REVIEW: SZA - LANA ('SOS' Deluxe Reissue)

4/5

Sza Sister

Last Christmas, I gave Boston my heart. Spending time in a deserted Beantown, the only Laker fan in the city rocking an ugly purple and gold sweater...but that's another story. Walking down a frozen Newbury Street, the same time the Celtics cracked the whip on all the King's men, the only thing frostier would have been the icy reception I would have received if there was actually anybody about. I was there before meeting my parents in New York for New Year. The only other person rocking basketball garb was, wait for it...in a Los Angeles Laker tracksuit. My man. The biggest draw of the street was billboards for R&B renaissance woman SZA's Grammy winning (best prog R&B) album 'SOS'. It's iconic album artwork above the sea. Not to mention the same football uniform on the next project for your consideration, the deluxe edition of this classic tilted 'Lana'. Already long-delayed and eagerly-awaited to drop at this point last year, the writing on the wall was already starting to fade, as the poster began to peel.

Call off the SOS! Because, like a Rey of light, 'Lana' is finally here. And this revelation of a reissue that is actually an album in itself has come just in time for Christmas, and hopefully the New Year's Grammy consideration. No need to press CTRL-ALT-DELETE, even if it was delayed this New Music Friday and the last one before the shopping spree of December 25th. Driven by the second single and R.E.M. like opening of 'Drive', automatic for the people. Featuring 'Meet The Parents' and Knickerbocker number one fan (after Spike), Ben Stiller taking the wheel and the lip-syncing of a new music video, the same time he's driving to a new home in rural Ohio for his Hulu and Disney Plus Christmas movie, 'Nutcracker'. At the end of this road, however, he finds the formidable figure of SZA in a mask that won't be alien to you through the trees of something sensationally haunting in album art.

SZA is to modern R&B what RZA and the Wu-Tang are the children, and legendary hip-hop. And after all the stars including Boygenius Phoebe Bridgers, Travis Scott and the late, great Ol' Dirty Bastard saved our souls, frequent collaborator Kendrick Lamar (with the own surprise drive of his 'GNX' album) hits '30 For 30', in a highlight for an album whose own making is worthy of its own ESPN documentary. Or movie, like the standout 'Scorsese Baby Daddy'. Absolute cinema. Right from the coming out party of the opening offset, 'No More Hiding', to the closing circle of lead single 'Saturn', SZA is here and out of this world, all at the same time. Damn! This is all so fine. After the 'SOS' follow-up was dangling precariously over that diving board for some time, we no longer want to be saved. We're jumping all the way in.

The best 'Lana' since Lizzy Grant is not just a bounty of beautiful bonus tracks. It's a real record in its own right. Call it a fantastic follow-up. The third charm of an album after the 'Ctrl' singer's sensational sophomore set and act. The arch of St Louis' best talent since Nelly is right heere and terrific. Forget the fifteen-hour delay, mixes like this live on for eternity...or at least 'Another Life' for our generation still grateful for actual albums in the age of streaming. Sure, I'm gushing, and I need to 'Chill baby', but so is the 'Crybaby'. Giving it you raw on 'What Do I Do' ("Last night, you called on accident/Heard you f####n' on the other end/It's too late, it'll never be the same again/Too late, never be the same."), save your tears, cheaters. We've all been there on that kind of receiving end, even if we don't know it. So what are you gonna do?

A newly minted and engaged Benny Blanco produced that track. And when the 'DTM' of 'Diamond Boy' shines bright too, you'll see that there are only murderers in the studio, killing it and building like Selena Gomez as the marauder to midnight like a Tribe. On this quest for infamy, the iconic SZA also drops 'BMF' (and it's 'The Girl From Ipanema' stunning sample) like it hot (it is). Before demanding, like everybody in their right mind should, to 'Love Me 4 Me'. "I remember wanting a diamond ring/Wanted you to define me, I let you pay for everything/Why not?/Treated me like a slave/Promise you I’ll behave if you let me try again/For you, I'd change my name/For you, I'd kill my fame/For you, I'd be so different, won't recognize my face/Can't wait to go to my grave for you/All I'd care for you, you never saw me for me/Saw me for me, loved me for me." The rhythm and blues songbook just got great. The only thing missing from this BTS Hyde Park Summer hyped album is 'Joni', like Mitchell.

