REVIEW: LONDON GRAMMAR - THE GREATEST LOVE

4/5

Country Grammar.

The greatest romance that's ever been told...since Prince. The Big Smoke of London Grammar are back. Hannah Reid, Dan Rothman and Dominic "Dot" Major. Nottingham's finest, from the forest to the concrete jungle of London, going forth with the 'Truth Is A Beautiful Thing' pop star's fourth album. And like those who can't tell the difference between "your" and "you're (*my pre-English teacher days self puts his hands up*...or is that, "hand?"), it's hard to believe it has been three years already since the Grammar's last album, for a group who usually release a record every four years. But new standout tracks like 'LA' and 'Santa Fe' call back to the roots of London's 'California Soil' in 2021, like an extended play of Cali' love for their Los Angeles times.

Once they're back in the 'House' with electro pop, headlining your stage, you just know London Grammar are welcomed back to 'The Greatest' Love', all the way to the self-titled curtain. With a new look, Hannah and her company, in perfect harmony, could even give 'Jolene' a run for her money, like Norah Jones 'Miriam' with the single 'Fakest B####'. "Talking about miracles/The fakest b#### in all the world/Fingernails that make me curl, uh-huh/Given half the chance you'd steal my man/Think I'm naive/Girl, you can give it up, uh-huh/I saw your mum across the road/I feel guilt, and it hurts my soul/Maybe if she loved your dad/You'd have the things that you should have had/We'd be friends for real, not popping party pills", Reid berates with the best barbs of the year. Ready to post-up on all those Instagrammable phonies who start disingenuous posts with the "POV" of, "can we just talk about this person."

Can we just talk about this band, "though?" One of the best of the Brits, stinging with the bees of their new buzzing record for your music week and new Friday. The red room focus of this new album of Hollywood highlights for London town is as cinematic as it is photogenic. The heaven sent lyrics of 'You And I' bring us right back to the beauty of dedication with, "Did somebody tell you that/Life was easy?/They were wrong/All the lines are blurred/Your emotions, they get so lost/And I wish I could tell you now/How much my heart breaks like a song/I love you forever/And I hope forever becomes." This is that kind of love that is so bright it might burn you...or anoint you. Whichever path you choose to take. On 'Ordinary Life's it's the same song of heartbreak as us ordinary people sing-a-long to these legends in the making. Their relationships can relate to ours. Taken as gospel for the record. That's why many like a communion head to the altar of their stage at a festival. Even in concert with headlining at the same time as fellow generational greats like SZA and The National.

"Know you like the powder, it makes you louder/It makes you feel so goddamn beautiful/But I saw you fading, becoming jadеd/You can't believe it, lifе's a challenge", is the 'Kind Of Man' you're looking for, as you say "hey" to the "Na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na", like Jude. Those same kind of harmonies continue on the 'Rescue' that Hannah Reid gives us with the bridge of "Oh, they wanna tear you apart/Tear you apart, they wanna tear you apart/I'm your rescue calling/If my number's dialing", to carry us over. But on this top ten of tracks for 'The Greatest Love' and romance to no longer be sold, they go 'Into Gold' with "Rivers run red, river run dry/River run red and whitе/I am the fire and you are watеr/Drown me out, but I learnt/So if you see me, cross the street/But I still see you in people I meet/And I am fire and you are water." And perhaps platinum...even in this day and age. This is the kind of pure pop, full of heart, that life, like the feelings in those echo chambers, promised. London calling it like they see it. Love is the greatest. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'You And I', 'LA', 'Santa Fe'.

Spin This: London Grammar - 'California Soil'.

REVIEW: AIMYON - JEALOUS OF CATS (猫にジェラシ-)

4/5

The Cat Returns 

Hello! Kitty's back! Here, here, Doraemon. K-Pop may be the dominant force in music straight out of Asia, but when it comes to J-Pop, stars don't get much bigger than Aimyon. The Nishinomiya native with big billboards scrambled in Tokyo's Shibuya Station. The Warner Music Japan artist has just released her fifth album, on September the 11th, one month and change after the world's International Cat Day (not to mention six months before her 30th birthday). But beware, Hachiko. Aimyon's first album since 2022's 'Falling Into Your Eyes Record' is 'Jealous Of Cats', like the ones that bust the boxes of her mosaic, iconic album artwork front cover. Jiji from Studio Ghibli's 'Kiki's Delivery Service'. The Cat Bus off of 'My Neighbor Totoro'. They're all getting the claws.

