lifted by Yeezy on the boards when Mr. West just played preacher's on the videos of John's 'Used To Love You' first single smash instead of performing them every Sunday service. But to be Frank (he can still be John) it's the weekend and come Saturday night if you want to make love-especially in lockdown-take the pressure off along with you know what and play the slow burning 'Slow Cooker'. "Let it breathe" says the man setting the mood like he has the last two Christmases. "Ain't nothing like a simmer", now stir. "Forming gold can take a billion years" he tongue in cheek (and probably some other places) says, but Legend needn't worry. This one sounds like platinum to me. But "there's a lot more food on his plate" on the next track, but don't worry John's 'Focused', even if "some days work feels like chains." It's the kind of honed skill that can hold 'Conversations In The Dark' like 'All Of Me' or one of the best songs of this big career to go with a collection of people's personal home videos from the past like, "watch movies that we've both already seen/I ain't even looking at the screen/It's true/I got my eyes on you". "On Sunday mornings we sleep-in 'till noon/Well I can sleep forever next to you." Pillow talk at its most beautiful like R.E.M. counting eyelashes. Perfect as you are with no flaws as J tells 'em, "And you say that you're not worth it/You get hung up on your flaws/Well in my eyes you are perfect/As you are/I would never try to change you, change you/I will always want the same you, same you." Like Tank, we have a new wedding song to walk down the aisle to. Koffee provides that kick with the dance floor moving, 'Don't Walk Away'. Where's 'Remember This' with Rhapsody is the perfect one for this slowed down soul reprise in a bohemian album of neo-Motown beauty like "watching old movies" or "Kobe winning another ring". One that may not practice 'Preach' from last year right now, but you can't just tag a song that means so much more like the video of Childish Gambino's 'This Is America' on the end of an album that feels different like a bonus track when it means so much more. Besides in this Spotify age for the record it still exists standing on its own two in marching unison. Besides with tracks like the Camper assisted 'I'm Ready' pitch and a beautiful bond that will 'Never Break', like real love that lasts 'Always', what more could you want? And how about the family matters of his quarantined at home video for this albums title track with his two beautiful children and their wonderful mother Chrissy Teigen? As the power couple became an even more powerful family as Legend says the bigger love of Teigen inspired this here, his "best work"...and we can't help but agree. Locked and held down indeed. The one you give your heart too. The family this makes. Love doesn't come bigger than this. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Actions', 'Wild (Feat. Gary Clark Jr.)', 'Conversations In The Dark.'

REVIEW: NORAH JONES-PICK ME UP OFF THE FLOOR

4/5

To The Floor. 

Pick up the pace all you like, but no one is keeping up with the Jones right now for the Blue Note records. The diamond 'Come Away With Me' smoky and smouldering jazz singer is taking it back to 2002 again in the parallel universe year of 2020. Seemingly coming back again and again like 'Sunrise' and those legendary, sweet and sincere, "ooh, oohs". The 'Feels Like Home' singer can be more than forgiven like everyone else for being a part of Gal Gadot's well intentioned but much maligned, socially distant John Lennon cover like our 'Sweeter', 'Inside Friend', Leon Bridges. Imagine! This wonder woman has been picking us up off the floor with her piano perfect home sessions like the 'While You Wait'/'Worth The Wait' quarantined and locked down double EP act of R&B superstar Tank concluding on this day too in ivory. And now Norah releases an album of the same name. But in a time were it doesn't seem like a Beatles yesterday since her 2016 return to 'Come Away With Me' jazz era 'Day Breaks' classic, Miss Jones has given me and you so much music over the last year and this time last calender with 'Begin Again' and the epic opening, 'My Heart Is Full' she sought a new way to release music, Drake playlist style. But if you're reading this it's too late as it appears her streaming section is full like the 'Not Too Late', 'The Fall' and 'Little Broken Hearts' classic discs. As following this she released a 'Dear Santa' EP to close out last year and decade with her Little Willie's like supergroup Puss N Boots featuring the big three of Sasha Dobson, Catherine Popper and she (and not to mention sometimes Bill Murray for 'A Very Murray Christmas'). All before reuniting with these 'Sisters' in the New Year like 'No Fools, No Fun', or we hope she does in a featuring duet with Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, 'Foreverly' too for a new album in a calendar that seemed so promising before corona hit like Jonesin' always does.