It's '(Her) Turn' now as we get behind here like an inspired interlude that feels as much like a real track as this feels like a legit LP. Solána Imani Rowe keeps the party going like those in the 'Kitchen' singing, "Dancing and kissing, the kitchen/Makes me forget, I forgive him/Mama told me I don't listen, back again/Crashing out on shrooms, I guard them/Cursing you solves all my problems/Vacationing in rock bottom, back again." When 'Lana' is cut together with the soul saving sensation 'SOS', you have a definitive double album with all eyez on it. Not to mention lent ears. Doing her peers proud, the Instagram postscript that was written becomes gospel. We are no longer teased, but patience has become a virtue. What else can we expect from somebody who wrote a century worth of songs over the last half decade to well and truly get this right? A yoga like mediation that shaped itself sporadically into the right frequency like Kenneth. Coming out of hiding, camouflaged in cargo and nature. Now 'Lana' is finally here like a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, the calendar is complete. Time for SZA to swim in that success. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Drive', 'Scorsese Baby Daddy', '30 For 30 (Feat. Kendrick Lamar)'.

Spin This: SZA - 'SOS'.

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: RETURN OF THE KING - THE FALL AND RISE OF ELVIS PRESLEY

4/5

Elvis Has Reentered The Building

91 Mins. Starring: Elvis Presley, Priscilla Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Corgan, Darlene Love, Conan O'Brien & Baz Luhrmann. Director: Jason Hehir. On: Netflix.

Call it a comeback! The King is back. In a fond fall time for music documentaries focussing on specific periods of time in some of the radio's biggest star's lives this Christmas, Netflix give us 'Return Of The King-The Fall And Rise Of Elvis Presley'. Directed by Jason Hehir ('The Last Dance' of the legendary Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls), and looking for more like 'The Searcher', 'The Fall And Rise Of Elvis Presley' looks at the time his all-leather comeback special got people all shook up like The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. They show up too, like The King does on their latest Disney documentary 'Beatles '64', about the time they took America by a storm of love and sea change after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Just like Elton John's own 'Never Too Late' time capsule, also on Disney Plus, looks back on fond friendships with the likes of John Lennon and Andy Warhol.

Legends never die. The neon name of ELVIS in big, bold, red letters is celebrated in testimonials by 'Elvis' (epic) director Baz Luhrmann, not to mention his wife, Priscilla Presley, who got to tell her side of the story with Sofia Coppola's 'Priscilla' (powerful). Soul singer Darlene Love stirs more of Presley's proud roots in black music. Whilst, also along for the ride, The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, Late Night host Conan O'Brien, and 'The Boss' Bruce Springsteen (who once stormed the gates of Graceland for an audience with The King...that he didn't get), also offer their profound voices to the proceedings. Just like there is much prose on Presley (like 'Elvis and the Colonel', or 'The Gospel Side Of Elvis'), this is another great film to add to the vault. All as Netflix continue their run like Vegas, after last year's 'Agent Elvis' animation (voiced perfectly by Matthew McConaughey), after The King once dreamt of solving crimes on the side. But in this fall and rise of the house of Elvis, let's remember his wise words about life that we shouldn't sleep on. About surrounding yourself with the right people, the one girl, that will make you feel happiness. No matter how long it takes (like it should). For there is no encore.

