DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: ROAD DIARY - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND

4/5

Glory Road Trip

100 Mins. Starring: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. Director: Thom Zimny. On: Disney +.

Even the planet's pandemic couldn't stop 'The Boss' Bruce Springsteen from getting back on the road like his beat version of Keourac's American dream. Yet on his new tour documentary, 'Road Diary', with his legendary E Street Band, he takes stock at this moment, with all that's come before and all that's left. Giving fond fans his most intimate 'Letter To You' yet. Streaming on Disney +, this Hulu and Star original directed by Thom Zimny (the wonderful 'Western Stars' movie), is the closest you'll get to the boss of all bosses this side of 'Springsteen On Broadway'. It really is the year of the Jersey boys on the documentary stage, Jon. As this diary follows the marvellous miniseries of 'Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story'.

Jon Bon saved someone's life recently. Just like, Bruce has been giving hope to those who work hard in boot leather and worn denim for their own slice of the American dream. Something that's needed now, more than ever, as we are all 'Working On A Dream' towards a new election day we hope doesn't hit us like a 'Wrecking Ball'. An inspired, in-depth look at the most influential band on the concert circuit, no Springsteen catalogue is complete without this backstreets, backstage, behind the scene's footage of rehearsals, rare archival clips and reflections from the man himself. All before this band on the run takes to the road for their legendary live shows. Signature in the fact that they last as long as 'The Godfather' trilogy with the don doing everything from silencing the crowd (check out the friendly fan at the front), to collecting all their banner song-title favours ('Devils Arcade', 'Trouble In Paradise') and performing it all, off the cuff and with tremendous power that blows the house down.

Proving it all night, Springsteen is embarking on another world tour. Despite illness forcing the 75-year-old, who still puts on mammoth three-hour plus sets, to postpone some of his shows last year. Even the great Taylor Swift can't deliver epic eras like this. 'Born To Run'. 'The River'. 'The Rising'. We still need his 'Magic'. The 'High Hopes' he gives us with his E Street Shuffle. 'Only The Strong Survive' and this documentary is a dedication to his dearly departed friends and bandmates Danny Federici and Clarence 'Big Man' Clemons (like his classic cover of The Commodores' 'Nightshift'), honoured by the young man that is his nephew, Jake Clemons. Not to forget Bruce's beautiful mother, the late, Adele Zerilli Springsteen, as this film concludes, post-credits, with their last dance and waltz on the porch. Bruce Springsteen has been through it all, over the decades, born in the USA. War, 9-11, the recession, his own great depression. Love, loss. The American dream and nightmare. And now, heart and soul, he stares down his own mortality.

Life's impermanence is a fate none of us can escape. It seems cruel, but there can be beauty in it too as you look back on the life you have lived and loved. All the work you've done and all the shifts that are still to come in this long and winding road. Because this concert movie of sorts is more than a BTS look at the man that is to rock music what Korea is to pop. Sure, you'll love to see the mighty Max Weinberg and legendary Stevie Van Zandt give their terrific testimonials to the touring times. Just like you will the beauty of the love between Bruce and the real boss, Patti Scialfa that still burns like 'Fire', because remember, "brunettes are fine, and blondes are fun, but..." Getting the job done, The Boss takes us from the boardwalk to Barcelona and all the bold and beautiful moments in-between. Making every stop on the way, as there's still life on the road yet, and pages in the diary to write to the letter. Ending on a powerful quote by Jim Morrison, open the doors on this definitive and delightful documentary, breaking on through to the other side, and your fire will really be lit once more. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Touring: 'Springsteen On Broadway', 'Bruce Springsteen: Western Stars', 'Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story'.

