REVIEW: KENDRICK LAMAR - GNX

4/5

Not Like Him 

The undisputed belt of gold, in a big-three battle with a humiliated Drake and a conceded J. Cole, to be truly "big me" like a Foo Fighters song. A spot on next year's Super Bowl half-time show that has Lil' Wayne fans wheezing, F. Baby. And now a brand-new all-black everything 'GNX' to go with a surprise album for the fans. DAMN! Kendrick Lamar is pimping butterflies all over again with his first album since 2022's 'Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers' that also came out of nowhere. And one of his best west's since 2012's 'Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City' for this crazy world and not so united state of America (like O'Shea Jackson called it). Just when Ice Cube thought he had a clear lane on the gridlocked LA highway with 'Man Down'. A week after New Music Friday was dominated by the likes of Linkin Park, Gwen Stefani, St. Vincent, Jon Batiste, Jin of BTS, Dolly Parton and Mary J. Blige. Section.80, stand up! The man with the biggest song of the year and most successful diss-track of all-time comes in with brand-new material when he could have made an entire album out of all those Drake disses. But this is not like that.

October's Very Own would have a long way to climb to pull down this fall banner moment in November. Just like fellow Compton legend DeMar DeRozan said about his own retired Raptor jersey, another King balling out in The 6 of Toronto. They may be the North, but HE is the west. Bringing the best like the Shohei Ohtani MVP track of 'dodger blue' on a 'peekaboo' that makes "eighty-pointers like a Kobe game." There are monuments to those athletes across the City of Angels, but 'wacced out murals' is like nothing you've heard before from Kendrick Lamar. Harder than trying to get a seat at Starbucks on a Saturday or Sunday, Kung-Fun Kenny, with word to Don Cheadle, raps the truth like, "Ridin' in my GNX with Anita Baker in the tape deck, it's gon' be a sweet love/F### apologies, I wanna see y'all geeked up/Don't acknowledge me, then maybe we can say it's fair/Take it to the internet and I'ma take it there/Miss my uncle Lil' Mane, he said that he would kill me if I didn't make it/Now I'm possessed by a spirit and they can't take it/Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud/Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down/Whatever, though, call me crazy, everybody questionable/Turn me to an eskimo, I drew the line and decimals/Snoop posted "Taylor Made," I prayed it was the edibles/I couldn't believe it, it was only right for me to let it go/Won the Super Bowl and Nas the only one congratulate me." It's not just Drake whose artistry ain't safe.

Spare a thought for Father John Misty, forget Ice Cube, who always seems to release an album on the same day as K. Dot. The black and white of this instantly iconic album art pays homage to the real greats like 'luther', Anita Baker and samples of Debbie Deb ('When I Hear Music' on 'squabble up'), Marvin Gaye (on 'If This World Was Mine' sampled by 'luther' Vandross) and Cheryl Lynn. The Neptunes of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, we hope, align like planets again, with SWV's 'Use Your Heart' for 'Heart Pt. 6'. And the caterpillar pimped of Tupac Shakur's 'Made N####z', on a 'Reincarnated' track for 'Pac. All praise to Kendrick and his producers for this crate digging, but how about all the uncredited stars that appear on this dozen definition of an album? The 'Lana' of SZA reunites after 'Black Panther' for the forever like Wakanda tracks of 'luther' and 'gloria'. Whilst Dody6 says 'hey now'. Wallie the Sensei and Siete, gives a former Angel and best before and after Babe more love on 'dodger blue'. All before Dody6 returns with AzChike on 'peekaboo'. The album's title-track, mind you, feels like a carpool posse cut, with Peysoh, Hitta J3 and YoungThreat all getting in on the ride for one of the best rappers, dead, or alive.

Wanted. Like the in-demand production of Jack Antonoff that speaks English and Spanish in these real Los Angeles times. This sixth man album in the scope for Interscope that's going to have one hell of an aftermath, also features jazz icon Kamasai Washington (who knows all about hidden, surprise albums) on the Lamar legacy making legend of 'luther', and the sweeter jazz sounds of Terrace Martin on the big-hitting 'dodger blue' like a Yokohama BayStars champion. But it's 'man at the garden' that really knocks it out the park for the gladiator in the Colosseum. Expect the King that calls himself 'The Man In The Arena' to be rapping along to, "Twice emotional stability/Of sound body and tranquillity/I deserve it all/Like minds and less enemies/Stock investments, more entities/I deserve it all/VVSs, white diamonds/GNX with the seat back, reclinin', b####" the next time his purple and gold rolls into the Big Apple of New York's Madison Square. Like Heron with the wordplay, the revolution will not be televised. It will hit the airwaves. So cut the 'TV Off' because, "this is not a song/this is a revelation." Like buying the car his dad brought him home in after his birth. This Buick Regal is fit for the man who just showed that no one else is watching his throne. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Wacced Out Murals'. 'Luther', 'Dodger Blue'.

Spin This: Eazy-E : 'Eazy-Duz-It'

REVIEW: ICE CUBE - MAN DOWN

3.5/5

The Iceman 

As cold as ice. After last week's crowded catalogue of album releases (Mary J. Blige, Gwen Stefani, St. Vincent, Jon Batiste, Linkin Park, Jin of BTS and Dolly Parton and Family), rapper slash actor, Ice Cube probably thought he got away Scott free like a production company for Denzel Washington's takeover of 'Gladiator II'. The N.W.A., Westside Connection and Mount Westmore member delivering his first solo set since 2018's 'Everythang's Corrupt'. That was until the man who declared 'I Am The West' like not one, not two, but three Kobe Bryant statues outside of STAPLES (always) had a surprise 'Peek-A-Boo' album from the "big ME" of Kendrick Lamar ('GNX') to deal with. 'Man Down' indeed.