Featuring footage from the engrossing Elvis comeback special, that began awash with nerves, but ended in the charm and charisma of a God, this documentary special is definitive, adding to Netflix's many docs that are more masterful than their movies (but we won't 'Carry-On' with all that (we literally did it yesterday) as we may as well treat Netflix like a TV channel and not a company these days). This true story of triumph comes just a few years after 'Beatles '64' in 1968, when the Fab Four were playfully shaking like him when drawing comparisons in press conferences by American media. But these four Pelvises loved The King and even nervously sat down for dinner with him, Paul McCartney even relaying a message of how much Elvis meant to them, as he couldn't find the ways to whisper it to the throne at the head of the table. The 'Return Of The King' like a 'Lord Of The Rings' has many a meaningful and mesmerizing story like that. Featuring the fall with Colonel Parker side lining the actual (who made more than Steve McQueen like a James Dean) actor into Old McDonald type movies, to his phoenix like rise and return in hell for leather. He never really left the building. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Elvis', 'Agent Elvis', 'Beatles '64'.

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: ELTON JOHN - NEVER TOO LATE

4/5

The Bitch Is Late

103 Mins. Starring: Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Dua Lipa & John Lennon. Directors: R.J. Cutler & David Furnish. On: Disney +.

In the same week that 'Rocketman' Taron Edgerton gives us some 'Carry-On' for Netflix (with no sign of Sid James), Sir Elton John unpacks his long, winding road tour bag, as he continues to say 'Farewell Yellow Brick Road' on streaming services. Following his live look at his last, bejewelled swing in Shohei's house ('Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium'), Disney Plus give us their new Elton John documentary 'Never Too Late', in conjunction with and leading up to that showstopper. The final frames playing out the same in this special directed by good friend R.J. Cutler in interview and husband David Furnish. Reminding us why the bitch won't be back. Giving it all up for the greater good of what really matters. When you see Reg interact with his children on Facetime, reaching to call your own, you'll understand. When you see his radio show with Furnish (feeling strange about today's use of the word "queer")  give a stage to kids bands coming up and of age, you'll fall in love with this Sir, all over again.

This Billy Joel besting piano man can rival all the Disney documentaries touring their way through your watchlists right now. The 'Thank You, Goodnight' Bon Jovi story miniseries. Fellow Jersey boy Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band's 'Road Diary'. 'Never Too Late', coming right before Christmas, is the perfect accompaniment to the big-three of his live movie, the 'Rocketman' biopic, and the 'ME' autobiography, also Audiobook read to us by his MARV 'Kingsman' sequel co-star Eggsy, Egerton. Just like when John broke America like Beatlemania, after taking the Troubadour (captured compellingly in cinema), with five albums in the chart in one calendar (what a time to really be alive), 'Never Too Late' even rivals the new Martin Scorsese produced 'Beatles '64' doc on Disney. 'Too Late' also takes us deeper into Elton's working relationship and wonderful friendship with the late, great John Lennon. Taking the stage with the other dear John for what ended up being his last time in concert. 

Animated, like many of this movie's artistic and beautiful way of telling backstory, Elton John Lennon get up to plenty of mischief as these pop stars recall a time pop artist Andy Warhol and that camera he carried everywhere came knocking at their hotel door. This year's Glastonbury headliner Dua Lipa also shows up in this show, as the two duet over the Elton mash-up of 'Cold Heart' interspersed with 'Rocket Man'. This long, long time, gives it up for the real co-star of this show, however, in songwriter Bernie Taupin. The man he loved more than love itself (nothing sexual), as the songwriting pair matched-up to Lennon and McCartney, lyric line for lyric line. Like '64', 'Never Too Late' looks at the time Reg Dwight came to America like Neil Diamond. Detailing his success, but also the sobering story of his descent into drugs. Not to mention how the rockets red's glare reacted to him coming out. And you thought America's resistance to the "long hair" of the Fab Four was bad. This Walt Disney and Rocket Entertainment epic, that made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival in September, is never one to miss. 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: The Final Elton John Performances and the Years That Made His Legend' may have been too long a title, but don't be too late for this. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Playing: 'Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium', 'Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band', 'Beatles '64'.

