scaryblog

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 10/06/01 : Rise -  Gabrielle This is an odd one because I've never heard it - but yet I never had any reason to avoid Gabby and it feels like the sort of thing the lovely Mrs Reed would very much enjoy. But somehow I've just never crossed paths with it - I'm expecting I'm not going to enjoy it though. Yeah, this is indeed perfectly pleasant - an ideal dinner party album, I'd suggest. I can see that some people might not like her voice because it does get a bit nasal at times, but I didn't mind it and all the songs are well put together. I can't claim it was incredibly memorable on first listen, but I did remember (and enjoyed) the title track (and there was a very pleasant acoustic version on the album I listened to) - I suspect it would all settle in there given multiple listens. We're at #7 in the charts this week on her twelfth week of a 34 week run - but that's only half the story! She first ...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 17/06/01 : Amnesiac -  Radiohead Our sixth visit with them Radiohead funsters (making them the eleventh act to reach this milestone) and I'm not sure this is one I've ever listened to - I was so traumatised by Kid A that I've tended to avoid anything they've done afterwards unless forced to visit it to post about it. But I have to admit that some of them have been pleasingly bearable, so I at least have some hope for this. Yeah, it seems OK to me - there are certainly some challenging sounds on it, but I didn't hate it. I think I'd go as far as saying I actually enjoyed "Knives Out" - but I was not a fan of "Life In A Glasshouse". Part of me is intrigued as to whether this is actually all that different from Kid A, but it feels unlikely I'll ever be brave enough to find out.  We're at #7 in the charts this week on their second week of a seventeen week run, with it having peaked a...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 24/06/01 : Outrospective -  Faithless I think Sunday 8pm is my favourite Faithless album, but this is a close second (and I own it, taking us to six for the year). I've not listened to it in years but am expecting to enjoy it, and it will be a nice companion piece to  Dido  that we had earlier in the year. Yeah, this was a fun revisit. There's a reasonable argument this is more of a vibe than a fully fledged album, but it's a good vibe (although more suited to the summer than a cold February morning). "We Come 1" is probably the best known track and I like it, but I'm not sure I need 8:14 of it. Dido pops up on "One Step Too Far", but I think I prefer Zoë Johnston's contributions on "Crazy English Summer" and (particularly) "Evergreen" - a fun fact that I just learned is that Zoë also co-wrote and provided the vocals on Bent's "Swollen" which is one of the be...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 01/07/01 : Hot Shot -  Shaggy Well, I guess it's got to be better than D12, hasn't it? Actually, this is surprisingly bearable with considerably more variety on it than I was expecting. It helps that most tracks feature guest artists who often do a lot more of the singing than Shaggy does, whose vocal abilities would be generously described as one note ("no note" would actually be closer). But he knows how to put a tune together and the presence of the annpyingly catchy "It Wasn't Me" also very much helps things (and it's mostly sung by RikRok, with Shaggy really only contributing the title - repeatedly). I wouldn't go as far as saying I liked this album, but it comfortably exceeded expectations. We're at #3 in the charts this week on his 21st week of an impressive 49 week run with it having peaked at #1 in its 17th week in the middle of a ten week run in the top five (and if you don'...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 30/01/26 : How Did I Get Here - Louis Tomlinson Robbie last week, Louis this - January is obviously the month that ex-boy-band members release albums hoping to get to #1. And (spoiler alert) - it works. Somewhat surprisingly, this is our second visit with solo Louis and last time he was mostly praised for singing in a Northern accent - let's hope he's kept that up! Well, I have some terrible news for you - the Northern accent has definitely been relegated from front and centre in favour of something more mid-Atlantic. Apart from that, this is actually decent enough - it's Harry-esque summer pop which is pleasant on the ear, without necessarily being particularly memorable. To me, at least although I suspect others may disagree with me - he gets bonus points for the Talking Heads reference though.  We're at #1 in the charts with a new entry this week and the rest of the top five are  Olivia Dean , Megadeth (ano...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 08/07/01 : Devil's Night -  D12 Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before this happened. There's a lot to admire (I'm not sure "like" is quite the right word) about Eminem's albums around this time, but the contributions on them from D12 are, shall we say, somewhat unfocussed - so the idea of a whole album from them is not exactly filling me with joy. Hmmm. Yes. "Somewhat unfocussed" would be a very kind verdict on this indeed - it's very juvenile and (for the most part) decidedly average. Whether you love or loathe Eminem, there is definitely humour, intelligence and talent (particularly around song structure) present on at least some of his tracks - and all those qualities are noticeably absent here. I also think on his solo stuff Eminem can at least claim he's just acting the part of Slim Shady (and there are times when he uses that argument quite effectively) - but when you h...