REVIEW: JON BATISTE - WORLD MUSIC RADIO

4/5

For The World.

Taylor Swift. Billie Eilish. All of music's most mainstream moving artists couldn't beat the maestro. The former 'Late Show With Stephen Colbert' bandleader Jon Batiste holds the Grammy family honour for the Best Album of 2022. Now 'We Are' in luck, as the American cross-genre musician, Oscar and BAFTA winning composer (Pixar's 'Soul' of Jamie Foxx) is back with some 'World Music Radio' for you to tune into...and maybe another Grammy to add to the trophy cabinet. This dear Jon has worked with everybody from Stevie Wonder, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Willie Nelson and Lana Del Rey amongst countless others. But nothing compares to the band of instruments he brings to bear here (see above) for the world. You ready for another Batiste work of art?

The music director of The Atlantic and Creative Director of Harlem's National Jazz Museum headlines a New Music Friday for your NPR headphones that features a big, brooding album from 'Take Me To Church's' Hozier ('Unreal Unearth') following his March EP, 'Eat Your Young'. Not to mention a new EP, birthed from the independent artistry of R&B queen Ciara ('CiCi'), following the announcement of expecting of her fourth baby with NFL Denver Broncos star QB Russell Wilson. Or NBA superstar Damian Lillard capping off the Portland Trail Blazer superstars trade-rumoured whirlwind of an off-season with his Dame D.OL.L.A. rapping alter-ego's new album 'Don Dolla'. Now, this seventh seal from Batiste brings the Verve and Interscope of the world. Not forgetting classic collaborations with JID, NewJeans, Camilo, Jon Bellion, Fireboy DML, Kenny G, Lil' 'Wayne (like Dame), Leigh-Anne and Lana Del Rey once again. A classic concept record going interstellar like McConaughey with the central character Billy Bob Bo in the cosmos.

'Hello Billy Bob' indeed. "Purifying the airwaves." This album like the singles is 'Calling Your Name' (call me by it) in a raw world, with some refreshing 'Drink Water' (featuring Jon Bellion and Fireboy DML), without the red, or blue pill in this matrix. All to, "open your heart and stretch your mind, expanding your vision of popular art" as Batiste says it best. All for the 'Raindance' with Native Soul that you can see clearly, now you know what's gone. 'My Heart' is beautiful from Catalonia, Spain. Just like Rita Payés' vivid vocals. It's enough to 'Worship' like that wonderful, heaven sent track you'll put two hands together for. Or the JID, New Jeans and Camilo cameo that tells you to 'Be Who You Are'. With Weezy F. Baby on 'Uneasy', Jon please sings it for his baby, "They call out, “Mercy, Mercy, Marcy Me”/Clinton and Canarsie/Be like (Skoo-skoo, Skoo-koo)/They call out Nostradamus, Malcolm, Marvin saw What’s Going On/I know the left and the right talkin’ two different stories (Ooh, ooh, ooh, oh)/I know I'm strong in this life, but I still tuck my chain", over a studio sound video. Tha Carter adding his own guitar to this rocking genre mash-up.

Radio playing to the DJ, floating like a 'Butterfly' over piano that moves like Muhammed Ali as you turn out the lights and make it to bed, "cherry plum and chewing gum." Kenny G brings the sexy sax to 'Clair De Lune' for an album that's an eclectic mix of (hair)cuts like the new Hozier piece. Taking you to all sorts of churches in the wild with reckless, beautiful and bountiful abandon. The '17th Ward Prelude' introduces you to more as you 'CALL NOW' on '504-305-8269' with Michael Batiste for the family. Lifting you out of this real world funk like Prince. Classic like the cheers of 'Chassol' the 'BOOM FOR REAL' is exactly that, in all caps. But it's the 'White Space' that lets you make your mark like a blank space, letter to you like Laker statement jersey for the city. Inviting you to leave a legacy with your own story, singing, "Open wide, open, open, close your eyes and see/That you’re more than you will be." Amen, everybody. The 'Master Power' telling us "From the concrete grew a flower/Don’t forget about your master power/She won’t bow, and he won’t cower/Henrietta got a master power/ Nicholas and Daniel, Sara and Blue/In their grimy hour, there’s a master power", until everybody is free.