Icing the competition down, Cube has 'Not Like Them' to deal with all of that and address us, thankfully.  And 19 hard tracks for an album from 'AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted' with a controversial cover that is really showing the American apathy to gang violence, like 'Boyz N The Hood', and the causalities of that warfare. This "proud black man" ain't playing as he "speaks his truth" on tracks like 'So Sensitive', without a tub of Vaseline in sight (he's never been down with Diddy bopping at white parties), whether you like it or not. The man who changed another game with the BIG3 league know it's big he on the ice-cold single 'It's My Ego', before bringing the 'Ego Maniacs' back in a classic closer with Killer Mike and fellow form discovering legend of late, Busta Rhymes. Running all sorts of jewels for those who make actual album cases like CDs were back in fashion, with mixtape tracklists and runtimes.

Bow down to a man who has rapped with everyone from Eazy-E to Shaquille O'Neal. Here he brings a roster of co-stars to a bigger block party than LA's AD. Mostly on the cool cut 'She's Sanctified' featuring the Westmore of Snoop Dogg, Too $hort and October London mounting up, as Cube gives props to regulators Warren G and the late, great Nate Dogg. Tha Dogg Pound's Kurupt barks and bites on the formidable 'Fighting For My Life In Paradise', whilst B-Real of Cypress Hill blazes through 'Let's Get Money Together'. J-Dee spits 'Facts' and IshaDon, K-Major and even comedian Mike Epps get down, truth be told, on 'No Cap' for this New Music FRIDAY after next. Yet it's the pimping of a long awaited collaboration with Xzibit, 'Break The Mirror', that really rides this 'Rollin' At Twilight', 'Take Me To Your Leader', coast-to-best coast album. No seven years of bad luck to itch for.

Cubevision can see that O'Shea Jackson Sr. has the game on ice again. A 'Scary Movie' like the Wayans brothers announcement. A gambit leaving all those on deck more afraid than the time Channing Tatum's character in '22 Jump Street' reacted to Jonah Hill dating his daughter. You know how long we've been waiting for this? Even the Mexican Wolverine couldn't claw away at this, Jeff. This '5150' and 'Ghetto Story' for the boys, as classic as the time he said nice things angrily on Kimmel. Give him his damn brisk! Because counting his finger on '3 Lil Piggies', he blows the houses down of all those he takes to market with lines like, "These three little piggies say I ain't good as Biggie/These motherf####n' n###ies say my pen game is iffy/This ain't just yellin', n###a, this is storytellin'/Are there any seeds up in that watermelon?/Just because the melanin, never sold the heroin/Still got the avalanche flow that will bury them." Mountains of it. Blazing as 'I'mma Burn Rubber' on a ride to the tippy top. Everyone can get it, 'Especially You', as 'Talking 'Bout These Rappers' like, "Talkin' 'bout them clappers on the internet (Internet)/Google up these n#ts, b####, I been a vet (Been a vet)/I don't give a f### what's on the internet (Internet)." Don't scroll or stroll past this. This man is still up. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Not Like Them', 'Scary Movie', 'Ego Maniacs (Feat. Killer Mike & Busta Rhymes)'.

Spin This: Ice Cube - 'I Am The West'

REVIEW: LINKIN PARK - FROM ZERO

3.5/5 

In The New Beginning

I remember the first time I heard 'Points Of Authority' (originally meant to be a single in the UK) by Linkin Park on BBC Radio One, like it was yesterday, back in those college days, that almost 40, don't seem that far away. It sounded like nothing I've ever heard before. The futuristic, electronic video game beat over growling guitars. The instantly iconic screaming vocals of the late, great Chester Bennington. He could never be replaced. The opening super singles of 'Hybrid Theory' ('One Step Closer', 'Crawling' (that trio of T. rex plastic puppet Vine), 'Papercut' and 'In The End'), the biggest hitters until The Killers slayed the beginning of their 'Hot Fuss' debut four years later with the tracklist singles of 'Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine', 'Mr. Brightside', 'Smile Like You Mean It', 'Somebody Told Me' and 'All These Things That I've Done', never letting up.

Just like LP never did. LP after LP. 'Meteora'. 'Minutes To Midnight'. The MTV 'Collision Course' with Jay-Z, best rock/rap collabo since Aerosmith and Run-DMC. The 'Transformers: Dark Of The Moon' soundtrack scorching score from 'A Thousand Suns'. The sweet spot, signature sounds of 'Living Things' ('Roads Untravelled', man) and 'The Hunting Party' ('Wretches and Kings'...maaaan). And the last album with the dearly departed, Chester, the experimental 'One More Light', which on originally missing after a tough year and some much-maligned, off-putting, I still haven't listened to yet, despite being a big fan of this band. Perhaps, now, I can't bring myself to bear Bennington's last album, like he's still here to be heard. But the harsh reality is he's not, and we, like the band of working musicians Dave Farrell, Brad Delson, Joe Hahn, and Mike Shinoda, must go on. Like they did without the likes of founding member and hiatus lost Rob Bourdon, and Mark Wakefield and Kyle Christener.

