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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 06/09/81 : Time - ELO Our fourth visit with ELO and so far I've liked their '70s offerings but found their '83 album to be very bland - so my expectations are somewhere in the middle. Well, it's certainly not bland - I can see that some people might level accusations of "too same-y" at it because the tracks mostly share the same electro-prog-pop vibe (there are strong Jean-Michel Jarre vibes), but I think it gets away with it by having enough other stuff in there and it's certainly got a reasonable amount of skill involved. What I'm less sure about is whether I actually liked it - I don't think I did on first listen, but I can see I might get into it if I gave it a few chances (which I obviously won't) particularly because I recognised and liked "Hold On Tight". It was an interesting listen though which I was pleased to catch up with. We're at #3 in the charts this week on the...

Another trip overseas! 04/07/26 : Moussette  The big family holiday this year was taken in Canada, which resulted in much excitement amongst the family parkrunners because Canada Day is July 1st and this counts as a special day when they're allowed to put on additional events - which was doubly exciting because it was a Wednesday and so counts towards the daily challenge (the only chances here to get non-Saturdays are Xmas and New Years Day, which rudely always fall on the same day of the week). However, we were in Montreal at the time and the closest parkrun which was actually happening was in Ottawa which is 200km away and I'm not sure the family non-parkrunners would have been too happy about us disappearing for the day just to tick off a Wednesday, so it seems like we're going to have wait until 2030 for a Wednesday parkrun. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait that long for a Canadian parkrun because a mere three days later we were in Ottawa on a Saturday so could c...

Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 13/09/81 : Dance - Gary Numan Our third solo visit with Mr Numan (who is, of course, older than Mr Oldman) along with one Tubeway Army visit and I've quite liked his stuff - I'll be surprised if this strays too far from the formula (and I'll be very surprised if it features anything you could actually dance to). Yeah, this isn't gonna get the grannies on the dance floor - it's understated even by Gary's standards with all sorts of weird rhythms and sounds on there. It has a very Japan (the group, not the country) kinda sound to it - I didn't mind it, but it got a bit samey across the whole album for me (all 57 minutes of it). I think it's an interesting attempt, but not a complete success for me. We're at #3 in the charts this week on his second week of an eight week run, with this being as high as it got. The rest of the top five were  Meat Loaf , The Rolling Stones , Ultravox (a new entry which...

Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 20/09/81 : Tattoo You - The Rolling Stones Our eighteenth visit with the Stones, taking them into second place on their own - they're gonna overtake Elvis before we get to the end. I don't remember this album in the slightest but I know I had absolutely no interest in this bunch of old men at the time (and yes, I realise they were considerably younger at the time than I am now). Actually, it starts with "Start Me Up" which I do remember not absolutely hating - and the rest of it mostly isn't too far away from that or a bit more bluesy, which is generally to be expected (although  I didn't like "Little T&A", which is somehow worse than its title). I can't say any of it struck me as absolutely essential Stones material (except possibly "Start Me Up") but that's pretty much been the case for most of the albums we've met from them - it's certainly nowhere near their wors...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 16/10/26 : Ghosts (100 Days Of Morning) - Jamie T  Our third visit with Jamie T and I've not hated his stuff, but also not really seen the point to it - let's see what we've got this time. Hmmm - no, I didn't really like this. It was just all a bit shouty and tiresome - maybe it was similar to his previous stuff and I just wasn't in the mood for it today, but it didn't hit the spot. We're at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week and the rest of the top five are Chase & Status (another new entry),  Olivia Rodrigo  (18 weeks in the top ten), Michael Jackson and Olivia Dean  (55 weeks in the top ten) - I'm also going to call out Sienna Spiro at #6 who's managed 15 weeks in the top ten. We've got a whole load of new entries to consider this week - has the pre-Xmas rush started early? Chase & Status (#2) C&S are definitely someone I have to be in the mood for, but I have to a...

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2025 #4 :     The Ballad Of Wallis Island The tide ebbs and flows around Wallis Island, but there’s a bigger force of nature making waves here: Tim Key, who, for the entirety of this absolute gem of a film, makes us cry with laughter and, well, just cry. Adapted by him and his comedy partner Tom Basden from their 2007 short The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, and again directed by James Griffiths, this follows Key’s wealthy widower Charles as he attempts to reunite his favourite folk duo, the estranged McGwyer Mortimer (Basden and Carey Mulligan). Key has always been a truly singular human, his absurdist comedy as sharp as it is silly. Here, though, as the misty-eyed Charles, desperate for company – for friendship, for love – he tugs at the heartstrings as much as he hits the funny bone, in a film that heralds harmony in all its forms. As warm as blankets get. I knew I would like this because I really like Tim Key'...