REVIEW: BAND OF HORSES - THINGS ARE GREAT

4/5

All The Pretty Horses. 

How you doing? Nah, I'm not pulling a Joey Tribbiani, I'm seriously asking. I want to know. It's been a tough 2020. Wait...what do you mean it's two years later!? I know it's felt long, but seriously?! We're still a long way from escaping this lockdown. Two Christmases and still not home. But still, we shall overcome and we will get through this together. Meanwhile Seattle, Washington's own Band Of Horses for their sixth signature album are telling us 'Things Are Great'. And the coffee house favourites like their native Starbucks aren't needling us like their cities iconic, skyscraping landmark. The beautiful band and it's Lincoln bearded leader always give us a picturesque view of nature for their amazing album art. 'Everything All The Time', 'Cease To Begin', 'Infinite Arms', 'Mirage Rock' and their last album back in 2016 'Why Are You OK' (hun). But in times of quarantine for 'Great', they give us the most compelling look of their own drive in the suburbs. Cars piled up almost on the lawn for this studio session at a distance from the industry. And coming home, it's one of vivid vocalist Ben Bridwell and his band of steeds, most beautiful and brooding best yet.

Father of the unbridled. From the opening 'Warning Sign', it's clear they're still here, even with a new look. Don't worry, Ben hasn't shaved. This new band of brothers features Matt Gentling and Ian McDougall. Going through changes like Brandon Flowers' boys, but taking it back to their roots and making a killing. Singing, "Small talk with a registered nurse/Not to cry in front of people at work/Well that’s hard, hard, hard, at times you know/Get reminded of the earlier days/The end of April ’78/That was a long, long, long, long time ago." Just like 2020. Yet it's the 'Crutch' of the lead single that really picks up. Even if the past two have left us feeling like we're on one leg. The lines, "Not, not a long time ago when I knew all the answers/I couldn't pace myself or raise my standards/But one can hope, you need to know", feeling like the ones we're all drawing collectively together and apart from ourselves. Like each other at a more than social distance. For this world at war amongst the planets pandemic. It's a 'Tragedy Of The Commons' like "Feel the emptiness of creature comforts/I want some I want some/You’ve always gone/You’re never here/It’s hard to smile from ear to ear/Babe, I’m dog tired, can I cancel it all?/The hate train, pray that it crashes/Jaded chattering of neo-fascists/The clatter of the ever-warring classes/So we chose to look within/Off my rocker with the rest of them/The relatives we’ll never see again." I guess things aren't as great as expected, or advertised. But this tragedy like the will to start again is something we all have in common, if we'd just come together like the Beatles said love is all you need. 'In The Hard Times' that's all we need, staying in the sauce. "And everything has changed/Wait up wait another day/You’ll be coming around again/Shameful heavy-hearted/And reasons not to give in/Remembering now and then." We're all 'In Need Of Repair' like John Mayer once sang. "Stayin' friends is really fantastic/We'll be together from the cradle to the casket," Bridwell offers bridled.

In the 'Aftermath' like Dr. Dre and friends performing at the Superbowl show, at this album's halftime the band offer us a Hail Mary. Atmospheric over the whispers of growling guitars, harmonising, "I brought you back/Lost myself and you in the aftermath/Then what’s worse than that/That was falling asleep dead in the bath/Then the morning brought a scare/Holding a child falling down the stairs/Say what’s that over there/It’s the baby and me tumbling down the stairs/If I could say to you/It’s been a while, spend the afternoon/I got you back/I lost myself in the aftermath/Fought me through panic attacks/Cut me down I’m suffering the wrath." The tracks of these tears on this track may just lead us to the bands best lyrical recital yet for the record. It's these 'Lights' and this single that will show you the way to a new one for yourself. "Swept up all the charcoal dust for the fingerprints/Maybe under the wrong impression/So we had things that they want, all the items ya bought/Hey what you wanna know, two detectives on the patio/Hey, can the lights turn off, lights turn off ." Folk anthemic for all you Mumford's and all your sons. It's a nice night we're having hey?! Excuse me...an 'Ice Night We're Having'. In the cold of this Winter that's no longer coming like a 'Game Of Thrones', but rolling for us and this rock act. "Educated dropout living in a vacation home/I guess you never know when the wheels will fall off/He’s a happy old fella in a short sleeve shirt/Telling us stories of when he was at work/He’s barking louder, tales get taller every time he does." Storytelling like the diaries banded together beside the bed of their childhood home. Where the heart and the soul of these sessions are like "sleeping in the car" or "living on the floor." A new beat is hit and welcome on 'You Are Nice To Me' for a man who admits, "I shouldn't fight it, it's been a hell of a hard climb." But as the fingers still did in, like to the chords of the classic closer that keeps us closer, 'Coalinga'. It's worth the fight, like this Californian city in Fresno County worth the visit. Putting it on the map like Bon Iver and dedications including, "The first of days, on our way/Towards the biggest stage of the western states/At the Thunderbird Lodge the creeping resident gives a strong salute/Not the best shoes for shingles though/ Things are great, yeah things are great/In a cow s### smelling hellhole called Coalinga." Alright...maybe not exactly putting this roadside on the map. But just like things aren't so great (yet), more, so, so. There's still beauty to be had (have you tried Victorville for a welcome break?). And things are slowly getting that way towards the better. Wild horses couldn't drag us away from that. Now band together, brothers. These guys have, as the light shines from their home. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Crutch', 'Aftermath', 'Coalinga'.

