REVIEW: NEIL YOUNG - BEFORE AND AFTER

4/5

Young and Old.

Digging through crates to make his catalogue heavier than Sears, for years Neil Young has been officially releasing previously bootlegged albums, and reissuing some of his finest work. Now, in the same week The Killers turn in some 'Rebel Diamonds' for a new greatest hits package to unwrap this Christmas, Neil Young gives us another best of...with a twist. 'Before and After', the 45th studio album from the Canadian-American, singer-songwriter and Reprise records, is exactly that. An acoustic re-take and recording of some of his past songs. 13 to be exact. Lucky for us. Scrawling chalk on the sidewalk for this artwork, Young paves the way like He Who Remains to a new one. Mere months after taking us to London, England and Tokyo, Japan with his 'Odeon Budokan' via the Hammersmith and Nippon. The trilogy of 'I'm The Ocean'/'Homefires'/'Burned' keeps those ones as such, singling this retrospective re-recording out in promotion. 

Conceived by Young and producer Lou Alder, this here and now from way back when is a "trip into musical history" with a tour guide who uses his great Canadian-American songbook as a road map. Epic and eclectic, it gives lesser known relics from the vault a new craft and curation worthy of their own gallery as he repaints his masterpiece. After the big-three EP, this album intended to be listened to in its entirety in a single setting is actually just one track, 48-minutes long without interruption. "A music montage with no beginnings or endings" says the man himself. The same could be said for the everlasting harvest of Neil Young's career we hope never meets the moon.

Harvesting some of his most wonderful work over the last couple of years that has kept me company and from being lonely in this Japanese journey, Young makes us feel forever that with the Gibson, even in our older years. After he keeps the 'Homefires', 'Burned', Neil finds himself 'On The Way Home' like the 'Last Time Around'. But it's 'If You Got Love' that really resonates. "When you walk in a room/You hold your head up high/You talk to people eye to eye/There's nothing to hide/You're feeling so complete inside/Your heart feels so complete inside/Because you got love", he sings beautifully in his trademark register like the Cat Stevens words of wisdom from a father to a son, for not only the most legendary lyrics of these lines, but his legacy as a whole. 

This is how he 'Sleeps With Angels' on 'A Dream That Can Last', riding to the glory on a Crazy Horse, singing, "All the lights were turned down low/And no one wondered or had to go/Out on the corner the angels say/There is a better life for me someday/I feel like I died and went to heaven/The cupboards are bare, but the streets are paved with gold." This and 'My Heart' of the 'Angels' is all for the 'Birds' like following the 'Gold Rush'. But we ask 'Are You Passionate', 'When I Hold You In My Arms'? This Young man certainly is, brooding like a shopfront to let, "New buildings going up, old buildings going down/New signs going up, old signs coming down/You got to hold on to something in this life." Times and hands may change, but when it comes to the one you hold closest, the heart of matters never does.

"Oh, freedom land, can you let this go?/Down to the streets where the numbers grow/Respect Mother Earth and Her giving ways/Or trade away our children's days/Or trade away our children's days", once more with feeling, Neil Young sings for 'Mother Earth', like a deeper and darker 'Earth Song' from Michael Jackson. We didn't way back then, but will we heed the re-recorded warning called out now? On this classically curated collection, 'Mr. Soul' rides with Buffalo Springfield again. Yet it 'Comes A Time' that this album title-track needs to be heard again in a whole new, calming acoustic light. Capturing it all in the words of, "You and I, we were captured/We took our souls, and we flew away/We were right, we were giving/That's how we kept what we gave away/Oh, this old world keeps spinnin' 'round/It's a wonder tall trees ain't layin' down/There comes a time", before an inspired instrumental break. 

And before this one comes to an end in the after, here we have, 'Don't Forget Love' to remember in parting. The Crazy Horse dragging an unbridled heart away as best it could like a Rolling Stone wild one. Steed singing, again and again, "don't forget love" like, "When you're angry, and you're lashing out, don't forget love/You don't know what you're talking about, don't forget love/When the wind blows through the crime scene and the TV man starts talking fast, don't forget love." We may argue, but our hearts our the glue that keeps all this together. Tying together his hits and the lesser known gems from his jewel cases, before this, Neil was a legend, after this, Young's legacy will only get greater. There's a rich body of work here that's fully fleshed out as he drops the needle. This reissue is his freshest take yet. You've never heard these afterthoughts like this before. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'If You Got Love', 'When I Hold You In My Arms', 'Mother Earth'. 

REVIEW: THE KILLERS - REBEL DIAMONDS

5/5

Diamonds Are Forever.

The Killer like Fassbender and Fincher this fall, after making one, Brandon Flowers and his Las Vegas band are on a victory lap on the Sin City strip. Winning this in-season tournament like the new NBA Cup with 'Rebel Diamonds'. Their second best of collection after taking 'Direct Hits' on the first half of their career and giving us another one with their 'Shot At The Night' gamble that paid off. This 20 strong set of hindsight vision closes with the new single 'Spirit' that will leave yours in a stunning trance. "Wiped out, sucking on the fumes of a long-gone flame/Can you leverage love?/Can you process pain?/It grabs you by the night/My dreams are big and bathing in light, so/Come on, touch me, I'm a live wire/Wait, don't cover my eyes/When darkness dampens my sight/My dreams are big and bathing in light", Flowers blooms on this lasting fire that's as ever as the Holy Spirit they channel in a sinful land of high rollers. Spinning the roulette wheel once more on a retrospective, Vegas' finest like the two-time WNBA back-to-back champ comes up aces. 

These diamonds mine more to mark the 20th anniversary of their definitive debut that's opening half played like a greatest hits in itself. Four of those formidable fussing tracks begin this celebration for your heat check. The soul soldiers arming up with 'Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine', 'Mr. Brightside', 'All These Things That I've Done' and 'Somebody Told Me' (that you had a girlfriend) for their catalogue battalion. Most best acts today would finish their greatest hits there, and be lucky to have that many over the span of their career. Let alone to begin a damn debut LP. Yet this band went hard out the gate like the King against the Kings. 'When You Were Young', or should I say, "we"? This was the soundtrack to 'Read My Mind' like nostalgia ("The stars are blazing like rebel diamonds/Cut out of the sun/Can you read my mind?"). From 'Sam's Town' to Tokyo, Japan. The next stage of The Killers turned them dancer and a Ziggy Stardust Bowie for this 'Spaceman' with a 'Human' touch like Springsteen. Storming the gates of Graceland like a Boss reaching for Elvis, they follow these 'Dustland Fairytale(s)', with what up against the wall was one of their best albums, 'Battle Born'. Now, 'The Man' may answer, "I don't give a damn" to that question of why that song from the soundtrack that saw Christian Bale put a 'Vice' grip of Donald Cheney with Adam McKay is the only 'Wonderful, Wonderful' diamond here. But we would have liked to have been able to 'Run For Cover' too. Never mind, this album has hits in spades like the vivid videos of holdovers 'Boy' and the across the tracks 'Your Side Of Town'. 

'Caution', 'Imploding The Mirage' there's even more in store from their latter albums, featuring the incredible 'My Own Soul's Warning' that tells us, "If you could see through the banner of the sun/Into eternity's eyes, like a vision reaching down to you/Would you turn away?/What if it knew you by your name?/What kind of words would cut through the clutter of the whirlwind of these days?" Lifting us out of the planet pandemic of 2020, questioning us to adjust to a new normal, or our own unique path. A year later, still in uncertain times, they gave us their last album and the 'Pressure Machine' of some Springsteen idol like social commentary. The title track put in blue collar work, and the words from a 'Quiet Town' will subtly echo for eternity through the reverberations. "A couple of kids got hit by a Union Pacific train/Carrying sheet metal and household appliances through the pouring rain/They were planning on getting married after graduation/Had a little baby girl, trouble came and shut it down/Things like that ain't supposed to happen", a forlorn Flowers forewarns with this history lesson an animated video that amazes. Brandon branding his American open road dream lyrics with the lace of what happens if you give up the chase. There's hope in the heart of these Killers, bringing new life to the heartland of Americana. We hope the roulette keeps turning for these rebels with a cause, and it doesn't fade to black in a snake's eyes. Seeing red, these diamonds shine with their greatest cuts. Time to give these records another spin. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Spirit', 'Boy', 'Your Side Of Town'.

REVIEW: NICKI MINAJ - PINK FRIDAY 2

4/5

Pink Friday Night Lights

Here's your eagerly anticipated, long-awaited, New Music Pink Friday. It may have been delayed more times than flights at Christmas, but superstar rapper Nicki Minaj is back this festive season to unwrap the sequel. 'Pink Friday 2' strives to be better than the original, over shocking streets and teddy bear riding subway beats above her own created city. Roman returns b#####s! Just like Young Money after Drake gave us 'For All The Dogs'. But this one is for the queens with the crown. You know whose holding it again now. The one with all eyes on her and her incredible body of work. Reloaded for the first time in a half decade since 'Queen', the descendant of Missy Elliott's ('Beep Beep' like the Roadrunner), Lil Kim's and Salt...with a little bit of Pepa reunites with October's Very Own this December to 'Needle' us. Following the money of Drake's latest and Lil' Wayne's own 'Welcome 2 Collegrove' collaboration album with 2 Chainz, with the Weezy F feature 'RNB', alongside Tate Kobang. Lourdiz rides 'Cowgirl' and Lil Uzi Vert also features on a monster 22 track album like the latest Rhymes 'Blockbusta' that brings 'Everybody' to the party. Skillibeng and Skeng keep it moving 'Forward From Trini' for this worldwide rapped up release. Whilst beautiful 'Blessings' come from Tasha Cobbs Leonard. Yet the most formidable features come from the man whose albums don't come with them, on the J. Cole assisted 'Let Me Calm Down' and the Future 'Nicki Hendrix' number which might just rack up its own collaboration album in the future like 'What A Time To Be Alive'.

