REVIEW: COMMON - A BEAUTIFUL REVOLUTION (Pt. 1)

 

4/5

The Beautiful Struggle. 

The Revolution will be more than televised. It's been a great Friday in hip-hop. Kind of like a G.O.O.D Friday for a man who still shows love for his Chi-town brother Kanye, despite his Trump endorsement running for President like 'Tha Carter' Lil' Wayne. Despite Weezy F. Baby (please don't say that baby), this has been a week in rap that has finished strong like Mister Cee. Wrapping up the seven days we have Busta Rhymes' first album in 8 years and a return to Woo Ha form with the sequel to his 1998 classic, 'Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath Of God' for end of the world starters. All whilst those ATLiens OutKast came back down to earth to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their stellar 'Stankonia' album like an ASAP black and white American flag that rocks like those Baghdad guitars. As Big Boi and Andre 3000 added more 'So Fresh, So Clean' classic cuts to their catalogue collection like a Snoop Dogg remix. Even Elvis Costello ('Hello, Clockface') has an album out...and we thought last week was big with Ben Harper's instrumental move and the Boss, Bruce Springsteen's letter with the E Street band. Costello may not be rap, but he once rocked with The Roots on the collaborative album, 'Wise Up Ghost'. So has rapper slash actor Common, who has continued to consistently create classics ever since he decided to just 'Be', looking for love and 'Finding Forever'. He feels like raps Coltrane on a love supreme. The Roots rapper Black Thought beats the drum on one of these tracks, whilst Com also rocks with guitar God Lenny Kravitz like Busta ('Make Noise'), Diddy ('Show Me Your Soul') and Jay-Z ('Guns N Roses') all once did. The rock legend who has been writing his just released memoirs named after his first album, 'Let Love Rule' quarantined in Eluthera. Just like Common did last year when he 'Let Love Have The Last Word', all whilst releasing a classic CD in conjunction with 'Let Love'. That was just over a calendar ago and Sense is already back like he was on stage last week which really isn't common right now. And he's not done as like Lenny's 'It's Time For A Love Revolution' back in the day, Common's 'A Beautiful Revolution (Pt. 1)' hints at another classic chapter to come soon in this beautiful struggle called life. 

Revolutionary warfare, halfway housin' between an extended play and LP, the cover of 'Revolution's' silk print, art deco, best yet artwork decoration could be something straight out of the Mardi Gras of New Orleans for you Pelicans like the road to Zion. Featuring three boys in shorts trumpeting with three raised fists for Black Power that will always matter. It could almost be the black gloved salute of the podium of the 1968 Olympics. It's most certainly a homage. And a jazzy look at the most soulful Common Sense has been since we tasted 'Like Water For Chocolate' in his Soulquarian days right before his criminally underrated and epic, 'Electric Cirus' late career catalyst that should have never been critically disregarded like 'Universal Mind Control'. Its experimentalism at it's best in a genre that discriminates this gesture, treating it like 'The New Danger' of a Mos Def rock album that rolls. Common has more classics than your favourite rapper as hip-hop's purest and most amazing artist. We all know about 'Be' and 'Finding Forever', or even the days he had the Sense to ask 'Can I Borrow A Dollar' before the 'Resurrection'. 'One Day It'll All Make Sense' like his first book. Or the last decade of the 'Selma' uplifting 'The Dreamer/The Believer' glory, the call to end Chicagoland violence on 'Nobody's Smiling' and the rise and return of  'Black America Again'. The Oscar winner and actor has so many classics in his catalogue like the Chris Rock named "human iPod" Busta Rhymes that you almost forget. But you shouldn't. Like former beau Badu (find yourself an ex who) getting up emphatically to applaud Lonnie Lynn as he shone 'The Light' on Dave Chappelle's Mark Twain award night this year on stage. As we need artists like him now more than ever before in this truly terrible year of losing Black Mamba's, Panther's and loves in this fight against police brutality and coronavirus. Now like 'Let Love' last year, you can put this 'Beautiful Revolution' and hopefully it's second part next to this musical movement. 

Beauty begins with 'Fallin'' like Alicia (who after her own amazing album tweeted how "sick" this one was) after the, "ain't it beautiful. When we smile it's a musical" spoken word self-titled into with the "revolution within'. As Common bootcut raps, "Confront the day, I want a way to make sense of it/Yeah, it's a maze-ment/The turn of the world and how they see you/Ye already said they see us as black Beatles/Black people, open Hebrews/Let it speak to the saviour inside/You'll see why the world needs you/Black bodies fallen in the hands and the clutches of/Descendants of the Dutchman - Anglo motherf#####s/That don't love us, wranglers, it's in their genes to cuff us/We the tribe of Levi, cut them jeans knee-high/I think that it would be wise to read the book of Eli-jah Mohammad," the kind of lines they used to bootleg before release dates back in the day. As he talks about racism, sexism and "Americanism" never stopping on the jazzy slow flow. Whilst on 'Say Peace' with the rhyme roots of Black Thought he raps like 'The Show', ""Knew I had to pull it, the bullet or the ballot/It's like the parable of the story of the talents/Want my people to get paper, with no margin/Turnin' ghettos to gardens like Ron Finley/Through stages of life, the world's my Wembley." Whilst Thought replies in mind kind, "In dystopian ground zero from xenophobia/They love to trope me and misquote me, they even wrote me/Out of all accounts other than shoulderin' small amounts/'Til I called them out, I'm what this story is all about/My arrival wasn't willingly, nah, but that's chillingly/The truth, now I fear from shots from cops killin' me/They on the hunt for the blood, and we the auxiliary/The Black power and love, I'm all the above/We'll find peace in the culture I'm responsible to save/And every piece of the puzzle, every article, the page/I'm at peace in the struggle, I'm awake and not afraid." Powerful lyrics for a critical time of protest. But don't call it like that. They've been socially conscious and doing this speaking about it for years. Speaking out for those who didn't have a voice before they could take to Twitter or the streets. All for what matters. The biggest collaboration here however belongs to the one with Lenny Kravitz which raises all vibrations as the rock star who right now is letting words rule has never played the guitar quite like this as Common gives us lyrics over the licks. Starting 'A Riot In My Mind' over the sirens as he says, "my brainstorm reigns supreme/black superhero with the Cape and wings" and "the minority report said we major" as Kravitz sings, "it's a war outside/when it's quiet it's a riot in my mind." But for all the classic collaborations (is that Stevie's harmonica?) on the seven seal and a bordering intro and outro of this 9 track innervision, it's the fantastic four with PJ that really shouldn't be slept on. The smooth 'What Do You Say (Move It Baby)', the heart of 'Courageous' and her heartfelt opening chorus, you'll recite by midnight. Her 'Place In The World' and 'Don't Forget Who You Are' like you shouldn't who this amazing artist is on what's her born star debut like Common was acting again as Dave Chappelle's friend Jackson Maine. You have to love it when a veteran mentor and protégé with potential catch lightning in a bottle and refuse to stop pouring, no matter how many tracks it hits. This EP to album almost feels like a collaborative one. Perhaps by part 2 for PJ it will be. As for now, yesterday when all my troubles used to be so far away, Busta, Big, 'Dre, Com'. A fab four in hip-hop for the big-three of New York, Chicago and the ATL reminded me of how much I still love H.E.R. The Revolution will be continued. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Fallin'', 'Courageous (Feat. PJ)', 'A Riot In My Mind (Feat. Lenny Kravitz)'. 