Some fans have not warmly welcomed Bennington's replacement, mind you. Although Dead Sara's own Emily Armstrong is not a replacement, she's her own artist on a new chapter in this band. Besides, Chester could never be replaced, like we said. In an artillery of female forces, this New Music Friday. The legendary Dolly Parton. Our generation's greats in Mary J. Blige and Gwen Stefani, no doubt. And the most amazing artist, speaking Spanish, in Annie Clark, AKA, St. Vincent, all giving Jon and Jin, of Batiste and BTS fame fits. Armstrong arms up in such a loaded week, we've finally got 'round to finishing up the 'round up of reviews, and it's almost next Friday (can you blame m? I'm on vacation!), like Ice Cube, minus Chris Tucker. We've saved the most controversial for last, if you've heard the comments Chester's son has made about Mike and the boys. That's between them. We don't know enough to comment. All we can say is it's all heartbreaking, like how happy Chester was on the Carpool Karaoke with Ken Jeong, just days before he was lost from us.

Linkin Park have to start again, 'From Zero' on their new album. Originally, Emily's debut of live takes of Linkin's greatest hits, didn't exactly knock it out the park. Social media reacted like that José Mourinho headphone meme. Since then, the new band, that also welcomes drummer Colin Brittain to the fold, have given us an onslaught of strong singles and glory days music videos. 'The Emptiness Machine', 'Heavy Is The Crown', 'Over Each Other' and 'Two Faced'. Holy smokes, they've still got it. Nu metal legends with a fully-charged half-hour of new music, dialled up to eleven, epic tracks. Not to mention an expanded edition after the 'Good Times Go' for this digital age with live single takes in London, Paris and native, Burbank, California. As the black pink washes over the leather of this album art, the polished 'Points' production is still here in a fresh sound that still feels familiar, but is not jacking anyone's style, or stealing their shine as it finds its own light in this new day.

Xero, was Linkin Park's original name, but this is a new day and way. Not to mention, logo. Logging a new turn in the outstanding opening of 'The Emptiness', following the instrumental intro, rapper/singer Shinoda reminds us there were always two frontmen, before he lets Emily come into play. 'Cut The Bridge' tears through, all the way to the hook, as this band may never be the same, but they don't sound completely different. And that's a good thing, like it is on tracks like 'Casualty' and 'Overflow', hurting for more. On 'Stained' Armstrong makes her mark, singing, "And someday/Your hands will be too red to hide the blame/You'll realize you had it comin'/Pretend you're spotless, but I don't wash away/And now you're stained/And now you're stained/And now you're stained." Whilst on 'IGYEIH', Mike makes his, singing along, "I give you everything I have." Just like this band do, in the face of it all. Love. Loss. The hate of looking like they're trying to replace, when really they're just trying to keep going. An admirable quality, even if they're no longer the most loved. Fans may be feeling the hurt, but outside the Bennington family and circle of friends, whose been hit harder than this one? Getting back up with a sonic soar from the ashes, remember, we missed this band too. Welcome back, Linkin Park! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'The Emptiness Machine', 'Heavy Is The Crown', 'Over Each Other'.

Spin This: Linkin Park - 'Hybrid Theory: Reanimation'

REVIEW: GWEN STEFANI - BOUQUET

3.5/5

Orange Blossom Special

Without a shadow of a doubt, Gwen Stefani joins not only Dolly Parton, Mary J. Blige, St. Vincent, Jon Batiste, the new Linkin Park and Jin of Korean super pop group in the biggest New Music Friday this month, gearing up for those Christmas come early sales. But also, (like Dolly, MJB, Annie Clark and the new Emily Armstrong fronted Linkin Park LP), Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Halsey, Maggie Rogers, Norah Jones, Maya Hawke, Willow and fellow 90s to new millennium luminaries, Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry and the 'Evolution' of Sheryl Crow, in another amazing year for women in pop music. All for a beautiful 'Bouquet' in Orange Country rosé wine bloom. Stefani's new album, this fall, and first since her 'You Make It Feel Like Christmas' miracle of 2017.

'Harajuku Lovers', this is far from 'The Sweet Escape' of an Akon hook, or her classic solo debut, 'Love. Angel. Music. Baby', hollering back, girl. That was twenty years ago, if you can feel really old yet and believe it. No doubt about it, she's on a different tip with the stem of these songs, and if we clutch too much at the oranges of the band getting back together, then we really will be heading for a tragic kingdom. Instead, do speak on how Gwen Stefani's first solo studio sound (minus the mistletoe) since the genuine pop play of 'This Is What The Truth Feels Like', is in that same pure pop vein and lane of that new fond feeling. All with a country twang and twist. This is what happens when you judge 'The Voice' and hone yours. Alongside marrying country icon Blake Shelton, who duets on the 'Purple Irises', between all the title-tracks, 'Empty Vase's' (that have nothing to do with that awful poem Monica received on 'Friends') and 'Marigolds' (that have nothing to do with rubber gloves as Gwen gets to work).

Produced by Scott Hendriks for Interscope Records, this top ten track of all power over a half-hour, and it's latest single 'Swallow My Tears' will make you do the same to yours. More than just a girl, this woman's work just shows us another chapter in her catalogue, like the new Linkin Park, no matter how much we miss the old rock band like Chester. The lead single, 'Someone Else's', mind you, leaves some room for Doubt. Rocking as a Queen B 'Irreplaceable' empowering anthem, in a scorching summertime video, when a break-up can lead you towards the break you actually deserve. For this fifth album, Stefani relaxes on a motel room like bed, rocking a Stetson and holding all the flowers she should be getting as a living legend still in the prime of her pop powers and prowess. 'Late To Bloom'? Nah! But when Stefani sings, "I wish I met you when I was younger/Like 22 or 23/Think of all those extra summers/And maybe we could", she shows even more signature styles than Harajuku, Tokyo. All whilst triggering her almost forty-something fans (*puts a beginning to liver spot hand up*), that 'Don't Speak' was an unspeakable time ago.