REVIEW: HALSEY - THE GREAT IMPERSONATOR

4/5

The Pretenders 

Taylor Swift. Beyoncé. Maggie Rogers. St. Vincent. Billie Eilish. Maya Hawke. Nelly Furtado. Katy Perry. Lady Gaga. For all the pop artists that have released highly-anticipated albums this year, you just knew you were going to hear from them. Here is Halsey's new album, and her first studio since 2021's influential, 'If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power'. The first release since the last live take of the classic 'Hopeless Fountain Kingdom' at Webster Hall. Here you'll hear one of the 'Maniac's' best since the Bruce 'Badlands'. Their fifth album and first with the classic Colombia records. Recorded at the Electric Lady Studios and shot to the stratosphere with super singles like 'Lucky', the incredible 'Lonely Is The Muse', the 'Ego' shedding, and the new breakup ballad 'I Never Loved You' for the "by myself" flowers generation. The star stamped on this Tears For Fears 'Songs For A Nervous Planet (also released this weekend) Warhol like album artwork almost looks like Ziggy Stardust...with good reason.

David Bowie. Bruce Springsteen. Joni Michell. Dolly Parton. Cher. Stevie Nicks. Linda Ronstadt. Kate Bush. PJ Harvey. Björk. Fiona Apple. Tori Amos. Britney Spears. Aaliyah. Amy Lee of Evanescence. And the late Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries, whose legend lingers on. Not to mention, the great Marylin Monroe, for the outstanding Hollywoodland opening of the 'Only Girl Living in LA'. Or even herself, for the inspired cover of her own 'Badlands' 'Hurt Feelings'. Halsey inspires impersonations, appearing as them all, as they hold all the cards in this great American concept songbook album. Resulting in some of the amazing artist's own best work yet. Especially when it comes to the epic 'Letter(s) To God', spanning the decades from 1974 to 1998 (and '83 in-between), if you know, you know. This is the greatest show, man, for one of the best releases of the year for the record. From New Music Friday to those from times gone by.

'Hometown'. 'Dog Years'. 'Darwinism'. It's all here, "in the space between life and death" for Halsey's best and boldest yet. "Does the story die with its narrator" on the titular 'The Great Impersonator'? Not this one. "Uh-AH!" Pure pop at it's most subtle and beautiful. It doesn't get much finer than this down the line. Personal and profound. What was once meant to be her last album, turns out to be, not only her best, but a celebration of all those who came before her. From the scavenger hunt for the album art of different decades. All the way to the bonus wonderland of 'Alice Of The Upper Class'. On 'Panic Attack' the New Jersey songstress stresses, "My body carries sadness that my brain cannot yet see/And I've been holding on to memories in my stomach and my teeth/And both my shoulders have been burdened by the weight of my mistakes/And every time you lean in closer, both my knees can't help but shake". Going even deeper through the darkness to find the light and that of a new day.

'The End' justifies the Joni Mitchell means. Whilst, 'I Believe In Magic' and its great deal also believes in the country strength of Linda Ronstadt. Just like the 'Hometown' of Nashville's very own Dolly Parton. Across America in concert, we would love to see some of these artist appear on stage in duet, alongside Halsey. If you dream it, you can see it. A letter to God, or the Boss Springsteen (1983 to infinity). It's a draft you could weave into reality like the 'Life Of A Spider' song in her back pocket. But for all these love letters and dedication to greats, whether turning back time with Cher in '74, or bringing the dearly departed Li-Li back to 1998, it's the Fiona Apple amazing 'Arsonist' that burns this all down. "You built a small container to keep all of me confined/I am water, I am shapeless, I am fluid, I am divine/Somebody will love me for the way that I'm designed/Devastation, creation, intertwined." Canadian poet Rupi Kaur would be proud. They say, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Impersonation here, on the other hand, is the most influential and inspired. By greatness. TIM DAVID HARVEY

Playlist Picks: 'Only Girl Living In LA', 'Letter To God (1974)', 'Lonely Is The Muse'.