REVIEW: BUSTA RHYMES - EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT 2: THE WRATH OF GOD

 4/5

ELE 2020.

Everybody rise once again. Event. This one is on another level. Now backstory time. When I was 13 years old I once exchanged Busta Rhymes' classic 'Extinction Level Event' album for Shania Twain's mega-seller 'Come On Over' because I thought there'd be hell to pay. I was scared-not of the apocalyptic intro in demonic, robotic overtones-but of my mother screaming at me after the rapper shouted "all my N words" through my speakers to a skinny white kid in a British seaside town not far from Preston (I know Busta knows there. Shouting it out on the remix of London's own Estelle's mega hit 'American Boy' back in the day...how much time has passed and how old are we when we call that song back in the day?). Alas I ended up buying both years later. True story...they're both bangers! Now man, I feel like a sequel. Let's go Rhymes. Tearing da roof off to give you some more. Don't act like the best rap name ever, Trevor Smith wasn't making end of the world albums like 'The Coming', 'When Disaster Strikes', 'Extinction Level Event', 'Anarchy', 'It Ain't Safe No More' and 'The Big Bang' for years and you weren't listening. And now in this Kobe to Chadwick, corona to police brutality tragic, terrible year of 2020 that feels like the end of days like an old Schwarzenegger movie (even The Terminator has been laid up in hospital), Busta is back like that or he never cut off those dreads with 'Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath Of God' or 'ELE 2' for this Rhymes rapture like Baker (with all these sequel albums it's time for 'Come Home With Me 2' by Cam'Ron. I can see the album artwork now. Cam next to what his son looks like today, 18 years later. 'Come Back Home With Me'). To all those socially isolated and stuck, locked down at home in quarantine, just wishing they could see his epic energy live again like this writers fist ever gig (OK...it was All Saints. You can't blame a guy for trying to get some credibility after not impressing you much). Even the artwork skull here is wearing a mask, complete with Mad Max horns like you all should do (minus the spikes, even though it is the apocalypse). Remember when that multimillion dollar, 'Alex Mack' like silver surfing video for 'What's It Gonna Be' featuring a dynamite Damita Jo, Janet Jackson like 'Scream' with MJ came out? It changed the game, no matter how dated it now looks (it's still a classic though). Or the epic, periscope cartoonish 'Gimme Some More' clip for arguably two of the biggest singles for the artist who likes to 'Turn It Up' and "fire it up' like a Hasselhoff on the gas 'Knight Rider' ignition. Like the 'Ringer's' very own author of 'The Rap Book' aswell as 'Basketball' and 'Movies and Other Things' Shea Serrano tweets it, "there wasn't much I got more excited about in 1997 than a new Busta Rhymes video." Me too.

Extinction. It's been a minute since Busta Rhymes has been back on his bull#### with 2012's Smaug lord, 'Year Of The Dragon' flame rhyme, fire breather. An eight wonder years, aside from tapes as good as the sonic, energetic 2006 classic 'New Crack City' which like producer Clinton Sparks said about the rest of his collection from that time, aren't mixtapes, but albums. Still sounding fresher than anything today out the boom bap booth. But in 2020 he ain't done yet! Taking it back to the golden era 90's time were he and Missy Elliott got their freak on and made rap fun. HOLLAAAAA! Albeit still with epic, event albums that showcased their skill sets as the best in the game. Superheroes like comic book characters or Public Enemy, Beastie Boys and DMC's before them. But it's not all peaches and cream like 112 as "we've learned nothing" he says 22 years later in 2020 on the intro to the sequel to the 1998 classic. "Daddy what's it going to be like in the year 2021". "There's only five years left n####!" Chris Rock who serves as this 'Extinction' evenings compare screams on the second coming, counting down on the Pete Rock produced opener with the legendary raps of Rakim. "I tried to warn them on 'The Seventh Seal'" he says after Busta blasts, "now my President is gone how convenient the world is ending", over a sample of New York's finest friend Nas' iconic 'The World Is Yours' in this fight for the planet. "Sorry country I know you really don't want this really but/'Till we get us some justice we f#####g every city up," he warns on the opening steps he takes to the streets of 'The Purge' masked revolt, standing behind the protestors of the Black Lives Matter movement and leading the charge, whilst passing the mic to anyone who hears him and wants to wax lyrical in reply. Like the 'Strap Yourself' lyrical and delivery dexterity of a ra, raa rapper who has rhymed with everyone from Tribe to Dr. Dre prescribed production. Bringing another voice on the Chris introduced, mic rocking 'Czar' that ante's up with M.O.P. (attention please, attention please) and the urgency of this dramatic, big beat as he references 'Cuban Linx' like the built for sequel strategy album classic he also rapped back over. And how about the old school sample going 'Outta My Mind' with Bell Biv DeVoe? Don't this s### make you want to jump, jump? Pass that courvoisier and f### coronavirus for this part two. Because a sinister six tracks in he's already adding new classics to his catalogue with this dynamite over the skyline for his discography like the last album cover. Like the inspired interlude of influence by Minister Louis Farrakhan that feels like the 'Wrath Of God'. Then there's the 'Slow Flow' that brings ODB and his Noreaga "whut, what's" back from the dead, showing that there is no one like Ol' Dirty Bastard when it comes to raw rhymes like Wu Tang is for the children. Or Busta as he brings the Rhymes and "Illmatic". Give him his mics. All of 'em. 