Neko-mancing all the way to the titular closer, Aimyon gives us another classic with 'Jealous Of Cats (猫にジェラシ-)'. About to have the envy of the entire industry as she becomes one of the greatest recording artists in the land of the rising sun. Lucky for us, these thirteen tracks come early for us on this midweek special before Friday the 13th. From the big burst of an opening '私に見せてよ (Show Me All You Got)', to the singles 'ラッキーカラ (Lucky Color)', 'ざらめ (Zarame)' and '会いに行くのに (Wish I could see you, but)' in the rain, the cat in the hat is back with this cream. All for the year of her career, as the Ghibli 'Castle In The Sky' fan provided a key voice for the Academy Award-winning 'The Boy and The Heron'. She told you she was going to see you like 'A Brain Surgeon's Diary'.

"そういえば僕は君のこう/いうところが大好きで/たまらないんだけれど知っていた？/「そんなの今話すことじゃない」って怒ると思ったよ/そんなとこも ぜんぶ 好きだなあ," or "Let's make plans for the weekend, let's go to the place you said you/wanted to go a little bit?/I look down and puff out my cheeks all the time", the tea house popular star sings on '駅前喫茶ポプラ (Coffee Shop Poplar)', a standout special like 'あのね (Anone)' and 'リズム64. But on 'ノット・オーケー (NOT OK)' she declares, "can imagine being/alone, and/the bathtub on the second day is also/crystal clear" ("想像ができる/ひとりで居ること/２日目の湯船も/透き通っているんだろう), like the lipstick sinkhole, single artwork. Circling the drain.

Under construction with Shibuya in the Japan TV 'News Zero' theme song of 'On This Day We Say Goodbye', Aimyon's music has a compelling sense of hope, even in the depths of despair. Whether it's, '朝が嫌い (I Don’t Like Mornings)', or a '炎曜日 (Firely Tueday)'. Never a '偽者 (Fake Me)' like the whistles of, " I want to pretend I don't know and go to sleep/I'm swaying up and down the night/Also, the contacts that are left on will hurt," ("知らないふりして眠りたい/上下に揺れてた夜を/イタタ また付けっぱなしの/コンタクトが痛むのです", in her mother tongue). Penultimately the '愛の花 (ai no hana)' of last year in red hair and flowers in bloom on the billboard, Tokyo way to the Toyku Line reminisces on its debut last year like last summer that didn't seem all that long ago. Showing just how much and hard, with a "ganbatte", that Aimyon has been working since locking it down during COVID. Ever since she heard there was good pasta. "空が晴れたら/愛を 愛を伝えて/涙は明日の為/新しい花の種 ("When the sky is clear, love is conveyed/And tears are for tomorrow/The seed of a new flower"). This 'Caturday' and stroke of artistic genius is purring with a stray talent that everyone wants to be connected with. "Like coins to a cat." TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: '私に見せてよ (Show Me All You Got)','駅前喫茶ポプラ (Coffee Shop Poplar)', 'あのね (Anone)'.

Spin This: Aimyon - 'おいしいパスタがあると聞いて (Heard That There's Good Pasta)' (2020).

SONG FOR THE MOMENT: LADY GAGA & BRUNO MARS - DIE WITH A SMILE

4/5

Die Another Day.

Japan. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars have a lot in common with this land of the rising sun that this writer currently resides in. Coming out of COVID, both pop music superstars took Tokyo by storm with their sold out live shows that welcomed everyone back to the live concert circuit. And two of the world's most famous, and greatest live performers really put on a show. Gaga finally giving us her 'Chromatica Ball' out of the shallows of a reborn star. Mars, on the other hand, attacking the Tokyo Dome like a Giant at bat, selling it out more times than a championship game heading for home. So much so, the newly adopted "Kawaii King" had to do it twice, coming back last year.

