REVIEW: HAYLEY MARY - FALL IN LOVE EP

4/5

Loving A Jezabel.

Surprise! Christmas has come even earlier this year as holidays are coming faster than pine needles falling off the tree you still haven't had time to put up yet. Hayley Mary has given us another extended play after last years 'The Piss, The Perfume' and 'The Drip' of this years one better release that will never break 'The Chain' of her incredible run, pissing excellence. Right after her fellow band member Heather Shannon released the 'Midnight Sun' of a piano perfect album in quarantine and recovery. All as the band themselves, The Jezabels have announced on the ten year anniversary of their 'Prisoner' they will be unlocking that album and touring it next year in reunion. We'd hope for more from the band itself as we're sure a new album is in the works too, but we've already been so spoilt with such good music from the members of our favourite band and best Aussie one since Michael Hutchence and INXS. Why have expectations, when everything is already so great, Dickens? Now out of nowhere we're told to 'Fall In Love' with Hayley Mary. Way ahead of you. She can't be stopped. Turning the festive sparkle of this album artwork into the actual video visual. Hayley Mary right now is releasing more EP's than record store day. You've got to love it this fall. 

Dripping with songs, the last EP gave us one hell of a catchy song released off 'The Chain' and a 4K video of decadence. And the rest of the cuts never let up like asking 'Would You Throw Away A Diamond' in this 'Unholy Winter'. But it was the 'Young and Stupid' lesson over perfect piano that played us a moving message. Pick up that phone, before it's left ringing all alone. "When you’re young and stupid/When you’re young and you think/You got time, you got time to spare/You know that’s just a lie that they tell/Telephone line never gonna ring again/You wouldn’t think it was the last time", the singer who sang, "don't tell me to smile, when for all you know I just buried my mother" warns. Heed that cell and make it. Now, falling in love on this EP's title track with more than an album worth in the bank she sings, "your highs and lows/trials and blows/do we even like the same old songs/do we even really get along", all "window panes", "chillblains" and finger guns in the seventies sparkle of this cuts video. But it's 'The Young' that really hits, stupid. "It's time to go while you still can/it's time to take another chance/when patterns turn to rocks inside your brain/and it saddens me to say/I think it only goes one way/if you stay in town/it'll burn you down/if you stand your ground/you'll go." Wise words from a legend who previously told the young to dial in, now engaging them with message not to hold the line on their own time. Pick it all up. 

M.A.R.Y. furthers her signature sound full stop with 'T.E.A.R.' and she really is on a tear. Living and learning with "every teary eye". "If I was you I'd listen/instead of pissing away the years/this is a lesson learned, my dear," she continues on her lyrical vision and mission for people experiencing it to learn from their mistakes and not make the same one like a record on repeat. But we'll keep spinning this one until we waltz like Christoph around that notion like the beautiful old couple in the Jezabels 'Look Of Love' video from 'The Brink' like it was time to dance. Don't waste your time in heartbreak until its too late. Besides this is the time to 'Fall In Love', even if it does come out of nowhere like this EP. Now if that doesn't strike you down, 'Bullet' will like a Steve McQueen car chase in San Francisco for the Sydney singer by way of Byron Bay. The butterfly wings of this new romantic seventies sound floating with lyrics like, "I love that bullet/but I touch and as I see you shooting by/tears well in my eyes/I loved you more." Six shooting us and triggering any nostalgia over the one we used to hold by our waist, who now swipes past with someone else riding shotgun as quick as the dismissing fickle hands of fate going left and leaving us in the dust. It all comes to a close with '27' like that year was just yesterday away and not the age of a decade. "We watched the lives of stars and vagabonds/What future lies your house gets carried on/It's shining in the eyes of whores who'll open doors can have it all at the age of 27." These are the kind of her storytelling legacy making lyrics that Patti Smith or PJ Harvey would be proud of. But this is Hayley Mary's time to love now. And under our trees there's no better surprise this fall. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Fall In Love', 'The Young', 'Bullet'. 

