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Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 26/08/01 : Break The Cycle -  Staind This is only our third mention of Staind on this blog - and the other two mentions have been the two previous posts because it was in the top five. And I don't really know anything about them - I believe they are heavy-ish rock types, but whether I like them will depend on how heavy they are. They've got to be better than Slipknot though, right? Oh yes, better than Slipknot - high praise indeed! This is actually decent enough - I was reminded of Live or Nickelback, with a decent combination of slower, more melodic and faster, rockier sections. It's not surprisingly anyone with its musical genius but it's something to rock out to if you're in the mood for some mild rocking. I can't say I'm likely to head back to it, but I'd have no problems if I found myself there. Despite my nice words, I do have to admit to being surprised to find ourselves at #1 in the chart th...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 02/09/01 : Iowa -  Slipknot Ah - what could be more relaxing on a wet January morning than a calming dose of Slipknot. To be fair, I found our  only previous visit surprisingly enjoyable - but that was in '22 so I suspect some age-related calming down might have happened. I'm fully expecting to hate '01 Slipknot though... Oh yes, 66 minutes of shouty absolute nonsense. Yes, it has its fans and I hope it helps them work some things out - but, with the notable exception of "Left Behind" which is acceptably Nirvana-esque, it's just not for me, I'm afraid. And the closing title track goes on FIFTEEN MINUTES - aaaaarrrrrgh. Next! And so, we are, quite obviously at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week on the start of an 11 week run - amusingly it came back for a week in '11 and a week in '21 for anniversary re-releases. The rest of the top five were The Strokes (another new entry), Five (and ...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 09/09/01 : Whoa Nelly! -  Nelly Furtado I know Nelly did that song that everyone knows but can't, for the life of me, remember what it is - I suspect this will jog my mind. Ah yes, "I'm Like A Bird" - that's the one. Which I don't mind at all - and the rest of the album is similar in a samba-tinged summer pop kinda way. I'm not entirely sure I love her voice, but it's certainly bearable and the whole thing bounces along pleasantly enough - although  it feels unlikely I'll come back to it. And that's pretty much all I think I have to say on the matter. We're at #2 in the charts this week on her ninth week of a 37 week run, with this being as high as it got - somewhat unusually, this was her second run with it first having had a 13 week run starting in March after which it took a month off before it came roaring back. The rest of the top five were Jamiroquai , Staind, Sophie Ellis-Bextor ...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 16/09/01 : A Funk Odyssey -  Jamiroquai Well, this is not good. Not only is it our fourth visit with Jamiroquai who have definitely proved they belong in the "if you've heard one, you've heard 'em all" category but we're also missing out on a much more interesting album (and group) as a result. More on this later - but first, more of the same... Yup - definitely more of the same, but often a bit more boring than usual as well. I actually quite liked "Love Foolosophy" (it's way better than the title suggests and also features Beverley Knight on guest vocals - and she improves everything) but it also suffered because it just made me want to listen to The Cardigans' "Lovefool". The rest of the album is well put-together, but also really rather dull and I couldn't tell one song from another, except that some of them had weirder noises than others. And unfortunately I don't t...

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...