Life is good this Friday, spearheaded by the successful singles 'Super Freaky Girl' that really gets its f#####g freak on, and 'Last Time I Saw You' that delves even deeper still. Freaking straight to the number one spot on the Billboard 100. The first female rapper to do so since 'That Thing' that the great Lauryn Hill did with her 'Miseducation' 'Doo Wop'. Just like the inspired into 'Are You Gone Already' that like Billie Eilish's 'What Was I Made For' asks the most vulnerable of questions from the jump. "In three days, you'd meet Papa (Like it like that, mm)/The waiting, the gazing/The painting, the raging/The ravin', the pacing/The praying, the shaking/I must admit, I was breaking/I must admit, I was taking/I must admit, my heart was racing/Telephone ring, he didn't make it/I just believed you wakin'/A memory in the makin'/Call me/Won't you call me? (Call)/No, you gone." This is quite possibly the most meaningful and best work Minaj has ever done...oh, and a sampled Eilish is on the track too. Right before darling Nicki gets 'Barbie Dangerous' and back to the raps in the year of that monster Mattel Margot Robbie movie from Greta Gerwig. A 'Barbie World' that Minaj also entered via the Aqua sampling soundtrack. Who else, but the one that holds the keys to that kingdom...not to mention all the toys?

"Fierce, fun and unapologetic" like this 'Megatron' transforming told Jimmy Fallon, this late night affair will leave you reeling and reacting to this host like the time she dedicated her award win speech and dress to Michael B. Jordan in acceptance. Shout out to the G.O.A.T. The creed of this sequel that with 'Roman Reloaded' makes an unofficial trilogy clears some of the sweetest samples you've ever heard in the rap game. Nicki waxes lyrical over Eilish's 'When's The Party Over', the 'Notorious Thugs' of B.I.G. and Bones (on the harmony of 'Barbie Dangerous'), like a precursor to 'Nicki Hendrix', and Wacka Flocka Fame's 'F### The Club Up' on the more commercially viable 'FTCU'. Travis Scott's 'Pornography' presents 'Pink Birthday', whilst Junior Senior 'Move(s) Your Feet' for everybody. The Trinadadian rapper brings Dave Kelly's 'Stink' and 'Showtime' riddims to this 'Forward From Trini'. But the best samples belong with Lumidee's iconic "uh oooh's" of 'Never Leave You' on 'Red Ruby da Sleeze', Blondie's 'Heart Of Glass' on 'My Life', and Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' game changer on 'Pink Friday Girls'. Not to mention the 'Super Freak' of Rick James b#### for this 'Super Freaky Girl'. But in closing with the beautiful, brooding 'Just The Memories' (which itself samples Beenie Man's 'Stop Live in a de Pass'), Nicki says it all as memories don't leave like people do. "I 'member when I was the girl that everybody doubted/When every label turned me down, and then they laughed about it/I 'member goin' home and writin' fifty more raps." Now they will always remember her, as there's never been another. With her fifth album and first in five, Minaj mesmerizes. Even the Empire State Building turned pink like an exclamation point this Friday for the Queen's regal return. No King has got s### on this. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Super Freaky Girl', 'Are You Gone Already', 'Just The Memories'. 

REVIEW: MIKE SHINODA - THE CRIMSON CHAPTER EP

4/5

Crimson Peak. 

Through death, depression and despair, even without the dearly departed, late, great Chester Bennington, Linkin Park remain one of the greatest acts of our generation. Their 'Hybrid Theory' of mixing rock and rap for the MTV generation even went on a 'Collision Course' with hip-hop GOAT, Jay-Z. With their seventh seal in 2017, Linkin Park gave us 'One More Light' with their last LP, shining creatively and differently in its own one. Since then LP co-founder and Fort Minor bandsman, Mike Shinoda has continued his stirring solo work that has worked with everyone from Lupe Fiasco, to Styles Of Beyond. In 2018, he became 'Post Traumatic' and since then has been working on volume after volume of his work, like the 'Dropped Frames' trilogy. It's been a minute like midnight since the pandemic, when his last record dropped, but now the needle hits a new song that's 'Already Over' and a new extended play for Mike Kenji Shinoda titled 'The Crimson Chapter'.

Crimson and clover, over and over, there are many mixes of the lead, strong single here, including a major Fort Minor one. The crimson tide of this king sings as Mike Shinoda on 'Already Over' tells us, "Bruises, broken in pieces/Spread out 'til they didn't exist/Losing sight of what's decent/And too righteous to know what you did/Maybe it's just survival/Optimistic, but blind/Maybe it's just denial/Out of sight, out of mind." Many still wonder on the fate of his band and whether Linkin Park is now already over after losing a man we all miss and simply can't replace like Michael Hutchence of INXS ( although the great Terence Trent Darby did more than a decent job live on stage for one night only). But remember this park's garden was sown by five famous members and one co-headliner as Shinoda sings, "Floating in between places/Somewhere that the signal won't work/Hoping you could be nameless/Washed off of the edge of the earth/Maybe you're just entitled/Unaware of your crime/Maybe it's just denial/Out of sight, out of mind," for maybe the most personal and profound songwriting of his cohesive and collective career.

Reorganizing this to a second part, Mike also drops a Finer mix of 'Fine' that's exactly that. On this track he spits, "Fingers stretching out from nowhere/Reaching for my throat, they're/Hungry for my skin/Teeth wide smiling that they found me/Circling around me/Slowly closing in while you sing", bringing new order to his 'Post Traumatic' hit. Then, 'In My Head' he delves even deeper. The 'Scream VI' soundtrack stab featuring Kailee Morgue cutting with lines like, "Coming around/Thoughts are intruding, I'm pushing them down/Stopping it now/Blocking out, in fact I'm blocking it out/Holding too tight/Kidding myself, turn a wrong into right/Thief in the night/I've been the one putting gas in the lights." This ghostface is a killer, and like Wu-Tang nothing to f### with on an EP whose crimson artwork takes you back to the days when Jared Leto's fellow nu-metal band Thirty Seconds To Mars was just a beautiful lie. The artist, whose canvas work can be found in the Japanese American National Museum, paints a perfect picture. This Los Angeles star like Shohei, referencing Ichiro as an angel watches over him, knocks it out the park. The verses in this chapter keep the blood running in this hereafter. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Already Over', 'fine (Finer Mix)', 'In My Head (Feat. Kailee Morgue)'. 

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: AMERICAN SYMPHONY

 

4/5

Great Orchestration. 

103 Mins. Starring: Jon Batiste & Suleika Jaouad. Director: Matthew Heineman. On: Netflix.

We are, as individuals and collectively as people, a collection of both our best and worst moments. American artist and spirited musician Jon Batiste, whose name evokes both John the Baptist and the art of New York's very own Basquiat, had one of the greatest moments of his career on stage at the Late Night Stephen Colbert show, all whilst going through truly tragic times back home. Garnering more Grammy nominations than any other American artist or otherwise that year, as he and his wife were fighting for her life with her ongoing battle with cancer. The wonderful writer Suleika Jaouad turned her leukaemia diagnosis into a New York Times bestselling book, but both successes for this power couple couldn't compare to just their absolute and resolute will and endurance in the face of it all to just get through this together. 

A new Netflix documentary 'American Symphony', which you can stream next to this year's best, takes us behind the scenes of what that really means, for the 'World Music', 'Soul' singer and the love of his life that is more than his muse, but an accomplished artist in her own right (notice the name and the billing of this film, it's not just Jon). You think you've seen your fair share of inspiring TED talks? Then wait until you witness her stirring speech in the fight of her life. Beginning with the aftermath of fireworks, car horns punctuate a New York New Year's night. But all that outside white noise doesn't mean much to the couple sitting on their sofa, together through life like Dylan in their apartment uptown. All they have and all they need is curled up in each other's hands. The perfect way to ring in the new calendar after a resolute twelve months of sweet success and bitter struggles. Right by each other's side.

Taylor Swift's concert film may be taking over cinemas this year like she has done all the world's stages, but this is also the Batiste era. Jon's version. And yes, of course anyone trying to promote, not provoke, or preach, positivity is going to be met with outlandish opposition on the too critical and negative front. But he and Suleika have faced far worse. Critics called for his classic nomination to be revoked because he was a pop artist. That sounds like something else, doesn't it? Like when golf tried to oust Tiger. Well, just like that, Jon replied in not so subtle, but beautiful kind without needing to clap back. Although you can see and feel his frustration, palpable, like for so many other Americans who and just trying to make their own way and money in the so-called opportune land of the free. Even though they don't see their faces on the same money that was made off of their backbreaking work.