REVIEW: ADELE - 30

4/5

30 For 30.

Hello again, from the other side. Adele is back and this is the only time any of us born around the 1980's have looked forward to '30'. Here's to the biggest album of the year...and maybe her career history, rolling in the deep. Performed on the worlds biggest stage like London's Royal Albert Hall and the Los Angeles Griffith Observatory overlooking the Hollywood sign in La La land for the city of stars in the same damn week. All whilst someone pops the question with an Adele assisted proposal for a couple getting together like Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling characters.  Not to mention the biggest Oprah interview since Meghan and Harry ("you get an exclusive, you get an exclusive!"). She's come a long way since those Tottenham salad days, spurred on the hottest pop career not giving Swift 'Red' notice like Taylor's version. From telling you never mind, she'll find someone like you. To giving us the 'Skyfall' of Daniel Craig, James Bond themes like 'Happier Than Ever' Billie Eilish for 'No Time To Die' for 007. What more could the incredible voice give us in the same weekend we take in the Aretha movie 'Respect'? Give Adele her A.L.L. D.U.E. too, because we are in the presence of a GOAT, going through an album worth of darkness, divorce and drink. All before she comes out the other side, sporting a new look courtside at a Laker game with Rich Paul, the agent to the stars like King James. But this queen has the throne now. And as she's stacking up the ages with classic albums ('19', '21', '25'). Can you imagine just how even more legendary her legacy will be decades from now when she's an old soul with albums like '42', '54' and more? Still dancing at '60'. Multiplying like Ed Sheeran mathematics. Adele has even changed the game by having Spotify remove their shuffle button as the default option when playing albums, because after all in this ever-changing industry, "we don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended." Amen. So 30 for 30 like ESPN she can now be seen on courtside, let's go track-for-track like we always do it this time. 

Loneliness is about to be consoled...even if everyone does start crying after the first few seconds of the first track. And that's guaranteed after saying goodbye to the opening 'Strangers By Nature' with the eulogy, "I'll be taking flowers to the cemetery of my heart/For all of my lovers in the present and in the dark/Every anniversary, I'll pay respects and say I'm sorry/For they never stood a chance as if they could/When no one knows what it's like to be us." As assured as her having another arm load of gramophones at the next Grammy's as she rock-a-by's the competition like a baby. Then she all makes it 'Easy On Me' like a Commodore Sunday morning for this soul session of a stunning, soaring new single like the storm of colour that comes in during the leaving home, drive to freedom of the video. Sheets of music swirling around all the happy couples she drives past to her own changed lane destiny. All for someone who has gone from black and white to living colour on her perfect portrait album portraits that she did and does like the numbers. Putting this new classic next to 'Somebody Like You' and 'Hello' like Lionel Richie as one of her greatest hits. "There ain't no gold in this river/That I've been washing my hands in forever," she sings on the first sing she wrote after her divorce, in 2018. Easy money. And how about the country soul of Chris Stapleton on the Target and Japanese bonus edition of this LP that also features the heart-breaking 'Can't Be Together' and 'Wild Wild West' (no, not that one)? Because this album affords more. It could even save a few lives. She says so herself. "Let time be patient. Let pain be gracious." This album is full of more poetic affirmations than 'Milk and Honey', Rupi. 