These are the gentle 'Reminders' like "All the leaves are fallin' down just in time/Plant a seed a garden for a new life/Wait for rain to come" and the fact that the fall is for the fondest. Like family, or our favourite artists whose music feels like branches on that same tree of our lives. Conceived during corona, Stefani used to 'Cry Happy' with a song complied of lyrics tapped into her phone. Originally meant to be a return to the roots of her reggae and ska sound (which we hope to hear on another album), 'Bouquet' blooms into a Nashville and seventies pop-rock rhinestone inspired outfit. Curated with country classics, like featuring on her husbands 'Nobody But You' and 'Happy Anywhere', or her own breakup ballad 'All Your Fault'. We may 'Slow Clap' for that old thing back, but let Gwen reintroduce herself to this country. Sitting 'Pretty' on the flower motif as she sings, "Every wrong turn is the one I take/And every wrong move is the one I make/I've bloomed, my petals have fallen/And you showed up and you said that you're all in." Healing from the heartbreak of divorce and finding the flowers of a new love. The planting of a new seed of growth. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Somebody Else's', 'Marigolds', 'Purple Irises (With Blake Shelton)'.

Spin This: Gwen Stefani - 'This Is What The Truth Feels Like'.

REVIEW: DOLLY PARTON & FAMILY: SMOKY MOUNTAIN DNA – FAMILY, FAITH & FABLES

4/5

A Parton In A Family Tree 

Straight out of Dollywood and into a crowded Christmas market, New Music Friday, featuring Gwen Stefani, Mary J. Blige, St. Vincent, Linkin Park, Jon Batiste and Jin of BTS, we're not in Nashville any more. More the 'Smoky Mountain DNA' of Dolly Parton's 'Tennessee Mountain Home' and the 'Family, Faith & Fables' that all come from those parts. Since the age of social distance, Dolly has stayed close, locking it down. Almost 80, but always giving 100%, like Willie Nelson or Clint Eastwood, still on top of their respective games. Whether giving us 'A Holly Dolly Christmas' in the lonely 2020, as well as the Netflix Xmas movie 'Christmas On The Square'. Or the 'Run, Rose, Run' album two years later, alongside the novel of the same name, written with legendary bookstore author James Patterson. A year after, and the last one to be exact, the genre bending Dolly showed she was a 'Rockstar'. Now, just in time for Christmas, she's back again, as she returns to her roots.

Dolly Parton & Family's 'Smoky Mountain DNA-Family, Faith & Fables' marks Parton's eighteenth collaborative album (there are forty-nine solo sets), and first since her 'Trio II' sequel with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt in 1999. Now, from the beautiful introduction and outro bookends, to the almost two-hour runtime this cinematic album is a black and white, photo album journey into the love, life and light of Dolly and family. 'I Just Stopped By' she sweetly sings on one of the best numbers of a thirty-seven track masterpiece that is released years ago would be her magnum opus...but she has her whole rock and roll Hall of Fame career for all that. After releasing a recipe book, Dolly is cooking up even more, as the rich heritage of this family album has a four-part docuseries on deck, soon to come. "I cannot believe that it has been 60 years this month since I graduated from Sevier County High School and moved to Nashville to pursue my dreams," Dolly tells us. "My Uncle Bill Owens was by my side for many years helping me develop my music. I owe so much to him and all the family members past and present who have inspired me along this journey. I am honored to spotlight our families’ musical legacy."

In classic collaboration with Owepar Entertainment, Dolly blends music from her paternal Parton family to her mother's Owens one. Taking us from East Tennessee, USA, all the way back to the United Kingdom in the 1600s, where the first seeds of this family tree were planted. Appalachia culture and the proud and profound words and writing of both families show how they play together in perfect harmony, with songwriting in their DNA. Dolly's country cousin Richie Owens produces this lasting LP of legacy for the legend. And it's generational, featuring family members present and past, as those ancestors pass down the songwriting craft. It's a beautiful bond, honed in a classic sound. You can hear it on the mesmerizing medley of 'Singing His Praise/Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man'. From a 'Rosewood Casket' to a 'I'll Live In Glory'. No one is ever gone far. "I'll meet you in the morning by the bright riverside/When all the sorrow has drifted away/I'll be standin' at the portals when the gates open wide/At the close of life's long weary day," Dolly promises on 'I'll Meet You In The Morning."