Batiste doesn't brood, but instead brews up some of the best music you've ever heard in this mainstream of malaise, hitting the spot like a fresh cup of coffee, or the feeling of a new romance. Singing and dancing in the streets with kids instruments to the stages of Hollywood with the like of Gagas and Biebers looking on in admiration. Because after all it's like NBA legend Kevin Garnett said to begin KG's game-changing 'A to Z' autobiography encyclopedia, "he who angers you, owns you." If Jon Batiste fell into the same negativity critics try to drown him in, he'd sink. But instead he positively and powerfully rises above all the tides, to emerge as epic and great as you've never seen him before. The first person to congratulate him after his Grammy performance collecting the gold like Adele, or when Norah Jones told you to come away with her, Billie Eilish...who he just beat for record of the year. 

Intimate and inspired, this Netflix 'Symphony' on an unfinished career and life is major. Directed delicately and brilliantly by Matthew Heineman, there are some mesmerizing moments between all the hard work it has taken for Batiste to perfect his craft, and the even tougher struggle that is gone into Jaouad's health battles. One moment of them on a snow sled for Jon's first time is absolutely lovely and will remind that even though this time of the year is the coldest, you couldn't feel any warmer than with the one who beats closest to your heart. Remixing Beethoven and reaching for Higher Ground like Stevie, this is the second co-Netflix production from the Obama's on black power in as much as a month, after their revelatory 'Rustin', starring surely the Best Actor Oscar winner come next February, Colman Domingo. 

This marching band leader has a dream too. Culminating in a classic concert in the legendary, as he's about to be, Carnegie Hall. One of the most terrific and telling moments in this doc however, is when we see Jon getting his shoes shined at an airport with the kindly business owner. Intrigued by the camera, he doesn't know quite what he's seeing yet, the morning after the Grammys. Then, terminal to terminal, many a passer-by begins to recognize Batiste, even masked up during the pandemic, and rushing to make a connection. Following that, the man looks at the front page of the day's paper. The shy joy when he reveals to Jon who it is simply beautiful like an Al Green song. As is their brief but warmth filled communication. Right on. Batiste is best. This is America's greatest modern symphony. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Beyoncé: Homecoming', 'Gaga: Five Foot Two', 'Soul'.

REVIEW: BUSTA RHYMES - BLOCKBUSTA

3.5/5

Check The Rhyme. 

Blockbuster was the king of home movie rental, like Busta Rhymes was the throne taker of rap music videos. So much hype like Williams back in the 90s of the MTV generation. This is a man who once asked in hilarious dubbed overtones, "you want to ram with me", before having a headbutting competition with an actual ram and throwing the towel on him. Steamrolling through with Dr. Dre as he broke your neck. Back when rap was rap and music videos were exactly that too. Giving us some more with his looney tunes and breaking budgets back then with Janet Jackson and Terminator 2 quicksilver, telling us, 'What's It Gonna Be'. Those two classics came off of his legendary album 'Extinction Level Event'. Busta's 'ELE2' sequel album 'The Wrath Of God' bought him back to rap's elite with Rhymes galore during the pandemic of 2020, when it really did feel like the end of the world for the rapper who always prophesied that in-between his party and bulls###. From passing the Courvoisier, to touching it, Trevor Smith has never fallen off. But the most recent run of the former dreadlocked beast who started his days on quests with Tribe (bringing it all back for their own big reunion) has been worthy of tearing up and tearing the roof off of his lifetime achievement award (BET). What better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, in its celebratory curtain calling months, than with the man that brought an amazing, animated energy like no other?

Blowing up again like an atomic bomb, Busta is back with another 'Blockbusta' like his 'New Jack City' mixt...excuse me, album with Clinton Sparks or those music videos that were as important an integral to his career catalogue like the perfect portrait album covers of Nas. Jay-Z. Prince. Springsteen. Haim. In this writer's life, I've had many dubbed "best artists" who remain at the untouchable forefront of my fondest favourites. Back in college, Busta Rhymes was that guy...and still is. First concert, he always knew how to rock it. My best friend sent me a video of his latest show in London. No words needed. We already know what it is. He's the best in the business when it comes to the stage with the G.O.A.T. of hype men, Spliff Starr, still front and centre in all the music videos as we miss the rest of the Flipmode Squad, from Rampage to the first lady, Rah Digga. Now as the smoke clears on the bolt of those big, bold blockbuster yellow and red, heavy metal letters, you have to respect the Conglomerate of the new label...in an English accent. 

This eleventh studio album remains raw, dialling it up with real raps. This Epic record on the heel of Andre 3000's flutes is forged by the executive producer big-three of Pharrell Williams, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, so you know the production is going to be prolific. BabeTruth, Focus and Cool & Dre also crash the boards like Barkley on an album that features classic collaborations with Quavo ('Remind Em'), Bia ('Beach Ball'), Young Thug ('OK'), Blxst and Young Bleu ('Could It Be You'), Coi Leray ('Luxury Life'), DeBaby and T-Pain ('Big Everything'), BurnaBoy ('Roboshotta'), Blackway ('The Return Of Mansa Musa'), Jnr Choi ('Stand Up'), Chris Brown and Shenseea ('Open Wide'), Giggs ('The Hive' for a rapper who once shouted out all his people in Preston), Kodak Black ('Homage'), Morray ('Legend'), Cie, Trillian and Rai ('Legacy'), and who else to close it, but Big Tigger? 

'If You Don't Know, Now You Know' like Biggie notoriously said. But if you have two black eyes, I guess you do have to be told twice. Part 2 in outro with the legendary radio host Tigger takes us back again in retrospect for this rap legend's life. In the creative collaborative form of an interview rap in line with how this Big DJ ended Ginuwine's graduation in 2003 as 'The Senior'. It's a hallmark highlight in this powerhouse of a big-name and produced album like the Voltron big-three singles of the bouncing 'Beach Ball' Summer smash, the Jay-Z 'Ain't No...' sampling 'Luxury Life' with Coi Leray playing Foxy Brown, and the latest, greatest, 'OK'. Not to mention the big DaBaby number bringing T-Pain back to the charts his autotune trademark dialled up, all before he proved to Shawn Carter and every other naysayer that he really could sing on his last soulful set. 

However, in 'The Statement' of this album, it seems like the 'Murda' with the great Bilal will remain on a milk carton, under further investigation on the cutting-room floor. Just another one for the crate digging as the soil spills like that still scary Dr. Dre bucket and spade coffin produced, 'Legends Of The Fall' from 'The Big Bang'. These 'Tings' are big and before Rhymes lets it 'Slide' like a smooth Missy Elliott for you gossip folks, he tells us to 'Hold Up' like one of his many legendary catchphrases. "N####, hold up/Every time my money fold up (Ayy)/When I show up/Every single block, I sew up (Oh)/Like a needle to the thread or a seamstress, so I tell her every time I go up (Boom)/Just in case you n####s thought it couldn't happen any more, b####, I'm forever gonna blow up." Here's your theory, like catching lightning in a bottle, you can have a big bang twice. Explosive like the good doctor that prescribed him, Busta is going nuclear. The block is hot. Bus it! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Luxury Life (Feat. Coi Leray)', 'Big Everything (Feat. DaBaby & T-Pain)', 'Hold Up'.

REVIEW: 2 CHAINZ & LIL' WAYNE - WELCOME 2 COLLEGROVE

4/5

TuneChainz. 

You can see it with his eyes closed. Peep the perfect portrait of Lil' Wayne on the amazing album artwork for his new album 'Welcome 2 Collegrove' with your rapper's favourite megastar rapper, 2 Chainz (a sequel to Chainz' third-studio album 'ColleGrove'), and you may wonder why you just see Wayne when this is a collaborative affair. And that's exactly the point. Inked like a deal set to dry, look at all the art on Weezy F. Baby's (please say the baby) profile. The only thing Lil Tunechi has more than tats is records. From all the Carter's we've got with 'No Ceilings'. Not to mention all the rock albums and mixtapes in-between that prove the most prolific man in rap is not a human being. Yet, despite this outstanding output, label pains prevented him from releasing collaborative albums like his Young Money brethren Drake (who also surprise released his third 'Scary Hours' EP on the same New Music Friday to complete his October output 'For All The Dogs'). Now you know why you could never feel your face with Juelz Santana. Or get those long awaited albums with R&B royalty Lloyd ('Best Of Young Worlds') and T-Pain ('He Rap, He Sing'). I can't believe it. 

Peep the amazing artwork from the 2016 'ColleGrove' album from Chainz and you get the picture. It's the same song. And despite the Cash Money issues (please, don't say the Baby), Tha Carter put bars down on every song on the album, bar four. Now, what happened to that boy is a thing of the past. As the sequel to their unofficial collaborative album on wax is here almost a decade later for your Def Jam. Justice is served, and for just us as rap fans, it's done so with the coldest lines, laced like revenge. This definitive Def Jam Recordings album really is a duet as Chainz and Wayne bring an A-list of urban music guest features to the fore, featuring 21 Savage ('Big Diamonds', bigger than Drake's rings), Usher ('Transparency'), Fabolous ('PPA'), Benny the Butcher ('Oprah and Gayle' (you get an album, you get an album), Vory (the monstrous 'Godzilla'), Rick Ross ('Can't Believe You') and Marsha Ambrosius (the shining 'Moonlight' closing). 