But 'Don't Go' on an abstract quest with Q-Tip that reunites Rhymes with Kaamal for the first time on a Busta album since 'The Big Bang'...and the aftershock is explosive. Killing them with the slow flow again like they did on A Tribe Called Quest's 2016 comeback classic for all you midnight marauders, 'We Got It From Here' like their black and white, Subway kaleidoscopic music video for 'Dis Generation' like a scenario lament or an underground concrete 'Solid Wall Of Sound'. Thank you for your service. Pumping iron with anime animated fists of fury and fire barbells, the artist who dropped more with than Raekwon (figuratively or literally) is bench pressing the competition like he used to. Now what do you do when you're branded? The rejuvenation machine has made Captain America brawn out of this Incredible Hulk...and nobody can shield themselves form his gamma ray raps. Your speakers are about to go 'Boomp' with his signature crowd cheering ad-lib for this heat rock of an album with more bangers than fireworks night, leaving anyone in his brimstone wake looking like a Guy Fawkes rag doll in need of a penny for a guy whose been funky since Parliament. Can I borrow a dollar? This is about to be a common classic like part one of a surprise album from Sense as this great genre still looks to find forever. 'True Indeed'. Riding in a Maybach to the Port of Miami with Rick Ross for some 'Master Fard Muhammed' and even showing this South Beach talent more heat like LeBron in a Florida bubble. Same can be said for the new kid Anderson .Paak on Busta's block, or 'Yuuuu'. 'Oh No' you didn't still think he had it like this over beats and rhymes for days that he Buss a Bus busts? All before 'The Don and The Boss' get together as a Vybz Kartel collaboration and 'Best I Can' rhapsody with Rapsody shows this legend can still lead the new school like a remix flip. Like the spiritual sequel in beat interpolation and sample reflection of 'I Know You Want' for the 'Where I Belong' Mariah Carey giving them the high note reunion that's only missing a Flipmode Squad like Rah Digga or Spliff Starr hype man. 'Deep Thought' permanates this project that's about to punctuate your players all the way to your oozing cerebellum. Segueing into the young Michael Jackson sampling of 'The Young God Speaks' and the just 'Look Over Your Shoulder' honey 'I'll Be There' sampling single featuring the new G.O.A.T. Kendrick Lamar and Busta Rhymes trademark 'Break Ya Neck' pace when he used to steamroll bars with the good doctor. But in this apocalyptic aftermath Busta and Mary of the J. Blige variety give one of the deepest and decadent cuts in 'You Will Never Find Another Me' like an all you need Meth Tical collao, or her best since she told The Game, 'Don't Worry'. As the 'Power Book II: Ghost', 'Umbrella Academy' and Netflix 'Mudbound' star who is still the Queen sings, "feels like you tatted my name in pencil. Was I, I not good enough for the ink". Whilst the back-to-back 'Freedom' with Nikki Grier even rivals that throne, "eye for an eye. Knee for a knee," as Busta says, "let me give you some more science". All these collabos and still not one with Black Sabbath's bat eating Ozzy Osborne in the year of COVID-19 this Halloween (this means war). All this and Bus can still bust himself like Ludacris or Jay-Z with Missy, even if he had no features like J. Cole. All before the kinetic 'Satanic' closer that shows we really are catching hell ("what happened to 'Jesus Walks'" Rhymes asks in a time Kanye allies with Trump like even Lil' Wayne today). Pearly gate or flames licking like the grim reapers scythe or devil's tail. Still in the same big three, new music release Friday of new albums from Common ('A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 1') and the 20th anniversary of Outkast's outstanding 'Stankonia' (with a sweet Snoop Dogg permed remix of 'So Fresh, So Clean'), this is the biggest and the baddest. Did they forget this was as everybody hates Chris calls it "the human iPod" with a catalogue you can't touch like, 'Touch It', 'Break Ya Neck', 'Make It Clap', 'Put Your Hands Were My Eyes Can See' and so much more that 'Light's Your A## On Fire' as he comes back? 'Respect (The) Conglomerate'. 'Call The Ambulance', come and pick up your people. The 'Extinction' isn't over. This is the 'Wrath'. Everything still remains raw. 'It Ain't Safe No More', 'When Disaster Strikes'. This is 'The Coming' of 'Anarchy' like 'The Big Bang'. Wreck yourself, because he's got you all in check. Woo ha! This is the wrath of Busta, God. Hear him reptar ROAR Rugrats! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Don't Go (Feat. Q-Tip)', 'Look Over Your Shoulder (Feat. Kendrick Lamar), 'You Will Never Find Another Me (Feat. Mary J. Blige)'. 

T.V. REVIEW: SONG EXPLODER - Volume 1

 4/5

A Song For Us. 

"Oh life! Is bigger". Hopefully bigger than this. This year of 2020 that from Kobe to Chadwick, coronavirus to police brutality and so much more tragedy has taken so much from us. So much so you'd be forgiven for 'Losing Your Religion' like the saying goes or the more spiritual side. As we sing Black Lives Matter from the streets and hope that strokes of our art reach. Locked down in quarantine and socially isolated from a distance in the studio, some singers and songwriters have been producing their best work, taking it to the boards like the mattresses. From Haim's 'I Know Alone' to Alicia Keys' first name self-titled latest in this year of 'Women In Music' from the boots of Norah Jones' multiple projects, to landing and taking one small step on Lady Gaga's 'Chromatica' with one giant leap for womankind. It's that creative process that fans and purists alike pursue in equal measure as the Spotify's stream into the millions moving in rhythmic unison. Move your body to this one, as the 'Song Exploder' pop podcast from the brain waves of creator Hrishikesh Hirway (a musician whose credits also include 'The West Wing Weekly' podcast with show alumni Joshua Malina which will recently have a lot to talk about for that shows on stage reunion broadcast for Michelle Obama's 'When We All Vote') has now turned into a hit Netflix series like Jon Favreau and Chef Roy Choi turning that grilled cheese sandwich and movie in to a 'Chef' aid cooking show or their sport coaching 'Playbook' that screams with motivation until you are Doc Rivers hoarse. And this is just a four track opening strum for Volume 1. With the amount of podcasts exploding in your earphones from Ghostface Killah to Metallica over the years and ears, expect more for your playlist shuffle soon. But for now, from Lin-Manuel Miranda giving something for the huge 'Hamilton' fans again off Broadway in quarantine like a Disney Plus, to Ty Dollar $ign ('Remember' his remix with South Korean alt K Pop singer KATIE?) penning a verse about 'LA' in mere minutes like he was touched by an angel for the best 'Exploder' episode. Bringing Brandy ("I have all her stuff on my phone. What artist can you say that about today") and Kendrick Lamar's kinetic, Laker legendary verse into the studio to lay down a love rap, angelino anthem to this Californian city that soars like the Hollywood sign in this city of stars. There's so many songs for you here. 

'3 Hour Drive'. I have a confession to make. I once sent Alicia Keys a song. Yep...by snail mail too. Pathetic. I know. But I was so inspired by Harlem's own Miss Keys' 'Diary' entry, 'You Don't Know My Name' produced by a golden era Kanye West, featuring matrimony pianos with the G.O.O.D. Music keys of an emerging artist by the name of John Legend. Not to mention the New York cinematic music video from the steam of the sidewalks grids to the ones cooled from the stores coffee, featuring rapper slash actor Mos Def in the without so much as a word, performance of his career. So moved by the soul and the interlude like intermission of their, "I just have to go ahead and call this boy" phone play that I had to just write something in reply. So I wrote a song called, 'The Waitress From The Coffee House On 39th and Lennox'. Uh, yeah I did feel kind of silly doing that. And no I'm not going to share with you any lyrics here (but they were aight), just like this was no love letter to Alicia. More a love letter to the song and an aspiring writer trying to flip the script and pen the perspective of the man for an act two to this romantic coffee shop situation we've all been in and still am now as I hope to God the next time I go into Starbucks she's right there (no...not Alicia! She's happily married to super producer Swizz Beatz thank you). Just a case of one British writer trying to work with an American girl, that has now actually and properly happened with the talent an A List artist like this actually deserves in the soothing and sobering sound of Sampha from South London Town. "Three hour drive, I'm headin' nowhere/I've got the time now that you're not here/I keep travellin' by, travellin' by/Lookin' for love, you got me lookin' for love", she sings about missing her son. Whilst Sampha sings the same, but so different in reply and then, "Heart on a sleeve/No you, no me/It's more than I can take/Down on my knees/come back to life" about missing his Mum. The difference being on this three hour cruise with the neon and traffic lights reflecting on the raindrops of the wound up car windows pane, Keys will soon be on her way back home to see her boy. Whilst Sampha looks up to the heavens with eyes not dry. But as they both sing, "you give me life" in the same way in harmony you can see just how much of a hold this mother's son and sons mother have on each other. As coast to coast in the process of writing, recording and laying down this track they really connect like you will with this evoking episode as compelling as the middle of the night, nostalgic sound of the song itself.