REVIEW: DOLLY PARTON - RUN ROSE RUN

4/5

Kiss From A Rose. 

'Christmas On The Square' last yuletide season, feels like just an eve ago. But it's March already. Madness! We're almost a quarter of our way through the year and it won't be long before were "cutting down trees" and "putting up reindeer" like Joni Mitchell sang down the 'River' for the most underrated festive feeling song and stream (although not Spotify, as she stands with Neil Young as the 'Harvest' does all of us) this side of Springsteen's American dream. Or for that matter tuning into Parton's testimonial of a traditional festive fairytale from Dollywood. One we still can't believe came as far back as the decades seemingly ago 2020 year of quarantine. Let alone the fact that last Christmas was more than mere months ago. But locking it down in the studio, life goes on as we get back to work this new year like 9 to 5. And in the great American songbook, one of the land of the free's greatest from Nashville, Tennessee has never looked better in a cowboy hat, checked shirt and blue jeans. Complete with a stetson over those signature blonde bombshell curls and her trusty guitar. All as the Nashville skyline Dylan once wrote an album about sets in the background with the sun. Yep, that's right. Dolly is back with 'Run Rose Run' before she co-authors her first novel of the same name with 'Alex Cross' legend James Patterson. All as the 'Jolene' singer will take your tapping feet like that muse did her man.

On the blooming opening of 'Run', Dolly Parton won't stop, singing, "When you find yourself in a mess of trouble/Trapped amongst the trash and rubble/Prayin' for relief but gettin' none/You wanna start your life anew/You just don't know exactly how to/Find your opportunity and run." Just try and tell me our meaning doesn't need a message like this right now. Because it's these dreams that make for the new American anthem for the country of 'Big Dreams and Faded Jeans' that's trying to keep its bootcut work honest, whilst some are disappearing like washed denim. "Put on my jeans, my favorite shirt/Pull up my boots and hit the dirt/Finally doin' somethin' I've dreamed of for years/Don't know quite what to expect/A little scared, but what the heck/My desire is always greater than my fear/Big dreams and faded jeans/Fit together like a team/Always busting at the seams/Big dreams and faded jeans/Just my ol' guitar and me/Out to find my destiny Nashville is the place to be/For big dreams and faded jeans." Inspirationally and lyrically, this one just works like your favourite outfit. Put on your best dress and step out in big boots made for Nancy Sinatra strollin' and run from your 'Demons'. As Parton parts with past pain, singing with Ben Haggard, "I’ve been fighting demons most of my life/So fighting with you makes no sensе/I need some heaven, and I’vе had enough hell/I’m an expert in pain and torment/So if you can’t be with me, then please just dismiss me/I guess when it’s all said and done/We’ve all had our demons/I guess I was dreamin’ to think we could fight them as one." 'Driven' for  more and the perfect soundtrack scoring the road of this Tennessee highway or the one of your own heart. All before the tragic songbook storytelling of a 'Blue Bonnet Breeze' amongst these wind chimes. Reminding you to be aware of the 'Snakes In The Grass' and that, "You’d better move fast/You’ll be poisoned or be strangled to death/Their fangs, they bit deep/And their venom will creep/Inside you ’til you’re gasping for breath."