REVIEW: DMX - LET US PRAY: CHAPTER X

4/5

Put Your Hands Together 

It's hard to believe it has been over three years since the passing of Earl Simmons. It's even harder to take the fact that he's gone. For the first time since DMX's 2021 posthumous 'Exodus' (featuring everyone from Alicia Keys to Bono of U2), the dog is back. Yet this album is no, life after death, vault raiding, cynical cash-grab. X's latest serves more like an EP that will remind you of the album made out of the late, great Tupac Shakur's poetry, 'The Rose That Grew From Concrete'. The man that sometimes resembles 'Pac in prayer has his words with God turned into an inspirational set that says, 'Let Us Pray' for 'Chapter X' of the legacy of a legend who will never ever really die in time. And then there was X again.

From the 1998 double Def Jam definition of 'It's Dark and Hell Is Hot' and 'Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood', to the unanimous 'Undisputed' end. Not to mention all the Ruff Ryding '...And Then There Was X', 'The Great Depression', 'Grand Champ' and 'Year Of The Dog...Again' in-between, D's dominant discography was always curtain concluded with a prayer up to the most-high. Him to He. And now these words are immortalized once more in song. Featuring the beautiful backing of the RoyzNoyz Orchestra, all the way to the instrumental end of this four-track, doubled-up and down to become an eighth wonder. The hip-hop mix of jazz and soul with greats Lena Byrd Miles and a 'Sweeter' Terrace Martin also join X with Killer Mike, Lecrae ('Bear With Me') the 'Shackles' of a stirring Mary Mary. Not to forget legends like the great MC Lyte (fresh off of September's '1 Of 1') and Snoop Dogg who also assumes the 'Missionary' position this New Music Friday with his first Dr. Dre album since the 30-year-old 'Doggystyle'.

Snoop sent so much according to Grammy winning songwriter and producer Warryn Campbell who curated this set that marks the spot of X's formidable fortress of faith. Breathing new life into the raw and real words of an honest and heartfelt man of God...and the world that made him. A monologue mediation of life and death, the ultimate posthumous album does E.A.R.L. proud. From the first 'Favor', 'Until I'm Gone', Simmons shimmers instead of simmers like the perfect pose on the classic cover. The real album art comes with 'One Life To Do It', mind you, as DMX and Campbell show how he did it. "Begging for direction for my soul needs resurrection/I don't deserve what You've given me, but You never took it from me/'Cause I am grateful, and I use it, and I do not worship money/If what You want from me is to bring Your children to You, my regret is only having one life to do it instead of two." And as Lyte says, "I'm gonna stand with you, D, on that one, right here, right now, I agree", we believe in that too. Now, maybe this all means that the original intended double rap and gospel album of 'Walk With Me Now and You’ll Fly With Me Later' will finally see the light of day and the glory of God. Let it be. Then our prayers will truly be answered by God and the dog. Chapter and verse. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Praylist Picks: 'Favor (Feat. Killer Mike, Mary Mary & RoyzNoyz Orchestra)', 'One Life To Do It (Feat. MC Lyte & RoyzNoyz Orchestra)', 'Until I'm Gone (Feat. Lena Byrd Miles, Snoop Dogg & Terrace Martin)'.

Spin This: 2Pac - 'The Rose That Grew From Concrete'

REVIEW: SNOOP DOGG - MISSIONARY

4/5

The New Position

"The East Coast ain't got no love for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and Death Row?!" Ever since Snoop Dogg claimed his new electric chair throne as the head honcho of Death Row Records, he's been charged. Releasing albums at an alarming clip. In 2022, after many indies, the 'Drop It Like It's Hot' rapper released 'BODR' to celebrate being back on Death Row. And in the same year, he aligned with the West's best of Ice Cube, E-40 and Too $hort to form the West Coast supergroup Mount Westmore, carving up the competition with their album 'Snoop Cube 40 $hort'. Now, repackaged and ribbed for your aural pleasure, he returns with the condom cover of 'Missionary'. Converting all those who flipped the switch on him, as he reunites with 'The Chronic' of Dr. Dre, producing his first full Snoop Doggy Dogg album since the dynamic debut and stone-rollin' hip-hop classic 'Doggystyle'. Back in fashion on its 30th anniversary and assuming the position with no more "delicate" beats. Forget the Vaseline, lubricated like latex, a month after Ice Cube's 'Man Down'.