Mandolin, then there's the big one. One big enough to bring R.E.M. back like being able to dream again after this year. 'Losing My Religion'. I don't believe it. This sweet strumming, lulling you like a lullaby will have you counting sheep with glee. This song alone for the night swimmers, deserving a quiet night; 18 million units sold. More than Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. Now never mind that. This sounds like heaven. Based on a Southern saying for dismay but used all around the world from political protests to religious gatherings and questions of such. I'd say more, but "oh no I've said too much". Back together like they always will be as friends the band wax lyrical about their run and get emotional as they take it back. As embarrassed as lead singer Michael Stipe gets when they play back his original demo. To think this monster record off 'Out Of Time' came in the same year as their duet with those 'Shiny Happy People' the B52's, but just like that bassline, you can't deny this iconic riff as it plays into the veins of your nostalgia and brainwaves of your circadian rhythms as you will end up day sleeping with this one on repeat. That is once you crate dig this one out your iPod's or stream the songs EP the band have re-released in conjunction with this epic episode. That not all as Hirway ends each episode with a memory lane highway that's plays each episodes song in full with an aural accompaniment in the form of a new visual acting as a music video. 'Religion's' being a stop motion animation of flowers wilting in shyness of the sunshines spotlight like, "that's me in the corner." One that can even stand up next to the bands original MTV generation classic music video complete with the kind of angel wings everyone poses with now like everybody hurts on city brick walls for Instagram. Not to mention iconic Stipe steps of feeling the music in mandolin mesmerizing moves. Now give this one a hand as it deserves your round of applause like the beautiful moment drummer Bill Berry realizes the handclaps are still there in the final mix, surviving the cruel cutting room floor. This feels like a dream. Now consider this like the hint of the century...I haven't said enough. Under deconstruction, listen to this. This podcast makes for a great miniseries, no amateur vlog. But something the service should flog by the volumes. Crossing the Netflix stream, we can't wait until more songs in this series explode. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

DUAL REVIEW: JOHN LENNON - GIMME SOME TRUTH (2020 DELUXE) / JOHN LENNON & YOKO ONO #DOUBLEFANTASY @ Sony Music Roppongi Museum, Tokyo, Japan

 

5/5

Gimme Some Fantasy. 

Southport to Yokohama. "From Liverpool to Tokyo. What a way to go." Two years ago this writer born and raised a half hour train away from The Beatles hometown of Liverpool caught the beautiful John Lennon and Yoko Ono 'Double Fantasy' exhibition in the capital of culture's romantic Albert Dock down, out and alone. Two years later now it's moved to Tokyo like me (or just a 30 minute subway to), I caught it one more time in Roppongi's Sony Music Museum with a beautiful Japanese woman...happy once again. Imagine. I haven't cried bittersweet tears of joy like this since the last time my heart was held as I walked through the pages of 'The Beatles Story' in the hallowed brick of the Albert Dock, from The Cavern Club, to a room of pure white and the same keys of that piano that I never expected to see as the words sang about and for "all the people" like me, "living in a dream". One that now on a big screen like 'It Was Fifty Years Ago', 'Eight Days A Week' like the 'Happy Days' of director Ron Howard, wants to wake up peace again, especially in this year of coronavirus and police violence. As we want to be given some like John Lennon's signature Deluxe wants us to 'Gimme Some Truth' right in a typical typography pointing to his ear in a gold cover of a black and white, perfect portrait art. Tied back like the iconic, later New York years  hair behind the ears of the former bowl cut boy who traded Ed Sullivan suits (how about the American talk show themes sax of 'Whatever Gets You Thru The Night' Leno? Indeed) for iconic wired framed glasses and a turtleneck. The same pair you can see framed in the spectacle that is John and Yoko's 'Double Fantasy' exhibition with her iconic Hepburn-esque shades staring back, the bond between them still palpable behind this reflecting glass. As this musuem of music and arts greatest creators curated shows that 'Love' is real like the ultimate mix of ballroom dancing around Central Park in your military grade protest garb, as iconic as that New York City tourist t-shirt that still inspires other countries cities in type. That grubby, sleeveless arms folded top is on hand too in a place that breathes and coughs (even this year) through all this couple courtship and partnership in their separate and collective art. From the time John climbed a ladder and saw that it was a YES! To their final days amongst the falling leaves of Central Park after their long weekend. All like a moving mural as post it notes next to his portrait and notes for the giving tree invite you to Imagine and Remember Love ("Always") like the pavements of the park just a few blocks from where this moving man was sadly shot. 

'Watching The Wheels' turn you have to watch Lennon's as the rock God's legend kept rolling. "I don't believe in magic. I don't believe in I-Ching. I don't believe in Bible. I don't believe in tarot. I don't believe in Hitler. I don't believe in Jesus. I don't believe in Kennedy. I don't believe in Buddha. I don't believe in mantra. I don't believe in Gita. I don't believe in yoga. I don't believe in kings. I don't believe in Elvis. I don't believe in Zimmerman. I don't believe in Beatles. I just believe in me. Yoko and me," John sings on the what was once "controversial" 'God', but at the end of the day is just love, in its purest and most beautiful form you just have to believe like "love is me" or the wonderful words of 'Woman' like an 'Angel Baby', to 'Grow Old With Me' even if 'I'm Losing You' like 'Stand By Me' for Ben E, for the boys who loved rock and roll music like Chuck Berry or Presley. Because 'Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him'. It's just 'Nobody Told Me'. Now 'I'm Stepping Out' to the Cavern once corona steps back. From "feeling insecure" to "I didn't mean to hurt you" for all these 'Jealous Guy's' like the classic cover, whistling on from tragic soul icon Donny Hathaway live and uncut raw at the Troubadour in Hollywood for this trouble man before Marvin. To the playful, ducking and laughing lovers luck they give each other after staring into each others eyes at the seriousness of the end of 'Imagine' opening the big French windows to a new day, living in peace. Because like Yoko's 'Grapefruit' tells us, "a dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality", from the pure chess moves and green, iconic Beatle apples with a bite taken out. And even some masks on in portrait to remind everyone taking in this musuem walk at a social distance what they're doing this for. To make the world a better place. Just like staying in bed all day with all that war going on outside, no man is safe. Staying in bed just because you want some peace. 'How Do You Sleep' like, "Sgt. Pepper taking you by surprise". Blindfolded like the Plastic Ono Band. Because 'Instant Karma's' going to get you. 