Powerful. Emotional. Atmospheric. Heart-breaking. Beautiful. Unconditional devotion. What more can we say about 'My Little Love', the dedication to her child? Except that it's the biggest piece of her heart and maybe the best song on the album. Six minutes of every emotion and vocal introduction as she talks to hers and us as such. "My little love/I see your eyes widen like an ocean/When you look at me so full of my emotions." "My little love/Tell me, do you feel the way my past aches/When you lay on me, can you hear the way my heart breaks." There's just so much lasting lyrics here to hear that will leave an indelible imprint and your heart and a stranger in solidarity of you've ever gone through this type of aggravating anxiety in separation. And the chorus." "I'm holdin' on (Barely)/Mama's got a lot to learn (It's heavy)/I'm holdin' on (Catch me)/Mama's got a lot to learn (Teach me)." It's more than a hook. It's that sinking feeling in need of a line. It's the type to make you 'Cry Your Heart Out' ("I created this storm/It's only fair that I have to sit in its rain") like the next track or the type of rivers Timberlake and Bublé sang about, drowning in desperation. 'Oh My God'. This smoky, smouldering soul for the jazz clubs and now the pop hip-hop heads is heaven sent like the spirits from cigarette ash and vinyl dust. Singing "because my heart can pound like thunder" on the acoustic foot stomper 'Can I Get It', Adele gives us "the good, the bad, the ugly and divine" on a song that has the spurs for a wild west hoedown. "We're in love with the world but the world just wants to bring us down/By putting ideas in our head that corrupt our hearts somehow", she laments for this age of angst on 'I Drink Wine' which you should accompany with a glass of red. Even staying at home with a bottle in the fridge, it's the anthem to take your night off ice. Inviting all the Lady Gaga 'Pinot Grigio Girls'. Singing along, "why am I obsessing over things I can't control" (daily), "why am I seeking approval from people I don't even know" (triggered). All as we yearn for the one we long for that will be as true as, "everyone wants something, you just want me." Now that's the ultimate "find somebody who" meme. And look at her and 'All Night Parking' with Erroll Garner for the inspired pit-stop of an interlude. There's no woman like Adele Adkins on 'Woman Like Me' over the soul stirring strings of Lianne La Havas like guitars for another great Brit. Now 'Hold On' ("you are still strong"), we're not going home yet Hall and Oates or Drake 'Certified Lover Boy' is Adele's album of the year. And most of the industry not on 'Donda' like Kanye. But not anymore. Its '30' and everything else below now. 'To Be Loved' is to be one with the heart of this album and a Donny homage. Even for those who think 'Love Is (Still Just) A Game' in closing, channelling Amy. Don't ghost. The spirit of this one soars. Even after three decades and more than ten years since she released her first at '19', Adele is still the one. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Strangers By Nature', 'Easy On Me', 'My Little Love'.

BOOK REVIEW: JAMIE FOXX - ACT. LIKE YOU GOT SOME SENSE (AND OTHER THINGS MY DAUGHTERS TAUGHT ME)

 

4/5

Dad Keeps Embarrassing Me.

When 'Will' came out this month, movie megastar, the original Agent Smith who is even big enough to pass on 'The Matrix', showed us the way yet again. Just watch that Tik Tok that's gone about as viral as Smith's sensational second career as a YouTuber before he serves for the Oscar throne as 'King Richard' with the Williams sisters. The way that took the West Philadelphia born and raised (where's did he spend most of his days? Do you even have to ask) Fresh Prince who moved in with his Uncle and Auntie in Bel-Air to Hollywood and beyond infinity as his buzz welcomed aliens to earth. But during the age of 'Big Willie Style' and that very album for the new man in black, one of Will Smith's good friends was waiting in the wings. Or the interludes. The hilarious Keith B. Real. Do you remember? Don't act like that, you know you got it! That album sold more than Taylor Swift...or maybe even 'Independence Day' for the King of the fourth of July movie-going weekend. Still, not with me? OK. You've got Spotify. I'll wait like Will with those two guns (word to Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington) in 'Bad Boys II' when another classic Def Comedy Jam stand-up talent was trying to tell people that were shooting at them that they weren't immigration. Hilarious right!? But does that voice that's constantly getting thrown out by Smith's legendary bouncer Charlie Mack (first out the limo) and slapped by Jada sound familiar. Yep, that's right! Beat Shazam. That's Jamie Foxx. Before the Oscar for 'Ray'. 'Any Given Sunday'. Even 'Ali' with Smith, when Foxx was in Will's corner again for his 'Collateral' and 'Miami Vice' director Michael Man's boxing biopic as Bundini Brown. This compared to Smith's star stratosphere was almost a before they were famous moment, even though Jamie had his own show named after him like 'Martin'. Now as 'Will' lines everyone's bookstores and shelves Jamie has his own good book to go next to the Hollywood God. 'Act Like You've Got Some Sense' and read it too. 