Coming out of deep cover, hip-hop has taken some hits this year. That's what happens when some of its biggest stars and pioneers turn out to be bigger d###s than the first letter of their names. Lucky for us, like Kendrick, Snoop and Dre are not like them. As a matter of fact, 'Missionary' and the short-film to come (reminding us of the joint they lit in the convenience store before their 'Up In Smoke' tour), is as much a Dr. Dre album as a Dogg-gone one. Some are dubbing this as a collaborative album and it almost feels like one. Much like when Jay-Z (erm) appeared on the last Jay Electronica album. Or, more appropriately, when Wu-Tang Clan members Raekwon and Ghostface Killah traded 'Lynx' and 'Wallets'. Better yet, when Calvin Broadus appeared on Andre Young's 'Chronic'. Murder is the case again, with only killers in the building, as Dre mans the boards of this sweet sixteen track album. Also adding a couple of those to tracks like the M.I.A. 'Paper Planes' and Lisa Stansfield (she's set for life with the hip-hop community and 'Been Around The World' and "I, I, I") sampling single 'Outta Da Blue' (with Alus), 'Pressure' (featuring K.A.A.N.), and 'Now Or Never' (assisted by BJ (stay away from Diddy) The Chicago Kid), rapping out of retirement. A year off 60, but not playing with flutes like another 'dre, the good doctor still has it.

Bowling us over even more than their Super Bowl half-time show (as legendary as Lamar is, that's quite a legacy to follow this year), this is the first time Snoop and Dre have laid down tracks together since Dr. Dre's cinematic 'Compton', a sign of the Hollywood hip-hop times that saw Snoop rap like a man possessed on 'One Shot One Kill'. With no sign of 'Detox', the boys are still at it like the 'Kush' they rolled up with Akon, when Dogg rapped, "still I am/tighter than the jeans on Will.i.am", which is still a crazily underrated rhyme. On the same New Music Friday that Snoop lends his voice to the DMX posthumous prayer album 'Let Us Pray: Chapter X' (think 2Pac's 'The Rose That Grew From Concrete'), he brings many big names to the city of stars and lost angels here. The Chicago Kid again for some 'Fore Play' (we won't say anything again about this big swing), Jhené Aiko on the 'Gorgeous' second single. Method Man and Smitty reaching for 'Skyscrapers'. Cocoa Sarai on 'Fire' and a 'Sticcy Situation' with K.A.A.N. And Dem Jointz, Stalone and Fat Money on the lean of a 'Gangsta Pose'.

Yet the man who has collaborated with everyone from Willie Nelson to Miley Cyrus (when he went by the Snoop Lion animal moniker) saves the best for the latest single, sampling Sting and featuring a member of The Police that N.W.A. won't say "F You" too in 'Another Part Of Me'. Sting will be glad to get this 'Message In A Bottle' after his last rap 'Roxanne' collaboration. Snoop even channels the late, great Tom Petty (alongside man of the moment Jelly Roll) for the heartbreaking 'Last Dance With Mary Jane'. If that wasn't enough, he interpolates Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)', with a hammer for the new 'Hard Knock' life. Playing 'The Negotiator' like Soul Dog or Sam Jackson. The biggest and best collabo may just be the Aftermath of the 'Gunz n Smoke' with 50 Cent and Eminem. 50 sounding his best since he was hanging upside down like "go...go..." But on this 'Thank You' like X to the Lord, Snoop Dogg sounds his best when he goes it alone with Dr. Dre in 'Shangri-La'. Rapping, "We 'bout to rewrite history in this motherf#####/Yeah, get high, get high, get high, get high, get high/With some monumental s###/Good mornin', it's Mr. Broadus/The moment finally upon us." Mission accomplished. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Outta Da Blue (Feat Dr. Dre & Alus)', 'Another Part Of Me (Feat. Sting)', 'Gunz n Smoke (Feat. 50 Cent & Eminem)'.

