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Mind the puddles!

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Some Northern parkrun tourism. 07/02/26 : Woodhouse Moor  Another one for me and my eldest, but it was only tourism for one of us - because the other one lived there at the time. Yup, Woodhouse Moor is in the mighty Leeds, making this the most Northerly parkrun either of us have ever done - a mere 283km away (amusingly, my next most Northern event is Letchworth). Woodhouse Moor is right in the middle of student accommodation land and so it is also the most populous parkrun either of us have ever done - there were people EVERYWHERE! And because my eldest was in her house and I was in a hotel, we had to arrange a place to meet, which could have been tricky. But fortunately my sartorial elegance always makes me easy to spot - I just stood in the middle of the park and waited! But it was a chilly wait because Leeds in February is not tropical - however, in a change from the last few days up there, it was at least dry (in the air, if not on the ground). The course starts in the middle o...
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So unplug the jukebox and do us all a favour - that music's lost its taste so try another flavor

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 19/07/81 : Kings Of The Wild Frontier - Adam & The Ants Our first multiple visit of the year - I wasn't very impressed last time we met this lot but have higher hopes for this one. Well. This is quite the album. The good news is that it's much, much better than our previous visit - it all hangs together pretty nicely with a pretty consistent sound. It's a most peculiar sound though being a strange combination of punk, art-rock, new romantic and tribal rhythms - I don't think I've ever experienced any album like it. I would also say it's conspicuously lacking a "Prince Charming" or a "Stand And Deliver" - "Ant Music" is probably the catchiest number but it's nowhere near the same league as either of those two. Did I like it? I'm not actually sure I formed an opinion on that because I was too busy listening open-mouthed at the oddness of it all and this could quite ea...
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I sit here alone, and I wonder why

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 26/07/81 : Kim Wilde -  Kim Wilde Our first proper visit with Kim, although we did meet her in passing with a new entry in '25 and it was a lot better than I was expecting. I've no real clue what to expect from this - Kim was never either cool or uncool, so it might have dated badly or just live in a strange timeless state. Hmmm - it's an interesting one. You get the feeling that she desperately wants to be the English Blondie (but there's a decent argument she's doing a better job than they did most of the time - particularly when we consider Debbie's recent offering ). But there are also definite 60s influences - quite probably because all the songs are co-written by her dad, Marty Wilde (as well as her brother Ricky). So I think it manages to be both of its time and timeless - I can't say I loved it (except for "Kids In America" of course, which is enjoyable catchy) and it's fair to say...
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Didn't know you would be jammin' until the break of dawn

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 02/08/81 : Hotter Than July - Stevie Wonder Our sixth visit with Stevie and, like the rest of them, I've never heard this one - but looking at some of the tracks that I already know on here, I think I'm gonna like it. Oh yeah - this has got some fine tracks on it. "Happy Birthday" is the one everyone knows, but I also really like "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It", "Master Blaster (Jammin')" and "Lately". I didn't know any of the rest but they all sound decent enough on first listen, so this definitely seems worth multiple listens - which is obviously true for most of the Stevie albums I've met (all except for Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants ) and I've yet to relisten to any of them. There's no doubting he's an exceptionally talented lad though, and this is a joyful, celebratory, skilful bunch of tracks with some great hooks. We're at #8 in the char...
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Where is everyone?

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Some fine parkrun tourism. 06/09/25 : Cassiobury  This was my first proper parkrun tourism - heading away from St Albans to see what their event offers. My eldest was, of course, responsible - we were off to see Tia, one of her friends from uni and we'd carefully arranged to meet her at the café beforehand, so time was allowed for chatting. The event is 19km away in Watford and I know the traffic can be terrible on a Saturday morning, so I allowed some time for that. It's also in a very big park and I had no idea how close the parking was to the start, so I allowed some more time for that... ...and so, to no-one's surprise in the family, we were there very early. We were also very much on our own - not only were there was no sign of a friend, there was no sign of any runners at all. Hmmm. Ah, hold on, there are TWO cafés - time for a speedy warm-up walk! By the time we got to the start line, there was no time to experience the other café (there was always afterwards) but th...
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We lay on towers, on rented time - I'm yours for hours, you're always mine

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Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 30/10/26 : Visitor - Sienna Spiro Well, this is a bit of a surprise. We met this album in passing as a new entry back in mid July and I liked it with her pushing Madonna close for the coveted album of the week award. However, I never imagined that we'd get to meet it properly seventeen weeks later with it not having left the top ten at all in that time - the lass has got to be pleased with that, hasn't she? Interestingly, the Olivias ( Rodrigo  and  Dean ) and the Michael Jackson best-of have also been ever present in the top ten during that period and the Fleetwood Mac best-of runs them close, but spent a couple of weeks at #11. But this week is all about Sienna... Last time I said that it gave strong Amy Winehouse or Raye vibes and she's only 20 but it's got a much more mature sound than that would suggest - but you're obviously looking for a much more in-depth analysis than that, so here goes. Well, err...
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Wearing stripes, arms up high, as tall as can be

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 09/08/81 : KooKoo - Debbie Harry I remember this album cover but I didn't remember it was Debbie - I find Blondie's output to be somewhat variable, so I'm not sure what to expect from this. Hmmm - it's an odd one. The backing tracks are generally fine, if somewhat generic, funk-pop and Debbie does her Blondiesque thing, which is generally fine, if not always quite in tune. However, the vocal and the backing track don't always seem to quite match up - it just feels like they were done separately and paired randomly,  which makes some of the songs rather puzzling . I did quite like "Chrome" though - they got it right on that one. I didn't love it overall but I wouldn't say it's a dreadful album - it just feels a bit odd for most of the time. We're at #6 in the charts this week on her second week of a seven week run, with this being as high as it got. The top five this week were the Royal ...
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