COVID-19 may have crippled our year, but this superwoman on the keys like Alicia is here to save it before the 'Harlem Nocturne' of that fellow New York singer that evokes the cobbled, brownstone streets of NYC the moment the first note is hit plays again too like Sam. Because what's the greatest calender in Jones career without a solo Norah record? And this one for it goes right back to the Peter Malick Group days like, "New York City, such a beautiful disease." All so she can help us as we are 'Tryin' To Keep It Together' like a song for the moment, right on Target bonus track that came out at the same time as the sisters of Haim's fellow quarantined anthem of 'I Know Alone' off their new 'WIMPIII' album that comes out this time next week Summer girls, for a year of women in music like the Maggie Rogers ('Heard It In A Past Life') and King Princess ('Cheap Queen') best albums of the last one. But right now it's Norah's time as the legend doesn't let up. Chasing the Springsteen's and Dylan's with her own legacy making great American songbook. It all starts with 'How I Weep' as Norah cries on the record, "Weep for the loss/And it creeps down my chin/For the heart and the hair/And the skin and the air/That swirls itself around the bare." Lyrics have never been this lamenting as she matches the ante of a full heart that began again last year at this very moment. 'Flame Twin' keeps that fire burning, whilst you will feel the yearning 'Hurts To Be Alone' all the way down to your bones or the bone cold other side of the bed this Summer, distanced from the warmth of the one you love like R.E.M.

Off one of the best albums she's ever done, Jones keeps it up with, 'Heartbroken, Day After', singing, "Heartbroken, day after/My mind is spinning/Hopelessly out of control/Heartbroken, day after/Your side is winning/And I find myself in the cold", like her heart was drenched in a fine Merlot wine. And the hurts only getting worse with age. 'Say No More' like the next traditional track, because no one makes music in the mainstream like this right now, today. "Some may run, but I won't hide/I'll take my pride with you/If we find that we lost/God might see us through", she sings on 'This Life' that could also seem like a rally cry for any group felt disregarded and disrespected in the disenfranchised, "United" States of Trump's America, "Hearts frozen/Arms open/Hands shaking/Bonds breaking." This life as we know it has a lot to answer for like this industry owes this woman a debt akin to gratitude. 'To Live' and 'I'm Alive', back-to-back keep breathing new life into this notion of devotion and one world together like the 'Chromatica' of fellow woman power pop powerhouse Lady Gaga bringing everyone together for a concert at home, live from the piano in your living room. 'Were You Watching' is haunting as much as it is asking. Whilst 'Stumble On My Way' keeps this all going with lyrics like, "Above the clouds/I found the place/Where I can be/Without a trace" and, "the sun is fading/Into white/All of the beauty/And all of your light". Pure poetry, Carole King tapestry for a text message, Snapchat snapshot world on the perfect portrait of this black and white, album artwork classic that feels like home is not too late. All the way down to the trailing dress as we dance like we don't know why. But at her most beautiful, Norah Jones saves her best for last with the beauty begins evoking, 'Heaven Above' that really touches the sky like heavenly father or Bon Iver. All before this mother brings us right back down to earth and floors us. Now we could all use a helping hand up right now. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'How I Weep', 'I'm Alive', 'Heaven Above'. 

REVIEW: TANK-WORTH THE WAIT EP

4/5

Wait Some More. 

Rolling out hits like rolling pins do dough, the T in TGT, Tank is making it right now like his clever concept for music during lockdown and love in times of corona. Coming off the 'Elevation' of perhaps his most prolific project yet (you heard the title track, 'Champion' crown, or 'You Mean More'? 'No Cap' indeed), the 'Sex Love and Pain' and 'Sex Love and Pain 2' singer producing jams, goes slow again like all those making love the right way to start things off tonight. Some said this 'Savage' was getting too nasty like 'When We', 'F It Up' with 'Nothing On', but you can't deny keeping it with that slept on classic like the back of his jacket. But now 'Stronger' like a Motown special, Tank's taking it back to the ivory like this 'Ebony' cover star did his classic cover of Bonnie Raitt's 'I Can't Make You Love Me', perfect like Prince's. 'Now Or Never' with the R&B King of three next to the pre-Usher M.J. dancing of Ginuwine and the movie multiple megastar of Tyrese Gibson. All whilst everyone else is tanking like NBA players pre-playoffs would of been doing right now trying to hit the lottery when this man's got the winning ticket. Now punch these numbers for your Spotify streams. A milli about to be served like McDonald's reopened for this all American athlete who looks like he's never eaten anything with "MC" in front of it.