Spin This: Snoop Dogg - 'Doggystyle'

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: JUNG KOOK - I AM STILL

4/5

Still J

3 Episodes. Starring: Jung Kook. Director: Park Jun-soo. On: Disney +.

Disney may be known these days as a streaming service that also channels Marvel and Star Wars property, as well as doing its Mickey Mouse self and Pixar proud, but it could also be a BTS channel. On the same day that the new Jude Law 'Skeleton Crew' children's show in a galaxy far, far away debuted, Disney dropped ARMY member, fresh off military duty, Jung Kook's 'I Am Still' three-part docuseries (directed by Park Jun-soo). Just weeks after a 'Party Edition' was shown, here in Japan, as a movie, on the big-screen, in its epic entirety. It all began with the South Korean K-Pop phenomenon's 'Permission To Dance-Live In LA', streaming in the palace of Walt's kingdom. But now, with this still, the 'Monuments To A Star' series, not to mention the 'Are You Sure' travelogue with bandmate brother Jimin, the Bulletproof Boy Scouts, are as a plus to Disney as 'The Simpsons' are. Of course, we're sure.

Released in the same week as the closest K-Pop act to BTS, BLACKPINK, are also doing the solo thing with 'Rosie' by Rosé, 'Still' sits next to 'J-Hope In The Box' and 'Suga: Road To D-Day', as some real BTS (behind the scenes) looks at the supergroups solo albums. Not to mention the same week that 'Are You Sure' guest V, after his 'Layover' returns to the charts in time for a 'White Christmas' with Bing Crosby. Not a month after Jin gave us his 'Happy' EP, back after duty. Still, what Jung is cooking up here goes deeper than the other BTS work we can find on Disney and the Hybe Entertainment, beyond all the big hits. Besides, his last series was really just him eating food. On 'I Am Still', worthy of a movie, and its theatrical release, for the 'Dreamers', the World Cup anthem singer goes from Seoul to the Big Smoke of London and the electric heart and core of entertainment in New York's Times Square. For a concert that rang in as many people as New Year.

Never dropping the ball, Jung Kook becomes a leading solo light. Moving and shaking with them all. Whether it be in '3D' with peers like Jack Harlow. Or legends that inspired him, standing next to Usher for a remix and more behind the steps visuals and testimonials. Just wait until you hear what the 'Confessions' singer has to say about his new protégée, comparing Kook to what Usher Raymond must have meant to the likes of Michael Jackson and James Brown. High, but deserved praise for a mighty man who is sealing the deal like his 'Seven' heaven single with Latto. You can see all these songs tracked for some alive live performances that border all the makings of a monumental star. Yet in quiet and compelling contemplation for such a young man, it's these wise words and the slower, still moments that really resonate. From the militant fanbase, to those who are their own singing and songwriting dreamers. One pure moment of this time capsule documentary before the enlistment moves his hairdresser to tears as he shaves Jeon's head for the army. There won't be a dry eye in the barbershop as you'll be talking all about this. Truly a 'Golden' moment for a man who has hit his own light. One that still shines bright. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Are You Sure', 'J-Hope In The Box', 'Suga: Road To D-Day'.