But we all shine on like this fantasy exhibition a pure dream like a 'Yellow Submarine' or the classic 'Truth' serum album redux for the revolution 1 like number 9 on this 2020 year of 80. From the freebasing screams of 'Cold Turkey' that I still can't get out of my head after my schoolboy friend back in our days of kid things thought it sounded like John was and I quote, "shagging his guitar" (Lennon would have loved that). All the way to the powerful piano of 'Isolation' and its remastered chords in this year of a quarantined social one. As long as you are locked down with albums like this and your Yoko Ono like the Barenaked Ladies you should be alright as it all feels like one week anyway. This 'Working Class Hero' giving 'Power To The People' in 'Frankie Say's Relax' statement t-shirts was as personal as he was political...if not more. As John and Yoko always knew 'War Is Over'...if you want it (Happy Xmas...even if it doesn't feel like it). "I'm sick and tired of hearing things/From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics/All I want is the truth/Just give me some truth/I've had enough of reading things/By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians/All I want is the truth/Just give me some truth," John sings on this albums title track. Before showing his own truth on the genuine, 'Oh My Love', or 'Dear' or 'Oh Yoko' dedication darling, before the amazing 'Angela' comes into play for the political prisoner protest, after some Zimmerman harmonica on the previous track for Britain's Dylan. And how about the grooviest Beatles song live coming together ("STOP THE WAR")? Heart play like 1 and 1 is 3 this track list like a tape piece is step, by step perfect for your Spotify streams or real needle drop once it gets cracking like your phone screens. Like the white suit of the long haired and bearded man or the white linen of the sheets of the beds he stayed under like a ghost story. These are no 'Mind Games'. 'Out The Blue', You Are Here. I know ('I Know'). On the footsteps of history. Standing on the shoulders of giants. With the power to vote or protest that Black Lives Matter too. Art helps us open our eyes like horn rimmed glasses and with his inspired and iconic illustration John has penned many a book in his own words like 'Japan Through John Lennon's Eyes' for a place with almost as much Beatlemania as his hometown across the Mersey. From references in Murakami novels to a 'She Loves You' hotel in Kyoto (yeah, yeah) one that in this Sony Museum with a "Japan Exclusive" tells a rainy season, last coffee shop stop story of John and Yoko (with their beautiful boy (darling boy) Sean Ono) losing a lighter like this man soon would his life. Reading what happens next will break your heart like "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans". But 'Bless You' if you don't find peace again and a song like no other he has soared to like his airport. This one could have been sang by George Michael like 'Jesus To A Child' as he got 'Older'. This working class hero like 'Steel and Glass' was beautiful, a personal Jesus even bigger than The Beatles...and the Lord knows just how great they were. This commemorative album and accompanying exhibit marking the calendar of this man and the one he loved brings us all back like it was yesterday. Now if only when it came to this year our troubles were far away like those previous days we long for like a '#9 Dream'. Use your words and put down your weapons like that man outside the Dakota should have (who we will never name to deny his desire for celebrity in all his cruelty) and 'Give Peace A Chance' just like (starting over). Gimme this fantasy like truth on the double to celebrate this man's 80th. Happy Birthday dear John. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Instant Karma! (We All Shine On'), 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)', 'Imagine'. 

REVIEW: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN-LETTER TO YOU

4/5

The Letter E. 

Japan. Further East in this 2020 year of COVID-19 that keeps us quarantined in lockdown, all at a social distance. When you bumbling like Hugh Grant finally meet someone the same age and you're doing the music litmus test like the temperature check. Incubus? Check! Chili Peppers? Check! Springsteen?! "I don't know him...is he R&B?!" Wait...(kind of)...what?! Check please! "How can you not know Springsteen? Don't you know he has a song called 'Tokyo'?" Fun fact for you. Turns out this fellow Norah Jones fan does have taste and knew exactly who I meant as we started Boss and Cox 'Dancing In The Dark' after hours later to a Spotify song off my phone. This is a different time though, especially this year. When this generation is more concerned with Tik Tok than someone whose lyrics and tracks could even rival Dylan's great American songbook. Still, Springsteen has Twitter and now his own hash-tag this week with his iconic 'Born In The U.S.A.' rolled up white t-shirt and blue boot cut jean, guitar thrashing, superhero landing. The Boss an emoji?! Whatever next?! Although we like he telling Stephen Colbert on the hosts 'Late Show' Zoomed in quarantine with a digital letter to us think "it's wonderful". Now with similar snow covers for the fall, this week we see two musical heroes release an album on the head-to-head same day with Ben Harper's lap guitar instrumental 'Winter Is For Lovers' with these cold nights closing in like the warmth of your arms and Bruce's 'Letter To You' with a return to E Street after his Roy Orbinson, cinematic solo under the 'Western Stars' last Summer. 'Letter's' opener 'One Minute You're Here' feels like a return to sender reply to the tougher than the rest 'Ain't Got You' acoustic acapella off the 'Tunnel Of Love' out of E Street that felt like his drive to Orbison country back in the 1987 day. But after that personal human touch, its all about a band back on the run from Soprano's to sax from Clemons nephews that evoke the unwavering spirit of Clarence that was still born to run like the perfect portrait of leaning on your shoulder. As this one provides a Bill Withers to your burdens. Lean on this when you're not strong in this year we lost him, the Black Mamba and Panther and so many more lives that mattered. 

Ben E. King. Elvis Presley. So many legends are mentioned or mesmerized in melody here as The Boss takes his stage throne again like only he could do. For three plus hours on any given night like lighting the right match, even locked down at home. In the hash-tag of a 'New Music Friday' where we had this and Harper's new harp like beauty to brood over, aswell as work and get these reviews down, this writer found himself stuck on the first track like I would here today, still here tomorrow never leave. But 'One Minute' later I was Lionel Richie stuck on the soaring 'House Of A Thousand Guitars' inspiration. That's just what the Boss does with instant, household name classics off E Street for his vintage in his fine wine years getting better with each sip and sup. From the Central Park malls to the classic horse and carriage NYC streets that could take it back to classic Manhattan like Ben's 'Lovers' for your artwork this Winter, Springsteen's sound is as cinematic as it comes. Whether 'On Broadway' for New York and Netflix, under the old Hollywood movie 'Western Stars', or even this new 'Letter To You' script for an Apple TV documentary. Take a bite out of this one. Because like The Boss warns us, "Big black train comin' down the track/Blow your whistle long and long/One minute you're here/Next minute you're gone." Because, "here the bitter and the bored/Wake in search of the lost chord/That'll band us together for as long as there's stars/Yeah in the house of a thousand guitars." From the self-titled single, to the following 'Ghosts' that haunt us in day bleeding into night, year long isolation. 