Spidey senses right now are tingling at a buzz which is scrolling and sawing through the timelines and fan theories as the second trailer for this Christmases 'Spider-Man' trilogy conclusion 'No Way Home' dropped this week like bird s### made of cement. Whilst the big question and mocked up leaked photos is on whether Jamie Foxx's 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' co-star Andrew Garfield and the original Tobey Maguire will suit-up as Peter Parker alongside Tom Holland. The latters post credits cameo in Tom Hardy's connected 'Venom' movie and all those universe web weaving Easter Eggs in Jared Leto's 'Morbius' trailer has us hoping they'll go into the spider-verse like the classic animation. Besides all the villains are there like the return of Foxx's electric Electo character that gave us the most epic showdown amongst the bright lights of Times Square in 'TASM2'. Putting the big city of New York in another blackout. And you have to love the new duds and the classic comic crown call-back for Foxx. Even if we did like the Blue Man Group look in Manhattan. Let's just hope Jamie keeps the electricity in his voice. Speaking as such as he talks about the pleasure of "getting to kick Spider-Man's ass" here you have to get the audiobook version of this autobiography that will join you in company when you get ready for work in the morning and take the train home. Not only is it easier on the hands, you lazy readers that love to just scroll through stuff, it's chocked full of Foxx's sly, charismatic charm and the art form of his impressions. Everyone gets it. Sidney Poitier in regal introduction (that's Mr. Poitier to you...and me). Snoop Dogg in a meet the family moment similar to welcoming your daughters first date round in again, hilarious 'Bad Boys II' fashion (you've all done it, just not with The Doggfather). And the best and funniest impression you'll ever hear of Jay-Z. It's crazy! It sounds so much like your boy. 

Names are dropped, sure. This is Hollywood and the man who also moves in music circles and comedy circuits. This is the man that played Ray Charles and in the same year provided that voice for Kanye West's 'Gold Digger'. He took your mooooney. He hosted better parties than Diddy. Introduced Ed Sheeran to the industry. You only have to watch many a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to see he is a master of storytelling like he is of ceremonies. Just check the one about Bobby and Whitney and whilst we're here that Denzel impersonation too that he even impressed on Washington himself. OK, alright! 'Django' has had out attention since his Mr. Cab Driver sold us and Jada Pinkett in Real reunion on his "cool groove experience" Island Limo's idea before all the 'Collateral' damage happened with Tom Cruise. But the most important name is Foxx...and not his. His daughters. Corinne and Annalise Bishop. Corinne who provides the foreword even narrates the chapter names...which are as creative as the careers of these Foxx's themselves. Earlier this year Corrine Foxx even produced her father in his return to the small-screen sitcom world for the family comedy 'Dad Stop Embarrassing Me' based on their lives. Sure, the show tanked like Jamie and our R&B friend (what's up Babbs?), and Netflix have couched and cancelled 'Dad Stop' after it barely got out the gates. But that's Netflix for you and they still have 'Project Power' with Foxx. But there was nothing embarrassing about that delightful, charming, inoffensive show that took us back to both the golden, good old days of television sitcoms before streamers and Foxx's salad days of having an Eddie Murphy family of his raw characters he created and played himself to delirious effects. It was just in and the wrong time. But how about this book? It serves as more than a sequel or a companion to the show. Instead more like a behind the scenes documentary to the family and home life of a Hollywood legend and his real, lasting legacy. Besides for all the inspired impressions and charming character, what's better than the real thing? 'Act Like You Got Some Sense', Eric Bishop's grandmother Esther Marie Talley, the woman who raised him and the tribute subject of his beautiful piano, 'Unpredictable' song 'Heaven' told him, to which he named his book. And check the dust jacket of Jamie Foxx's memoir like running a cloth over it and straight out the foxxhole you can see the words 'I Taught My Daughters' crossed out for the common sense of this books sub-heading, "And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me". Sure this book my be a parenting guide, but it's no Dad of the year hubris pitch. Even though this man is that type of father like Vader is Luke's. Instead this awesome autobiography were Dad doesn't embarrass is a celebration of love and life. The man may not be married and that's his choice and his right like it is everyone and anyone's to do what they wish with their heart, so long as it doesn't hurt another. But it's clear all he's learnt in this life and everything he continues to be educated on comes from the work and worth of the women in his life. Act like you've got some sense and listen to those teachings too. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