'Where Will We Live Tomorrow', the family asks in these current, not so great times to make it in America. "My mother left my daddy, ran away with another man/It wasn't very long until my daddy married again/They had a little boy they called Jimmy, my half brother/They said he was just like my dad, and I was like my mother", Dolly and Dorothy Jo Owens sing together on 'Runaway Girl'. From an instrumental 'Grooms Tune/Bonaparte's Retreat', to new favourites like 'Tell Me That You Love Me' and 'A Rose Won't Fix It', loving and breaking, this album has so much as the 'Crops Came In', watering this legacy tree, relatively singing. But it's on 'The Orchard' where we can really see it all bloom. Jada Star devoting "My grandmother/She was kind and held a wisdom like no other/Her words echo deep inside my heart/We're never apart" the blessing, like the 'Holy Water' that comes after. This one touches your head like the Holy Spirit's water of a cross. In the name of all the father's and family members that show us, music and family are akin to religion. No matter which side you pray to. It's no fable 'When It's Family'. Just the faith that no mountaintop could climb to claim. In the midst of what looks like smoke, that spirit will run through your DNA for generations of lifetimes. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'My Tennessee Mountain Home', 'I Just Stopped By, 'Where Will We Live Tomorrow'.

Spin This: Dolly Parton - 'Run, Rose, Run'

REVIEW: MARY J. BLIGE - GRATITUDE

3.5/5

oBLIGEd

Don't call it a retirement. The Queen of R&B and hip-hop soul will be here for years. Mary J. Blige recently debunked rumours that her latest release, 'Gratitude', would also be her last. Sure, the fifteenth album from Mary is a personal thank you to fans, but it's no swan song victory lap. Wrapped up just in time for Christmas, this week, alongside new releases from fellow legends Jon Batiste, Dolly Parton, Gwen Stefani, St. Vincent, Linkin Park and Jin of BTS, Blige has been putting in work since the seems like yesterday 2011 release of the sequel to her classic 'My Life'. THAT'S the 411 as the journey continues with each act, every couple of years. 'The London Sessions' with some of the Big Smoke's finest. The 'Strength Of A Woman' who still has time to say 'Good Morning Gorgeous' to us. Even 'A Mary Christmas' to put under your tree.

No more drama in this love and life as she shares her world like she has classic collaborations with everyone from Sting to the late, great George Michael. A breakthrough who gets stronger with every tear and tear through the industry. All whilst showing the power of acting in things like 'Mudbound' and 'The Umbrella Academy'. The smoking Mary Jane can do it all with her ceiling smashing, sky-high talent. We should be thankful for all she's done. Even though she's giving it up for us, like the understanding in solidarity of the second single, 'You Ain't The Only One', as these growing pains flow with tears again, like a Brooklyn brownstone fire hydrant in a scorching summer. Bringing out all the big guns like some of the best artists of her generation. Fantastic 'Breathe' rapper Fabolous on the Biggie sampling single 'Breathing'. The rasp of death, Jadakiss on 'Need You More'. And Fat Joe on 'God's Child' as the now regular-sized man from New York raps, "Me, Nas and Hov the only icons left."

Ferg also features on the fabulous closer 'I Got Plans' that shows you there's more to come with the other legend left. But it's for all the brilliant 'Beautiful People' Mary J. sings for, like the time she remixed 'Beautiful' with the Black Stars of Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Anthems to empower with lines like, "Beautiful people/One/Then I’m going to/Beautiful places/Where there are just/Beautiful faces/Beautiful people, just like all of you, all of you/All of, all of you." Sing along now. On this delightful dozen track LP's latest billboard entry, Mary declares 'Here I Am'. Another beautiful ballad to add to the great American rhythm and blues songbook. All for the fans that 'Never Give Up On Me (she)'. Despite the love, coming off the 'Good Morning Gorgeous' bestseller since 'Be Without You', Mary is still street, and not afraid to tell you, 'Don't F### Up'. The drama was yesterday and yesteryear, my dear.

Laced, like the amazing album artwork by 300 Entertainment and her own Mary Jane Productions, the GREATful 'Gratitude' also features 'Superpowers' from an icon of the industry who is about to release her own book and come out of "retirement" (this album was originally meant to be her last) like the 'Kingdom Come' of a 'Black Album' Jay-Z coming "back like Jordan, wearing the 4-5." There's nobody like her and on 'Nobody Like You' she sings, "There ain't nobody but you (Nobody) on my mind/All the time/Oh baby, please believe, I'll be in love with you always (Always)/All my life/I love it when you call me in the morning when the sun comes up/'Cause you'vе been missing me all night/Tell me, "Plеase come over now"/Am I still asleep? Feels like a dream/That for once in my life I didn't have to fight for love/Where did you come from?", like there's no one else (there isn't) and no tomorrow (we hope there still is). We can't wait for more, as Mary can't (no stranger to the old double-text, herself) on the "All these games, I can't relay my race to the front/I can't be slowing down my pace, it ain't fair" of 'Can't Wait For You'. If this really is it, we're beyond grateful, but if it's not, we'd be so thankful for more. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Breathing (Feat. Fabolous)', 'You Ain't The Only One', 'God's Child (Feat. Fat Joe)'

Spin This: Mary J. Blige 'My Life II...The Journey Continues (Act 1)'

REVIEW: JON BATISTE - BEETHOVEN BLUES (BATISTE PIANO SERIES, VOL. 1)

4/5

Roll Over Beethoven

"He's in the room with us", Jamie Foxx's Juilliard cello player Nathaniel Ayers tells Robert Downey Jr's Los Angeles Times journalist Steve Lopez in the great movie 'The Soloist'. "Who?" Downey replies, forgiven for wondering what Ayers is talking about as he booked out the legendary steel sculptures of LA's Walt Disney Concert Hall for "just us". "Beethoven!" It's barely been a year since Grammy and Oscar winning musician Jon Batiste graced us with the planetary sounds of 'World Music Radio'. Also breaking our hearts with the 'American Symphony' documentary on Netflix with his wife Suleika Jaouad's brave battle with leukaemia. But now the 'Soul' singer moves and soothes us without a word. Healing us all with the 'Beethoven Blue', volume one in the 'Batiste Piano Series', which is what the world really needs, right now, like love, sweet love.