REVIEW: ROSÉ - ROSIE

4/5

Rosés Are Red

Game start! The Rosé that grew from BLACKPINK is here in your area. Two years after the release of her single album 'R' (featuring the standout cuts 'On The Ground' and 'Run'), the New Zealand and South Korean singer/songwriter is back with her first, full-length studio album, 'Rosie', that will have you in the lament of your love's memories. Before she goes back to black, the born pink, K-Pop superstar is forging her own career, like those boys from BTS, in the same week that Jung Kook's 'I Am Still' docuseries hits Disney + streams like 'Are You Sure' with Jimin and an occasional V (who also gives us his second Christmas single this New Music Friday, 'White Christmas', with who else, but the late, great Bing Crosby?). Headlining one of the most hyped (and best) albums of 2024 with two of the year's biggest (and greatest) chart-topping singles. The 'Apt.' anthem with collaborator of the calendar Bruno Mars (see; Lady Gaga and Japan's Don Quijote everything store) and the beautiful ballad and love song of the Korean ages 'Number One Girl'. Now, if that wasn't enough, 'Rosie's' release coincides with the new single, 'Toxic Till The End', that's Taylor Swift sound is mansion matched with a 'Blank Space' like video as Rosé writes her name next to the biggest stars in all of pop music. The girl with the guitar is a rock star now!

Number one, indeed, like her t-shirt that's bound to sell out in stores. "Tell me that I'm special, tell me I look pretty/Tell me I'm a little angel, sweetheart of your city/Say what I'm dying to hear/'Cause I'm dying to hear you." We don't need to say it (but we will). It isn't lonely at the top any more. Especially when you hear the lovely live version on Korean TV. Not to mention the classic camcorder music video. This Black Label and Atlantic album from the artist's individual emancipated from YG Entertainment and Interscope Records, and it's big-three singles, is putting the new Hollywood of South Korea back on the cultural entertainment map, like the second season of Netflix's most successful 'Squid Game' set to stream this Boxing Day. Christmas is coming early and late, as blonde on blonde, Rosé releases a debut full of amazing album tracks that could all serve as singles as she looks at us through those blonde curls lying down on the album artwork like a star is born. 'Rosie' red from 'Two Years' to '3AM' gives us every ounce of her love and hurt in this release of heartbreak and healing for your milk and honey. Or 'Drinks Or Coffee', as she sings, "Is it just me starting to see/You in a different light?/I know we can't say what we mean/But I'm happy that you're here tonight."

90s R&B, synthpop and the raw nature of relationship's break-up ballads inspire this dozen track affair looking at the love and loss of Rosé's twenties. Something we all share as she head to her thirties with a life like few others. Maybe, Jisoo, Jennie and Lisa making Billboard magazine history across the world's news-stands can relate. They'll be back soon, but before then let Rosé greet you with tracks like the loving yearn of 'Stay A Little Longer', or the 'Gameboy' that takes all those Charli XCX 'Boys' who just wanna have fun and nothing serious to task. Rosé talks about her terrible twenties as a time when she has "wasted (her) prettiest years" ('Toxic Till The End'). Hey, we've all been there sadly ("ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: The Ex"). But, not like us, a week after Kendrick, Rosé is 'Not The Same'. Looking for love, or at least light, as to close, she steps through all the pain to 'Dance All Night'. "Got out of my bed today/The sunlight was hitting my face/And two little birds came and sat on the edge/And they ask if I'm doing okay."

Anyone singing about little birds like Marley is going to be just fine, and from a bonus Halloween like cut, 'Vampirehollie', to the Xmas cult following down the chimney that her cover of WHAM!'s 'Last Christmas' (from the BBC Radio One legendary Live Lounge) will receive, no coal, this is Rosé's time this year. 'Too Bad For Us' that this "little journal" will hit us where it hurts, but don't 'Call It The End'. With lines like "Do I call you my ex/Or do I call you my boyfriend/Call you a lover, do I call you a friend/Call you the one or the one that got away/Someone I’ll just have to forget/Do I call you every night you’re gone/Or never call you again/Do we have a future/Or should I call it the end" (on some Usher 'Separated' ish), Rosé and 'Rosie' (like two YouTubers) understand love and (that's) life like few others. With her first and the most personal album of the BLACKPINK crew, Roseanne lets us get a little closer to the real her, like family and friends. Hey, on the so fine 'Mickey' hook of the head-nodding single with Bruno Mars that attacks your speakers, back and forth, Rosé sings, "Don't you want me like I want you, baby?/Don't you need me like I need you now?" Of course, we do. And now, she's coming to meet us all. How apt. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Apt. (With Bruno Mars)', 'Number One Girl', 'Call It The End'.