REVIEW: TAYLOR SWIFT - RED (TAYLOR'S VERSION)

4/5

Red Notice. 

Starbucks lovers! That STILL may not be the lyric, but Taylor has taken over your local store...swiftly. Just as she has record breaking Spotify streams for you folks this fall like countless Autumn leaves and grabs for the gram. Between passing from a pumpkin spice latte to a festive treat of your choosing you can hear Taylor Swift constantly on the green mermaids radio for your 'Bucks. But this isn't like the time that entitled U2 album started automatically appearing on your iTunes. Why? Because becoming the biggest streaming female artist in a day with a new album in the same record breaking stratosphere, everyone want to Taylor make their playists with her new version of 'Red'. All on the same day the monster Hollywood big-three of Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot made Rawson Marshall Thurber's (version) 'Red Notice' the biggest opening day stream for a movie on Netflix going for that 'Squid Game' cryptocurrency. This is why 'Miss Americana' can break Saturday Night Live conventions by performing a lengthier version of classic songs that we know 'All Too Well' for ten minutes on SNL. Ladies and gentlemen, this weekend, that's star power. These 'Versions' are too much of albums in their own light and right not to be reviewed. All as this country star like a 'Nashville Skyline' going electric and then eclectic again with the acoustic is looking for her own great American songbook in this Springsteen land with a Dylan twang.

'1989' to infinity. Gaining quite a 'Reputation' amongst the industry as more than just a megastar, but one of the most instrumentally influential when it comes to inspiring the depth of this songwriting craft and how many moods and molds a song can take, Swift is back again. Even if Jake Gyllenhaal is tired of always being painted as 'The Guilty' party in her songs. Mark our words, that scarf will have its own Twitter account by the end of the week of it doesn't already. Just one year after her 'Lover' took it back to the bubblegum chart popping hits, Swift came out of quarantine with some new forest 'Folklore' for her urban legend. All before surprising us again in the fall with the 'Evermore' follow-up and it's hallowed Haim ('No Body, No Crime'), Este murder mystery (not a true story, don't worry) storytelling in the vain of the greats like she already is. Taylor returning the favour igniting a remix of the Haim sisters 'Gasoline' from the fire of last years best album in age of her, 'Women In Music Pt. III' for you wimps. And locked down in the studio when most are taking off their quarantine protocols like they are their masks (let's just wait a little longer) don't write off her releasing a brand new album by surprise again to close out the calendar. Although this new shade of 'Red' for the artist whose making that lipstick as iconic as Dylan shades needn't with these 'Fearless' new versions that in a fall that sees releases from the likes of Adele and Coldplay will still be one of the biggest albums and best ones to find under your tree in its presence this Christmas.