"Alive, I can feel the blood shiver in my bones/I'm alive and I'm out here on my own/I'm alive and I'm coming home," he sings with the spirit of the Holy Ghost leaving a lamplight on for all those who have departed E Street, but remain in heart. Knowing that this Christmas all that's past will come back not to haunt you, but hold you close like those bittersweet memories. Facing down mortality with the ability to bring a powerful resonance Springsteen soars with his eyes on the sparrow. Scribing his way out of writers block in just a week with some of the best songbook entries in this journey of life and journal of the American dream, the shades of Dylan or Orbinson (pick your Wilbury) would be proud of. Springsteen put his white tee, jeans and leather jacket back on for the coming Winters fall like he was sanding in front of the closed blinds of a 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'. Still, with some roadblock in the creative process of the man who sang about American girls and muscle, Bruce took some tracks from his past like the 'High Hopes' of the last record off E Street. Taking three records he penned for his debut 'Greetings From Asbury Park NJ' back in 1973 and bringing them to new life here. The saintly 'If I Was A Priest', the Frankie, Wendy or Mary like ode of 'Janey Needs A Shooter' and a 'Song For Orphans' too. Sounding to the letter as classic as the '73 day they were written for a 'Greetings' card back in Jersey for this boy. Springsteen keeps the flame lit from the fire of a 'Burnin' Train', all the way to the tracks of tears (the cinematic 'Rainmaker'), Smoky, atmospheric rails (the hands together 'Power Of Prayer' that piano plays into the same keys of 'Guitars' for the Boss rhythm and blues gospel in this land of hope and dreams) and the final destination of the hallmark, beautiful ballad closer, 'I'll See You In My Dreams'. One R.E.M. that sounds like a slower long walk home as Springsteen sings with streets of fire and E, "Alive, I can feel the blood shiver in my bones/I'm alive and I'm out here on my own/I'm alive and I'm coming home," for all the souls who feel like they've "been split at the seams." From multiple Norah Jones records to of course Ben Harper's instrumental instrumental piece, we've had plenty of locked in studio sessions to hold us down, but working on a dream, like the magic of his Obama era music, the 'Last Man Standing' here is still trying to bring about change like waiting on a sunny 2020 day this fall. 'Western Stars' was his Summer album. 'Letter To You' is his Winter. The Boss may have not given us the best record of the year (that honour goes to Haim, the 'Women In Music' with their California girls 'Part III'), but with one of his greatest hits he's given us hope like you do when you vote. And that's what we all need now like the sincere best regards at the end of a letter. Signed, sealed and delivered. TIM DAVID HARVEY.  

Playlist Picks: 'Ghosts', 'One Minute You're Here', 'House Of A Thousand Guitars'. 

REVIEW: BEN HARPER - WINTER IS FOR LOVERS

 

5/5

Winter Song. 

Weaving strings on his lap like yarn, Ben Harper has so much to say without a single word. The lyrical legend has always waxed classic couplets and epic entendres compelling to the ears, hearts and minds of so many relatable souls. Take the 2018 call to action 'No Mercy In This Land' follow up to his best blues Grammy winning 'Get Up' collaboration with icon Charlie Musselwhite. On the title track he puts it plainly as the tomorrow is a new day you see after a dark night like his late friend Heath Ledger, whose daughter he wrote a lullaby for ('Happy Everafter In Your Eyes' off his greatest hit album 'Both Sides Of The Gun' after the 'Brokeback Mountain' actor directed the violin visual, ballet dance of a music video to Harper's most string beautiful track, 'Morning Yearning'). "Spend your whole life with one woman/Die and leave her your farm/The very next day she's on your best friend's arm/There ain't no worries/You can't drink away." Or how about the 'Bad Habits' of, "When a man gives you his hat/He's living on borrowed time/The shoe fit so I wore it/But I left one lace untied." Or "Broken hearts and broken dreams/Turns out they weigh the same/Passed down through generations/Like the family name/There's a gilded coat of arms/For those who heal from within/But tonight the bottle wins again", circling the drain of the shot glass on 'The Bottle Wins Again' for a man that sings, "Everybody says I love you/But not everybody lives I love you". "I could've held you more carefully/And I suppose you could've been there for me". "Choosing not to remember/Is no way to forget/That's just a losing bet". "These old streets of shame/Will they ever look the same/Will they remember our name"Just ask the dust" on 'When Love Is Not Enough' for a man whose underrated work is more than as it speaks for itself, but still needs to be shouted about. And that's just the last album. This is the same man who believing in a 'Better Way' told us to, "take your face out of your hand and clear your eyes/you have a right to your dream and don't be denied", like "another day, another chance to get it right" like this one. 

You'd have to live his life to get boots like his as they walk through the snow of his latest, perfect project. The Innocent Criminal and bandsman who has worked with everyone from Musslewhite to his own mother Ellen on their beautiful 'Childhood Home' has more collaboration projects than an artist has canvases, but still he can go at it alone like he does here. Hallmark heartfelt and hauntingly in black and white. Sleety portrait capturing love like running into the arms of the one that will hold you through it all. Ben Harper has worked with Criminals, the gospel of The Blind Boys Of Alabama and the raw and ready Relentless7 (we still can't wait to that follow up for the unbelievably more than a decade old 'White Lies For Dark Times'...we're still living in them...in need of being given some truth like John Lennon on his 80th birthday). He even formed a Fistful Of Mercy supergroup with Joseph Arthur and the son of a Beatle, Dhani Harrison in between having Ringo Starr drum on solo sets (the all on the studio floor, 'Give 'Till It's Gone') that deserves an encore. Not to mention prolifically produced soul legend Mavis Staples last groundbreaking set, 'We Get By'. But as classic as these collabos have been, like fighting for your mind after being welcomed to the cruel world with the will to live, Benjamin Chase Harper is outstanding on his own like the 'Amen Omen' of his signature 'Diamonds On The Inside'. Even without a word. As this locked down album in the terrible and tragic 2020 in quarantine, sees the singer return after his 'Uneven Days' mental health look last year when we really need him on the same day Boss Springsteen writes a 'Letter To You'. Taking a seat, putting his iconic guitar on his lap like tradition and picking and plucking away at an inspired, influential instrumental album. 

'Winter Is For Lovers' like long coats and sweeping the sludge off the streets. And in his sweet, sixteenth set, Ben let's the one he loves dearly leap into his arms as he picks her up on the sidewalk and spins her around the Manhatthan streets with the iconic New York brick beginnings of the signature skyline surrounding them like beautiful bookends. The album artwork is exactly that...put it in his greatest hits gallery. The tracks like 'Manhattan' or borough neighbouring 'Harlem' are testament to that for this singers single and 'Inland Empire'. As Harper harmonizes without so much as a hum from 'Toronto' to 'Paris' by way of 'London' and all the way back again like 'Montreal' or a reprise in the six with stirring strings. This whole single guitar album like Rodrigo Y Gabriela clocks in at just over a half hour...but we could talk about it for days on end when it's all said and done. With the sun drawing in like the days, 'Lovers' is the deep dedication we need like Springsteen's 'Letter' on the same day for the longest year that needs a weekend break like this. The man with the Dylan rivalling American songbook...and Bruce too. Like the warm 'Winter's' embrace inside the arms of the one that would never do you harm, this release will hold you down and over until better times come like changing weather in this calendar of corona and brutality. 'Call It What It Is', Harper and his hallmark, leading band The Innocent Criminals have always spoke out about Black Lives Mattering like the 2016 album that came around after the deaths of Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin, but this year Ben is with us in silent solidarity musically. From 'Istanbul' to 'Lebanon' and all the 'Brittany's' and 'Bizanet's' in between. Each song taking you to a different chord and country as the fingers find new ways to travel in all this social isolation from a stay at home distance. As like fair 'Verona' Harper lays a scene. From 'Islip' all the way to a 'Joshua Tree' like Bono and U2 on the edge of the fall. After all on his 'Omen' this is the 'Diamond' man who once said, "silence is the loudest parting word you never say". And we can't wait to actually hear from him again. Amen. As cold as it's got this year. You're going to love this Winter like the one you hold dear. Love is alive. Don't let go of this now. 'Tis the season for us. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'London', 'Paris', 'Toronto'. 