Don Quixote, Japan's famous sell anything store, also has the two megastars in its floor by floor rapture. Gaga racked up the registers in Shibuya's MEGA Donki store after two hours of shopping. Whilst, Bruno has even made a music video in said store for a Donkey promotional campaign, rocking the house beat. But it's Lady Gaga's latest collaboration which we are really wanting to shop for...and we aren't talking about what's to come with Joaquin Phoenix as she plays Harley Quinn in the new sequel musical 'Joker: Folie à deux' next month (although we can hardly wait for that too). In-between all of this, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars give us a definitive debut worthy of the greats like Marvin and Tammi. 'Die With A Smile' really puts one on our face for life, even if we're not sure if this soft rock throwback classic will find an album home. 'LG7' has just been announced via Vogue for a February release. Whereas soon it will be unbelievably a decade since Bruno boasted '24K Magic'. Although he did give us 'An Evening With Silk Sonic' and Anderson .Paak back in 2021. Collaboration anyone?

"Wherever you go, that's where I'll follow/Nobody's promised tomorrow/So I'ma love you every night like it's the last night/Like it's the last night", Bruno sings in a cowboy hat 'Joanne' would be proud of, as her daughter counters "Ooh, lost, lost in the words that we scream/I don't even wanna do this anymore/'Cause you already know what you mean to me/And our love's the only war worth fighting for" in matching crushed blue suit with red accents. Filmed like a fifties TV special that even The King would be proud of, this one and the Queen are set to light up the Sin City strip the next time Mars knocks this out of the park at his Vegas residency...all the way to the Hoover Dam. Damn! It feels so good when two amazing artists get down like this. Singing together, "If the world was ending/I'd wanna be next to you/If the party was over/And our time on Earth was through/I'd wanna hold you just for a while/And die with a smile," for all the lovers who feel this to the letter.

Retro fitted in unison and perfect harmony, this is the kind of song we need right now in this world where people would rather swipe than turn the page on revealing how they really feel. Number one in Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore. Top ten in Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Middle East and North Africa, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. From a 2016 Victoria's Secret fashion show, to being invited to the studio for a session, this work in progress has come to pure and beautiful bloom fruition. Outside of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, these are the two biggest pop stars on the planet. Rocking each other's t-shirts whilst going chord for chord through this progression. This western, country leaning standout, standalone single is as soulful and seventies as they come. Making melodies over the kind of love you'd die for. The one that always leaves you with a smile, like the first time you ever saw their face. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

REVIEW: LL COOL J - THE FORCE

4/5

Force Of Nature.

'Frequencies Of Real Creative Energy'. LL Cool J is a force. No! F### that! He is 'THE Force'. Like Deadpool said that Wolverine was THE X-Man. Fourteen studio albums deep from the man who helped build the Def Jam towers. It's legendary, like Hugh Jackman playing Marvel's scratchy superhero nine times. And now, like finally getting to see Logan in that iconic yellow suit, we get James Todd Smith taking it back to the old-school he ruled like he was the Professor of the Academy of gifted rhymers.

A force of Naughty By Nature, Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Eric B and Rakim, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Making movies like Will Smith after rapping in the days of the Bad Boys. Now, mama said knock you out again, and you know we ain't calling it a comeback. Ladies still love Cool James, but it's the def jams that mean the most from one of New York's finest from the birthplace of hip-hop. Going long, like a Yankee or the island he came from, borough to borough. His re 'DEFinition' with Timbaland was hot, but this force majeure, which James Todd calls "the blackest s### he ever wrote" might be his best hit since them '14 Shots To The Dome'. And like Nas, it ain't hard to tell that's the 'Bad' ish he's on with the classic cover that looks like a graffiti throwback, all the way down to the Kangol and gold chain of a man who needed love.