We could be Bowie like 'Heroes' with the 'Movement '18'. 'Running Away' like The Pharcyde with the wind of Leigh-Anne. Devoting, "You've got a friend, a lover, a friend, a lover in me/Right next to you, right next to you is where I'll always be/I'll keep on, keep on talkin' with ya, my friend/So keep goin', 'cause I'ma stay with ya until the end." All before a 'Life Lesson' with Lana Del Rey closes proceedings. Their second collaboration this year, after their 'Candy Necklace' that wrapped around the amazing 'Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd' album from Lana, this March gone. Saving the best of the best for last as Del Rey lights up with the illuminating, "I read an article about a star who said that standing / In the shadow of her husband felt so dark / Reminded me of you and I because / That’s very much the way our story was." As Jon prays, "It’s like a dream you know what I mean/Things were peachy keen/This very second/And I would reckon/Now you know/ Amen." If you feel on your knees, in this world, right now. Lord, this is the faith you need. 'Wherever You Are', this one's for you on the frequency of infinity. 'Goodbye, Billy Bob', it's been a pleasure. From the world. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Calling Your Name', 'Uneasy (Feat Lil' Wayne)', 'Life Lesson (Feat. Lana Del Rey)'.

REVIEW: CIARA - CICI EP

3.5/5

1, 2, Next Step.

Perfect in Cam'ron pink, head-to-toe. A shocking pink, open leather jacket and boots like a panther. Nothing else, but the naked truth and lipstick to match the cap with the brim pulled down low. All for some amazing artwork from the one and only Ciara. This blonde on blonde Barbie is back, and it's officially 'CiCi' season with her nicknamed, self-titled new EP. Her first 'Goodies' since 2019's 'Beauty Marks'. She told you, she'd 'BRB', and like the smooth second track she is. Now, in the same week that she announced her pregnancy with NFL Denver Broncos quarterback, Russell Wilson, Ciara has given birth to her latest extended play. But this one is an independent affair.

'CiCi' is the true evolution of Ciara like her sensational sophomore set. Akin to her self-tilted 2013 album, or the motherhood of 'Jackie' two years after that. This 'Basic Instinct' will take you on a 'Fantasty Ride' of one of the ludicrously great and underrated R&B queens and artists on the throne. One who pushed envelopes with Ludacris and made them move with Missy Elliott and Fatman Scoop. Seven seals for this eight wonder feature Chris Brown and Lil' Baby, on the singles 'How We Roll' and 'Forever' respectively, and Big Freedia on the classic closing 'Winning' that has the sheen of a victory parade. It's when CiCi stands alone, however, that she gives you some amazing album art that you should really make the subject of your next e-mail exchange...if anyone in this TikTok age still uses that thing any more. Word to Luda.

When 'CiCi first came on the scene she broke down barriers. If she danced her first steps in today's day and age, she would have ruled all these new social media platforms from the jump. No matter, Ciara still has the 'hood. Let a great break it down for you when you merely thought this was as good as it gets like Jack Nicholson. Courtside, but in a whole different game, she's 'Low Key' still the one like Shania. Singing with the mischievous tricks of her trade, "PJ taking off, we 'bout to take flight/Cali on a Friday, it's a date night/We might go to Vegas in the same night/Oh, I got on that dress you like to take off (Take it off)/You start to rise before we even take off (We takin' off)/All your hard work is 'bout to pay off/You ready?" Let me see you pop THAT!

Now that's the 'Type Of Party' we can get down with, singing, "This my party, I can go if I want to/This my party, I can drink if I want to/Love who I want to, call who I want to/This my party, I can block who I want to/This my party, I can dance if I want to/This my party, I'll invite who I want to/Post if I want to," turning a classic cliché into a new urban flavour for the hip-hop heads nodding along as they smooth it all down. You'll be '2 In Luv' with is easy going EP like Mr and Mrs. Wilson and their baby brood. 'CiCi' is not Ciara's alter-ego. "It's me" she says, just a little more gritty, and true. Go CiCi, go! Those who know, know. And if you don't, it's like the biggest one said. CiCi is notorious for being another part of Ciara. Now they're synonymous as one. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'BRB', '2 In Luv', 'Forever (Feat. Big Freedia)'.

REVIEW: HOZIER - UNREAL UNEARTH

4/5

Take Me To Earth.

