Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

The Specials eagerly awaited new album “Protest Songs – 1924 -2012”, conceived and recorded during lockdown, during a time when the world was in a state of social, existential and political flux, is out now. The already critically-acclaimed record, follows a triumphant 2019 for Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter, who celebrated their first ever number 1 album “Encore” 40 years after they exploded onto the music scene and launched the 2 Tone movement. Released via new label Island Records , “Protest Songs 1924 – 2012” features twelve singular takes on specially chosen protest songs across an almost 100-year span and shows that The Specials still care, are still protesting and are still pissed off! The Specials emerged in the late 1970s as the multiracial flagship of the 2 Tone movement, and sang of racism, unemployment and injustice making a very clear political statement every time they stepped on stage. It's fitting, then, that in 2021, at a time when th

Ahead of the release on October 1 st of her eagerly awaited debut album “Access Denied” , Ray Blk , one of the most powerful and important voices in music, drops her new single “Over You" Listen to “Over You” here:   The track featuring the one and only Stefflon Don, was produced by Fred Ball   (Beyonce, Jay Z, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Eminem) and Rymez  (Stefflon Don, D Block Europe, Ms Banks) and the accompanying video will launch on September 20 th . “Over you is about enjoying the feeling of healing from a breakup. That sudden realisation that you no longer care about something that was making you constantly sad. You wake up one day and you don’t think about that person anymore or care to entertain them. I wanted to make a song about overcoming a break-up and for it to be upbeat so you could hear it in a club or in a party, as that’s where we usually end up when going through a break-up to distract yourself. I want the people who are going through

Global superstar Drake celebrates his 4 Th  Number 1 success in the UK with his phenomenal new album  Certified Lover Boy ,  after landing the top spot on the Official Albums Chart . CLB has already  racked up an astonishing 70.4 million streams in the UK this week and gives Drake his fourth Number 1 record in the UK, following  Views  (2016),  Scorpion  (2018), and  Dark Lane Demo Tapes  (2020). Drake has also earned three spots in the Top 5 in this week’s singles chart with  Girls Want Girls  (2),  Fair Trade  (3) and  Champagne Poetry  (5) – bringing his total number of Top 10 singles to 30.This is the second time Drake has managed three simultaneous Top 5 singles in the UK – previously he managed the feat in 2018 following the release of his  Scorpion  album.  On release day Drake topped his own all-time record for single-day streams on Spotify with  Certified Lover Boy , his last album,  Scorpion , was the previous record-holder with 132 million single-day streams and