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Continuing my trip back through the 2017 album charts. 19/05/17 : After Laughter -   Paramore Our second visit with Paramore and I really quite liked the last one, so I'm looking forward to this. Yeah - I liked this. It has the same bouncy indie-pop vibe of our previous visit but this seems more lyrically upbeat - it's all got a slight weird reggae-ish beat to it which takes a bit of getting used to, but all in all I'd say it works quite well. I was strongly reminded of the MUNA album  which I really like, so I suspect they must have been listening to Paramore in their formative years.  We're at #4 with a new entry in the charts this week on the start of a ten week run, which pleasingly features a drop in every week - and they followed it up a month later with a three week run, all of which were spent at #91. The rest of the top five were Harry Styles (a new entry),  Ed Sheeran ,  Rag'n'Bone Man  and Paul Weller (another new entry) with the next highest new...

Continuing my trip back through the 2017 album charts. 26/05/17 : Harry Styles -   Harry Styles Our fourth visit with Mr Styles brings us back to where it all started (after it all had ended) - I'm not sure I've ever listened to the album but I suspect I've heard most of it over the years because the lovely Mrs Reed is quite the fan of Harry. With the benefit of hindsight, this "just" sounds like a Harry Styles album but, given his solo success wasn't a sure thing at the time, I suspect the slightly quirky, downbeat tempo, retro nature of a lot of it was probably quite a bold move. There's no danger of me actively seeking it out again, but I didn't mind it at all because I think it sounds like quite a mature album and there's a decent amount of variety. I also have to admit that I positively like "Sign Of The Times" but I always forget that it's Harry. We're at #2 in the charts this week on his second week of a 37 week run, which ...

Continuing my trip back through the 2017 album charts. 02/06/17 : Different Days -  The Charlatans I've listened to a few albums from The Charlatans over the years and generally enjoyed them and been pleasantly surprised by the variety they provide, but I've never listened to this one, which is only our second ever visit with the lads. And this provides a bit more variety with some melodic, backward-looking pop taking in multiple influences from mostly (I would say) the 60s to the 80s - there's also a decent amount of variety across the album. I'd say it's  interesting rather than loveable on first listen, but it's nicely jaunty and feels like it would be a grower which I imagine the fans love - it's always a challenge for a band which has released a load of albums to get the mix of "more of the same" and "something new" right and The Charlatans seem to manage this better than most. We're at #4 in the charts this week with a new entry...

Continuing my trip back through the 2017 album charts. 09/06/17 : Is This The Life We Really Want? -  Roger Waters We've had a couple of solo visits with David Gilmour, but this is our first one with Roger Waters - I like Radio K.A.O.S. but don't believe I've ever listened to any of his other offerings, so I'm interested to see what I think of it. Well, on the positive side I think this has interesting lyrics and use of various random samples over a decent Pink Floyd style musicality - all of which kept me decently engaged. There's a reasonable argument that it's not exactly subtle with the points that he's making and some of the tracks could have done with some pruning, but I do feel that most people aren't really coming here for concise nuance. However... ...he's really not a very good singer. In most places, he accepts this and works with what he's got but there are times he seems to forget and tries to do something that his voice is very much...

Continuing my trip back through the 2017 album charts. 16/06/17 : Truth Is A Beautiful Thing -  London Grammar Our second visit with London Grammar and last time I did a musical deep dive and declared that it all sounded very much like London Grammar. And I'll be amazed if we're not in the same space here... Yup, this very much sounds like London Grammar. Which I'm absolutely fine with because I dig that kinda vibe - it somehow manages to slide by without being boring and Hannah Reid has a lovely voice. I can't say I'd be happy if you asked me to compile the tracklist for a London Grammar best-of because I'd really struggle to pick any one of these tracks above the others - but since that's unlikely to happen, we're all good here.  We're at #1 in the charts with a new entry this week on the start of a very decent 33 week run - not quite the 99 week run their debut album managed, but that "only" got to #2. The rest of the chart this week we...

Continuing my trip back through the 2017 album charts. 23/06/17 : How Did We Get So Dark? -  Royal Blood To my surprise, this is our fourth visit with RB - I've generally not minded them and appreciate the skill, but did find our last visit a bit forgettable. I actually surprised myself by recognising "Lights Out" - I wasn't aware I knew any of their tracks. And the rest of it is in a similar rocky vein - this isn't something I'd search out but i t's an impressive sound, particularly when you consider it's just the two of them doing all the work. And, I actually would search them out at a festival because I bet they make a great sound live. We're at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week on the start of an impressive 34 week run. The rest of the top five were  Ed Sheeran , Nickelback (another new entry),  Rag'n'Bone Man  and Lorde (another new entry) and we have one more new entry in the top ten for Fleet Foxes (#9). Wikipedia tells u...