Ambition can't match the ceiling of a rap GOAT who started his career as a child actor in this game like a young Usher Raymond, scheming and looking hard, and raps Most Improved Player, the artist formerly known as Tity Boi, who Disturbed Tha Peace with Ludacris who also has his own new release this week (albeit a Disney Christmas movie 'Dashing Through The Snow', hey, it's worth an unwrap). You better tighten the zips on those duffel bags, boyz, because in this player's circle these two are winning like the sheen on their caddy, stunting like daddy. VROOM! After 17 years, OutKast, Andre 3000 may have finally released a new album, 'New Blue Sun', featuring nothing but flutes (and it's f#####g fantastic), but these two are still the pied piper's of rap, now the former self-proclaimed one should have never been allowed to lead people in the first place.

If that wasn't enough star power for your unit (cue, the Wong 'Avengers: Endgame' meme), more comes in the form of the legendary 50 Cent who narrates the interludes to this story from the intro to the outro, bringing that 'Power' acting back for the forthcoming star of 'The Expendables 4'. This portmanteau to 2 Chainz' College Park, Georgia hometown, and Lil' Wayne's birthplace of New Orleans, Louisiana was preluded by the pre-release of 'Presha' produced by long-time Wayne affiliate Bangladesh. The pressure, so much so that Nicki Minaj pushed back the release of her 'Pink Friday 2' sequel to another New Music Friday in December. The reality is, it's actually, so everyone can eat with the pre-orders this Thanksgiving and Christmas season. We know Roman is just reloading. 'Long Story Short' like the stunning second single, this dynamic duo are no longer 'ColleGrove' dropouts. 

Poking fun and playing games like bringing back the original point-making artwork that D'Angelo would be proud of, and even pointing to it in the album's title, "welcome" "2". They need no more introduction, balling and popping bottles like a 'G6'. As famous as a Far East Movement. After all, 'Don't Dope Sell Itself?' This fix before 'Tha VI' is bound to make 'Millions From Now' with platinum lyrics like, "Been in the kitchen, you know I ain't payin'/You can ask chef, let me know how I pan out/Garage full of food, and I'm gon' pull the Lamb' out/Mm, yeah, you know what I'm sayin'?/The handshake I gave you was my last handout/Mm, yeah, you know what I'm sayin'? (Chainz)". And, "A million dollars from now/I won't remember you, I done forgot/I won't forget how I got what I got/Cry me a river 'cause I'm on a yacht/Stack night after night, after commas it's dots/Remind me, forgot that it's slime over thots/Don't make me pop, cast a nine on the opps/It's Tunechi and Tity Boi, minus the bra (Wayne)."

Genius loves company, like Ray Charles, and these two are taking everyone who got in their way to school. It's 'Crazy Thick' like a 'Significant Other'. 'Shame' on a you know what with a Wu-Tang sample for this clan's chambers. Moving like 36 with a savage 21 tracks that do something for you. Putting up numbers like it was your 21st year in the game, no shame. Just under an hour in runtime, but prolific in its production like the hours Drizzy is putting in, there's even more 'Bars' here than when Lil' Wayne was just a "guest feature" on the true welcome to 'ColleGrove'. Mobbing deep over Havoc beats (rest peacefully Prodigy) with 2 rapping, "Touchin' the sky, I could skateboard in the cloud/Put 'em on some much loud that they won't make sound/This that body walk nonchalant, don't make sense/Like a n#### with dreads tryna own his own barber shop/Heart not hard to stop, take a new whip then karate chop/Turn the f#####' top to a halter top/Concrete jungle, I'll f### Jane though/Industry, a bunch of n####s swing on the same rope/Sit in the same room, f### on the same h#/We on different planes if we is in the same boat/Captivate 'em and creative/Potato head, turn 'em into mashed potatoes." 

To Lil's big planet lines, world reaching with "Uh, b###### flow, I had to though, I'm natural and practical/Infatuated with the dope, fanatical, banana clip, you're apple though/I got more tools than Apple Store/You're screwed up and now them goons is at your door with ransom notes/And we gon' need some answers though, answer more/Your modern family can suddenly become a canceled show, that's standard though/I have your cousin be the one to cut your throat, my standards low/I'm from New Orleans, you either be man or h## and now they know/You mash and go and cash it slow, whatever go and that you know/Got more techs than Apple Store, I have more sex than Scorpios/And I don't text or call them h##s, restaurant 'em all them h##s/I slept with foreign h##s that only heard Tha Carter IV." Now, whose snatching the crown? Those who, "Send blood hounds at you, send my rounds at you" with Ludacrs lines, dashing through the blow and decking your halls. Welcome back to ColleGrove for the first time. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Big Diamonds (Feat. 21 Savage)', 'Transparency (Feat. Usher)', 'Godzilla (Feat. Vory)'.

REVIEW: ANDRE 3000 - NEW BLUE SUN

4/5

We Love You, 3000.

A kind of blue. It's felt like forever (forever, ever? Forever, ever!) since the last time we heard an album from André 3000. Almost two decades to be almost exact, with 2016's 'Idelwild' soundtrack from the prince's of Atlanta, OutKast. Nah, make that the kings of the A. Big Boi has still been dropping records like a 'Royal Flush' since then, whilst 'Dré has become the best guest verse rapper of all-time. Not to mention all around top five, dead or alive. Big is ready for another 'Kast album, and so are we, boy. We still want to hear '10 The Hard Way'. We're fiending for the ATL's finest, so much that their 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below' double header had just been certified 13 times platinum this year. Lucky enough for the best-selling rap album of all-time. One day we may hear new raps from André the giant, but as three-stacks told GQ's Zach Baron in the magazine's first ever video cover story feature in an LA laundromat, he's 48. What's he supposed to rap about? Going for a colonoscopy (please)? Until then, it's time for a 'New Blue Sun', and this new dawn is beautiful as you just let it play like the end of the day. 

"Flutes?" Like Dipset's Julez Santana with 'Diplomatic Immunity' for his own 'Monster Music' once said, 'From Me To U'. That's right, André three-stacks' latest record to add to the decks features no vocals, save those he blows through wonderful wood instruments. I guess, "I'll do the fingering", like Michael Fassbender literally playing with himself in Ridley Scott's 'Alien-Covenant'. But don't think this blows, André Benjamin brings boundless beauty and artistic impression to these long-winded (but in a good way), freewheeling pieces of improvisation with his session players Carlos Niño, Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau, Diego Gaeta, V.C.R and Matthewdavid. 17 years later on November the 17th, Benjamin begins again with an epic record for Epic Records. When he's not playing a flute atop a washing machine, or outside on the sidewalk, as his clothes are being cleaned and the world turns, he's sculpting and creating art he wants to remain thousands of years later. Not to mention all his fashion variants, as ants ('Ants to You, Gods to Who?') move his overalls in a colony of consumer sought after branded apparel ('BuyPoloDisorder's Daughter Wears a 3000® Button Down Embroidered'). But this piece of work in itself is already art, and probably one of the most mesmerizing pieces and portraits from the mainstream in a long time. Like Em and Elton, if you think 'Dré is playing career Russian roulette, then just cool it. One of Stacks' boys once told another one of his records would put an end to his career. That song was 'Hey Ya'. Ya! 

'I swear, I Really Wanted to Make a 'Rap' Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time', André declares on the opening, from the jump. Yep, the album titles of this amazing ambient, new-age, spiritual jazz album are long-winded too. And we love it, like, 'The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off the Tongue with Far Better Ease Than the Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?' Yep, literally rolls off the tongue. Classic like the cover in Badu one-piece lime, this eight track, 80-plus minute affair is an experimental piece of minimalistic magic, sonic like the Sony imprint that is putting it out. 'That Night in Hawaii When I Turned into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn't Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild'. Amen to all of that. The 17-minute closing 'Dreams Once Buried Beneath the Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout into Undying Gardens' have finally come true for a flautist who on the low-end theory has appeared on more records than you think. Setting scores for the Daniels' on the Oscar winning Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan movie 'Everything Everywhere All At Once', an epic piece of artwork in itself. For 'Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy' going 'Ninety Three 'Til Infinity and Beyoncé', this album ain't s###. As a matter of fact, it is the s###, stank you very much. Like yours doesn't. It's time to readily accept this, like Common's experimental 'Electric Circus' in retrospect and Mos Def's rocking 'New Danger' should have always been. Rappers have always pushed the envelope, this practically retired one has just folded it up into a paper plane instead and let it fly. My, oh my! Here comes the sun. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks:  'I swear, I Really Wanted to Make a 'Rap' Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time',  'The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off the Tongue with Far Better Ease Than the Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?',  'That Night in Hawaii When I Turned into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn't Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild'.

REVIEW: DRAKE - SCARY HOURS 3 EP

4/5

After Dogs.

The dogs have had their day, so now it's high chow time for the surprise threequel conclusion to Drake's 'Scary Hours' extended plays. It's not even Halloween any more, yet the Durantula, Phoenix Sun's NBA superstar Kevin Durant executive produces in-part this third EP as the hours set. The only thing that was stopping this post 'For The Dogs' set was Taylor Swift. After '1989', the real version, Drizzy Drake waited for a blank space in the fall music schedule to write his name. Although coming out on the same day as his old friend Lil' Wayne's album with 2 Chainz 'Welcome To Collegrove', not to mention experimental epics from 'Rockstar' Dolly Parton and OutKast's Andre 3000's first new album in 17 years under a 'New Blue Sun' playing a flute, is no mean Feat. But as Aubrey says about the 'Red' album maker, pushing the 'Red Button', "Taylor Swift the only n---- that I ever rated/Only one could make me drop the album just a little later/ Rest of y’all, I treat you like you never made it." Shall we tell him? Make if it what you will on a play that also storms the stage and talks about his love/hate relationship with Kanye West. Can we expect another showdown on 'Donda'?

