“Low Down Rolling Stone” is an affair-ending lament from a wayward soul who’s discovered “darkness is my comfort zone.” But there’s no sorrow - yet – in a pair of kick-ass “got to” songs. He’s found that trouble and then some in “Don’t Wait Til Tomorrow,” a balladic plea to the woman at home to forgive dalliances, with the knowledge that she may exact some what’s-good-for-the-goose revenge. “Friday night and I just got paid/I’m out looking for some trouble,” he sings in “Feel Like a Million,” a number that starts out as Peter Tosh and ends up somewhere closer to an arena-rock anthem. He’s the parent in “When I’m Gone,” preparing a child for yet another trip away on the road, a topic he also takes up with a significant other in “Guitar Man,” where he’s weighing the “stamps in my blue book” and the fellowship of the road against the fear of a toll taken by time apart at home.īut if it’s the ballsy tropes of rock, blues and R&B that you’d like a fresh spin on, This Land hardly foregoes the twin towers of swagger and regret. “Pearl Cadillac” is a payback to a mother’s devotion.
Yet Clark also uses the album to get more personal than he ever has on record before, often assessing the tough balance between career and family. “Feed the Babies” brings in the brass to augment a call for understanding that’s a pleading, purposeful antidote to the raw nerves of the title song. Williams,” a guy who could be a past-his-prime neighborhood boss… or, who knows, a stand-in for some bigger political figure who also has to go. The attention to the greater good also informs “What About Us,” which has Clark announces that “the young bloods are taking over” - something he says to a fictional figure who recurs in several songs, “Mr. It’s in the mixture of social consciousness and sensuality that was a matter of course for records like “What’s Goin’ On”… not to mention “Sign O’ the Times.” Obviously you hear the awareness of what’s goin’ on in the song This Land itself, in which Clark finds himself “paranoid and pissed off” among well-heeled neighbors who “think I’m up to something” just because his family doesn’t fit the local demographics.
You’ll hear strains of Gaye not just in Clark using his falsetto more than he ever has before. But This Land is also a great soul record - one in which it’s easy to hear the lineage that connects Muddy Waters and Childish Gambino, with distinct nods to Marvin Gaye somewhere in the middle. You can think of Clark as one of the last of the real rock gods, along with fellow master singer/guitarists like Jack White, John Mayer, or the late, great Prince and the new album certainly won’t do anything to diminish that perception. But if a lot of fans would consider Clark the closest thing we have to a modern Hendrix, what comes through implicitly in This Land is the sense of just how much Jimi loved and borrowed from Curtis Mayfield. There are plenty of the guitar-hero sounds that have already established him as a headliner, with tunes that reiterate that Cream influences always rise to the top, from a guy who’s long since come to be considered by Clapton as a friend and contemporary, not just acolyte. If you want to catch this legendary singer and songwriter, live at a venue near you, then you'll need to score your tickets right away.He owns it all on This Land, which won 3 Grammy awards and is his third studio album for Warner Records, is sure to be seen as a breakthrough in establishing just how much stylistic variation Clark has at his command.
And now you can hear her performing it alongside her all-time classic hits, including "No One," "If I Ain't Got You," and "Girl on Fire!"Ĭheck out the Alicia Keys Tour schedule below to find out when she'll be in your town - but don't wait. Fifteen-time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys is launching her first major new tour in nine years, a tour she's bringing to venues all across the US and Canada in the coming months - and this website can help you find the best tickets for her upcoming performance near you! Featuring the lead single "Show Me Love," which recently became her record-extending 11th consecutive #1 hit on the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart, ALICIA is the singer's best album yet, a smooth blend of soul and pop that confirms her status as one of her generation's greatest artists.
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