★★★★★ Beyoncé worked with so many people on ‘Lemonade’, her sixth album which she dropped in late April with an accompanying short fi lm, that its credits run to 3,105 words. It’s a testament to her star power that none of her collaborators blabbed before the surprise album release – Bey’s second in a row after her 2013 self-titled LP. But it’s also a testament to her star quality that despite the many, many cooks in this kitchen, ‘Lemonade’ feels like an album only Beyoncé could make. ‘Lemonade’ is officially billed as ‘a conceptual project based on every woman’s journey of self knowledge and healing’, but the narrative is really one of marital infi delity. ‘How did it come down to this? Going through your call list,’ she sings on the deceptively breezy reggae bounce of ‘Hold Up’, before issuing what sounds like an ultimatum on the brilliant, Jack White-assisted rock stomper ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’: ‘If you try this shit again / You gon’ lose your wife.’ The electro blips of ‘Sorry’ feature another killer couplet: ‘He only want me when I’m not there / He better call Becky with the good hair.’ Beyoncé stops short of singing ‘My sister Solange appeared to attack you in a lift after the Met Gala in 2014’, but this is still startling stuff which must be tough for Jay Z (who appears in the short film) to listen to. As the story progresses from rage to reconciliation, ‘Lemonade’ continues to thrill musically. Bey teams with The Weeknd for ‘6 Inch’, a kind of strip club update of
First things first: the incredible new album by The War On Drugs does sound quite a bit like Bruce Springsteen. It has a harmonica, lots of piano, a husky vocal, and some gnarly classic rock guitar. If you can't stand ol' Bruce (if you're ag-Bosstic, perhaps) then 'Lost in the Dream' may not be for you. Shame: this is one of the best rock records in years.
That's 'rock' on its own - no 'roll', no 'alt', not even an 'indie' - a term over which the spectre of the Drive Time Compilation (looking a lot like Jeremy Clarkson) hangs heavy. 'Lost in the Dream' (the third album by the Philadelphia band) won't change that overnight, but it does suggest a future for the long-form, lyrical guitar jam, a species previously thought on the verge of extinction.
Precisely tooled together over two years and three cities by TWOD main man Adam Granduciel, 'Lost...' incorporates some impeccably chosen leftfield sounds - The Cure's heartrending sprawl, Slowdive's total sonic immersion and Neu!'s endless drive - alongside the Springsteen and Dylan refs. So far, so 2014.
What sets this LP apart is its sheer, sublime immediacy. Its high points ('Red Eyes', 'Under the Pressure', 'An Ocean Between the Waves') tap so cathartically into the old themes of life, loss, and loneliness that despite all that classic rock baggage, they come up sounding startlingly new.
It's no small feat to make rock music sound this fresh nowadays. Amid the hordes of bands pulling the same old tired moves, thank god for The War On Drugs.