Heading to 'Virginia Beach' like Clipse and Pharrell with Frank Ocean, Drake deluxe open things like the vivid views from a beautiful balcony. "Lean in, lean in soda, Fanta, fantasizin'/That's not love you're in, it's more like compromisin'/I move mountains for you, f### that social climbin'/Lean into me, lean into me/Yeah, lean in, lean into me." Sun kissed with a roofing bliss, this is him at his best. With Teezo Touchdown taking off from the studio runway as the faders are pushed up like planes on tarmac, Toronto's very own gives us November in all its fall nuance, just after the month he calls his. Putting his hands together for 'Amen' he prays, "God, forgive me/Father, I've sinned/Sent more than your father ever sent/Spent more than your baby father did/And you my baby, so I gotta put you in the crib/Same neighborhood where Ashton Kutcher live/I'm just doin' what that punk should have did (Thank You, Lord)/She prayin' for me while I'm on the road/Prayin' for me while I hold her close/Prayin' that there's not no other girl/I'm prayin' that these girls'll never know." His collaboration like Chainz and Wayne with 21 Savage is still 'Calling For You' like King James putting up billboards in year 21, down in Hollywood. Can you do something for me with lyrics like, "I was in the club 'fore she even had it/She was twenty-one, I don't see a savage/She wanna be the one, she know I'm comin' static/She wanna hold the gun, if you want it, you can have it/Shawty still young, so she don't know the classics/I see her body, one-of-one, yeah." With his eyes on you like Hall & Oates, hold on! We ain't going home yet.

Because that's 'For The Dogs', for example. The 'Hours' Drake puts in to expand this edition go harder still. On 'Stories About My Brother' this conductor tells us like a Bradley Cooper maestro, "This is the decompress before the intermission/Done a lot of postgame talkin', but this one different/I told Lee to put him in the car, but don't pistol whip him/And definitely do not shoot his ass 'til you get permission/People got a heavy misread on my disposition/Talkin' loose, then hit me up after on some "Please, Drake listen, listen"/Energy they bringin' is inconsistent", on the most prolific year, or time to be alive, of his career. 'The Shoe Fits' and this rapaholic and genre great who has become a massive mainstream, music monster wears it like Jordan's fresh out the box. Lacing us with J. Cole about their 'Evil Ways' on another classic collaboration heater for all you sinners on a collection that like Cole's world has no more guest features unlike 50 Cent narrating Weezy and Tity Boi. 

That is, unless you count Keanu Reeves, as OVO's compares himself to the Baba Yaga John in his latest chapter of cuts with 'The Wick Man'. The fire from this man on wax won't flicker like a candle, but before he's out on this pink angelic album that rocks like a Smashing Pumpkins set, he talks about the one who 'Broke My Heart'. "My notepad caught many bodies/Screenshots solved plenty problems/Voice notes bagged plenty hotties/Can't just talk to me like anybody/Can't just talk to me like anybody/Man, you b#####s know that I'm a somebody/And lil' baby bad, she got a drum body/Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah/Bunch of feelings I just couldn't shake/Disrespect that I just shouldn't take/You just couldn't see the good in Drake/Four months not a long time, but you f####d somebody, you just couldn't wait/You broke my heart, you broke my heart." Damn! Crestfallen like that and still creating and crafting classic?! Straight scary. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Red Button', 'The Wick Man', 'Evil Ways (Feat. J. Cole)'.

REVIEW: DOLLY PARTON - ROCKSTAR

4/5

Dollyrock.

A Parton in a peartree. 'Tis the season and time of year to be putting that Dolly Parton 'Christmas On The Square' movie musical she gifted us with, during our quarantined 2020 during the planet's pandemic that sometimes feels like worlds away now, back up. But the 77-year-old country legend with her 49th set is no rerun, hey, hey, what's happening? Even with this album of classic covers. Since lockdown, she's being doing exactly that, locking it down. One of the greatest across generations, is still nine 'till five'ing it. Whether releasing some of her best work to date with albums like 'Run Rose Run', or co-authoring books with legend James Patterson (like President, Bill Clinton did) and her own country twang. Now, she's proving she's a 'Rockstar', baby, like Nickleback, as Dollywood flips the script. Spreading her wings on Butterfly records, she collaborates with everyone from The Beatles to her own god-daughter. Taking the leopard print steering wheel on this Big Machine of 30 tracks in all their gold, Dolly has never looked better. Rock with this star. Because following last year's greatest hits collection of 'Diamonds and Rhinestones', she takes it to the great American songbook that was thwacked on stage along with that smashed guitar and kicked drum.

The flaming 'World Of Fire' or tricks of the 'Magic Man' meet the 'Bygones' of previous eras. All in a melody for the Queen over Olympic achievements that say 'We Are The Champions' after she rocks you to the Mercury and May beat. 'What's Up?', even the great stage presence of Adam Lambert couldn't last this long. 'Let It Be' like another last song from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr 'Now and Then', following Macca writing 'Feeling The Sunlight' for the Japanese for apples 'Rewind Forward' EP last month. And just wait until she comes in like a 'Wrecking Ball' with Miley like their 'Rainbowland' collaboration for the 'Younger Now' country. Collaborating with the respective likes of Ann Wilson, Rob Halford, Nikki Sixx, John 5, and Linda Perry on these seven signed and sealed singles. All for the clever concept of a career left turn, in the same week Andre 3000 proves he's even more of an outcast with his outstanding woodwind instrument inspired turn on 'New Blue Sun'. His first album in 17 tears that's already hit 3 million streams with nary a punch or promotion, save a graceful GQ interview, videoed in a Los Angeles laundromat the times are chasing and turning like your laundry's load. But what spurred this fork in the long and winding road? Last year, Dolly Parton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Initially, she declined the nomination. Not because she was being a diva, but because she thought she wasn't 'Wayne's World' worthy. Being a little bit country. So she decided to right this wrong herself and rock out over an album of guitar hero riffs forged from the God's. She's all rock and roll now. Pave the hall for her most famous deceleration yet. She is THE woman in music, hear her roar over electrics, like when Dylan put on those specs.

After her original 'Rockin'' song at the induction, Dolly decided to take it back on the classics and what result is a massive monster truck of an album that breathes fire into her greatest stunt that sticks the landing. Reaching out to all the stars to make this an actual rock and roll Hall of Fame record. She collaborated with everyone from Sting for 'Every Breath You Take' (an absolute classic like Diddy's take, but someone call The Police like LCD Soundsystem over these lyrics. And you thought, 'Baby It's Cold Outside' was bad this time of year) to this generation's greatest closest to her P!nk, and the next one in Brandi Carlile. Fellow HOF inductees including Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo, Simon Le Bon and Rob Halford and guest like Sheryl Crow, ready for her turn, being at the ceremony helped. Then calls were made to the likes of Peter Frampton ('Baby, I Love Your Way') and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith ('I Want You Back') for some real magic. Chris Stapleton stepped in for Bob Seger stapling together 'Night Moves' after Seger's sessions experienced and exposed some problems with his voice. The 'Hackney Diamonds' of Mick Jagger had a scheduling conflict, not getting any satisfaction (it's never a guarantee). Whereas Parton tried but couldn't reunite Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant for a new 'Stairway To Heaven' (denied). 

You can imagine the compelling calls, "come on, sugar!" And as for the dearly departed Prince, Parton will move you to the eyes of doves with her powerful 'Purple Rain' cover. All before, she flirts with the ghost of King Presley for 'I Dreamed About Elvis' ("He was standing in the light/Looking radiant and beautiful, just like he did in life/I said, "E, it's good to see you, look so healthy and at peace"/He said "You know, I’m really happy here, how's things in Tennessee?"/Well, I told him we all missed him, that the whole world loved the King/He said "You know, if things were different, I'd ask you to wear my ring"/I said, "El, uh, can I call you El?"/"Ah, Elvis, El, or E"/I said, "Am I just dreamin’, or were you just flirtin' with me?"). Highlight after highlight like the 'Bittersweet' voice of Michael Mcdonald that you just can't forget like the one you lost. Or the notch that will never retire (and we hope so too), Elton John coming in like the strongest chord, on an album similar to when he remixed his own classics with the industry's finest, to show the sun will never go down on this record or the artist making it and all the hits her very own. Never to be taken again like 'Jolene' as a bonus. See, she already was a rock star like a White Stripe. This one just goes even harder. Greet the end of this Journey with 'Open Arms', this talent that can't stop has to be seen and heard to be believed. Covering all bases and knocking it out the park, no one could clone this Dolly. With a 'Heart of Glass' like fellow Blonde, Debbie Harry, 'What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done To You' she asks? This! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You', 'Purple Rain', 'Let It Be (Feat. Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr).

SONG FOR THE MOMENT: THE BEATLES - 'NOW AND THEN'

4/5

Come Together. 

"I know it's true/It's all because of you/And if I make it through It's all because of you." The lovely refrain from John Lennon was given to Sir Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono years ago. It was just John playing around, with a tumble dryer and the air conditioning providing backing vocals. But Paul thought they really had something. They did. And so, the first Beatles song since they 'Let It Be' was born.