Pop the cassette in the tape deck of 'The FORCE', and this is the one that radio needs. It's crazy to think it's been eleven years since LL was 'Authentic', and even more since some fans think he has been. Even though you can't deny the 90s big-three of 'Mr. Smith', 'Phenomenon' (do-do-da-do-do) and 'G.O.A.T' (certified). Or the new millennium, one of the anniversary of '10', the self affirming 'Todd Smith', or the 'Exit 13' detour. Yet walking with a panther once again, we get to see why the most slept on legend in the game, who is still pushing rhymes like his weights is bigger and deffer. Bringing the boom box, street shaking joints of pure 'Passion' for this live 'Saturday Night Special' (featuring Fat Joe and Rick Ross). The punctuated 'Proclivities' (featuring Saweetie and a 'Flava In Your Ear' sample) of these string singles and throwbacks like 'Murdergram Deux' (with an epic Hall of Fame inducting Eminem) makes this amazing album a classic for the source of all you mics. Not just one of the best rap, or actual albums of the year, but one of the best LP's of LL's classic career.

Farming from this boulevard, on this quest, fellow timeless legend Q-Tip is all over this album like a marauder. Producing the entirety of this album like Sufjan Stevens did John Legend's 'Favorite Dream' of a children's album last week. And after the last New Music Friday of Legend, Big Sean and Tyrese's 'Beautiful Pain', nothing is bigger than this. Recorded over four years and with four singles, this creative energy frequency features Snoop Dogg on the 'Spirit Of Cyrus', Busta Rhymes with 'Huey In The Chair', Nas on 'Praise Him', and Don Pablito, J-S.A.N.D. and Mad Squablz on the closing 'Vow'. Not to mention Sona Jobarteh on the standout 'Black Code Suite'. This is spiritually (and almost), 'The GOAT 2' from a man who resigned with Def Jam, like DMX before the late, great's tragic departure. And without them, too, the label on your LP wouldn't be so iconic. "Learning how to rap again" after almost making collaborative albums with 50 Cent (let's hope that sees the light of day like Lenny Kravitz's work with Prince), this is real.

Don't call it a retirement, like he almost did for his 'NCIS: Los Angeles' TV work. This is no lip sync battle for the real rhymer, who was spitting truth on his socials during the lockdown and Black Lives Matter movement of 2002. And now with 'Basquiat Energy' like Jay-Z, from the titular track to when he 'Runnit Back', Cool is on it again. 'Post Modern' impressionism with Tip ad-libs. "I came up off the street/Took some pissy steps up to the belly of the beast/Which way I go?/Kinda confusin', the machines are not workin’/There ain't no tokens or nothin', this s### done changed all a sudden/It’s like I died and came back", James T. Smith rips on '30 Decembers' like he will for the rest of his years and the infamy of his career. But on 'The FORCE' itself, THE force reminds us how far he's come. "Smooth as Luther Vandross down at St. Andrews/Shower on the yacht while we boppin' to Pop Smoke/Somebody tell immigration them cases is wardrobe/Succulent juices, we sip Pétruses in Bordeaux/Never losin' my memories of Farmers and Old Gold." After all these years, 40 to be exact, LL Cool J is still hard as hell. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Spirit Of Cyrus (Feat. Snoop Dogg)', 'Black Code Suite (Feat. Sona Jobarteh)', 'Murdergram Deux (Feat. Eminem)'.

Spin This: LL Cool J - 'The DEFinition'.

REVIEW: JOHN LEGEND - MY FAVORITE DREAM

4/5

Dream On

How legendary is this? A pair of years after John released his surname self-titled album 'Legend', he's back with 'My Favorite Dream'...or should we say his? All in a big New Music Friday for rap and R&B that sees Detroit's Big Sean release his 'Better Me Than You' new outlook on life, and actor/singer Tyrese give us his 'Beautiful Pain' in the same week as his '1992' movie about the L.A. riots. But where's the love for 'Ordinary People' and Legend's like John, NPR? One who gave his own 'Preach' call to arms a year before the Black Lives Matter moment really took hold in 2020.