I remember hearing the original 'Red' for the first time a year and change after its release (no man wants to hear 'We Are Never Ever Gettting Back Together' whilst in the midst of a bad break-up, but what an iconic, empowering track and new take) leaving a new home and walking with no place to go but following the sun on one Summers day off back home in Britain. The drums and guitars of the epic 'State Of Grace' opener kicked into play, kickstarting my day and mood on this tailor made record for the scorching season. My mood was instantly on a high of self solidarity in that moment. This is what all those classic Taylor refrains from letting a bad boyfriend kill her vibe no matter how famous he is must feel like. Now the mood is much calmer, wistful in this empheral 'Mono-no-aware season of impermanence and all its pathos. But the 'State Of Grace' is still the same. Even if it communicates the message in a more gentler way. Grace is still beautiful. Grace is still kind. Grace is still her. And of course like the mother of all pop icon legends for this modern era Britney Spears emancipation herself from her conservatorship (BRITNEY IS FREE!), all these vivid versions of far from cash-ins. Taylor Swift doesn't need the money, she wants the masters. And these countermeasures against the changed ownership of her first six studio albums is a master move. And they even sound all the better for it. But don't pay any respect to the man, real victories belong to those who turn life's lemonade into 'Lemonade' gold...no I'm sorry platinum, forgive me, diamond records like Beyoncé. And now the biggest queen in music we know not called Knowles is about to get it like the Carter, no Kanye. Come on over to this 30-track, movie like album that even comes with it's own one ('All Too Well: The Short Film') for the country great who can even outsell Shania. Man, what it must feel like to be this woman. Take that as read. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 30 for 30, everything and all versions of all albums that are without a doubt...hers.

REVIEW: SILK SONIC - AN EVENING WITH SILK SONIC

4/5

Silk Game. 

Good evening. No. Make that a great one. The best night of your life like a Jamie Foxx album. Now act like you've got some sense. Smoother than Showtime Jamaal Wilkes silk, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak have gone Supersonic like Seattle in Motown for some uptown funk. Giving it to you like the 70's funk of soul train at the next stop. This is 'An Evening With Silk Sonic' with special guest host Funkadelic Bootsy Collins himself for the best half hour you've had all weekend (c'mon now...you know that only took two minutes). All for the most eagerly awaited, long anticipated album for not only the release of the year, but one we've been waiting for since these two got together in 2017 like you and that special someone, for the record. Back when the California rapper .Paak opened for Honolulu's very one Mars' 24K Magic World Tour when Bruno was colder (until now) than a polar bears toenails (as OutKast Big Boi once said) for your Speakerboxx. Now taking it three-stacks below the love like Andre, the 'Versace On The Floor' and 'Finesse' singer and the 'Ventura' and 'Malibu' rapper collaborate for the supergroup of supergroups and the one-two punch checking these mics with these nine wonders. And to think this was all just "a joke two friends hatched on the road" between crossing Abbey Road like The Beatles and working in London with Nile Rodgers and Guy Lawrence for the Chic album 'It's About Time'. And now it's about time for this evening too. 

Good Golly, Miss Molly. After their Grammy introduction (you can expect them to be back for the 64th annual award event) paying tribute to Little Richard like 'Long Tall Sally', the 'Leave The Door' open singers named by Bootsy himself and kicking the door in like B.I.G. were about to be that huge and notorious like "he is, he is" already was. Now blowing it out at the Shampoo Press and Curl Studio, it's time to floss like the studio or stage musical videos that make that one with Mark Ronson in the permed salon look like a pink rinse. Because 'Silk Sonic' are giving it you now...HAAA! Influenced by James Brown, Miles Davis, Prince, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin ('Respect' like Jennifer Hudson) this is the vibe as the "blaster of the universe" Collins says in introduction for this mix of 8 tracks, "fellas, I hope you've got something in your cup and ladies, don't be afraid, to make your way to the stage." Well, alright. Because 'Leave The Door Open' is more than just a breath of fresh air, it also may just be the biggest song of either stars illustrious careers. Already sounding like a Tinsletown fall favourite this Christmas like Marvel's 'Hawkeye' in New York and one of the most soaring singles of this calendar. Interchangeably sounding seamlessly unmistakable as they pass the baton like Tokyo 2020 a year later this Summer. "What you doin'? (What you doin'?)/Where you at? (Where you at?)/Oh, you got plans? (You got plans)/Don't say that (Shut your trap)/I'm sippin' wine (Sip, sip) in a robe (Drip, drip)/I look too good (Look too good)/To be alone (Woo, woo)/My house clean (House clean), my pool warm (Pool warm)/Just shaved, smooth like a newborn/We should be dancin', romancin'/In the east wing and the west wing/Of this mansion, what's happenin'?", they both sing in silk unison. Smooth to the touch. 

