4/5
Gold Digger.
'Donda' delayed. The new album from Kanye West that yesterday-debuting for a livestreaming event that felt in concert with a live show from Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz stadium ("oh lord, why don't you buy me a ticket?")-was set to steal the show from Leon Bridges and even the Osaka flame lit fireworks of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games opening ceremony. Just like bum rushing a Taylor Swift stage for the fellow Grammy family member. But thankfully for the 'Gold-Diggers Sound' album the 'Gold Digger' rappers latest is yet to drop sort of unexpectedly like bird s###. Bittersweet for some, but the third times a charm like a necklace for Bridges, the man who sweet releases every three years. A week after his 'Inside Friend' John Mayer took it back to the future for the 80's inspired 'Sob Rock', coming out of the pandemic for something that you can at least cry to, or mask your pandemic emotions. Down the 'River' like Springsteen with a 'Brown Skin Girl', ever since his definitive debut 'Coming Home' to those 50 and 60's pre-Motown days of soul, the renaissance man who would have been the biggest star in the world like Marvin back then (but right now is more than enough, albeit a little underrated) has bridged the gap like Nas. Leon's second album and sophomore success 'Good Thing' really brought the good times back and this writer out the worst depression of his life like the helping hand of the 'Bet Aint Worth The Hand' video. And if want to talk about music videos, how about the power taken back on the streets dance of 'Bad, Bad News'...a song that was anything but? Add the beautiful 'Beyond' in his home Austin (by way of 'Georgia To Texas') and the formidable 'Forgive You' and this former rookie really became a star like the season pro he always sounded like. Now a veteran in this game who has made 'Texas Sun' EP sets with Khruangbin, cook out danced 'Across The Room' with ODESZA, played Gil-Scott Heron in Ryan Gosling's Neil Armstrong movie 'First Man' (and played 'Whitey On The Moon' for the soundtrack) and prayed for 'Sweeter' days with Terrace Martin during last years pandemic and 'Black Lives Matter' protests. All striking career gold with his sound mining more.
Pick an axe through the ground over and over again for this. Rev up the 'Motorbike' with your gold and hop on the back in a rush, because Bridges is back. 'Born Again' like the brand new sound from his Robert Glasper opener. "I found peace in the valley of your truth" he sings over stirring sax. Absolutely atmospheric and scene setting in this outstanding opener for a true artist who dipping his brush in gold paint like a Bond villain wants to canvas his whole career as his magnum opus. Riding on a steel horse with a six string by his side he sings, "We don't stop, but the time do/Lovers in another life, let me remind you/Look back, see me behind you/When it feels good you don't have to try to/And if you say so/If you say so/Then let's go I know you're all that I wanted since I met ya/What do I gotta do to get ya?" on, "the back of my motorbike" for the laid back, coolest cut that will groove your records all year. One my pops loves like the Triumph Bonneville in the classic video and my Mum and Dad the memories of their biking days this takes them back to. As vivid as vinyl. Just to think he's barely scratching the surface. Behind the bars of a video that even takes us 'Beyond' his last classic love story one that made us want to have what they had as his leading lady coaxed him into a reluctant restaurant dance. Letting off 'Steam' from the back wheel, this 'Gold' leaf is anything but foil. 24 like Kobe in carats. Don't put the kettle on, because you don't want to miss a thing. With a beautiful black and white video and a sample you're sure you've heard before singing, "It’s been a minute/I miss that face/I miss your smile and the wild things you say/What are we doin’ tonight?/Let’s take a dip in Forrest Hill/What are we doin’ tonight?/Come on over." Yet it's the heart-breaking yearn of 'Why Don't You Touch Me' asking, 'How Come You Don't Call Me' questions like Alicia a week before Prince returns with a 'Welcome 2 America' like, "If you're still in love, oh, like you're sayin'/Thеn why don't you touch me?/Yeah I'm dressin' to thе nines and your eyes strayin'/Oh, why don't you touch me?/Yeah/Why don't, why don't, why don't?/Yeah, yeah", that really resonates. All before sweet smelling, freshly cut 'Magnolias' inspired by the 'Love Is King' Queen Sade like the sweetest taboo bring us back to the gold standard.
Inspired instrumentation breaks are taken on the Nas like 'Halftime' of the self-titled 'Gold-Diggers' for the jazzy 'Junior's Fanfare'. All before Leon gets down to the finer things in life like, "How you look in the car when I’m driving a lil fast/How you pause when you talk when you trying not to laugh/It’s the littlest things about you that I don’t forget/No, that way that you move baby, you/In all that you do/Honey nah-nah", 'Details'. This album may be in a three-way tie for his best yet. 'Sho Nuff' like even quoting the Spice Girls when '2 Become 1'. And even if he and Mayer couldn't decide which 'Inside Friend' family album could call that track home (don't sob), you know Bridges had to bring Martin and 'Sweeter' back in this time were hands together in a march of more than millions we hope to see the mountaintop of the King's dream from Selma to the Lincoln memorial on the horizon again. Bathed in the purifying waters of the Mall like when Barack brought change. "Hoping for a life more sweeter". Not another story repeating instead with no justice, no peace with those judging eyes on 'Moonlight' "skin darker than night" for these blues. This is the king of peaceful protest like Cooke that hoped 'A Change Is Gonna Come' as it asked, 'What's Goin' On'? On the Ink tattooed 'Don't Worry' the anxiety continues over subtle strokes, painting a picture of, "We've been runnin' 'round, covered in gas, playin' with matches, oh/We've been runnin' this thing, runnin' it down, down/Sweetly talkin', but you and I both know/Keep on runnin' it down, a world that we ignored/"I don't have much, but I give you love"/I used to say that kind of stuff/Like a broken clock, stopped givin' you time/Now you're takin' your love to another guy (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)/Tell me what he gon' do, what he gon' do/How he gon' make sweet love to you (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)/And mm, if he hurts you know I'll be runnin' him down, runnin' him down (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)." Fort Worth press for the Austin City Limits of that states sound compared this soul man to the late, great, taken and before his time Otis Redding. But sitting on his own dock of the bay, the standout cut that tears the deepest here, 'Blue Mesas' is something Miles' 'Sketches Of Spain' would be proud of. Let alone contemporaries like Kamsai Washington and Thundercat. This classic closer is all you need for this just over 35 minute set like all the iconic albums usually are. 'My Guy' even has a classy closing credits song for LeBron James' 'Space Jam' sequel right now. But no matter how out of this world and the critics orbit that GOAT part two basketball movie is, the 'New Legacy' belongs to Leon, the throwback king. This Columbia Records album named after the studio, speakeasy bar and hotel in East Hollywood were Bridges camped out and eventually had a residency whilst making this album just digs deeper. Classic to the craft. Pure gold. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Motorbike', 'Sweeter (Feat. Terrace Martin)', 'Blue Mesas'.
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