Reaching for a 'Bigger Love', Legend released a breath of fresh air of an album right before COVID. I remember listening to it on a break in work a week before we got locked down like the 'Blinding Lights' of The Weeknd. Ir remains one of the overlooked (obviously because of the time) and lost classics of 2020, like Lianne La Havas' self-titled, big third album or Haim's absolute California classic, 'Women In Music Pt. III'. This morning it dawned on me, how the pillow talk, tear-inducing lyrics of 'Conversation's In The Dark' even, in my opinion, bests everybody's wedding song of 'All Of Me', as the ultimate ode to love. So, searching my Spotify to listen to it on the train to work, I saw the face of John Stephens as a child and realized he had a new album out. I checked the date, was I late for a review? Wait...it came out last week? What was I doing?!

Legend might just be the king of the concept, every time he steps from behind his legendary, 'Everything Is Everything' piano, like when Andre 3000 gave him the 'Green Light' for an epic 'Evolver'. More styles than Three Stacks with the flutes that ladies love like Cool James does not, the 'Get Lifted' man of G.O.O.D. music has released old-school soul with The Roots ('Wake Up!) and 'A Legendary Christmas'. The best Yuletide album in recent Xmas memory, this side of a jolly Norah Jones, ensuring both of their trees will be stacked for festive seasons of presents to come. But now his new album is truly a dream, and a favourite (sorry...I'm British) for families. Perfectly produced by the 'Mystery Of Love' that is the great Sufjan Stevens (featured on the 'L-O-V-E' single with the family dynamics of Chrissy, Luna and Miles), this lovely album is one of lullabies like an 'Upside Down', Jack Johnson soundtrack for 'Curious George'.

The story of this children's music for John Legend's top and tenth album is a simple one. If learning the Fisher-Price song 'Maybe' on the piano is easy. I don't know...I can't even play 'Chopsticks'. But let's face it, the next time Legend reunited with The Roots, Jimmy Fallon will have fun with them both on his school instruments section. The family man, John just wanted to make a record for his kids. Like when Ben Harper wrote a lullaby for the late, great 'The Dark Knight' Joker Heath Ledger's daughter, after the 'A Knight's Tale' star directed the vivid ballerina video for the violin beauty of Harper's 'Morning Yearning' off 'Both Sides Of The Gun'. This Republic record took shape after spouse Chrissy Teigen posted a video of a dear John singing 'Maybe' to his children. The viral response was a hit, issuing Legend with a challenge to extend is by reaching for the stars of Seuss like children's music.

Something to keep his kids 'Safe', with sweet, childlike drawings on the album artwork. All the way to the lullaby to 'Go To Sleep', all the way to the morning that will 'Always Come Back'. Not to mention the beautiful bonuses of 'Great, Great Day', 'Friendship' and 'Maybe' itself. Legend lovingly reworks classics like the 'Legend' of Bob Marley himself and his 'Three Little Birds', famous like 'I Am Legend'. He even gives us the best version of the radiant 'You Are My Sunshine' since the Fresh Prince and all those Bel-Air prep sunflowers. Yet, from 'We Are Family' (and its piano solo version), to the soaring dreamworld of 'When We Fly', it's the nine original songs that are a wonder from Legend. Sounding just like classic standards, you feel like you've heard before, like his original and outstanding Christmas compositions. Now that's legendary.

This is 'For You' and your family too. 'When I Feel Sad' like, "When I feel sad/I think of all that makes me glad/I think of all the good times that we've had/And I don't feel so bad/When I feel blue/I think of what I love like you/I think of how it's cool you love me too/And I don't feel so sad/I don't feel so bad." Showing you it's OK to feel that way too. But just wait until he dives 'Deep In The Ocean Blue' like an early days Maroon 5 bootleg. "Deep in the ocean blue/We may find mermaids, turtles too/We'll wave to the octopus/And give that dolphin's nose a kiss/Yeah/Deep in the ocean grand/We'll meet King Crab, who rules the sand/Oh I see a jellyfish/And there's a star, let's make a wish." You don't need a 'Yellow Submarine' to find lines and lives like this. Maybe next up will be a children's book like Springsteen's 'Outlaw Pete'. Stephens and Stevens have given us maybe one of our favorite records of the year. An absolute dream. Now, it's time to sleep. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'We're A Family', 'L-O-V-E (with Sufjan Stevens featuring Chrissy, Luna and Miles)', 'Three Little Birds'.

Spin This: Jack Johnson - 'Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George'