It's all right now. These Beethoven tracks twinkled to eleven in black and white find Jon alone in his home like this was corona all over again. Offering opportunities to play around, not only with Ludwig, but also some lovely music videos of perfect performances, suited and booted up to the nines. Case in point is the 'Blues' opener and lead single, 'Für Elise' and the reverie of its curtain closing reprise. The Grammy multiplied by five man, like an Adele or Norah Jones, is all about the pure piano, like the late, great Ryuichi Sakamoto's magnum 'Opus', in his deepest and most decadently curated cut yet. We can't wait for volume two with moving sonnets like the 'Moonlight Sonata Blues', or his own reprisal of the 'American Symphony Theme', that will once again move you to the same tears those watching 'Angels In America' on Broadway had, after reading the play's prose. Transcendent, as Ludwig Van Beethoven's own work plays with Batiste's original compositions about growing up in New Orleans. Stepping out into a 'Symphony No. 5 Stomp' until the 'Dusklight Movement' calls day in a '7th Symphony Elegy' for your sympathy. 

Christmas is coming, you can tell that, not only by the festive decorations that line your city streets, but also by last New Music Friday. It's Monday, and we still aren't through all the big new releases. The heavy hitters are all wrapping up albums that will make the perfect presents this Christmas. Gifts from the greats like Dolly Parton, Mary J. Blige, Gwen Stefani, St. Vincent, Jin of BTS and the new Linkin Park. But with this tribute to the 'Life Of Ludwig', nothing makes more memories last a lifetime with even more feeling and meaning than this 'Ode To Joyful'. A much more, straight-forward and laced step in this 'Waldstein Wobble', after the wonderful 'World Music Radio' was literally all over the place at times. Focussing forward, the '5th Symphony In Congo Square' tells tales of the times a young Batiste would gig across NOLA and compete in competitions on the ivories. One of the best to do it, washing those blues away, is unbeatable now, like the swamp his style originated from. Under a Crescent City moon, we can see the shadows of all those who inspired and influenced dear Jon. Like the silhouette of a wig, almost as iconic as his hair. He's still in the room with us. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Für Elise', 'Moonlight Sonata Blues', 'American Symphony Theme'

Spin This: Ryuichi Sakamoto - 'Opus'

REVIEW: ST. VINCENT - TODOS NACEN GRITANDO

4/5

Scream If You Want To Go Faster

"Un pequeño agradecimiento a los fans de habla hispana que me han conocido en mi lengua materna durante siete discos." That's what 'Todos Nacen Gritando', St. Vincent's Spanish language version of her Grammy nominated album 'All Born Screaming' is. "A little thanks to Spanish-language fans who have met me in my native tongue for seven records." And it shows. From the big bass bursts of the 'Hombre Roto' lead single, flanked by 'Pulga' and 'El Mero Cero'. All the way to the Cate Le Bon closing title-track, 'Todos Nacen Gritando', also getting in on the act. Getting by with a little help from her friend, Alan Del Rio Ortiz, so she wouldn't be lost in translation. This isn't the first time the 'Daddy's Home' singer has done something like this. Annie Clark also gave us the stripped-down 'MassEDUCATION' of arguably her best album yet, 'Masseduction', but nothing is a gift quite like this.

Mixing the tastes of different tongues for her record of the year, like a 'Happy' go lucky Jin of BTS, also out this New Music Friday with a new EP. Clark is in a class of her own. All for a big weekend of the best women in music. Dolly Parton, Mary J. Blige, the new Linkin Park, and Gwen Stefani, no doubt. These gladiators have entered the arena too. The screaming seventh seal from the saint remains one of the best albums of the year after it's late April release. The nominations have certified that acclaim. Yet the gravitas of 'Gritando' adds much more to the long glove's legend. It's far from a stretch. On the opener, 'El Infierno Está Cerca', Vincent really brings the beauty to bear in brimstone. Just as 'Salvaje' feels like a saviour, no matter how reckless it really is. Yet it's 'Se Fue La Luz' that you'll really sing along to, as the power's still on. ""Señoras y señores, tenemos un problema"/Un hombre dijo justo que le dispararon/Y las madres gritan, los niños lloran/No podía creer mis ojos."

Conducting line by line, you'll be glad for these legendary lyric videos as vivid as art, word to word is bond. On 'La Fruta Más Dulce' Clark compells us with the words, "Mi SOPHIE se trepó/Al techo para ver a la luna/Luna/Ay, Dios, un mal paso/La mandó tumbando/Pero por un momento qué vista/Qué vista." That were originally, "My SOPHIE climbed the roof/To get a better view of the Moon/Moon/My God, then one wrong step/Took her down to the depths/But for a minute, what a view/What a view" for the late SOPHIE in the bitter but beautiful 'Sweetest Fruit'. They still are, regardless of the translation, but after recent times they take on even more powerful poignancy. Just like the Spanish version of "Hemorrhaging heartthrob with a six-pack of beer (Ha-ah)/Leaning outside her burned-out window/She isn't smiling, but she's happy you're here/We'll make a killing from her trauma/Oh, mama" on 'Tantos Planetas'. Remember the times you've taken a trip in the Summer, and you'd happen upon a local bar, catching some singer lacing lyrics in her parental tongue? Deciphering didn't matter, you could still feel every emotion and the portraits of love and pain painted. Even though we know what these words mean, the renacer 'Todos' gives us a whole new voice that screams, shouts and lets it all out. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Hombre Roto', 'Tiempos Violentos', 'Pulga'.

