scaryblog

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...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 06/02/26 : Wasted On Youth - The Molotovs I'm not aware of The Molotovs, but if they're not a punk/indie outfit, I'll be amazed. Phew - no amazement required. I actually didn't mind this at all - it manages to hark back to lots of properly old stuff like The Clash or Ian Dury but still manages to sound pretty fresh and energised. Will I ever listen to it again? No, but I would go and catch them at a festival if we were in the same place over the summer (which isn't going to happen). We're at a surprisingly high #3 with a new entry in the charts this week (I'm intrigued as to who's being buying this) and the rest of the top five are  Olivia Dean  (her sixth week at #1 and her thirteenth consecutive week in the top two), Lily Allen (the physical releases came out this week), Don Toliver (another new entry) and the Fleetwood Mac best-of. And it's quite the peculiar mix of new entries this week...

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts. 03/06/01 : 10 000 Hz Legend -  Air This is another one we own (seven for the year) and I remember thinking it was OK, but it was no Moon Safari (how have we not met that yet?). So it got listened to a couple of times and never revisited - I suspect I'm going to find it bearable, but all it's going to do is make me want to listen to their debut.  Yeah, it's not terrible but it's really not all that great either. It often sounds a bit "this'll do", is very lazy in places and a lot of the tracks meander on unnecessarily, but I did like "Radian" and "Lucky And Unhappy". I've no idea what they thought they were doing with "Radio #1" though where they muck about with the levels to make only the vocal or the drums audible in places - it's not a good sound. If you're looking for some Air to experience then Moon Safari or Talkie Walkie are much better options than this...