scaryblog

C ontinuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 15/11/81 : Shaky - Shakin' Stevens Well, I spoke too soon about hoping the run of quality would continue, didn't it? I'm being a bit harsh there because I suspect this is going to be fine for what it is, but it'll be intriguing to listen to it and try to understand why he was quite popular - it always makes me laugh that my youngest sister was absolutely crazy about him around this time. Nope - still got absolutely no idea. It's all old style rock and roll which I've got no problems with but it would certainly be pushing things to say I liked it. I remembered "You Drive Me Crazy" and "Green Door" and the rest of it is very much in the same vein - it's something you can imagine someone in the pub knocking out as a bit of a laugh, but it's quite bizarre how it was just something that people tapped into. And this wasn't a "people quite liked it" thing - "Green Doo...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2025 #8 :     28 Years Later It’s fitting that, 23 years after Danny Boyle and Alex Garland adrenalised the zombie genre anew in 28 Days Later, their return sees them hit the ground running. This long-awaited threequel, itself the beginning of a new trilogy, is a wild work from two of Britain’s best, creatively energised as they synthesise decades of national tumult into a pulse-pounding survival story. Or at least, the first half of 28 Years Later is that film, depicting youngster Spike’s (outstanding newcomer Alfie Williams) first trip to the infected UK mainland with his sharp-shooting dad Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). But it’s the unexpectedly soulful second half that proves to be Years’ secret weapon, delivering depths of emotion as Spike and his mum Isla (Jodie Comer) embark on their own odyssey. Energetic filmmaking, narrative daring, and intriguing world-building make for a stellar return to 28. Bring on next chapte...

Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 22/11/81 : Architecture And Morality - OMD I think I listened to this a very long time ago and quite enjoyed it - but then never listened to it again, so let's see what a gap of 40+ years has done for me. Interestingly, this is the third acronymical artist of the year (even though the album cover tells us they're really Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, but I'm not going to type that again), giving us a hit rate of 50% so far - they're doing as well as the women! It starts with "The New Stone Age" which is a very un-OMD sounding track but soon gets into the mellow-ish groove with "She's Leaving" (which I really liked), "Souvenir", "Joan Of Arc" and "Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)". It's not an immediate grabber but it's got some nice subtle hooks in there and I suspect it would really get into your head given half a chance (which it never got from me). We...

Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 29/11/81 : For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) - AC/DC Our third visit with AC/DC - they're not really my thing but we haven't seen them in over four years and I like the title track, so I think I can probably live with it! Yeah, I didn't mind this at all. It starts off with the title track and continues on in the same vein, but with just enough variety to stop it getting too samey. Yes, I'm sure a load of the lyrics were questionable even back then, but I just let them wash over me and enjoy a good old rock out. Part of me is just amazed as to how Brian Johnson manages to sing even one track in that style - it must be something to behold live and he's still at it at the tender age of 79. And do I have anything else to say on the matter? I don't believe I do - except that it's a peculiarly stark album cover. We're at #3 with a new entry in the chart this week on the start of an impressive 22 week...

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 TV shows of 2025 #3 :   Alien: Earth 2025 has very much been the year for rejuvenating beloved (but long in the tooth) IPs. Tony Gilroy worked his magic on Star Wars, Dan Trachtenberg put Predator firmly back on the hunt, but only Noah Hawley could have pulled off a reinvigoration of all things Alien with this perfectly crafted prequel series. After all, who else would have thought to filter Giger’s biomechanical horror through a Peter Pan fable meditating on the nature of self, while simultaneously introducing a menagerie of other extra-terrestrials somehow just as horrifying as the Xenomorph itself? The MVP of this show is doubtless The Eye (Eyelene to her friends), and the malevolent sheep it takes up residence in, but while there are monstrous new pieces on the board, the alien itself also gets a new lease of life, a deepening of its lore (they speak?) and a near perfect fifth episode (‘In Space, No One…’) that so perfectly captures the aes...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 02/10/26 : Put A Smile On For Me - Keo  Our first ever mention for Keo and I've never heard of them - I initially thought they would be R&B, but then realised I was thinking of Ne-yo, so I had no idea what to expect from this. But I really quite liked it - it's the sort of indie-rock I'd have loved back in the 90s and whilst I rarely listen to it now, if I catch this sort of thing at a festival I love the throwback feeling I get from it. Think Nirvana and Pearl Jam with hints of Radiohead (and it's a very Smashing Pumpkins album cover) - it's all well put together and I'm pleased they've succeeded with it. Because succeeded they have, being a new entry at #2 in the charts this week. And who's kept them off the top? Only Taylor Fucking Swift with her bajillionth rejig of The Life Of A Showgirl - there should be a law against such things. She's also at #1 in the singles chart and let me t...