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'.
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