So cut the grass and the snakes will show as Jay-Z once said on the second 'Blueprint' ("I got to thank my homie Nas for that though.") and dust yourself off as Dolly vows to 'Woman Up (And Take It Like A Man)'. Woman, I feel like some Shania Twain empowerment as the gold standard of country icon status with a crown and throne even Taylor couldn't touch (yet) tells us, "I’m gonna woman up and take it like a man/I’m gonna buckle up, be tough enough/To take control and make demands/Look like a woman, think like a man/Be as good as or better than/Gotta woman up and take it like a man", tells us for the new national anthem like Lana Del Rey's 'Blue Jeans' in the land of faded dreams, coming back awake for the malaise of your weary eyes. 'Firecracker' is car chase music turned all the way up, pedal to metal as the strings of these scorched violins could even start fireworks with the blaze they're about to make from the heat of their friction. But tell me, is there a better whisper than the beautiful ballad of 'Secrets'. "Just know your safe with me" she reassures in reflective messages. "Secrets, you’re good at keeping secrets/Especially your own/You’re not alone/And you’ll feel much better if you try/To put some faith in you and I/I don’t gossip, I don’t lie/Try me Secrets, I’m good at keepin’ secrets/Especially my own." Straight out of Dollywood, this is why like Prince's Paisley Park, this legend has a whole arena of an area named after her. 'Lost and Found' with Josh Nichols for her own vault. Bringing more meaning to subtly searing lyrics like, "Lost count of all the countless things/I’ve lost throughout the years/Lost friends and time and interest in/The things I should hold dear/Lost sleep just pondering the things/That have been lost to me/Especially the loss of love/I’ve need desperately." Bringing Amazing Grace to the organs of this hands together recital. All for the 'Dark Night' of a 'Bright Future' darkest before the dawn, if you just know how to begin again. "Forgiveness is a magic wand, makes things disappear/Kindness wipes away regret, hope can conquer fear/Tenderness, a soothing balm, healing wounds and scars/Love says we can start anew right from where we are," devotions, declared from the heart will help. And as the beautiful 'Love Or Lust' over stirring strings and powerful piano brings this all to a close, Rose. Asking, "Love or lust/Do we doubt, do we trust?/Whatever it is, it’s stronger than us." We know what it is. It's love. Don't run. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Big Dreams and Faded Jeans', 'Blue Bonnet Breeze', 'Secrets'.

REVIEW: RZA & DJ SCRATCH - SATURDAY AFTERNOON KUNG FU THEATRE

4/5

Razor Scratch.

Saturday afternoon is alright for still knowing kung-fu. In the theatre of Wu-Tang Clan leader, The RZA's mind, he's back fighting his alter-ego Bobby Digital like he was actor Bokeem Woodbine in the 'Birth Of A Prince' 'Chi-Kung' black and white classic video back in 2003 like a legendary martial arts movie. But this time in setting the scene he's backed by legendary Puff Daddy, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest collaborator DJ Scratch on the ones and twos. On 'Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theatre's' title track for its scratched up artwork in black and Lakers purple and gold for the grill, the Razor raps, "Ayo I could take a rain drop/Turn it to an icicle/Pull off in that blue escalade/You still rockin’ tricycles/Michael Myers mask on my face/Copper filtered in N-95 edition boy/I’m a virus killa/Try to quarantine me/My chi increase like Akira/Money coming in the mail/I got cheese like quesadilla/You’re generic prosthetic pathetic/Your rap is too synthetic/You can’t cope with me kiddo/This is verbal athletics/Thirty-six/Pressure points we choose/Hit that fatal Aikido blow/tae-kwon-do/Whirlwind kicks, tornadoes." Judging from today's special on the opening of this rap menu with plenty of Scratch for your itch, it may be a short fight between the Wu's head honcho and Bob Digi. But seconds out, wait for the 'Pugilism' as these two parts of the same men take to the ring like Ali and Frazier.