Gritting his teeth through the dirt, with a flower in his mouth, Hozier finally releases his third album that he's been working on for a long time, through love and loss. The 'Take Me To Church' singer gave us the 'Eat Your Young' EP earlier this year, but now he marches towards an 'Unreal Unearth' in a time when the real world as we know it has never been so uncertain. Beginning it with the beautiful 'De Selby' parts one and two, the second serving as the album's latest single, Andrew John Hozier-Byrne confirms that he's not only one of the most popular singers today, but also one of the most amazing artists. Recruiting gifted 'Ex Machina' and 'The Revenant' Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson for a brutal, but beautiful black and white video for 'Selby' that takes you to a Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson 'Lighthouse', let alone church.

'Eat Your Young' finds new extended play life here, but there's plenty more to get your teeth into. Smiling through the dirt for the 'First Time' Hozier sings, "Some part of me must have died/The first time that you called me, "Baby"/And some part of me came alive/The first time that you called me, "Baby"", for the new classic chorus for the popular love song for hopeful and broken hearts alike. Making sense of all of this and the last few years for this 'Un' album it's artist composed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspired by the great Dante's iconic 'Inferno', Hozier brings the brimstone to light. And on the fabulous single 'Francesca', to be Frank he pays tribute to his muse like Springsteen did when 'Frankie Fell In Love'. "For all that was said/Of where we'd end up at the end of it/When the heart would cease, ours never knew peace/What good would it be on the far side of things?" Yearning to be back in love with the one.

The nine circles of hell have never heard eclectic heaven quite like this. On 'I, Carrion (Icarian)', the weightless nature of this beautiful track will take you away like memory's bliss. Duetting with singer of the moment Brandi Carlile, 'Damage Gets Done' in a delightful way. Singing together, "Without shame, two outfits then to my name/You'd end up in one when you'd stay/We had nowhere to go and every desire for going there/I heard once, it's the comforts that make us feel numb/We'd go out with no way to get home/And we'd sleep on somebody's floor and wake up feeling like a millionaire", in perfect unison. You're hearing the album's sixth single I'm sure. We found out 'Who We Are' on this LP with some perfect piano to stir the chords. On 'Son Of Nyx' Hozier haunts like his chain of daisies has turned into the roses you don't want to receive. Instrumentally, it's one of the most powerful and cinematic things he's ever done. And this is a man whose signature hit went from the Subways of New York to every other movie and TV show's soundtrack.

Giving Oscar winning Jon Batiste's Basquiat like artwork of 'World Music Radio' a run for its streams this Friday of new music. Especially with the searing single 'All Things End' that hits you like papers or certificates off its lyric writing pad. But remember, "we begin again". Over and over. Echo this to the ones who need to hear it and monitor your heart. 'To Someone From A Warm Climate', the 'Uiscefhuaraithe)' dedication delves into the heart of matters until ours feel cold no more. "A joy, hard learned in winter was the warming of the bed/You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs/Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within/Let your breath heat the air until you’d feel it getting thin." Wearing your bedclothes like a matrimony robe of a white dress, isn't that just how real love is, waking up like the morning papers, folded with a glass of orange juice for your cup of coffee? 

'Butchered Tongue' speaking in beauty and 'Anything But' the ordinary, for a well worked album honed by Hozier for the record of the year stakes. Clap your hands along. Beat to beat, a soulful folk has never met the mainstream in a sound so seamlessly entwined quite like this. Yet the 'Abstract' sound of 'Psychopomp' tells us, "Sometimes it returns, like rain that you slept through/That washed off the world, the streets looking brand new/I will not be great, but I'm grateful to get through/The feeling came late, I'm still glad I met you/The memory hurts but does me no harm/Your hand in my pocket, to keep us both warm." This is the type of songwriting that reminds us of the greats by the book. Like the 'Unknown/Nth' single, melting across glacial plains. Or the 'First Light' of the final furlong. Poetic and profound to the "One bright morning changes all things/Soft and easy as your breathing, you wake/Your eyes open at first a thousand miles away", to the letter. Turning from pain to joy coming in the morning again.  Imagine when this three album and an extended play man's discography gets even deeper. When it does, this will be remembered as one of the best, even if Hozier has already had his undeniable greatest hit. More earthbound here, this truly is unreal. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'De Selby (Part 2)', 'Francesca', 'Damage Gets Done (Feat. Brandi Carlile)'.

REVIEW: THE HIVES -THE DEATH OF RANDY FITZSIMMONS

4/5

The Sixth Sense.