After losing Lennon to a cruel and cowardly gunman outside the same 70s New York City Dakota building these words were put to cassette in, the Fab Four no more wanted to make one last jam with John for the record. So George Harrison and Ringo Starr made for Macca's studio in the countryside and went to work until the "job was done, son." These 1995 sessions with Starr's drumming and Harrison's guitar were put up a cupboard, under studio safe lock and key. It was always intended to be a bookend to their career like the new mix of 'Love Me Do' on this new single B-side. Bringing them back together 'Now and Then', from the mop tops to the grey and wrinkled vinyls of age. This 'Real Love' was set to be released as 'Free As A Bird', it just needed more time in the nest's twine, to be tooled and tweaked with. But then they lost beloved George.

During the planet's pandemic, we were able to 'Get Back' to the way things were then thanks to 'Lord Of The Rings' director Peter Jackson's incredible and inspired documentary. The 468-minute magnum opus of a last dance, showing that we could happily watch John, Paul, George and Ringo fart around in the studio for the rest of their lives and never get sick of them. So a new song based on a demo, some studio sessions and extra work from Ringo and Paul (who recently collaborated on Starr's 'Rewind Forward' EP this month with the McCartney penned 'Feeling The Sunlight')? Of course, we would be quids in. Even if this war against A.I. has us thinking that software will take over the world like that terminating Skynet. Besides, this is a one-off, and "the last song", "maybe". And it's nothing artificial, just their pure musical intelligence. It's not like they're going to start making posthumous albums and hologram shows like the estate of the late, great Tupac Shakur...we hope. And it's not like John wouldn't have liked it. The Beatles always experienced with different sounds and new techniques like the psychedelics of their 'Yellow Submarine'. It's like Jack Nicholson's character said in Martin Scorsese's 'The Departed', "I'm an artist. You give me a f#####g tuba, I'll get you something out of it."

Get on board, because the tech Jackson used to restore The Beatles to 'Get Back' has been able to draw those old Lennon vocals out...although we miss the applications of the electrical appliances. What results is a subtle, but beautiful swan song set to a moving music video bringing the band back together, albeit at times a little cheaply and cornily. But of course, we can forgive that. A 12-minute documentary joins the video on the Mickey Mouse streaming service Disney + for the fans to get their fill like those Paul conversations with super-producer Rick Rubin. If you thought seeing a young Macca dance to a Beck assisted remix on 'McCartney III', then you ain't heard anything yet. Three decades later, now is the time to remember what it was like back then. "And now and then/If we must start again/Well, we will know for sure/That I will love you." A letter to you from dear John. Getting back and by with a little help from his friends. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

REVIEW: SEMISONIC -LITTLE BIT OF SUN

3.5/5

Sonic Highways.

Justin Timberlake was wrong (boy, isn't that the truth?). In his romantic comedy with Mila Kunis, the singer and 'Reptile' actor said that 90s nostalgic classic 'Closing Time' (also making movie moments this week in the karaoke of the new Emily Blunt and Chris Evans movie 'Pain Hustlers') was by fellow American rock band of that era, Third Eye Blind. He realized the error of his ways in the end with an epic flash-mob in New York City's Grand Central Station, but to all of us whose sonic youth felt strangely fine, we knew better. That album was a mega-hit masterpiece of golden era Americana that those in the know, know about like a 'Secret Smile'. Spearhead by a big-three set of singles like the aforementioned and 'Singing In My Sleep'. The sophomore follow-up to the 'Great Divide' of their debut also featured amazing album tracks like 'Made To Last', 'DND', 'This Will Be My Year', 'California', 'She Spreads Her Wings' and 'Never You Mind' from the Drew Barrymore movie 'Never Been Kissed' to make it a certified classic. As a matter of fact, the whole 'Completely Pleased', and 'All Worked Out' thing was exactly that. A few years later they gave us 'All About Chemistry' behind the last word of that album title single. Getting a grip like Josh Hartnett's '40 Days and 40 Nights' with horny tracks like 'Bed' and 'Sunshine and Chocolate'. Although 'Act Naturally' and 'One True Love' really were the best of this band at their most R.E.M. beautiful.

But The Wallflowers CD ended way more than a half hour ago. As it's been 22 years since that college rock time. Feel old yet? Look in the reflection of your CD jewel case...yep, that's how old I am. I guess she really was 'Gone To The Movies' and "not coming back." Or is she? Over the years great singer/songwriter Dan Wilson has been making music and staying active on Twitter (it's still the STAPLES Center, and it's still Twitter. We get the, he's on X gag, and it's about as funny as Musk's memes. Stick to space and the electric car race), but recently the band (alongside Del Amitri for even more nostalgia) have been touring, supporting the Barenaked Ladies, who had their own album out this summer 'In Flight'. Showing that no matter how long it's been, it still all seems like 'One Week' in this life that is but a dream. Rising with the single of the same name 'Little Bit Of Sun' is what we need right now like the colour scheme of its album artwork solar spectrum. The more mature act don't sound the same, but that's more than strangely fine, in a reunion of good feeling after all these hell frozen over years. Going fourth, they 'Grown Your Own', singing, "I used to listen to that rock and roll music/Because it always soothed my soul/I used to listen to that rock and roll music/Because it made me lose control/And then I listened for the shock of the new, yeah/To learn how to grow my own/And now I listen to that rock and roll music/Remember how I felt before." Their hallmark sound still honed to a chef's kiss.

'The Rope' of this Pleasuresonic sound from Minneapolis, Minnesota, like 'The Vault' of more 'Diamonds and Pearls' from Prince last week offers you even more. "Promise that you're never gonna wake up in an ordinary bed/Swear you're never gonna tell a soul about the s### that I said/The LA sky never changes/But in my mind, thеre's no escaping." Modern love set to a music video as white-picket, good times America as the band once were, and still, thankfully in these times, are. 'Out Of The Dirt' they climb back to the prime. Clawing away at lines like, "Out of the dirt / out of the dirt/ back into the dirt we go / nothing to lose / nothing to lose / looking for a way back home". The grimy grunge is back as they continue to pass this home-grown sound. Aside from the pandemic EP of 2020 that told us 'You're Not Alone', it's been a long two decades and two years quarantined from Semisonic. But that doesn't matter now blending The Beatles and The Connells like '74/75'. 'Keep Me In Motion' ("Standing back in the shadows waiting/Look around for the only one/Turn the tables cos my hopes are fading/You always knew how to start me up") and 'Don't Fade Away'. It all keeps going 'All The Time' to the dual beautiful closers of 'Only Empathy' and a 'Beautiful Sky'. With songs that feel like they could have played on an episode of the Canadian classic set in Chicago, 'Due South', we are kindly thankful for this life and love of a group, even if 'It Wasn't Like We Thought It Would Be'. It's like they say on 'If You Say So'. Or the 'So Amazed' two minutes. Just like 'She Spreads Her Wings' when John Munson takes the mesmerizing lead in place of Wilson like the late, great Taylor Hawkins 'Cold Day In The Sun' with the Foos. Just when you thought it had all set, it comes back like you'd never forget. Get in sync with something that's no longer blind. Here comes the sun. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Little Bit Of Sun', 'Only Empathy', 'Beautiful Sky'. 

REVIEW: JUNGKOOK - GOLDEN

4/5

The Gold Rush.

Winners never quit. RM went in with 'Indigo', like a J-Hope 'Jack In The Box', or a Suga 'D-Day'. The 'Face' of Jimin, and the recent 'Layover' of V completes the set after BTS' break, aside from the mandatory military service of Jin. And now one year after singing for the 'Dreamers' of the 2022 FIFA football World Cup with an amazing anthem, Jungkook gives us his 'Golden' debut album ready for a certified platinum plaque that will hang from the Big Hit offices. This half-hour, all power and killer, no filler is a golden opportunity to capitalize on the pop power of his South Korean K-Pop giant ARMY and his own Seoul power. Featuring guests like Major Lazer, Latto, DJ Snake and rapper and 'White Men Can't Jump' remake actor and superstar Jack Harlow, who even standing next to 'Kook in' 3D' can't stand out quite like him. Although he doesn't for a second phone in his guest verse from the booth. "You my bae, just like Tampa/Speakin' of bucks, I got those/And as for f###s, well, not those/And as for thots, well, do you really wanna know?/I thought so/I'll fly you from Korea to Kentucky." You need glasses to see star shines like this in red and blue. Nah, let him Kook!

'Standing By You' in sweet solidarity, and the clean and dirty versions of 'Seven' with Latto seal the preceding gold singles. The 'Golden Maknae' and youngest member of BTS gets 'Closer To You' with Major Lazer. The Calvin Klein model like BLACKPINK's Jennie also begs you 'Please Don't Change' with DJ Snake. But in this modern world of toxicity when it comes to matters of the heart, he can only deal with a break-up be declaring 'Hate You', such is our young life in love sometimes. "So I'm gonna hate you/I'm gonna hate you/Paint you like the villain that you never were/I'm gonna blame you/For things that you don't do/Hating you's the only way it doesn't hurt." I understand, believe me. We all do. But there's a better way, and on this green and gold artwork like Lianne La Havas, that lies in the truth of 'Yes Or No', for the open-suit, naked ambition of the young king. He bares it all on some. Of the closing, most compelling tracks on the set, but not before he brings even more big hits for the tops of your future charts. "When you go out in the night/You're under the lights/Oh, I hope to find somebody/Hope to find somebody to ride/Somebody to die/Oh, I hope to find somebody/I hope you know that somebody ain't me." In the golden frame when love is just a game, he's simply looking for 'Someone'. 