Foreman haymakers come across punching piano over those classic Shaolin style samples. "Shaolin kung-fu, Wu-Tang pugilist. Yellow blue diamonds, black Buddah beads circle wrist/ You attack me from the back...that was foolishness/We move together as one like a school of fish/ Poison needle shot you tried to block. It went through your wrist/18 low hand stance this is laughing Buddah fist/Butterfly knifes lighting strike like a cumulous/Overthrow your quote, trap your throat like tuberculosis/2020 quarantine I developed perfect focus." Now you know what RZA has been doing during this planets pandemic. Locking it down in the studio. The man behind 'Tearz' and eyes so heavy 'I Cant Go To Sleep' brings even more evoking emotion on the standout 'Never Love Again'. "I could choosе to lose sleep for a week for it/Like we was made to do it I'm not afraid to do it/Pssh I do it for free/She gets paid to do it but/Vinny never really spends a penny on any/Why should he when they have so many/Laverna, Sherly, Thelma, or Penny/Mork Or Mindy, Louie or Fendi? Gucci or pucci?/Genie or lucy?/Her nose twinkle like bewitch/Not a wrinkle or a glitch like Smith and James/I wanted to get hitched/But then everything switched/Marilyn Monroe the 7 year itch/Tssh life can be a bitch." Word to Nas. The scribes of raps underrated GOAT in front of its greatest group is back to his storytelling best in this moviemaking 'Kung Fu Theatre'. And the 'Fate Of The World' and a Wu-Tang is for the children training video is in his hands. "All praises due to Allah/Respect to all my Christian brothers out there/All my synagogue brothers/All my haire krishna’s/Let’s build together/Let’s go Left, right come together/Left, right come together (Let’s get ’em)/Left, right come together (Let’s bring some light to it)/Put your hands up, Wu Tang is forever." It's the new anthem.

Forever ever, as the RZA warns and heeds for change, "A thousand years of darkness/The world got struck with sorrow/Hollow be thy name/We need a better tomorrow. Fishing for one like Hemingway's 'Old Man and The Sea' or Yukio Mishima's 'Sailor Who Fell From Grace and the Sea' on the bell tolling 'Fisherman'. Looking for samples from the same sea as Larry David, or Snoop Dogg getting his 'Crip Your Enthusiasm' on as the Superbowl halftime show star pulls the switch on chairing his new Death Row ownership. "No one knows for whom the bell tolls/Or how many souls does the hell hold/You find a soul it's more precious than gold/Some get bought, some get lost, some sold," he gives as prophecy like the omen. And treat this rap God's words as gospel on these seven seals. Because tracking this monster of a first part as we await the sequel with Scratch, it all ends with the roar of a 'Kaiju' like Godzilla in the Far East of Tokyo, Japan. Robert Diggs digging in his self Godzilla versus King of New York like Kong face off in this formidable finale, with a stunning sample of a classic chorus. Singing, "mosura ya mosura/Dongan kasakuyan indo muu/Rusuto uiraandoa, hanba hanbamuyan, randa banunradan/Tounjukanraa." Curtains calling whilst one of raps best producers with the genres most prolific pugilist on the turntables behind him goes nuclear. "Horrific beings from the rim of the Pacific/Ina cave of Monster Island they found two hand sized midgets/Appeared to defy the laws of physics/But at closer observation the mathematics added to a unknown digit/Pi times Radius Square by the golden ratio/Rza rector riding the back of Monster Zero/The rise of a kaiju from a sea that's inside you." Rectifying the game, the RZA is back for the first solo (ish) time since 2008's 'Digi Snacks'. And judging from this part and the one DJ Scratch plays this weekend in this afternoon of Kung-Fu for your theatre. We can't wait for Saturday night like Elton John fighting. Try this Wu-Tang style. The chambers are loaded. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Pugilism', 'Never Love Again', 'Kaiju'.

SONG FOR THE MOMENT: HAIM - LOST TRACK

4/5

Pizza Delivery. 

PTA announcement. The classic California connection collaboration between the family friends of the best band in the world (yeah, I said it) Haim and master 'Magnolia' and 'Phantom Thread' director Paul Thomas Anderson (to 1970's California what 'The French Dispatch' director Wes Anderson is to the weird and wonderful) is back for a 'Lost Track' based on a lyric that lingered in Danielle Haim's mind like a cranberry finger or folded song in your back pocket. PTA and the sisterhood of Haim, the former Valley 'Valentine's' who used to cut extended studio takes together like there was 'Something To Tell You' have turned the viral music video back into an art form in this post-MTV generation. All for the best album of the quarantined and locked down year of 2020, 'Women In Music Pt. III' for all you wimps. It all sax started like a "doo, doo" Lou Reed. Walking on the wild side of downtown Los Angeles for the slow burning 'Summer Girl' anthem. Before cooling off in the car wash, coming out after a big break-up, 'Now I'm In It'. Then the real 'Hallelujah' came with an artistic hail Mary right before coronavirus crippled the calendar and pushed back Haim's schedule. Let alone their Hollywood music videos. Improvising themselves for a socially distant dance tutorial on a backyard basketball court for 'I Know Alone'. All before going for a footrace that Este won handily around the parking lot of the former home of the Los Angeles Lakers, the coliseum of the Great Western Forum. As the album finally dropped PTA reunion returned like a lost relative in this pandemic for the album cover like deli shop of 'Man From The Magazine' for all you "c###s!" But that wasn't it. Extra! Extra! Read all about it! 