Skating on the second single, they really rock and roll like a stone across vinyl. On 'Skate' the pair shut it down on an outside party of drums and bongos singing, "in a room full of dimes, you would be a hundred dollars/if being fine was a crime, girl, they'd lock your lil'fine ass up in a tower." Romantic? Shut your mouth! Fresher than John Shaft on the first day of his job? You're damn right! But we're talking about .Paak and Mars too, full-stop. And like cigarette butts treating the sidewalk like an ashtray, it's the latest single 'Smokin' Out The Window' that is the greatest. Showing that even funky break-up ballads are too fly to be depressed like Ne-Yo. But this is the one like, "how could she do this to me". Luck might be more than a lady though as this perfect pair try to roll '777' at the tables. This rolls with the best of them like the cinematic masterpiece of Marvin Gaye's 'Trouble Man' soundtrack. From a top score, to the green felt of a whole new path. Nothing is 'Fly As Me' though in this funk break that feels Jay-Z 'Sweet' when he was cutting records for an 'American Gangster' like Denzel in a fedora. But it's 'After Last Night' with Bootsy and the soulful sax of Thundercat rising from the water an its euphoric, erotic desire that really stir more than the souls. Classic choruses that burn with yearn and lyrics like, "After last night/After last night, I think I'm in love with you/(I think I'm in love with you)/Woke up and I can't get you out of my head/(I've tried, I've tried, come on)/After last night, I don't know what to do/(Baby, you've got to tell me)/When I'm gon' see you again." This album really will 'Put On A Smile' on like The Joker for that matter. Especially in a time quarantined and lonely from each other socially, we dance in the living room (that becomes the 'loving room'), or on the limo, cutting a rug on the kitchen floor. All before we 'Blast Off' like a Diddy astronaut "motherf####r" classic closer that takes us to Planet Funkotron like a Mothership Connection for Bootsy's Parliament. "Clouds are blowin', don't know where we're goin'/But we're levitatin' up in this room (Ah-ah-ah)/All these colors just like rainbows in summer/Got us smilin' like our dreams just came true", Anderson gives us from his pack as Mars takes us out this world. "As we're flyin', stars are multiplyin'/Wе're up so high, we'd be fools to look down (Don't look down)/Shapеs turn paisley, this is so amazin'/Destination, pure sensation startin' right now." Now how about that? You ready?! Silk times leather. This sonic boom will have everyone clapping for another round. Hold your applause. Let's hope these two leave the door open for more. How about some other evening? TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Leave The Door Open', 'Smokin Out The Window', 'Blast Off'. 

REVIEW: BRIAN FALLON - NIGHT DIVINE

4/5

Silent Night With Brian Fallon.