Buzzing. A hive of activity is back from Sweden for the first time in over 11 years, in the middle of this summer. The last time was 2012's 'Lex Hives' on the 1st of June. Two years after we saw them along with the likes of Robert Francis and Ben Harper and the Relentless7 support Pearl Jam at London's Hard Rock Calling. Singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist telling us in the garage band ready to rock's trademark endearing cocksure swagger that we were welcome to be in their presence. "London, you have missed us." We certainly have once again. And we're sure this time, they don't 'Hate To Say I Told You So'. Alright?! The 'Veni Vidi Vicious' boys alive again standing over the grave of 'The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons' with shovels to exhume some amazing album artwork. 

DANGER! DANGER! HIGH VOLTAGE! In lightning bolt matching suits for the slick booted band for this new release off Disques Hives. It's time to feel Stockholm syndrome again as four formidable (make that five with the B-side) singles bring you back into this half-hour, all power album like the band never left and took a break. This sixth studio album began again with the bold and brilliant 'Bogus Operandi' (not to mention the music video) for your modus. "Aaaaaaaaaaah/S###, damn, overslept/I go to work/(Like I say, like I say, like I say, like I say)/I'm never coming/You never feel adored/(Like I say, like I say, like I say, like I say)." Sing along in their timeless, trademark signature. Now you know why they've been gone for so long (their longest hiatus between albums). If that wasn't a classic track to take you back in by the title, then how about the 'Countdown To Shutdown' for the strong second single to show this band still moves hits like Noah does animals. This rocker keeps it going over another vivid video. Chanting like a 'Black and White', 'Tick, Tick Boom', "It goes 4, 3, 2, 1/Countdown to shutdown/Whoo." 

The energy ever effervescent as the Almqvist sings, "And so it goes around the world/A million boys in love with a dozen girls/Tighten the screw but not for you/'Til they can't figure out what to do". Talking about "My guy Ponzi, he had a scheme/And the world is likе a head of hair/Some are waiting for thеir share/Some are bald, and one's a billionaire." I know which one I am. This is the type of raw and ready rocker to even get the stiffs moving (no disrespect Randy) with this 'Rigor Morris Radio'. Especially when it plays the latest dual single. The escape hatch in this modern age of the 'Trapdoor Solution' ("Say you got problems/I got them too/My contribution") and 'The Bomb' ("What do you wanna do?/Go off/What don’t you wanna do?/Not go off/What don’t you wanna not do?/Go off/What don’t you wanna not don’t wanna do?/Not go off/He a bomb/Me a bomb/We a bomb/She a bomb/We’re blowing up tonight"). In a summer of movie controversy, this one only takes the bloody doors off. Now let's stop it with those 'Barbenheimer' memes. But with this, it's pretty clear that this song's main offender is merely about partying. 

ABBA's own Benny Anderson's studio served as the soundscape for this ballad of Randy Fitzsimmons. For the best act out of Sweden since "you can dance". With all due respect to the Mafia of Swedish House. "Rock'n'roll can't grow up, it is a perpetual teenager and this album feels exactly like that" Pelle told Rolling Stone press regarding the "wild energy" and "suave sound" that we'd expect nothing less from when it comes to this band. And you can hear it through all the 'Smoke and Mirrors' that 'Crash Into The Weekend' for a headlining band who have just supported the Arctic Monkeys. But just who is Randy Fitzsimmons before you think we've spoken ill of the dead with that stiff reference. Well, he's the sole songwriter and the band's imaginary sixth member, seeing dead people like M. Night's movie. He's also the best way to describe the self-dubbed "horror story" that was this band's almost dozen year break. It's a new day now, though. Good morning and get ready to make some omelettes, because here are the eggs. 

Cracking over vinyl from New York to California like the 'Stick Up' that snaps that selfie stick you hold up over its knee like Larry David. Enthusiasm curbed? "A shinding helf on slice of heaven/Where thieves are first to attend/Once you’re down only then you find out/That even your selfie stick has got a s####y end." This is pretty, pretty good. That's just 'The Way The Story Goes' when you have 'Two Kinds Of Trouble' like those tracks back-to-back, moving two-by-two again with an arc of triumph. But before you 'Step Out Of The Way' of a one minute and change parting shot, it's the personal 'What Did I Ever Do To You' that truly hits different, for the best non-single on the album. Some of the best Fitzsimmons writing of this Hive mind's career coming with the brutal break of, "What did I ever do to you/I don’t deserve this, that much is true/And I don’t think there’s much that I can do/Stop screaming, you’re turning blue/Saying you don’t think that we can start anew/Maybe it doesn’t fit but at least it’s a shoe?" And if you don't agree, it's time to kick rocks and get to steppin'. "Streets are full of taxis why don’t you hail one of them?" Because the, I'm sure, self-dubbed (with good reason) best band in the world (ever) are back...and they just killed it. You're still welcome. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Bogus Operandi', 'Countdown To Shutdown', 'What Did I Ever Do To You?' 

