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LATE -NIGHT TUNES: THE HITS AND MISSES Billboard rates TV's best and worst musical performances from Nov. 24 to Nov. 29

LORDE ON THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON

Performing her spooky single "Yellow Flicker Beat" (from the Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1 soundtrack that she curated), From left: Lorde seemed to be possessed by a feral spirit as she thrashed , Masta around the stage. The singer's hair -whipping skills would have Killa, , made Beyonce proud. , , The RZA (kneeling), Method SAM HUNT ONLATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN Man, , The country rebel flowed smoothly GZA and U -God. from talk - to crooning on ballad "Take Your Time," the follow-up to breakout hit "Leave the Night On," letting the song unfold with easy Wu -Tang Clan, A Better Tomorrow; swagger and effortless sexiness. INTERPOL ONLATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS Ghostface Killah, Fresh off escaping the epic snowstorm in Buffalo, N.Y., the mope -rockers contradicted the title that they have hugged it out. Wu hasn't sounded this of the song "Everything Is Wrong" hungry, aggressive and determined in years. (from their new album El Pintor) with a sharp, dreamy performance. PRODUCERS The RZA, Rick Rubin, others But while Tomorrow certainly feels like a classic LABEL Warner Bros. Wu -Tang LP (epic kung fu skits stitch it together), it's RELEASE DATE Dec. 2 certainly not flawless. RZA worked with - producer and session musicians to make beats that sound like samples, and while the results are mostly good, some tracks - "Preacher's PRODUCERS The Revelations, Fizzy Daughter" and "Ron O'Neal" - fail to find their Womack, others LABEL Tommy Boy rhythms. The album often sounds busy, as if RZA just RELEASE DATE Dec. 9 couldn't stop tinkering with it, so it's not surprising that the uplifting title track, a simple rearrangement AFTER 20 YEARS OF RAPPING, THERE ARE FEW of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' "Wake Up things the Wu -Tang Clan hasn't been able to do - Everybody," is also the project's best. except get along. In 2007, ahead of the release of But, this being the Wu, even the triumph of a solid PITBULL AND NE -YO ON JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! its fifth LP, , group members Ghostface reunion album comes with glimpses of disorga- Pitbull and Ne-Yo played the former's new "Time of Our Lives" Killah and Raekwon trashed the album publicly, nization. In seemingly direct competition with with an army of scantily clad, often sloppy dancers, but the set was still an overbearing snooze. Pitbull repeated his go -to fillers ("Mr. blaming its poor quality on the direction of de facto Tomorrow, Ghostface is releasing a solo album, 36 Worldwide!") while Ne-Yo stayed stiff and guarded. It felt like a leader The RZA. The project came and went, and Seasons, one week later. It too features live produc- smutty clip from a dated episode of MTV Spring Break. everyone went back to their solo careers. Then in tion, from Brooklyn band The Revelations, who

2013, to celebrate the 20 -year anniversary of its place Ghost squarely inside a cornucopia of dusty DEJ LOAF ONTHE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON landmark debut, Enter the Wu -Tang (36 Chambers), grooves. The tightly wound concept LP plays like a While it was great to see a second the group attempted to reunite for a new album, mini -movie: Hero Tony Starks just came home from female rapper in one week on Fallon, but more bickering ensued and the deadline was nine years in jail ("The Battlefield"), his girlfriend this newcomer didn't seem missed. Months passed, and the project, rumored to has left him ("Love Don't Live Here No More"), quite ready to make her late -night debut, giving an unpolished take of her be Wu's last as a group, appeared to be in jeopardy and he's about to get caught up in the drug game singsongy hit "Try Me." - RZA even pleaded publicly for his bandmates to once more ("Here I Go Again"). Bit parts of Starks' get onboard. But finally, the legendary Donald Goines-like street opera are superbly played NICO & V INZ ON LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN collective got down to recording A Better Tomorrow. by rap legends A.Z., Kool G. Rap and Pharoahe No amountof pan -global over- The resulting album is one of solidarity: Opener Monch, and while it's not the Clan in full, you'd eagerness could lift the Norwegian duo "Ruckus in B Minor" features all Wu members, be hard-pressed to find a better supporting cast. when they delivered the sappy "In Your including the late 01' Dirty Bastard. "Rae, all those If Tomorrow is, in fact, the group's swan song, 36 Arms" - and their Milli Vanilli dance bad times is behind us/Ghost, put that mask on to Seasons proves that Wu's members can do just fine - moves didn't help. -CHUCK ARNOLD and MEGAN BUERGER remind us," rhymes RZA, and indeed, it appears and maybe even better- on their own.-PAUL CANTOR

DECEMBER 13, 2014 WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 123