Divine is the night, as it is tender. This was supposed to be the roaring 20's like Fitzgerald's Gatsby, Old Sport. But Corona locked all that down in quarantine to begin this decade, a century later. Still, we rise from Halloween with our masks still on. Into a fall were vaccinated we hope we lose no more. Trying to bring it all back on home for the holidays. The time we roar back...is now. But sometimes strength is as subtle as a whisper and sometimes the song in your back pocket that you sing is an old Sinatra standard for the great American songbook like Dylan. Or better yet a timeless hymn that takes us to the heavens and holds us close like the warm embrace of grand generations passed. By gaslight I could tell you about one who sang anthems like Springsteen. His voice alone a love letter to the Meadowlands of New Jersey. Ever since that '59 Sound', 'Handwritten' in 'American Slang' for those who 'Get Hurt'. Brian Fallon, the lead singer of The Gaslight Anthem whose solo streak has been a formidable feat of hiding in plain sight with all his hidden gems to treasure in a mainstream that couldn't measure. From all those 'Painkillers' for those 'Sleepwalkers'. Not to mention the 'Local Honey' of last year. But now with Christmas coming like mailed gifts and Zoomed present openings by the smartphone makeshift fire, our second December 25th in the planets pandemic gets an early present with the hymn book of special songs of the season from Fallon. 'A Night Divine'. "In some ways, I've been working on this record in my head since I was a kid" he tweets. For not only one of the albums of the year, but the best of its kind when it comes to the good tidings this season brings. 

A Christmas album this is not merely though. More like a complete set of hymns to praise like the Lord. But it's the perfect thing for this time of year like Ben Harper's instrumental 'Winter Is For Lovers' the last one. Starting the fire with the vivid beauty of 'Virgin Mary Had One Son', Christ his name. "Glory be to the new born King", Brian bears with a voice a little different from his trademark register. All before we finally hear it's him on his version of 'Amazing Grace', talking about how he was saved for all the wretches and Kings like a Linkin Park classic (we still love and miss you, Chester brother). "I hear 'Amazing Grace' sung a lot as a triumphant song, and it is," Fallon told press in promotion for this product. "But I always found grace to be a thing we need when we’re in defeat. When I was little, the people I heard singing this song weren’t triumphant, they were broken, in need of mercy and grace. That’s how I tried to perform this song and that’s the image I had in my mind while recording it." And you can really hear the broken pieces coming back together on this amazing version that shows grace is still good, even if it is dug from the grit of mercy before the grave. The spiritual soul of Fallon forming an album from the music that forged his earliest memories has us rising in turn for a time were we could all do with a pick me up before we really feel in the holiday mood. All as they're starting to put up the Christmas trees and play the songs in Starbucks for what seems a little early as it all comes around again so fast. But 'O Holy Night', singing about this 'Night Divine' you know Fallon's going to take us there in the late night like Jimmy before we close the curtains. 

'Nearer, My God, To Thee', Brian gets even closer to the creator. Harmonising the hymn to his sound and showing us that even when we can't see Him or hear Him, the Lord is always by our side. Just like 'Leaning On The Everlasting Arms' of this forever embrace. "What a fellowship, what a joy divine." All as he sings one of my favourites, 'The First Noel', bringing even more power to those "born is the King of Israel" glorious lines. Sing, "Noel, Noel" in this 'Sweet Hour Of Prayer' like two hands together for you or the one you love like holy matrimony. Glory to him, God and Gloria too for the 'Angels We Have Heard On High' as Fallon holds on to that name in vocal praise so beautifully. But it's the searing strings of 'Silent Night' and his version of this vision that will help you "sleep in heavenly peace" like "all is calm, all is bright". This is the kind of accessible but ascending version that could take up a stool at the edge of the local bar and bring real light out the jukebox like the fairy ones draped around the Budweiser logos and neon 'Come On In, We're Open' signs. This invite of inspiration can call a toast as you raise a glass and let the good times last in another year of hurt, because it's the least you deserve. For all you've been through and all you will too before this "dawn of redeeming grace". It's truly a 'Blessing' like that in closing as our man wishes us well and peace before the final amen. "May his favour be upon you. For a thousand generations. And your family, and your children, and their children, and their children," he sings after some outstanding organ playing for this collection, "all around you and within you". Keeping it close and leaving a little room for the Holy Ghost. Because 'Have Mercy', mercy me and remember, no matter what you go through, He is with you. Always. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Virgin Mary Had One Son', 'Amazing Grace', 'Silent Night'.