Someone to love like Queen, so he's no longer 'Too Sad To Dance' in this club. "Last week I found a message in a bottle/It said go home ain’t nobody love you no more/I can’t disagree/So last night I went to the club/Had a couple too many threw up/Now everybody’s laughing at me." This one stings like The Police, or the next drink he takes arrested in the club like all our 20s looking for that forever love in a world looking for a less complicated status that isn't waiting for something better to come along. That's what makes 'Shot Glass Of Tears' the best and most brutal hit on the album. "It's a hard pill to swallow/This emotion, I bottle/Need somethin' strong for the sorrow/Somethin' strong for the pain, so I can wash it away/I was cold, now, I'm freezin'/Stuck in a permanent season/And we both know you're the reason/I'm not the same as before, I don't feel anymore/Tell me, am I ever gonna feel again?/Tell me, am I ever gonna heal again?/Got a shot glass full of tears/Drink, drink, drink, say: Cheers/I got all these diamonds runnin' down my face/And I ain't lettin' any of 'em go to waste." This kid's just 26 years old. In another quarter-century he'll have an army worth of albums, whether solo, or with his squad. He's already lived the life of the wildest dreamers. These moments are golden. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: '3D (Feat. Jack Harlow)', 'Standing Next To You', 'Shot Glass Of Tears'. 

REVIEW: PRINCE & THE NEW POWER GENERATION - DIAMONDS AND PEARLS (Super Deluxe Edition)

4/5

Diamonds Are Forever.

Draped in diamonds, Prince dropped pure pearls of wisdom in 1991 right in the midst of his 'Purple Rain' as the biggest star in the world like Michael. Jordan or Jackson (this was the 90s, after all). The multi-platinum, worldwide smash hit 'Diamonds and Pearls featured smash singles like the album's terrific title-track. Not to mention the 'Cream' of the crop like 'Gett Off' (like Eric Leeds) for a man who knew how to do exactly that without a parental advisory sticker (remember those? Feel old yet? You're parents now yourselves). An 'Insatiable' desire that believed in an elevator higher love that rained like a cinematic 'Thunder'. One that would give you the world like 'Diamonds and Pearls', but in actuality all that it has to offer is the best and the most we can give another, our hearts. Because like the jazzy album highlight 'Money Don't Matter 2 Night'. And it won't matter tomorrow when you wake up with the one who will still be there the morning after...and the day after that. 

When Prince passed, vultures said, "this will be the day"...and raided his legendary vault in Paisley Park for the heart of the Minnesota Purple Yoda. The wolves may have come in Minnie, thinking they had the Big Ticket like Da Kid, KG, but A to Z, we know better. We know how the game works. It's strange in this day and age to be writing about this Super Deluxe Edition album, and not quite right. Especially in the same week that THIS generation's music megastar Taylor Swift releases her version of her classic '1989', to take creative control and power back from her masters. But like "being colour-blind" in 'Diamonds', let's let the 'Pearls' of "love decide". We have to give it up for the man we're streaming on YouTube, not the machine that keeps churning out his classics for profit. But as long as the money is going to his family, or foundation...we understand. The '91 jam recorded between Olympic, London and North Hollywood (and of course, Paisley) was a lucky 13th release this New Music Friday with New Power for your revolution's Generation. The first of its and their kind, getting closer than legendary Rosie Gaines close, front and centre like a Diamond, for this girl best friend. The funk of 'Daddy Pop' for you 'Jughead(s)' also kept this album 'Strollin'' ('Walk Don't Walk' like the most confusing crossing) and stone rolling. Whilst another album highlight 'Willing and Able' was ready for the Super Bowl XXVI closing CBS credits for a man who would bring that very house down years later.

'Push' play and play again on this remastered masterpiece painted by Prince. All the way to the 'Last Words From The Cockpit' that 'Live 4 Love'. Because like tracks of Springsteen sessions for your boot-cut American dream bootlegs, Prince's vault holds more diamonds than an Ian Fleming forever novel. New mixes and extended cuts of his classic add more legacy making layers to his MPLS love symbol sound. Especially getting off for 'Damn Near 10 Minutes' before the house-lights of the Houstyle remix as 'Violet The Organ Grinder' does exactly that. This is it. The best 'Cream' of the crop since Prince threw his rings into the Webster Hall crowd with his purple acoustic set he wouldn't start until the fans sang along ("nah-uh") the right way. This 'Horny Pony' keeps on rocking until a rocking horse s###s with hits like the 'Gangster Glam' of the B-side winning again. A K.C mix of 'Do Your Dance' continues to make love with your headphones. Whilst Tony M. raps 'Things Have Gotta Change' for the New Power and some generational music television. It's time to 'Call The Law', because it only gets more arresting from here on out. The 'Vault Tracks' of this album that came between the 'Graffiti Bridge' movie soundtrack and the '7' seal of 'The Love Symbol' album unlock even more. Beginning endlessly with the 'Schoolyard' days from the funkiest one, and 'My Tender Heart', at Prince's most beautiful. "I watch as the leaves turn from green to brown/And I know One by one they fall right to the ground/And I try not to wonder if I'll ever see you around/'Cause just like the winter you came in with a roar/And left without a sound." The fall of this Autumnal love too much for a man who spent 'Another Lonely Christmas' like '17 Days' as the rain came down, because you weren't there.

Drinking banana daiquiris until you're blind because the 'Pain' is exactly that, Rogers Nelson solidarity soothes. His pain, he shares it with you. Like a 'Streetwalker' looking for love. Maybe it's in the form of 'Lauriann', "The rhythm of her walk/Like a tall-tale talkin'/Ain't a boy around her/Ever been tame." There's a 'Darkside' to all these extended versions and alternate takes, and it's all so beautiful as you skip to my lou like Rafer Alston for 'Skip To My You My Darling'. Nelson cooks up more in 'Martika's Kitchen', originally off Martika's self-titled debut. But it's the soulful 'Spirit' of this Jehovah's witnesses 'Open Book' that really 'Works That Fat'. All until you 'Hold Me' over lines like, "I've tried so many times 2 erase your memory from my mind/Yet, it doesn't ever last 4 long/I see your picture then I hear your voice/Our love must be stronger than before." Brooding beauty until theirs 'Blood On The Sheets', instrumentally proving this guitar symbolic God can rock out the best of them like when he did for George Harrison, never coming down. Bang Pow Zoom and the Whole Nine act like Rodman and Pippen to the Jordan of 'The Last Dance'. But 'Don't Say U Love Me' when, "If ever there was a girl of contradiction, baby, that girl is you/One minute you are a stranger, the next you’re my guru/You used to hug me, kiss me, touch me, lick me, fill me with all your charms/That was then, this is now." This man has lyrics that lick to go like he's got "too many hits" in London's 02 run after party. 

'Get Blue' like Joni and the third disc of this vault trilogy keeps it purple, before it fades to black, never in the red. On the 'Tip o' My Tongue' Prince brings that cream feeling back...yeah I said it. 'The Voice' of explicit beauty like Murakami in Japan, preaching the gospel of, "Ching!/Mr. Politician goes on vacation (Oh)/Brings along a friend or two/In the disguise of taxes/Mr. Politician (Sends) sends the bill to you know who." If you thought it was all about sex, then what the f### were you thinking, as Prince gets political, a songbook spokesperson for a once great America like Bruce and Bob Dylan. He's 'Trouble' as he keeps you tumbling down the rabbit hole for the revelatory 'Alice Through The Looking Glass'. Taking it personally and then making it so for this next generation with the trouble in paradise of 'Standing At The Altar'. There is lonely and there is lonely. And then there is "Why?/I got the news just yesterday/They said you up and ran away/All because of what somebody said/I spent my wedding night alone in bed", in matrimony with many who have been jilted and left holding a broken heart until death does them part. 'Hey U', you know how it feels and Rogers has got you like Hammersmith. Live at the Apollo like a 'Letter 4 Miles' that still reaches you after all these years (over 30) and the death of the one who reigned supreme. Long live Prince, singing 'I Pledge Allegiance To Your Love', "So 4 U and all that is good and true/I hereby state my allegiance 4 U and all that is true/I hereby state my allegiance." Curtain concluding with the damn over ten-minute 'Thunder Ballet' to sign off these tracks that are slamming like the late, great Charlie Murphy once said. All before the in your face Live At Glam Slam set brings us back on home to the twin cities. Thunder, all around, volleying through the night until the pearls fall for the man who even gave 'Batman' a sick soundtrack. The NBA may have just celebrated three quarter's of a century, but nothing balls out like these tracks. Happy, boys and girls? I guess with this diamond mined out the rough, love is still the master plan. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Diamonds and Pearls', 'Thunder', 'Money Don't Matter 2 Night'.

REVIEW: TAYLOR SWIFT - 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION)

4/5

80's Baby.