REVIEW: TEARS FOR FEARS - SONGS FOR A NERVOUS PLANET

4/5

No Fear

"Shout/Shout/Let it all out/These are the things I can do without/Come on/I'm talking to you/Come on", Bradley Cooper's 'Maestro' of classic composer Leonard Bernstein dances along to the Tears For Fears iconic track in the club, for the 'A Star Is Born' director, actor, writer and hitmaker's Netflix Oscar nominated movie. Just another legendary moment for the great British pop act in theatres. Countless cinematic, absolute scenes like when 'Donnie Darko' showed you it really was a 'Mad World' as we followed the W.T.F. rabbit like Jake Gyllenhaal. It's 'No Small Thing'. 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World', that's been sampled more times than Toto's 'Africa'. 'Woman In Chains' (for all you misheard song lyric heads, listen up for the band's soup order around the three-minute mark) and 'Change'. They're all here, live from Franklin, Tennessee, for Tears For Fears' new album. One that's part live album, as four brand-new studio tracks are joined by a concert set-list. 

Shout. Shout. Let it out. Come on. I'm talking to you. Come on. These are the 'Songs For A Nervous Planet'. And ones that show us it's still a mad world that everybody wants to rule. Just like, this band still sound as good as they always did. Don't doubt it. Like Hall & Oates. You just can't deny these harmonies, like a Pet Shop, boy! Why hate, when you can celebrate this oasis of reunions. If only they had more songs to go with this four-track and all the greatest hits that have ruled the world. An 'Astronaut' stands in the middle of a field of sunflowers that Van Gogh would be proud of for a classic cover that will be legendary to the Tears of their iconography. Presenting our greatest fears, a graduated Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal are on a tear as they 'Say Goodbye To Mum And Dad'. The opening and most outstanding track as they sing, "Say goodbye to mom and dad/Say hello to all the ghosts of Leningrad/Everything is up for grabs/Go tell all your friends society's gone mad/God is wise and Jesus loves us all/There's no life in silent fear/When tomorrow comes, brave and wild frontier/Get out this place, inside, outside, nowhere to hide/When tomorrow comes, we'll face the great divide", together.

In this mother's talk, it really is a mad society, let alone world. But with their sweet new single, they still show love in times that are critical. All for 'The Girl That I Call Home', by the beach like, "You get to walk among the flowers/I'm a man who tries to hide away his scars/Beyond the sea of stars/You seem to find a higher power/And when part of me is darker than the night/You fill the void with light." Holding your hand in an Instagrammable moment for this day and age, that you just wish you could capture in the forever frame of a real portrait. It's just like 'Emily Said', "the light outside is heavenly/She takes another picture then she cries/Ain't this the sweetest life/No pain or human sacrifice/Just you and me and strawberry skies." Like fields forever. If only. Because like The Beatles, that's all we need in this time to be alive. For a world rocked with anxiety, these are the tunes we always needed like their best of, alive and hear to quell the fear. Save your tears. Life is still as good as it always was. Just like these world rulers sound as great as they always will. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Say Goodbye To Mum And Dad', 'The Girl That I Call Home', 'Astronaut'. 

Spin This: Tears For Fears - 'Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits '82-'92)

REVIEW: BEN FOLDS - SLEIGHER

4/5

Five Have A Wonderful Christmas. 

Never folding, it's barely been a year since Ben Folds showed us 'What Matters Most' with the Ben Folds Five singer's solo album, but it's already that time of year again. Now this rock star gives us 'Sleigher' like it was all heavy metal. Playful and melancholy. Loving and longing. All for the best Christmas album since Norah Jones' dreamed of Christmas, and some outstanding originals to go next to the great American Christmas songbook album standards. "Christmas is constant", Ben Folds tells us, and over the last few like WHAM, everyone has been getting in on the act. From 'A Legendary Christmas' from John Legend, who has just released a children's album with Sufjan Stevens, to Bill Murray getting lost in translation with Sofia Coppola again, in another high-end hotel for 'A Very Murray Christmas'. No Scrooged humbug.

And now, 'Sleepwalking Through Christmas', and a new classic, following the instrumental number of 'Little Drummer Bolero', an animated Ben Folds is walking his dog through a cartoon Christmas night that greets you like a card on the album cover, carrying a bag of poop...because this is as real as it gets. Even if he creatively, not shamelessly, enlists the help of A.I. to write a funky 'Xmas Aye Eye' number before the Yuletide 'You Don't Have To Be A Santa Claus', with sleigh bells and cicadas ringing in the dead of night background. There are no better lyrics than the ones rolling with 'Me and Maurice', mind you, as Ben tends to lyrics like, "Christmas Eve/A silver blanket spreads into the night/Distant sounds of bells and laughter/Plastic joy and light/Past floor plan variations/More or less the same/I walk Maurice/And a full green bag of shame/Giant inflatable Santa Clauses/Smile and wave/As we head back through the snow/Through the dark and down the lane." There's that poop we were telling you about. No shame. This is the s###!