MOVIE REVIEW: BLACKPINK-LIGHT UP THE SKY

 

4/5

The Movie. 

Blackpink in your cinema. We wish. COVID-19 has locked everything down in 2020 like Netflix has the small screen, home cinema streaming circuit. And don't even get us started on live concerts. But in quarantine you can almost live stream one with Netflix's new Blackpink documentary, 'Light Up The Sky' that really touches the stars at the same time their K Pop brothers BTS hit the big screen, trying to stay gold and 'Break The Silence' like dynamite. Hot off the heels of their 'Ice Cream' fresh collection of the 'The Album', the 'Lovesick' girls who tasted 'Sourcandy' (hearing them react to that song in the studio is like the first time we heard it) with Lady Gaga in 'Chromatica' have a N movie like 'Five Foot Two'. Now how you like that? YG Entertainment has big hits too and the biggest girl group since the Spice Girls is taking more than K Pop by storm more than Psy. Their around the world style is just that slick. Even if it is rooted in the same Seoul as an RM '.mono' mixtape. The South Korean group are the most successful girl one Twice over and in this world of solo artists featuring Heize or KATIE in first name harmony, this fantastic four break YouTube records routinely as Los Angeles Laker King James does NBA ones. These Queens like Beyoncé have earned the pink neon crowns of their album cover. Now watch their throne like Jay-Z and don't bum rush these pop rappers stage like Kanye. Back to black did you seem them burn the stage at Coachella? Because this one takes you back to that time. That now seems a million years ago. But at least for one night when you're watching this it's brought back right now as they touch the sky. 

"Why are there so many people?" they ask amongst the silence of nerves, before they break new ground on the stage they burn as hot as their MTV era music videos as cinematic as this historic Hollywood moment in Coachella, California. It was like a real life 'A Star Is Born' moment for the singers hope enough to collaborate and take the starring lead with the 'Paparazzi' famous singer. It's all brought microphone to the lips close here, BTS...or should we say behind the scenes? As this close up of Jennie, Lisa, Rose and Jisoo is as inspired as it is intimate. All in bold pink caption caps. I'll tell you why there's so many people...because that's how many you influence. Don't get it twisted. They're no overnight celebrities as the violins play like the big bass beats for a group that blends genders like they do places they come from. New Zealand, Thailand and more. You can hear it in the Australian accent, or see it in the eyes that have seen the world. These girls have been around the world and I, I, don't think they're going anywhere. And I'm not talking because of corona. The planet and the balance of power on the axis has changed. Its K Pop's and these girls world now. We're just living in it and we love going along for the ride in the back of an SUV in Seoul. Or in the studio with prolific producer and YG Family pop legend Teddy Park. Before the girls go into a cinema and watch all their home movies and then step out into the streets of Seoul for all their individual introductions. Before talking about it all over coffee with a shop owner who first served them when he started out and they were just YG trainees. It all comes right back around. Look how far they've come as he brings four plates over and those girls dish on where they'll be 20 years from now. Paris? London? The US? Married with children? They laugh at a comeback trail that will see them stand instead of dance. They're already talking about the future that they already own. Knowing nothing lasts forever and that someone younger or better will replace them. But as they cherish every moment, you should too in these troubled, uncertain times. And hold on to it. 

Black skies get deeper and darker however as the neon night goes on like the beat. This documentary delves into the hard times that come with the best of them. As the focused four try to keep in step, shade and sound mind a lot is taken to the limits of their endurance, physically and mentally, but they handle it all like warriors going into battle night after night. The microphones their swords, wielded like the mighty pen. Their words, their weapons as they kill this love. Rumpa pumpa. The stage, their battlefield and like Jin, J-Hope, Jimin and them, the fans their army. Tears are shed like sweat and even blood, but Blackpink are stronger with every one as they move millions like this compelling, cinematic take on the storytelling they direct in their songs with a crescendo of choreography. Fireworks illuminate like New York on New Year's for a group who owns this calendar like Korean Pop should the next decade of roaring 20's. You hear this fierce cry Sasha? As endearing as it is epic, this short 79 minute film captured by Caroline Suh is exactly what we need now in a world woefully devoid of devotion. It's something the nation of South Korea has needed too like its two biggest groups and the stand they make for young men and women everywhere. Especially in a country, continent and watching world crippled by the crisis of mental health problems that was already reaching pandemic levels of panic on this planet before coronavirus. Suicide in young idols of both music and the acting stage. But now thanks to acts like BTS making speeches of inspiring words of wisdom to follow at the United Nations and 'pink colouring the world with positivity like the exclamation point of the American singer. Change for the better is coming in the form of hope. Halsey's friends like a boy with luv are hallowed in this pop art genre as her name. Warhol would love this portrait. Just a fortnight after the relaxed of their first major studio 'Album' this forthright movie is the perfect music video accompaniment to their scoring soundtrack. Blackpink aren't just in your area like their ad-libbed, famous call sign. They're in their own and a whole new one. Already causing mass hysteria. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? You'll never know unless you walk in their shoes. And this one from boot camp to the spotlight teaches you the steps. From trial to triumph and all the tribulations between in tribute. Access all areas. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'BTS: Break The Silence-The Movie', 'Gaga: Five Foot Two', 'Beyoncé-Homecoming'. 

REVIEW: BLACKPINK-THE ALBUM

 

4/5

Blackpink Is The Colour. 