Spin This: St. Vincent - 'MassEDUCATION'.

REVIEW: JIN - HAPPY EP

4/5

Happier Than Ever

Happy days are back for BTS member Jin and the ARMY of the "worldwide handsome" idol's fans. The mandatory military service is completed and 'The Astronaut' is back. Out of this world for his debut EP, 'Happy', on HYBE for your big hits. 'Running Wild', one man and his dog, the perfect cinema date for a sci-fi movie, and a soaring new single, singing in English, "There's a way/There's a way that we can fly again/Remember how we used to love back then/Living like we had no end/Let's stay out all night/Out all night until we see the sun/Remember how we used to long ago/We can miss." Here's the hope you've been waiting for in a world run cold. Not to mention the cutest dog, that could save anyone. Just see the opening act of the 'John Wick' franchise.

The second single, 'I'll Be There' featuring MAX and 1960s bubblegum, is classic Korean pop, even if it is also sung in English to reach an even wider world fanbase. Although a Korean version is also available. Harmonizing, "All these busy people/How does anyone get by in this tough world/Oh-oh-oh (Oh-oh-oh)/Giving something greater than just the little things/That’s what I live for." All for that inspiration amongst the ignorance that we were just telling you about. His mother tongue and his second language are mixed on the rest of the blue and 'Happy' polka dot album artwork. Taking it to 'Another Level' with lyrics like, "Don't be scared/나 때론 무너져도/한 걸음/(We'll bounce back and hit, bounce back and hit)/나 이제/저 빛을 향해서 걸어/한 발 더/(We'll bounce back and hit another level)." After returning from the shaved head and salute of his time in the real army, consider this a rebirth for him, and us. All in a time when we need the hope of change again.

After the atmospheric '네게 닿을 때까지', Jin gives us the uplifting 'Heart On The Window' featuring 웬디 (Wendy of Red Velvet). Super like Tuna as they sing "I love you better" together and "More every minute/More every hour/Oh, 꿈인 듯이/하얗게 서린 맘의 창 위에/짙게 새겨둔/You and me, ah." But it's the compelling closer '그리움에', where we hear Jin at his most beautiful, all in Korean, over profound piano. Now Jin is back, and his music released, all BTS members have released extended plays, many two, after their extended hiatus. Even this year, we've already seen and heard from leader RM ('Right Place, Wrong Person') and Jimin ('Muse') again, after Jungkook and V's late charge last year. Are you sure you don't want to hear more monuments from the stars? Take that, like 'Running Wild' produced by Gary Barlow, or all the memes about the height of his son, so long as it's not offending anyone. The band will be getting back together. Before that reunion, like Japanese act One Ok Rock, let's rock out until it reaches you. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Running Wild', 'I'll Be There', 'Heart On The Window (Feat. 웬디)'.

Spin This: Jin - 'The Astronaut'

REVIEW: TYLER, THE CREATOR - CHROMAKOPIA

4/5

The Mask

Surprise, b#####s...in your best Dave Chappelle voice! Who's that 'Noid', walking through the black and white streets with The Verve of Richard Ashcroft in a 'Bittersweet Symphony'? Bumping into people in the phantom of the opera black mask like Kobe Bryant or LeBron James going hard, playing through a facial fracture. It's only Tyler, The Creator. The man with the funkiest freestyle that set Funkmaster Flex off. Back with an album out of the blue this New Music Friday, following his Grammy Award-winning 'Call Me If You Get Lost' ODB I.D. Expect another one for the compelling 'CHROMAKOPIA' in ALL-CAPS. An eighth wonder off Colombia Records for The Creator. A straight shooting classic, all the way to the same masked up black and white throwback album artwork, that's really saying something. If only you would take off your own brilliant disguise to realize.

God loves a 'Bastard'. And this 'Goblin' and 'Wolf' explodes like a 'Cherry Bomb' this Halloween. 'Flower Boy', 'Igor', 'Call Me', the big-three of amazing album art have just been joined by a fantastic fourth for the man in the best stretch of his creative career, that's lasted for a decade plus, and running. A cut above the rest, from the Daniel Caesar assisted 'St. Chroma' opening number, to the 'I Hope You Find Your Way Home ' lost ones reflective curtain. Fusing hip-hop, R&B and jazz like awakening the love of a Childish Gambino (he's here, too), Tyler Gregory Okonma, 'Chromakopia' in all its chrome features some of the best in the business. Offset by a sample of 'Thought I Was Dead' (featuring Schoolboy Q and Santigold), this follow-up to 'If You Get Lost' also finds Teezo Touchdown ('Darling, I'), Daniel Caesar again with LaToiya Williams ('Take Your Mask Off'), Lola Young ('Like Him'), Doechii ('Balloon') and Playboy Carti on the physical album'. Not to mention one of the best posse cuts with the 'Sticky' ( I smell...) GloRilla, Sexyy Red and Weezy F. baby, Lil' Wayne collaboration.