Lindsey Kraft helps make 'We Could Have This'. Whilst 'The Christmas Song' covers a great single, with a sweet lyric video for the animated Folds. 'Waiting For Snow' in this holiday mix of new songs and reimagined classics, the Christmas spirit will come to you, right now. Even with the pumpkins still on your porch and in your lattes. Smashing, singing along to the 'Christmas Time Rhyme' like, "Christmas morning, in the back of the old family Ford/With my feet dangling, wondering when they might grow to the floor/Pumpkin pie wrapped in foil/And gifts wrapped in newspaper, ringing the bell of my grandmother's door." It's one and the same. Like the nostalgia of family, this warm and fond season, that has no eve. And for all of those not feeling it this year, like 'The Bell That Couldn't Jingle', we understand. But just listen to "and Santa said, Jack Frost will bring my Christmas gift to you/And on Christmas Eve you'll jingle, just like you were brand new." You will too. This Tiny Tim doesn't need to tell you what day it is. Ben does. Through the lens of Christmas, all we have lost over these years...and all we still hold close. Wrapped a little tighter. To you and yours. We wish you a merry one, and a new year of happiness. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Sleepwalking Through Christmas', 'The Christmas Song', 'Xmas Aye Eye'.

Spin This: Norah Jones - 'I Dream Of Christmas'

SONG FOR THE MOMENT: MAGGIE ROGERS - IN THE LIVING ROOM

4/5

Maggie's Room 

Ever since Maggie Rogers followed the salad day 'Dog Years' of skimming 'Split Stones' with her breakthrough album debut, 'Heard It In A Past Life', she's furthered herself as one of the best artists of this generation and the next one to come. Her soaring sophomore 'Surrender' refused to do just that as she cut and bleached her hair and partied hard. Another two years later, she went back to her roots for another new album, and one of the best this year. Which even offered her the opportunity to troll the New York Knicks in the Mecca of the World's Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden.

Now, she's followed 'Don't Forget Me' with another new single from the back pocket of her own great American songbook to follow. As if we ever could forget one of the best and brightest. Remember when she followed her 'Past Life' record-selling glory with the gold single 'Love You For A Long Time'? Well, 'In The Living Room' we get the same thing for one of the singer/songwriter's best record yet. Cinematically cued over a gorgeous video between lovers, that both look great, in the fashioned living room of their own shared apartment. This is classic Maggie Rogers, giving her and us her own signature sound like a Springsteen, or her own revised version of the American dream. In a place, so remote in the company of the one you love, and don't want to lose, that it could even be a lonely roadside motel.

Eyes are the soul, and they can stir the emotions and nuanced notions of thousands of words that even the greatest love songs couldn't write. You can see it in hers, in this video's opening. Lying in bed with her muse. Spooned and connected, but also a thousand miles away in stares and the unspoken things our hearts sing as Maggie traces the veins on her partner's arms like the lines she wishes she could express. "You trace your steps back to the start/See the clock there slowing/The hindsight's been the hardest part/Hurts to see you glowing/'Cause I remember late September/Your silhouette on blue wallpaper/In the hallway/You drew the line and pulled me under/But do you ever stop to wonder/About me?" she emotes. All before the chorus of heartbreaking seasonal change dances in the living room like the dark. The music video, in this post MTV, TikTok generation, is undeniably sexy. Making a star out of its muse, like South Korean singer KATIE's 'Unbreak'. Hoping the heart that matters does the same. In the living room we find comfort like the one who feels like home. And this song that reminds us, that even through the hard times, when it comes to loving memory, we're never really alone. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Sing-A-Long: Maggie Rogers: 'Say It', 'Horses', 'Love You For A Long Time'

REVIEW: BON IVER - SABLE EP

4/5

Four Years, Forever Ago.