'While You Wait' marched into the third month of 2020, roaring like the twenties this was Gatsby supposed to be. Right when COVID-19 hit and locked down we needed something to stay at home with like the one we hold close for these bedroom sessions. The extended play featured new classic cuts like the 'Perfect' song of the same name. The 'Self Esteem' boost we all needed growing gross quarantine beards (men AND women) like, aren't we all staying at home with our Gillette's and the one person we should really be bothered about looking good for anyway. And the 'Facetime' we all crave from friends and family and lovers as distant as Marvin Gaye on Zoom like the Commodores or a TGT Soul Train award show cover of the same song. And you just know one piano perfect E.P. deserves another for the 'One Man', 'Force Of Nature' who has given us the Nat King Cole, Sinatra standard Christmas ('A Classic Christmas Night') and Valentines ('If You Were Mine') ones featuring his own compositions and covers of someone like Adele and the soundalike Sam Smith, like chocolate and egg nog. The first one 'While You Wait' came out at the start of quarantine and now even coming out like it was all 'Worth The Wait' the second sequel arrives just at the right time like you only wish the flight you booked last year would. Even though we should wait inside some more while captain saves 'em like dun, da dunnnnn!

Worth it though. Whilst we all should still be staying home and safe whilst we still can...or at least at 6 feet (how far? Imagine Allen Iverson laying out Laker Lue for the step over and there you have your answer), Tank opens up some new music at a time were we all need some positivity right now as we celebrate black artists like pride. Because Black History matters like Black Lives and you best believe this man is making it like a soul soldier with an artillery of albums. And if you think that army notion is a cliche-especially in these reviews-then you'd be right...because it's all true like his 'Our Song', "dum, dum, da dum", 'Wedding Song' marriage to Zena Foster. "Think I found something just my type/And you don't have to look no more/Think I found something like my wife/Because that's what I've been waiting for," he sings on the, "if I had a chance in you/there's nothing I wouldn't do", on the 'On My Love' emotion devotion opener, before being taken away with talent Ashley Jayy for...well, 'Take Me Away' which could start a prolific songwriting partnership like the one he's crafted with former teen pop idol Jojo ('Somebody Else' with the 'Leave (Get Out)' singer is truly something else and worthy of their own collabo album like 'Three Kings' or a John Legend and Mary J. Blige, 'King and Queen' record). Standing up from the piano to the one mic coffee roasted cover of the second 'Wait', Tank brings it all by himself on 'For Mine', but he saves the very best for last both on this E.P. and the double act of the locked down and opened up power couple of beautiful ballad plays. 'Value' will give you that 'Self Esteem' ("I'm worth more than what you're offering me/And I won't be defeated") as Tank shows he can afford another album this November as he continues to elevate the game, himself and anyone listening in need of that inspiration and communication in this self-isolated time of yearning for solidarity. Now isn't that worth the wait in gold records for this platinum star? TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'On My Love', 'Take Me Away (Feat. Ashley Jayy)', 'Value'. 

SONG FOR THE MOMENT: LEON BRIDGES-SWEETER Featuring TERRACE MARTIN

Normally this would be the part were I ramble on and write too many words for too long a time, just to describe how good something is. But you don't need that for how important this is. It's time for me to shut the f### up and listen like a lot of us should be doing right now to the words of a young black man. The words of a million men and women. Marching for justice. Protesting for peace. Making a stand because turning the other cheek has just left a mark on the other. It's not enough. We must fight. Because until all Black Lives Matter, nothing else does...

"Hoping for a life more sweeter,
Instead I’m just a story repeating,
Why do I fear with skin dark as night?
Can’t feel peace with those judging eyes,

I thought we moved on from the darker days,
Did the words of the King disappear in the air,
Like a butterfly?
Somebody should hand you a felony,
Because you stole from me,
My chance to be,

Hoping for a life more sweeter,
Instead I’m just a story repeating,
Why do I fear with skin dark as night?
Can’t feel peace with those judging eyes,

The tears of my Mother rain rain over me,
My sisters and my brothers sing sing over me,
And I wish I had another day, but it’s just another day,

Hoping for a life more sweeter,
Instead I’m just a story repeating,
Why do I fear with skin dark as night?
Can’t feel peace with those judging eyes."

Leon Bridges-Sweeter.