Spin This: Rosé - 'R'

REVIEW: THE CURE - SONGS OF A LOST WORLD

4/5

The Lost World

Talk about being late to the Christmas party. But The Cure for your seasonal affective disorder is 'Songs Of A Lost World'. I must admit, I never found The Cure until my dear father played me the new album last week, after venturing to the HMV out of town to buy it and run into one of my old friends. Another one lamenting seeing a live performance at the BBC. Now, quite simply, the eight-track wonder is a late, but epic entry to album of the year consideration. Their first release since 2018's 'Torn Down' remix album is actually their first studio album of new material in sixteen years, following 2008's '4:13 Dream'. Not to mention their first album with great guitarist Reeves Gabrels. Now, if that wasn't enough, these 'Songs' are the first since 1985's (when I was born) 'The Head On The Door' to be composed solely by iconic singer/guitarist Robert Smith. All as this album came a day after Halloween, as per his request.

Crawley, West Sussex's finest, give us their fourteenth and most formidable LP. From the outstanding opening of the amazing 'Alone' lead single (and it's 'A Fragile Thing' follow-up), to its epic 'Endsong' endgame, curtain conclusion. This gothic rock, nightmare before Christmas classic, recorded in the Rockfield studio of Monmouthshire, Wales, is set in stone, like the amazing album art, now. Bagatelle, a 1975 sculpture by Slovenian artist Janez Pirnat, greets us in black for this dark album of lyrical poetry and prophecy. Taking it back to the good old, jewel case days of CD's, the album's booklet features lyrics to an unreleased song and original conclusion ('Bodiam Sky') which may make the next album. Their first album to go number one in the UK since the 'Wish' of '92 has plenty else to go off, mind you. The beautiful ode to Robert's brother, 'I Can Never Say Goodbye' is a standout that will last for years, like their most famous tracks (see 'Just Like Heaven' and 'Boys Don't Cry'). Or the songs for these turbulent times like 'Drone:Nodrone', or 'Warsong'. Praying for peace and a release from this vice grip of arms.

"I think too much of all that's gone/Of how it was before my thoughts/Obsessed with choices made for sure/In ignorance of history/And consequence as more and more/I misremember hopelessly," Smith sings on 'All I Ever Am', and trust me, you'll feel it too. Vivid vocals that everyone can hear. Topping the charts around the world in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland, as it, at one point, outsold the entire top ten, back home in the United Kingdom. This what you get when you sing in solidarity, "We were always sure that we would never change/And it all stops/We were always sure that we would stay the same/But it all stops/And we close our eyes to sleep/To dream a boy and girl/Who dream the world is nothing but a dream", on 'Alone' to show the world they're not. Waking up a new way to dream of what once was, and what could be if we begin to reach out again like this, instead of stand at folded arm's length with people's rights and belief's falling on deaf ears, or ignorant scowls from posturing podiums.

The world will get better again. It will recover from its sickness. The Cure come back at a time when we need them now more than ever. A time when mother earth could feel just like heaven, once again. As long as we stop the crying. It's clear one of the fastest selling albums of '24 is reaching people around the clock. Even if it is (*hands up*) a little late, it's never too late. Inspired instrumentals met with meaning in the words. On 'Nothing Is Forever', Smith says, "And slide down close beside me/In the silence of a heartbeat/And wrap your arms around me/In a murmured lullaby/As the memory of the first time/In the stillness of a teardrop/As you hold me for the last time/In the dying of the life." Love may last for life, like this, though. This all sounds so atmospheric and compelling, no wonder the 'Songs For A Live Planet' album is coming in concert to conclude the calendar. With the Cure of these songs, this world is a little less lost. Thank you, Pop. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Alone', 'I Can Never Say Goodbye', 'Endsong'.

Spin This: Tears For Fears - 'Songs For A Nervous Planet'.