scaryblog

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 23/09/01 : The Id -  Macy Gray I always think Macy seems like an interesting (if slightly mad) person but I didn't think I particularly liked her sound - but it turns out I actually quite liked her previous album  so maybe I should go in with more of an open mind than I was previously planning.  Yeah, this is a bit more bonkers than her debut - it's interesting but not, for me, overly enjoyable because I just find her voice a bit grating. It's certainly not boring though which is often something I find with nu-soul tinged R&B, which is a category this seems to fall into for me. And, even though I don't like her voice, you're never in any doubt that she's making the noises she wants to and she's backed by some pretty talented musicians laying down some funky grooves. So overall, I'd say this is a decent album but just not for me - 56 minutes was a bit of a struggle. We're at a surprisingly hig...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 16/01/26 : Reflections - Blue Finally, the Christmas nonsense is all over and we've got some decent new releases to listen to. And this one as well... OK, OK, I'm being mean - there's obviously plenty of people that want a bit of Blue in their lives and whilst it's safe to say I'm not one of them, even I have to admit this wasn't dreadful. It's v ery Take That-ish, but there's more variety in their voices which does help somewhat. However, it's all dreadfully earnest and it's impossible to tell the songs apart so it all felt like a very long 40 minutes. I'm pleased to report though that at no point did my ears start bleeding, so I'll take that as a win. We're at #2 with a new entry in the chart this week, which is their highest position since '03 and the rest of the top five are  Olivia Dean  (her fifth week at #1), Zach Bryan (another new entry), Fleetwood Mac (how is th...

Continuing my trip up Empire's  top 20 TV shows of 2025 #19 :     A Thousand Blows Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s one-man mission to construct a potted history of working class Britain continued apace this year in this true-story-inspired Victorian boxing drama. Set amid the cobbled streets of London’s East End, Knight’s series thrillingly imagines a world in which the lives of Jamaican immigrant Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby), bare-knuckle boxer Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham), and Forty Elephants crime syndicate leader Mary Carr (Erin Doherty) — each fascinating, real historical figures of whom we truly know vanishingly little — all intersect with explosive consequences. Brilliantly acted, astonishingly well designed, and perfectly written just within the margins of historical plausibility, it’s a total knockout. Bring on Round 2! This was advertised a lot and got very good write-ups, but I had absolutely no interest in watching it - it falls into the Peaky Blin...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 30/09/01 : No Angel -  Dido Our second visit with Dido - I was somewhat unimpressed when we met the follow-up , but I remember quite liking this one and we certainly owned it (taking us to three for the year). Yeah, I think "quite liking" is a fair reflection of where we are. It's a funny one though, because I feel if this was an album that had only done moderately well commercially, I would be much more positive about it - but I just don't see what it's got that made everyone go quite so mad for it, so I question it more. But, ignoring that, there are a load of decent tracks on here, with "Here With Me", "Thank You" and "I'm No Angel" probably being my favourites. Yes, maybe there could be a bit more variety across the album, but I think I can forgive her because I like the general sound. And let's just take some time out here to consider the life of "Thank You"...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 07/10/01 : Music Of The Spheres -  Ian Brown Our first solo visit with Mr Brown - I own and like his best-of, but don't think I've ever listened to one of his proper albums, so I'm interested to go there. Well, it starts with "F.E.A.R.", which is one of my favourite Ian Brown songs - there's actually remarkably little to it, but what it does, it does very well. And that's a bit of a theme across the album, with a lot of the tracks being quite minimal in their composition - but it's quite a clever minimalism with the sum generally being more than the parts. If I had any quibbles, it would be about the "fuzziness" he employs at times, which just annoys me - but overall, I thought this was a decent album and nicely different. I'm also going to call out "Forever And A Day" which has some very nice guitar work on it and "El Mundo Pequeno" which is, for no obvious reason...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 14/10/01 : Songs From The West Coast -  Elton John Our fifth album visit with Elton (along with two singles visits) and I've never heard this one, but remember it being well received at the time, so I'm intrigued to listen to it. I recognised "I Want Love" and, although I'd completely forgotten about it, I actually quite liked it. I also particularly liked "The Ballad Of The Boy In Red Shoes" but, for the most part, the rest of the album is at a similar quality level and harks back to the classic Elton of the 70s. Somewhat ironically, the one track that annoyed me was the updated version of "Your Song". I love the original version for its simplicity and boy do they piss about with it here - it's a duet with some Italian opera style dude and they throw a children's choir in there as well. If we ignore that track though, this is a pretty decent album that I can imagine my dad listenin...