REVIEW: NEIL YOUNG - CHROME DREAMS

4/5

Young Dreams.

44, like Obama, continues the album run of great Canadian songbook writer Neil Young, that's reaching into his back catalogue and crates of bootlegs. Originally compiled as an acetate in consideration for a 1977 release (the year he released 'American Stars 'n Bars'), 'Chrome Dreams' is finally awoken almost a half century later in 2023. This comes hot off the heels of last year's double release of  'Toast' with Crazy Horse, popping up, and the live sound of 'Noise and Flowers'. Proving once again that one of the greatest artists of our time keeps churning out classics...even if they are of calendar's past. It's all a part of the same chrome on the car that reverse cowgirl stuck out of the sand 'On The Beach'.

Widely circulated as a bootleg for decades, it's great that these dreams are finally made an official reality. Recorded over two years, the earliest recording came in '74 following a 'Star Of Bethlehem' as a young Young sang, "All your dreams and your lovers won't protect you/They're only passing through you in the end/They'll leave you stripped of all that they can get to/And wait for you to come back again." If you're going through it, you'll really feel that lyric right now, trust me. This guiding, wise light amongst all the darkness was originally meant to close the abandoned 'Homegrown' (like that title track) album that was brought back to life from the root in 2020. The 'Zuma' sessions on the other hand spawned the sweet, slow 'Sedan Delivery' that's always on time with Neil's reason and rhyme. 'Too Far Gone', mind you, already had its 'Freedom' in 1989, but coated in 'Chrome', it now has a Crazy Horse mandolin. 'Hold Back The Tears' for what was once lost, and you'll find new lyrics than the stars 'n bars for a record that has finally come out a sweet sixteen years after its 2007 sequel 'Chrome Dreams II'.

'Rust Never Sleeps'. It stays. Even in chrome, like the powerful 'Pocahontas' precursor track in its original form, no Disney magic. "Aurora Borealis/The icy sky at night/Paddles cut the water/In a long and hurried flight/From the white man to the fields of green/And the homeland we've never seen/They killed us in our tepee/And they cut our women down/They might have left some babies/Cryin' on the ground." To a new audience, in a world of Spotify and social media and disorder, these poetic and profound lyrics would still stay with you if you heard them for the first time back in 1977. Then the seven-minute stirring 'Will To Love' is a call to any heart that resonates to the beat it walks. "Got the will to love, the will to love/I'll never lose it, never lose the will to love/Never lose the will/It's like something from up above/I can be like a fire in the night/Always warm and giving off light/But there comes a time when I shine too bright/Oh, I'm just a fire in the night." If you still have the will, this is the love you deserve. 

'Like A Hurricane', like Dylan, you'll remember this great from one of America's greats like an unplugged or live session. A favourite for years like Springsteen 'Tracks' that didn't see the light of an official release day until we had 'High Hopes' with him. Singing, "You are just a dreamer and I am just a dream/You could have been anyone to me/Before that moment you touched my lips/That perfect feeling when time just slips/Away between us on our foggy trip/You are like a hurricane/There's calm in your eye/And I'm gettin' blown away/To somewhere safer where the feeling stays/I want to love you but/I'm getting blown away, with sweet sentiment and sacrament. 'Captain Kennedy' is another glorious salute to signatures of the past. Whilst 'Powderfinger' warns our mothers about the "white boat coming up the river" and the rails of cocaine abuse that rakes those who take it across the coals of a world so cold it could burn you. Add the powerful cinematic strings of 'Stringman' and this isn't just an abandoned album brought back to the light. It's an absolute classic too as 'Look Out For My Love' attests ("There's a lot to learn/For wastin' time/There's a heart that burns/There's an open mind/Look out for my love/Look out for my love/Look out for my love/Look out for my love/You own it."). From the grille of a '55 Chrysler and artwork credited to Ronnie Wood, this LP made CD and all formats (including Pono, but maybe not Spotify) rolls like a seventies stone. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Pocahontas', 'Will To Love', 'Like A Hurricane'.