'...'. Sometimes, we don't talk about music the way we do movies. Right now, Winter is coming, and we're falling into the Oscar season of movies of high-art, looking for their own golden statue and shot of immortality. The Academy Awards of music, The Grammys, are gaining the same reverence these days. But yet we don't talk about the fall schedule of your stereo and smartphone's playlist as being Grammy ready. 'AWARDS SEASON' off Bon Iver's new 'SABLE' release might just change all that. "Oh, how everything can change/In such a small time frame/You can be remade/You can live again/What was pain now's gain/A new path gets laid/And you know what is great/Nothing stays the same", Wisconsin's own, Justin Vernon sings. Giving rhyme to the reason, that this a prestige piece ready for the season of awards. Their best EP since they were 'Lost In The Woods' (which led to the Kanye sample and collaborations) with a 'Blood Bank', gives even more evidence that the Grammy's should have a category for best extended plays too.

'For Emma, Forever Ago' changed the mainstream game. The self-titled follow-up hit indie-rock act Bon Iver into the stratosphere. '22 A Million' went even further. But it's been a long time since the 'Skinny Love' of 2019's influential 'I, I', one of the last great albums before COVID. A lot can happen in four, long years. A planet's pandemic. Loneliness. Disappointment. One of the best acts in the world were about to embark on a tour of it, and then we all know what happened, as everything shut down. We needed the praise of their 'Heavenly Father' solo singer, like the isolated but inspired Paris La Blogothèque live session takes. You can hear it on the EP's single 'S P E Y S I D E' between the breaks. "I can't rest on no dynasty/Yeah, what is wrong with me?/Man, I'm so sorry I got the best of me/I really damn been on such a violent spree/But maybe you can still make a man from me." Justin just sings, with no justification. Just brutal honesty in a raw reflection as unkempt as the long, but thinning (here, here) hair in Johnny Cash black and white for another classic American recording. Looking like Rick Rubin, or his own most prolific producer of music.

Instrumental, from the stirring opening to the black/pink square artwork, this is as straight forward and as beautiful as songwriting comes. After all, it's all about the heart of matters and the 'THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS' of love and life itself. "I can't go through the motions/I can't go through the motions/How'm I supposed to do this now?/Say we went out strolling/Say we went out strolling/Say I went and told them how/I am afraid of changing/And when it comes a time to check and rearrange s###/There are things behind things behind things/And there are rings within rings within rings." Poetic with the prose, this may be the victory lap for one of the best records of the year. Even though winning it for an EP in the championship that is the Grammys may be like winning the NBA's In-Season Tournament. Many expected 'SABLE' to be Bon Iver's fifth LP, but maybe this is just the perfect precursor to an album to come, like fellow unearthed indie God Hozier, who gave us even more from the ground up. Either way, this "near-blackness", from the northern exposure of an April Base in Fall Creek, will keep us warm this good winter. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS'. 'S P E Y S I D E', 'AWARDS SEASON'.

Spin This: Bon Iver 'Blood Bank' EP

REVIEW: LEON BRIDGES - LEON

4/5

The Professional

Bridging the gap between modern music and the instant vintage (we see you, Ray, Ray) of old soul, 'Leon' Bridges is back with his first namesake, fourth formidable album. 'Leon' follows the tracks of the Grammy winning 'Coming Home' and 'River' singer's 'Motorbike' led last album 'Gold-Diggers Sound'. Seemingly yesterday, but one that came out in 2021, like volume one of Coldplay's 'Music Of The Spheres' catalogue. Coincidentally, those Glastonbury headliners also came out with new music this Friday, in the form of their spherical second volume, 'Moon Music'. Now, led by the sensational singles 'That's What I Love' and 'Peaceful Place', Leon gives us another classic and his best album since 2018's 'Good Thing' and its Grammy family single. I guess the bet WAS worth the hand.

