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Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 13/02/26 : The Fall-off - J Cole I'm aware of J Cole but this is our first meeting with the lad (despite him having had two #2 albums and two others in the top ten) - I believe he's a reasonably talented hippy-hoppy type but I suspect my days of actually enjoying such a thing are now long past me. Yeah, there is some evidence of skill and intelligence here - I can't say I loved it but I certainly didn't hate it so it's a step up from plenty of stuff I get to experience  from that genre . I do have to confess that I didn't listen to it all - 24 tracks over 101 minutes was just too much for me I'm afraid. I suspect if you like this sort of thing then you'll already have listened to it - and if you don't then I can't say there's anything particularly unusual to draw you in. It's not dreadful though, so he gets some brownie points for that.  We're at #3 in the chart with a new en...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 06/05/01 : Ronan -  Ronan Keating It's easy to be rude about Ronan (and I'm sure I will be) but I have to admit to liking "When You Say Nothing At All" so I'm going in with more of an open mind than I might otherwise have done - I suspect a whole album may be a bit too much for me though (and undoubtedly struggle to maintain that level of quality). Ah, it's not terrible if you like that sort of thing. He does go a bit heavy on the Oirish tin whistle and fiddle in places but none of the songs are dreadful, although it wouldn't have hurt to have a bit more variety across the album. I think my biggest complaint is that he sings the whole thing as though he's sixty years old looking back on a life full of lost loves and missed opportunities, hoping for one last chance of happiness. But the boy was 23 at the time and he'd just got married and had his first kid - you'd think he could sound a bit ...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 13/05/01 : Not That Kind -  Anastacia I'm not aware I've ever listened to this, but I suspect it will be OK - and I might even like it! Well, it's certainly OK and I liked bits of it.  "I"m Outta Love" and the title track are very decent tracks and the ones from her that I know, even if I'd never remember who they're by when I heard them. And the rest of the album is in a similar vein, with her fine voice over a very competent backing track with a decent amount of variety between the tracks. I struggle to say it was entirely memorable on first listen but it certainly wasn't a horrible experience and I'd have no problems listening to it again, but maybe we'll save that for the summer when it would feel more of a natural fit.  We're at #8 in the chart this week on her 24th week of a 59 week run, with it having peaked at #2 in its 11th-13th weeks. This was actually her second run, wit...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 20/05/01 : Scream If You Wanna Go Faster -  Geri Halliwell Hmmm. I seem to recall the singles from this weren't as bad as you might have feared, but that doesn't mean I'm exactly looking forward to this. And we have some late breaking news - apparently this is one that "we" owned, giving us a rather unexpected three in a row and taking us to nine for the year. Well - it's not dreadful, but it's certainly not great. The songs are generally pretty average, but whereas some people would manage to make the best of so-so material, Geri's voice manages to de-elevate them. The most notable example of this is "It's Raining Men" which I'd (thankfully) completely forgotten about - she just absolutely murders it by sucking all the joy out of it. "Lovey Dovey Stuff" and "Heaven And Hell" are pretty awful as well, but at least there are no original versions to compare them ...

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews... All My Sons : Wyndham's Theatre I didn't have a great deal of luck with my theatre selections last year, so I've become more particular in my choices - but this got good write-ups and has a great cast, so I was tempted into a reasonably priced late purchase with reasonably high expectations. But the evening started on a strange note because, considering I hadn't paid that much for my ticket, I was directed to the Royal Circle and I was apparently in seat 6-2 - what did that even mean? Yes, this is what it meant! Fancy, huh - I've never sat in a box before and I've always wondered what it would be like. Unsurprisingly given the price, the view wasn't great and I had to lean forward all evening, but I'm more than happy to put up with such things to tick it off my list. The curtain stayed down before the show (I always prefer a teaser view of the set beforehand) so I had no idea what to expect when th...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 27/05/01 : Just Enough Education To Perform -  Stereophonics So we move from one disappointing follow-up to another - this is another one I owned (eight for the year) that just made me think how decent its predecessor was. This is a noteworthy visit though because it puts them on seven visits which pulls them clear of the pack on six to bring them level with Prince and Iron Maiden. I can imagine Stereophonics and the Maiden having a fair old time together down the pub - not sure Prince would quite fit in though. Hmmm - OK. This was alright actually, so I'm not sure why I didn't get into it back in the day. It's a little bit calmer than Performance And Cocktails , so maybe it's just that I'm old and boring now - but that can't be it, can it? Whatever the reason,  I liked "Mr Writer", "Step On My Old Size Nines" and "Have A Nice Day" - all of which were singles, so maybe they grew...