South Korea rules the entertainment world right now. You think that's wrong? It's time you got the 'Best Picture' like Bong Joon-ho's 'Parasite', that not only changed the Academy Award it won for 'Best International Feature Film' (no longer foreign to anybody...even those Trump's who can't see subtitles, or two inches. Do better soon Mr. President), but also the Oscar game as its greatest movie. Joon-ho's own cult, classic 'Snowpiercer' even got remade on the other side of the tracks for a Netflix season this year. And if you thought Korean cinema had run out of rail (have you even seen 'Brotherhood', 'The Villainess', or 'The Handmaiden'?) then how about the tracks of 'Peninsula'? The surprisingly still on course sequel to the zombie genre redefining, claustrophobic carnage carriages of the 'Train To Busan' and its animated 'Seoul Station' prequel. And that's just movies. This writer even started his Far East journey to Japan here, this time last year...and he hasn't looked back since. Although he has to more than a decade ago when he met the love of his life at 21, by way of South Korea. Now in awe of all these amazing acts ruling the world and showing no fears to the tears that marr and mark this country and continent in the darkness of depression and its suicide epidemic that even touches many of music and movies biggest stars, shamed by social media. Because that problem hits a little closer to home...in more ways than one. Showing heart to all the hurt. Because there's even more Seoul in music. Just when you thought the Beatlemania like Colbert juggernaut of K-Pop sensation BTS couldn't get any bigger. Empowering the world, telling them and everyone in the United Nations to 'Love Themselves' like you do a 'Spring Day', these Bangtan Boys stayed gold and fused the biggest single of their already huge hit of a career with the explosive, English 'Dynamite'. Breaking both daily YouTube and Spotify records. Even unravelling Taylor Swift's 'Cardigan' with 7.778 Spotify streams. Mission Impossible? No this fuse is Tom Cruise. And you thought that amazing Agust D album was the start of the break like a Rap Monster '.mono' mixtape of 'Forever Rain' from RM. Well this is the Suga as they truly breakout. Next stop, Grammys. Just like the 4AM zoning of singer/songwriter KATIE's echoing talent, or the haze of Heize. You think the American dream is still King like "jump up to the top LeBron?" Wake up!  'Excuse Me Miss', remember when Jay-Z said "only dudes movin' units: Em, Pimp Juice (Nelly...of course) and us" on 'The Blueprint 2'? Well now it's just these pop idols who can even spit bars better than most of todays hip-hop heads. Remember when rappers would take their talents over any adversity like Kanye West rapping 'Through The Wire' with his moth closed shut like you wish it would be now? Or Shyne recording verses on a prison phone because he wouldn't talk? Now it's mostly rappers who mumble worse than me in a face mask. Korean pop groups are bubbling like the NBA in Disney World or popcorn neon like once, TWICE, three times a girl group. And then there's Blackpink. The only band bigger right now is their Seoul brothers...and they may be Tower Records bigger than Jesus like Lennon said. Imagine. But with these girls singing for 'Sour Candy' on Lady Gaga's gargantuan 'Chromatica' pop art classic, a new set of stars are born. 

Women in Music Part 2020. Like the greatest album of the calendar, from the sister, Summer Valley girls of Haim ('WIMPIII'), this may have been the worst year of our lives, but it's also been a best one for studio quarantined music and the year of the woman who know alone like no one else does, but still come back like hallelujah gasoline (how about the latest Great Western Forum video live for Jimmy Kimmel at a distance, that's as Los Angeles as the Lakers?). All to pick us up off the floor ever since Norah Jones (who knows it 'Hurts To Be Alone' with her own solo set this Summer) followed a 'Dear Santa' Christmas EP under the tree with Catherine Popper and Sasha Dobson with the second album from her Puss N Boots supergroup to start a 2020 we never saw coming. And then Best Coast reformed with a 'Hotel California' Eagles, hell freezing over cover for 'Always Tomorrow' and Jezabel Hayley Mary went 'Piss' and 'Perfume' solo. All before a hot Summer of Gaga 'Chromatica', Phoebe Bridgers' 'Punisher', Lianne La Havas' incredible name, Taylor Swift's surprise 'Folklore' out of the woods and of course Haim. Even over the last few weeks of a fading Summer, we've had a new self finding album from 'Alicia' Keys and J Pop megastar Aimyon who 'Heard That There's Good Pasta'. And who knows? Maybe we will get something from gangster Nancy Sinatra starlet Lana Del Rey next week?! But this is now. And from the moment the big bass beat of 'How You Like That' comes into opening play, Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa who owned Gaga's candy with the opening, sour lyrics, "I'm sour candy, so sweet that I get a little angry. I'm super psycho, make you crazy when I turn the lights low" like "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah", master this one like "kissing you goodbye." Or the MTV music video that has more Hollywood production than a Gaga or Lady Madonna. "Bara bing. Bara, boom, boom, boom." All the way to the stunning, sophomore single and the second big collabo with American superstar Selena Gomez and its equally glistening like bright candy music video, no sour. Even brighter than a BTS 'Boy With Luv' and Halsey (and one). For this sweet and fresh popsicle hit and lick 'Ice Cream' that comes spinning and singing in like a truck that will have everyone to Eddie Murphy screaming "ICE CREAM". When they sing, "come a little closer, 'cause you're looking thirsty", sounding "kiss me hard in the pouring rain" like they just said f#####g. No problem. The following lyrics from these pop princesses going for the throne, "I'm a make it better, sip it like a Slurpee/Snow cone chilly/Free it like Willy (nice movie reference)/In the jeans like Billie (OH! But the kid is still not my son)", could even make Prince blush. I guess it just a sign 'o' the times. 

'Pretty Savage' like the snare kick of said song. Because this act like the B to the T, to the S show that K-Pop traps as much hip-hop as it does family friendly, popular music. And they don't need to work with 'Hustlers' own Cardi B to stay on that strip. Although I 'Bet You Wanna' when it comes to this jam and another classic collabo with the 'Money' singer that likes nothing more than getting checks. Not even morning sex. Diamonds on their neck these Korean Queens were born to flex. But with its new release on the same day as 'The Album' and its vibrant video, these 'Lovesick Girls' have given us a new national anthem like 'Pinot Grigo Girls'. Take a sip. Becoming the fastest Korean girls M/V to surpass 10 million views. Doing it in less than an hour. 53 minutes to on the clock be exact. Hold on BTS...they're coming. Between these two they could really crash the internet, no Kardashian. These aren't music videos. They're movies. Now what's the big hit? Singing, "No love letters, no X and O's/No love, never, my exes know/No diamond rings, that set in stone/To the left, better left alone". All to the "We are the lovesick girls. We were born to be alone" celebratory chorus for the girls that "didn't want to be a princess (I'm sorry...my bad) I'm priceless/A prince not even on my list." On the 'Friction' Imagine Dragons, Arabian like rhythms of 'Crazy Over You', Pink exclamation experiments with more rapped up beats that kick and push like Lupe loops sure to create a fiasco in the clubs, like riding through on a skateboard. Before 'Love To Hate Me' is a song you'll despise to do anything but adore in its pure pop, auditory atmosphere. "Wake up and make up" (maybe?) as Black rises from the ashes and like a Guinness World Record breaking single 'Kills This Love' like "Rum, pum, pum, pum, pum, pum, pum" or their 'Square One' debut album. Well square two really is something. All the way to the beautiful ballad closer 'You Never Know' for your EDM hit from the YG Family. "But you'll never know unless you walk in my shoes" mic dropping and walking away with lasting lyrics like, "Cause everybody sees what they wanna see/It's easier to judge me than to believe." Aint that the truth. Sure this eight track wonder of an album halfway between an extended play and LP only plays for 24 minutes, but in 2020 what numbers are more poignantly powerful than that one forever and a day or the infinite 8 For Kobe? Let's face it like Gaga, K-Pop has saved pop and probably the music industry as a streaming around the world whole. And look whose right there in capes. BLACKPINK! The pink neon crown is theirs like the print of rap queen Nicki Minaj rhyming with idols for these superwomen, girls on fire like Keys. "Look up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane." Blackpink and 'The Album' we've all been waiting for is in your area. Now how you like that? TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'How You Like That', 'Ice Cream (Feat. Selena Gomez)', 'Lovesick Girls'.