Atlanta's own, singing about peaches and cream like 112, made his name and worth in the forts of Texas. You can hear it in the sun and moon of extended plays he's made with supergroup Khruangbin (technically, his last release was the 'Texas Moon' collaborative EP project in early '22). His sound just gets so much 'Sweeter', like his subtle, but beautiful protest anthem with Terrace Martin, what the world STILL needs now. Even though in a compelling closing, Leon tells us, 'God Loves Everyone'. It's a crazy time. The mere mention of One Twelve makes us think of P. Diddy and all that he has done. Another former hero, that turned out to be worse than a zero. Just like R. Kelly, who was crafting a classic like 'When A Man Lies' until we found out he really did (added Karl-Anthony Towns voice for emphasis). Well, on 'When A Man Cries', Bridges begins with a beauty that you can track in tears of a clown, like Smokey Miracles, not actual ones. "Turn my pain into power/My fear to desire, oh/Woah/Fall apart when I try to be strong/Gotta learn how to cry, oh-oh." Amen.

Like the loving, hurting, breaking and healing of a Rupi Kaur poem, love and life is all here in the milk and honey of a heaven sent artist. More neo in the soul of this urban music matrix, like the steady stream of Bilal beauty, who had his own album out last week. Adjusting the brightness, to this beautiful afternoon in the park, Leon Bridges is sat on a lawn chair, shaded under a tree that could have been the same one his 'Motorbike' music film character died under. The river that maybe made his name and career behind him. His name fashioned above his fit like it was a Gap advert for the stylish icon. But this is Wrangler's man. And that's what 'That's What I Love' sounds like in all its, "Bourbon, Cadillacs, blue denim/Making love on the beach in the mornin'/Springtime in the Trinity River, gold jewellery/All black penny loafers." Suit up. From the inspired 'Ivy', to the sweet 'Ghetto Honeybee', Bridges brings it all. Changing clothes to the "stonewash denim with the long crease in 'em and my snakeskin boots", that still 'Ain't Got Nothing On You'.

Lucky for some, going forth, this 13-track album from the singer/songwriter will be your musical landscape, from the streets of 'Laredo', to the pride of 'Panther City'. Can you see one of the biggest and best black artists making history in all of music? It's all about the love and heart that we should all 'Simplify' like the lasting lines of "She was my first love, wonder how she doin' now/What if I had loved her?/What if I had stayed?/What if I'd never put my money on a chase?", that vow a matrimony in marriage with another life we all could have had if we just went left, right? We all wish we go back sometimes, as 'Teddy's Tune' keeps singing those "what if" blues away. It's a marvel to behold, like Leon in full force. An artist and man who would have been the greatest in the days of Marvin. This underrated, underappreciated and unsung hero will just have to settle for being a legend in our time.

"I can't get you off my mind/Let it last all the time/Hope our bodies meet again/Hope I get your love again." The trick is to be 'Never Satisfied' as we chase our art and heart. The act of making love and life being as such. Even if we 'Can't Have It All' like "A life that's worth living/Take me away/Each night I pray/But baby, if you say no/I'll be living in my misery/Heart stop, can't breathe", in the yearning and burning of a better way and life. Conceived since his childhood, and a love letter (and more than one song) to his time in "beloved" Forth Worth, Texas' own brings the world together with the very purity and depths of his soul. A greater substance than his slick style, from his hair to his boots. Cut like a classic of not just his, but our time, Bridges' 'Leon' says it best, on God. "God loves the birds and the bees/God loves the stoners and freaks/And the girls on the street/Just the same as you and me/Old men and the young and the strange/School kid looking out at the rain/Cops on the beat and the crooks in the cage/Just the same." Everyone under the Texas sun. A feeling from the most high you can have faith in as you run it back. All the way to the roots of nostalgia, truly coming home. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'When A Man Cries', 'Ivy', 'God Loves Everyone'.

Spin This: Leon Bridges - 'Good Thing'.