W Mag is as stylish as they come when it comes to high press. And recently on an award tour it's been promoting this seasons stars in a collection of creative ways for your consideration. Alana Haim has gone From Baby Haim to arguably now the most famous face of this big-three. Thanks to the Oscar nominated 'Licorice Pizza' directed by Mr. Anderson. "I'm going to put you in a movie one day" PT told the youngest Haim. Little did Alana know that her powerful performance would be worthy of nomination amongst the legendary likes of Jessica Chastain ('The Eyes Of Tammy Faye') and music majesty, reborn as a movie star, Lady Gaga ('House Of Gucci'). And in her first movie too, like her co-star Cooper Hoffman as Gary Valentine. Son of the late, great and friend of Paul, Philip of 'The Master' fame. Worthy of all the proase too, even if he can't pronounce Barbara Streisand's name right in front of a glib and Gibb looking Bradley Cooper. Hey I'm guilty of that too. This sweet slice is no extended Haim video. Alana is amazing and a matter of fact the PTA, Haim videos themselves are almost like mini-movies. And the pure magic of the latest one, may be the best yet. Following their 'Cherry Flavoured Stomach Ache' from 'The Last Letter From Your Lover' for Netflix's soundtrack. A lost track about losing track of things like time, down the line. Turning a cut that could have been a B-Side into one of their best yet from the beginnings of its seventies LA, atmospheric keys. All the way to its burning playing card for these Queen of hearts with quite a hand to play.

Southern California shooting portrait pictures of these sisters for the magazine feature, Thomas Anderson decided to film a music video for this 'Lost Track' that really feels like something honed from Hollywood land's bygone era. Not cut together in one cool afternoon in the hills. Decked out in the finest phantom threads taking to the linoleum in a function room with the only group of women that can cut a rug better than these three that once shut down the roads of these City Of Angels just to tell someone they wanted them back like a Jackson 5 family affair. These steps belong to the knockout 'Balboa Ladies Society' at the Annual Balboa Gold Rush, hitting exactly that paydirt as Danielle dances inbetween them like a cipher. Skirt hiking and foot stomping or the beat. As this Dani California knocks over glasses and pushes rudely between her sisters. Doing it for herself like the time she poured coffee all over the customers counter between half-smiles and scolding scowls on 'Now I'm In It'. This Fashion Bazaar formulated by Paul Thomas Anderson is just the ticket, like taking your best dress out the plastic and off the dry cleaning rack. Honouring the San Fernando Valley women and their 1950's social club activities. In a shower of flowers and weddings all for Baby. Teeing off in Balboa's golf course restaurant and swinging big like today's special. Between Monterey and Encino, this is a banquet featuring a whole host of family and friends. Including Anderson's partner, comedy actor showstopper Maya Rudolph (did you see Minnie Riperton's daughter rip it up to the delight of Bill Murray in Sofia Coppola's Carlyle quarantined like a Park Hyatt, Tokyo 'Lost In Translation', as she begegd you to please come home for 'A Very Murray Christmas'?) and their daughter Pearl Anderson. Anderson and Alan's sisters all have a piece of 'Pizza' too. Making this licorice rope reaching video all the more amazing in its aesthetic, traditional texture and bonds of beautiful family feeling. All as Danielle sings, "Deepest cut that I can’t feel/Found a grip on the steering wheel/I know a piece’s stuck/You can sit down if you don’t mind me standin’ up (Mind me standin’ up)/I know I was too good to pass (Too good to pass)/So me and you caused a chain reaction (Chain reaction)/I’ll take the smallest crumb/But I’ll never get back what I lost track of." Taking the classic microphone and running around with these socialites on this grand parade. This isn't an old song reheated the next morning like pizza. It's the red rope of something that really pulls as you snap take a bite out of it. When lost tracks become found, the song you wear on your heart like the gamble of three Queens becomes your greatest gambit. And the winners are. Check the envelope propped up next to the flower arrangement place setting. The seat at the table is theirs to dance around like musical chairs. They're in their own Academy now. TIM DAVID HARVEY.