The creative force raps with reckless abandon, "Wipe that silly grin (Mm), b####, I'm really him (Mm)/You better put them palms together, b####, I really sin (Mm)/No, me and crack don't share daddies, but we really twins (Okay)/If she ain't got her s### together, she ain't gettin' in (Okay)/You see the bed top bunker, the boy got thumpers/I'm a bonafide face seat, box muncher" on the 'Rah Tah Tah'. But it's the song about 'Hey Jane' that offers more in the form of, "Hey, Jane, your hair long and your legs long/And we can both relate to the fact that our dads gone/Couple good qualities on you you could pass on/You're not dumb, and your face good, and your head strong, look". Reminding you in this safe sex education to "always, always, always wear a condom," like his mother says. 'I Killed You', the creator of Odd Future declares, as you let him cook with all he had to bear. Not one to judge like 'Judy'.

'Tomorrow' offers even more in this redemption song, feeling like a Kanye 'Runaway', running as fast as you can. "Fear it, face clear, few wrinkles on my spirit/Thought this s### out, I pop out with that oven/Tell that new version of me that I'm comin', yeah/My brodie had another baby, that's like number two (Number two)/My homegirl, her knot tied, she like thirty-two (Thirty-two)/They sharin' pictures of these moments, s### is really cute/And all I got is photos of my 'Rari and some silly suits (Man)/Mhm, will I flip the switch and finally settle down?/" At a career creative crossorads, is this a turning point for Tyler? Cohesive yet confused in its nature, this is a man who is nurturing his style, but still can afford more. Will little creators come next? Or is this collection his legacy? Time will tell, for a man whose always known how to pivot with pride. His whole career is his magnum opus. Now will he wear one or let it ride? Inglewood's finest with pearls from his mother gives us another jewel. Andre 3000 once reminded us that chronophobia is the fear of time, but with 'Chromakopia', it's still on The Creator's side. Yes, it is. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Noid', 'Sticky (Feat. GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil' Wayne)', 'I Hope You Find Your Way Home'.

Spin This: Childish Gambino - 'Awaken, My Love'

REVIEW: WILLIE NELSON - LAST LEAF ON THE TREE

4/5

The Tree Of Life 

Spooky season may have given way to the festive one, as quick as shopping malls change their Halloween decorations, to Christmas ones. Yet 'Last Leaf On The Tree' is not a festive album from Willie Nelson, hot on the snow boots of Ben Folds' 'Sleigher' last week. We're sure the 91-year-old icon of country and American music has already done that in his 76 solo studio albums and counting. Besides, this is his second album of the year, this fall. Coming after the May day checking of 'The Border' patrol, which clocked in as one of his best records yet across the plains. And did we just mention he's chasing a century in not only age, but albums? As Autumn strips the trees, 'Last Leaf' plants new material based on the roots of other artist's records. Sure, this is a covers album, but it doesn't make it any less compelling than Willie's other work. This is no half-baked Nelson here.

With a few chickens in his Hen House studio in Venice, Los Angeles, Willie Nelson's 'Last Leaf On The Tree' is led by the singles 'Last Leaf', 'Do You Realize??' and 'Lost Cause' by Tom Waits, The Flaming Lips and Beck respectively. The latter lamenting a sea change for the "hello, walls" singer as he broods, "Your sorry eyes, they cut through the bone/They make it hard to leave you alone/Leave you here wearing your wounds/Waving your guns at somebody new" with a devil's haircut. These Legacy Recordings (produced perfectly by the maestro Micah Nelson) from the long-haired singer also braid work from the fellow legendary likes of Neil Young ('Are You Ready For The Country?') and Nina Simone (the compelling 'Come Ye') for the faithful. But, this wouldn't be a Nelson album without original work from Willie himself and his outstanding output.

On 'The Color Of Sound' he asks, "if silence is golden, what color is sound/And the love we don't hold in plants a seed in the ground," for some of his most poetic prose yet. Nelson describes this album as, "facing death with grace". We don't want to think about this being it for Willie, especially after two albums alone, just this year. Not to mention the fact that any moment could be the last for anybody. Yet, he really is working on new material like there's no tomorrow. With youthful vigor, just like 94-year-old legendary director Clint Eastwood with 'Juror #2' this week. I guess 90 really is the new 20. With the 'Spirit' of his most stripped down classic, Nelson also doesn't give up 'The Ghost' off of 'Naked Willie'. "The silence is unusually loud tonight/The strange sound of nothing fills my ears/Then night rushes in like a crowd of nights/And the ghost of our old love appears", as classics, like legends, never really die.

They live forever like a hidden bonus track 'Looking For Trouble' and the last laugh in this song and dance. On the wings of a 'Broken Arrow' like John Travolta from the quiver (featuring a snippet of 'Mr. Soul'), Nelson gives us even more legend in this lengthy number that flies as one of the best of the set. And this includes 'If It Wasn't Broken', robbing a Rolling Stone like Keith Richards blind and revisiting Waits for the familiar 'House Where Nobody Lives'. Always on Willie's mind like the walls that tell a thousand tales, families in frames couldn't quite capture. Willie is doing this until the 'Wheels' (wrote by Micah) fall off, and they're firmly turning too. Either way, he wants you to 'Keep Me In Your Heart' like the Jorge Calderón and Warren Zevon standard. How could we not as "hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams/Touch me as I fall in view/When the winter comes, keep the fires lit/I'll be right next to you" (and us, too) beats on? As inspired as his interpretations of these songs his own ones probably helped influence, the heart keeps getting filled from Willie's well. The tree stands strong. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Lost Cause', 'Broken Arrow', 'The Ghost'.

Spin This: Willie Nelson - 'The Border'