REVIEW: COLDPLAY - MOON MUSIC

4/5

Cold Side Of The Moon

You've all seen the meme. Bryan Cranston's Walter White of 'Breaking Bad' fame, dropping a pipette of crystal meth into a test tube. I used it myself for my own caption, "applying the hair serum my friend kindly got me for my 39th birthday". But we all know the famous one, "Coldplay carefully crafting the worst f###ing song you've ever heard." Funny? True. But "facts"? False! Thousands of people in a sea of hundreds of flags, not to mention millions watching at home as per the great British tradition, in concert with a Coldplay gig at the UK's iconic Glastonbury Festival can't be wrong. England's Coachella (more like Coachella is California's Glastonbury) featured everyone from Dua Lipa to LCD Soundsytem, this Summer. But Chris Martin and his crew (Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, Will Champion, and no relation, Phil Harvey) were the only ones to bring out 'Back To The Future' legend Michael J. Fox out on guitar. Go, Johnny! Go, go, go!

Oasis, reunited, have our money (not our Ticketmaster sterling, Jesus Christ!) on headlining Glasto last year. Even Liam Gallagher has talked about how he preferred the old Coldplay, like rap fans say Kanye. Sure, this group who have collaborated with everyone from Beyoncé to BTS, have been in their electronic era for a CASIO minute now (ever since 2011's 'Mylo Xyloto'), but we then college kids still have fond feelings for 'Parachutes' and 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' (not to mention 'X&Y' and 'Viva la Vida' amongst other friends). It's been 'A Head Full Of Dreams' since then for Chris and his coldest play, but one of the best British bands ever still return to their roots every now and then like with the haunting 'Ghost Stories' of 2014 (pure 'Magic', like the Brandy cover of said song) and 'Everyday Life' in 2019. Yet, like The Smashing Pumpkins giving us 'Teargarden By Kaleidoscope' over a decade, Coldplay have crafted music more colourful than a Holi festival transported to Tokyo's neon Shibuya Crossing.

Lovers in Japan, get ready for this 'Moon Music' (it's only right to release after Glastornbury) by the prism of a pure Pink Floyd like cover of atmospheric album artwork. Serving as a sequel to 2021's 'Music Of The Spheres', this project is official 'Vol. II', after volume one's, 'From Earth With Love'. Recorded in Tarifa, Spain's Punta Paloma studio (the band's logo featuring on FC Barcelona's kit), this pop rock hit features production from The Chainsmokers, the great Jon Hopinks (on the titular opening) and of course, Max Martin. Shot to the moon by the sweet singles, 'Feels Like I'm Falling In Live', the holy 'We Pray', and the latest 'All My Love', that is concurrent to the album, as this record and the last is to the Music Of The Spheres World Tour (a tour edition of this album features a live at River Plate bonus), which will surely see a trilogy for this era. Like Rihanna, or Jay-Z, the likes of Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna, and Tini (on 'We Pray') and Nigerian singer Ayra Starr (on the standout track 'Good Feelings') feature on this (for the) planet encompassing project. Culminating in the classic closer 'One World' for you too.

Sampling 'Funeral Singers' by Sylvan Esso and Tim Rutili for the lead single. Using the words of the timeless Maya Angelou for 'Alien Hits/Alien Radio' back-to-back. They also interpolate their own work for 'Moon Music'. Not to mention use the birds of 'Hymn For The Weekend' for 'One World'. And it's all done to epic effect. Just like the stylized titles with the 'i' in lower case, no space bar, like Prince and even a rainbow emoji for all this changing weather. Just like 'iAAM', AKA, "I am a mountain." From the drops of 'Jupiter', to the antenna of 'Aeterna', this is one great album that Choose's Love like some of the first singles proceeds. Playing all around the world, like the immersive pop-up listening events in Auckland, Berlin, Beijing, London, Paris and Toronto, as well as the Valley of the Moon in San Juan. But for this tenth album, it's the closing statements of 'One World' that really hit home, before the house recorded aside reprise. "In the end, it's just love". And that's it. All you need. Hey, Jude, how's that for a song to hear? TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Feels Like I'm Falling In Love', 'Good Feelings (Feat. Ayra Starr)', 'One World'.

Spin This: Coldplay - 'Music Of The Spheres'.