Going through the 'Eras' year-by-year, Taylor Swift is taking back her career. It's a master move as she repaints her masterpieces and becomes to women in music (like fond friends Haim) what Dylan is to the great American songbook. Raging against the Big Machine in this big-wig forsaken music industry and re-recording her first six albums ('Speak Now' and 'Red' remain highlights in the re-telling of her story so far) and making them her 'Taylor's Version' own. Swiftonomics indeed. But it goes deeper than all that. Taking ownership of her own work and career doesn't just make a Swift stand for herself (as well as she should), it also inspires and influences countless other artists who have already given and lost so much in the name of creative control. Especially young, not to mention female, artists who have and are at a great risk of being exploited and manipulated by a male dominated industry that needs more Taylor made leaders.

'The Eras Tour' and concert movie may be raking in so many gate receipts and so much box office that 'Eras' in a doubled-up culmination may be single-handedly be saving both the music industry and the American economy, Swiftly. The biggest tour of the year (and how about all-time?), coupled with the biggest movie of the year outside of 'Barbie', expect an Oscar to grace the trophy cabinet of the Grammy laden artist who appeared in David O. Russell's 'Amsterdam' last year alongside Margot Robbie, Christian Bale and John David Washington. As for now, '1989' may seem like yesterday away (it was actually almost a decade ago in 2014, not to mention 33 years ago), but it's bought back to the boil here before the fifth and final 'Reputation' rewrite and the hey 'Lover' victory lap for the 'Evermore', 'Midnights' singer of modern-day 'Folklore'. One that has put in so much work since the pandemic and only come out of studio quarantine to tour the whole wide world. Announced at her LA show, this Republic synth-pop record is one to savour. The summer love of the '89' sound comes back in with the tide right before the fall. 'Welcome Back To New York'. It's been waiting for you still.

'From The Vault' like Prince, who posthumously releases the super deluxe 75-track edition of his 'Diamonds and Pearls' (originally released two years after Taylor's birth in 1991) this week, Swift's sweet 16 songs are joined by five for the bonus road. Making this Queen and Prince the married biggest releases of a New Music Friday that sees new albums from the supergroup The Kills playing 'God Games', and the returning Gaslight Anthem for the 'History Books' co-signed by the Boss Springsteen. In an outstanding October that sees new records from The Rolling Stones ('Hackney Diamonds') and The Beatles (Ringo Starr's  'Rewind Forward' EP and the last Fab Four song). And the extension of 'The Record' of the year from 'The Rest' of Boygenius. Leaving Drake's dogs sleeping. Here, there's also that classic Kendrick Lamar remix of her 'Bad Blood' with that star-studded music video (the new 'DC League Of Super Pets' gives the dog the bone too) and the previously re-recorded soundtrack style of 'Sweeter Than Fiction' for 'One Chance'. The classics 'Wildest Dreams' re-woken and 'This Love' back together were released in anticipation for what has Swiftly become the most streamed album of the year in just a weekend. Crashing Apple and Spotify servers, Taylor's popularity won't wane. And if you wonder what's to come after this epic era...it's this. 

One of the most important artists in history and certainly the pinnacle of our generation in her prime like Parton from the Nashville country to the AmeriCAN dream, rewriting the rule book to her own 'Blank Space'. Complete with a new ballpoint pen sound that clicks. Singing and signing her name across your heart like D'Arby. A classic of a classic and the most vivid 'Version' yet. The late eighties gave us 'New Romantics', 'Out Of The Woods' and so much more before the forest of 'Folklore', all re-'Style'd here, or kept as perfect as they always were. Exactly is. The huge hit 'Shake It Off' shaking off Scooter and reminding all of you who rocked with it at Backdrop, the classic Americana Universal Studios (what's up USJ, Osaka, Japan, and all those beautiful memories with you?), the rollercoaster that takes you backwards like a Taylor Swift version. Reclaiming an album that was so popular, talented but troubled (and career and reputation compromised) Ryan Adams (who we must hold accountable, no matter how much we like his music) re-recorded it himself mere months after its release with another iconic '1989'. "Stand there like a ghost shaking from the rain, rain/She'll open up the door and say, "Are you insane"/Say it's been a long six months/And you were too afraid to tell her what you want, want/And that's how it works", 'That's How You Get The Girl'. 

"You can hear it in the silence (silence), silence (silence), you/You can feel it on the way home (way home), way home (way home), you/You can see it with the lights out (lights out), lights out (lights out)" and 'You Are In Love'. True love. 'All You Had To Do Was Stay'...and treat her right. 'I Wish You Would'. Because for all the 'Places' she knows, like 'Wonderland'. It's 'Slut!' the new exclamation highlight on this version that puts all those to shame who try to do the same to her. "But if I'm all dressed up (If I’m all dressed up) /They might as well be lookin' at us (Lookin' at us)/And if they call me a slut (If they call me a slut)/You know it might be worth it for once (Worth it for once)/And if I'm gonna be drunk Might as well be drunk in love." The best of these new sonic synth 'Suburban Legends' that 'Say Don't Go' like an anthem, ask 'Is It Over Now' in confessional, 'Now We Don't Talk' ("I call my mom, she said that it was for the best/Remind myself, the morе I gave, you'd want me less/I cannot bе your friend, so I pay the price of what I lost/And what it cost, now that we don't talk"). Never that, the eras just continue for the American songwriter. 1989 will always be her year. But this is her forever more time. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Out Of The Woods', 'Slut!', 'Suburban Legends'

REVIEW: THE KILLS - GOD GAMES

4/5

Game Of Horns.

God is in the details, and by the grace of Him we have new albums on this music Friday from two returning rock acts. The first is The Gaslight Anthem's first album in nine years for your 'History Books' featuring a lead single with 'The Boss', Bruce Springsteen. Just after you thought they had said their last goodbye, my friend. The second is the first album from the English/American iconic modern age rock duo of The Kills (US singer Alison "VV" Mosshart of The Dead Weather fame, and UK guitarist Jamie "Hotel" Hince of Blythe Power) since 2016's 'Ash and Ice'. A 'Midnight Boom' that ups the ante like the raised 'Blood Pressures' of 'Satellite' and 'Baby Says'. Their sixth set, like Gaslight's, grabs you by the horns. From the amazing artwork of matador and bull, to the music videos that take you from a boxing ring, to a golf course. Culminating in an epic 3D glasses visualizer that could even go toe-to-toe with friend Jack's White's 'Seven Nation Army' with The Stripes of Meg. The Domino is falling the right way for this label's indie rock outfit.

"Yeah, you taste just like New York/Before a storm takes hold", VV sings like she once did about "double sixing it". "Night after night, after night," (you know it's the only way). Taking hits when she hasn't even got any gloves on to the canvas of, "Down here on the Bowery/The city's got me feelin' high/Got me where you want me/In your midnight eve/Always remember, honey/When you need a ride/You got me, got me, got me going'/Got me runnin' wild". Hotel was squirrelled away in one, hollowing out records "that didn't sound like The Kills" for a side-project. Until Hince realized, "they sounded exactly like The Kills". And henceforth that's why we have records like 'LA Hex' taking off. Hitting the tarmac flying, announcing, "I was day-dreaming of a hundred/Caught up in all of the drama and all of the fuss/Caught by the LA hex hanging above us/Like a drone, like a God/Magicking she into something I don't know what/I don’t know what/But I know that once I was fresh blood/And now I know that I'm not." Sweet dreams for your Los Angeles times. 

Try a little 'Love and Tenderness' like Otis Redding and you will be "Kicking at the stars again/I fight the moon/Walk up to the wolves/In a steak necklace/All love and tenderness" as you shoot the moon. These stars are 'Going To Heaven' with the sent 'scribes of "Slow dancing with a bottle of lightning/Breaking down your thunder striking/Moving like my body double/You flash your bread and butter/I’ll stay and meet them after", meeting God in this game. The '103' takes you even further on this dream of a Murakami reality like highway, before Alison gives it up for 'My Girls, My Girls' with the real anthem this week. "How far I’ve come/Still miles behind you/We’re all headed down that road/At some point, I’ll try to find you/And grow a soul for when my time comes close/But for now/I’m on those middle of the night vibes/Those singing ’til I die vibes/Reminiscing while I cry vibes/Twitching, I’m so high/Like put me in a ride/Like those vibes/Clinging on for dear life/Like I know I should/I picked a bad time/To feel this good." Let it play as you sing along. 

This 'Wasterpiece' is a masterpiece as The Kills paint theirs. On their way to the throne like 'Kingdom Come' or the great grace of the titan of a title track. Firing no 'Blank(s)' you can draw even better lyrics from the reservoirs of "A daffodil/Hangs its head/It don’t care/For love/If love is gone/You walk away/No harm, no foul/Ow, ow, ow/Whoever you are/Who was I to love you?/Turn the place upside down/No sign of you/Now, now, now/Nothing on the wall/It’s like I dreamt it all." Your memory banks know this type of heartbreaking hurt, for all it's worth. It clicks like that 'Bullet Sound' before Mosshart's heart sings for 'Better Days' much like 2Pac did with a Z for your IPA...and we ain't talking about the beer. "When that whimper dies/And a wild river rises/No man can dam the tide/Or hold it back/For God to take His time/Those big black open skies/All the while/Are calling out for/Better days/Baby, don’t go looking/Better days/Baby, don’t go looking/For better days/Fate is in our way/But I know we’ll be good/God willing." Lord knows they're here. And we ain't playing. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'New York', 'LA Hex', 'Better Days'.