An Evening Silk Sonic-Silk Sonic Album Review:

 

Bruno Mars is back with his fourth album Silk Sonic, but this time he teamed up with Anderson Paak to create this R&B/funk album along with Bootsy Collins. They met during Mars’ last tour and realized they shared a passion for soul/R&B music from Motown greats like Stevie Wonder & Aretha Franklin, and other musicians like Prince, James Brown and Miles Davis to name some. They did their best to make the album sound like 1960’s-1970’s old school sound by hiring seasoned session guys and using the right gear, plus if it didn’t sound right they would redo it until everyone in the room agreed on it.

The album had huge success as it won R&B album of the year for iHeart music awards, nominated for top R&B album at Billboard music awards, won a Hungarian award for best pop album, won album of the year at the BET awards, and the track “Leave the Door Open” was nominated for four Grammys where it won record of the year, song of the year, best R&B song and best R&B performance as well. Cleary this song is the best song on the whole album from the music to the vocals to arrangements as it sounds like a classic Marvin Gay/Barry White R&B song.

The intro song called “Silk Sonic Intro” has good music that is really funky to open the album but is ruined by talking/narrating by the Collins person. Tracks “After Last Night”, “Smokin out the Window” and “Put on a Smile” are good songs especially the latter with the emotional vocals in it, but you waste time and gets kind of ruined with the narration over it (like for 40 seconds). In “After Last Night” if you fast forward past the talking it’s great (7 seconds for other two). Songs “Fly as Me” & “777” also get ruined by having some rap in it as the former has great chorus with a good funky bass sound.

The final two songs “Skate” & “Blast off” are like the Grammy winning song with great vocals and music especially as the latter is a great song to end the album as it blends the R&B, soul, funk and rock all into one as to say goodbye.

It has been quite a journey for the songwriter turned singer-songwriter-musician-performer whose debut album was more pop/rock, slowly progressed over the last two to where  he is now fully engulfed into the R&B scene with “Silk Sonic”. My only critique is if you’re going to continue down this creative path of R&B cut out the hip-hop/rap because that is what kept it from being as good as your other albums, especially your debut album. The same goes to your creative partner Paak who has a great voice. In the end chalk it up as another successful album for Peter Hernandez aka Bruno Mars to keep adding to his impressive catalog thus far. 

AM Gold-Train Album Review:

 

Train is back with their ninth studio album “AM Gold”, their first in five years and their second without lead guitarist/founding member Jimmy Stafford as lead singer Pat Monahan is the only original member left. Monahan now collaborates on his writing with new guitarist Jerry Becker for the last two albums and new drummer Matt Musty. He also collaborated with other musicians like Jewel and Sofia Reyes for two songs on this album.

If you were looking for an easy listening or pop album where the songs would be singles back in the day on AM radio then you found the right album here, which means you have to look at it through that lens as Monahan is trying to recreate a 90’s pop or soft rock. The track title “AM Gold”, “Cleopatra”, “Turn up the radio”, “Singing alone”, “Amber light” all scream poppy songs as two of them are singles and two have guests on them, plus a few have a Latin flare to them. This contrasts with the song “Ain’t no easy way” which has a very distinct easy listening vibe to it.

The other tracks which stand out more are because of Monahan’s amazing singing voice which has been one of the best voices in rock N roll history and for his strong song writing ability/lyrics. These songs show off the emotions in his writing and vocals with “Running back” which has football references, “Bettin’ on me” a retrospective on his life, “Fake Flowers” which has clever lyrics too, “Easy on the eyes”, and “Its everything”, which is a great way to end the album as it has a nice quiet peaceful sound to it being acoustic about how she means everything to him.

This is another fine edition to their long discography but it is not their greatest album as it’s not even close to the album “Bulletproof Picasso” as that was a makeup for the album that proceeded it.  They are a rock band and you can hear some elements of rocking out with some guitar riffs or solos on some songs but its hiding. They have slowly started creeping away from being a rock band over the last few albums and are now getting to be a full-time pop band, not even a pop-rock band. It is hard job as a musician to keep making music especially when you’re working with new people and you’re the last member of the band left so we got to cut Monahan some slack because guess what? None of these songs are bad as most are super catchy like their previous albums but it is certainly not AM Gold either.

Broadcast Summer 2022 TV Review:

CW:

 

Tom Swift: Based on the book of the same name; Tom Swift is a brilliant inventor with unlimited resources and unimaginable wealth but his world gets shaken after the shocking disappearance of his father, thrusting Tom into an adventure full of mysterious conspiracies and unexplained phenomena. On his whirlwind quest to unravel the truth, Tom finds himself fighting to stay one step ahead of an Illuminati-scale cabal hell bent on stopping him. Tackling this treacherous pursuit armed with his vast intellect, his roguish wit, and an endless supply of designer sneakers, he will also rely on his closest companions: his best friend/cousin Zenzi(played by Ashleigh Murray of Riverdale), his bodyguard Isaac(played by Marquise Vilson of Blindspot) and his AI, Barclay(voiced by Lavar Burton of Star Trek TNG & Roots).

Verdict: Renewed. Since it is a spinoff of sorts of Nancy Drew with the same show creators it has the same good storytelling, writers and acting. They also did a great job of casting the show with Murray being his cousin/best friend as she was great as Josie on Riverdale and its spinoff Katy Keane so it is nice she is getting another show. The mother who is played by April Parker Jones (of Supergirl & SWAT) is a good actress as well but her playing the wife/mother of a rich family is odd but will get used to it.  Tom is like a real life Batman as he has the wealth and knowledge to investigate what happened to his father. The technology and science fiction in this show is really drawing me and then solving the mystery of what happened to his dad with all the conspiracies is really interesting too. Swift isn’t just a tech guy he knows all of the sciences so he is well rounded like Batman and he is putting himself in danger to get answers. He also has a team that helps him like his little brother, his bodyguard and his cousin who each have their own unique skills that help him on his quest to find answers about his dad’s disappearance. It will be interesting to see how far he goes to in uncovering the truth and finding his dad no matter the consequences even if it is nothing like the book series. I like the route this show is going and the main actor is really believable and convincing-he will win some Emmys.