Going Steady: New Singles 5-6-22 – 5-12-22 Reviewed

D.M.B. – A$AP Rocky – it’s been four years since his last solo album and he returns with an ode to his love, Rihanna, if you can call an acronym for “Dat’s My Bitch” a declaration of love on a nothing special rap pop track – B

I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself – Bryan Ferry – Ferry is the most dramatic of singers and with the exception of Costello’s pained version back on the Live Stiff’s tour, this is the best I’ve heard. A slow burn and solemn distraught beauty – B+

Love Letters – Bryan Ferry – The Ketty Lester cover given a somber shot by a man who can do this stuff – B

Western Wind – Carly Rae Jepsen – hyper-pop superstar Carly hasn’t done it for me since “Call Me, Maybe” but this co-write with Rostam Batmanglij is the best thing either one has put their names to in ages – B+

The Deal (feat. Drakeo the Ruler) – DaBoii – Drakeo died late last year and a real loss, and this deeply worrying posthumous release does well by both rappers with an edgy vocal from DaBoii and a rumbling grumble from Drakeo – B+

Vegas (From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ELVIS) – Doja Cat – Ugh, I have little doubt that Baz Luhrmann’s take on Presley will be a crime against nature, meanwhile Doja Cat samples… “Hound Dog”? – C+

Move – DNCE – I usually quite like Joe Jonas’s other band… what’s gone wrong? Oh wait, I see it, Ryan Tedder has a co-sign – C

I Walk On Guilded Splinters – Dr. John, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real – nothing much posthumous swamp stuff – C+

Talk to Me (feat. DaBaby, Blacc Zacc & Dayytona Fox) – Feder – funky little rap track and nothing more – B-

There Goes a Brooklyn Girl – Freedy Johnston – Freedy has had this in his back pocket since at least 2017, but hasn’t dropped it, or dropped an album either, in seven years. It’s a long time between recordings for the man who sold his family farm to pay the band. More’s the pity on the hook laden, guitar ringing, sure sounds like Freedy “Brooklyn Girl”. A top class coulda been a contender that currently has zero views on youtube., the song has a late night dreaminess and is yet another one where you have to write about something, it has the unmistakable Freedy spot on-ness and a life on the road vibe – A-

Amberlit Morning – Joan Shelley, Bill Callahan – two major American folkies with a very lovely, acoustic folk pop track – B+

Step Back – Juicy J, Duke Deuce – heavy beats tripping over trap vibes on a hook-y winner – B

Like I Love Country Music – Kane Brown – an ode to his country roots though the lyric is a little too bland to carry it – B

Hold My Hand – Lady Gaga – OK, here is where her MOR goes belly up on a truly terrible big ballad bore from the soundtrack to the new Top Gun – MUST TO AVOID – E+

Therapy Music (feat. Russ) – Logic – well spitted dance over bar after bar, Russ is in the way – B

Sweetest Pie – David Guetta Festival Remix Extended – Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa – I was ready to dis this on sight but hand it to the great French guy, he drops that bass with a vengeance on an addictive dance rap beauty – SINGLE OF THE WEEK – A-

I Just Came Home To Count The Memories – Gillian Welch, David Rawlings – I first got into country when I was around thirteen and I actually got into Hank Williams to distraction and that was it, ten years later Elvis Costello widened my horizons but John Anderson was the first country artist I searched out for myself (I begged Christgau to let me review him) and so a tribute album by a Black Keys shouldn’t work. Maybe it won’t but I can assure you Gillian and David gave him the treatment he deserves here – B+

Cate’s Brother – Maisie Peters – The Ed Sheeran fine with an English quirk done better by Lilly Allen to name but one, still a pleasant enough new love song – B-

Thought You Should Know – Morgan Wallen – the ever self-flagellating Morgan with a real snooze and a misstep – C+

OOH DO U FINK U R – Suggs, Paul Weller – the leader of Madness and the leader of The Jam, join up for some Beatley Penny Lane-ey horns goes to Camden – B

Satisfaction – SiR – as ho hum as it can possibly be, r&b to sleep on – C+

Mr. Bojangles – Steve Earle -a perfect take on Jeff Lee Walker’s biggest hit, with what must be Earle’s best singing ever… part of Steve’s upcoming tribute album – B+

This Love (Taylor’s Version)/Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version) – Taylor’s Version reaches the end of act one of her career, 1989, where she hit heights she never hit again with “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” and also reached a dreary middle ground that took her three albums to recover from. Neither song was particularly strong to start and the Taylor’s Version take adds less than she did on TVs albums from earlier in her career – B-

a little sound – The Lumineers – Tyler Despres, the Coloradan indie guitarist and local hero, died in 2016, The Lumineers do very well by him on a delicate and moving cover – B+

Keeper – Toosii – the talented emo-rap soul guy with a straightforward r&b winner – B

Turn the Radio Up (feat. Jewel) – Train, Rob Mathes -unassuming cover of the Irma Thomas (the first woman to hit with Jackie DeShannon’s “Breakaway”) though unassuming doesn’t mean unpleasant – B

Angel Baby – Troye Sivan – no, not the Rosie And The Originals, nice 60s style ballad by the gay icon – B-

Angel Baby – Slowed – Troye Sivan, Slowed Radio, xxtristanxo – if it was any slower it could drop off for a pint between verses – C+