scaryblog

Some old songs in a new (for me) venue! If you've been paying any attention at all, you'll know that R.E.M. are probably my favouritest ever group and I've only ever seen them live once on the Monster tour, none of which was anyone's finest hour - but they (and Michael Stipe in particular) seemed to have an adverse reaction to the Milton Keynes Bowl which meant that everyone who was there remembers Blur's support set much more fondly. Also, having called it a day a mere 15 years ago, the chances of them reforming for the money seem to be extremely remote - they still all do some sporadic music-based stuff these days but they really couldn't be bothered going back on tour (and it's not clear they actually like each other enough to do so). So what's an R.E.M. fan supposed to do these days if they need a live hit?!? Obviously many tribute bands are available (who are probably playing in your local pub as I write this), but one of the more curiously success...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 04/09/26 : WILDCHILD  - Alex Warren  Our second visit with Mr Warren and last time he was "perfectly fine" - I strongly suspect that's where we are again. Hmmm - well. Taken one song at a time, I think it just about qualifies as pf but a whole album of it just gets a bit too much. Every song is aimed to pull at someone's heartstrings or deliver a message (dead dad, lost love, etc, etc, etc) and it all just gets a bit much, without any great variety between tracks. Actually, let me take that back because, on reflection, a whole album of it got far too much - I will not be revisiting this ever. I am somewhat intrigued as to what's going on with the album cover though. And so, obviously, we're at #1 in the charts with a new entry (our tenth in a row), aren't we? The rest of the top five are The Courteeners (another new entry), Michael Jackson,  Olivia Rodrigo  and a Dolly Parton best-of - and boy do...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 16/05/71 : Over And Over - Nana Mouskouri Yes, it's probably our third covers album in a row, but Nana is someone who's been mentioned a surprising number of times over the years and the only time we've actually met her was a track on the somewhat bizarre All Star Festival  so it only seems fair to give her a shout - giving us three women in a row! Hmmm. Well, I can't say I loved it - but I'm also hard pushed to say what exactly is wrong with it. She's got a nice voice and she's singing some nice songs (and quite possibly introducing them to her audience). Yes, it's a bit over-the-top at times, but not massively so - and I suspect a lot of people that listened to it liked things a bit over-the-top (but certainly not too much!). I was pleased to meet her properly, but I'll not be rushing back to it - and that's all I've got to say on the matter really. We're at #15 in the charts this w...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 28/08/26 : Jenius - Paul Heaton  We've met Mr Heaton once with The Housemartins, three times with The Beautiful South, twice with Jacqui Abbott and now twice solo - I suspect he's the front man we've met in the most different guises across the years. And I'll be amazed if this isn't well written tunes with intelligent lyrics... Yup - that's exactly where we are. I particularly liked "Favourite Kind Of Idiot", "I Want The Job" (which is a beautiful love song) and "A Son A Father" (which is nicely spiky), but they're all pretty decent with more variety than I was expecting (although I'm not sure we need 15 tracks) and they'd certainly benefit from multiple listens. He's a proper national treasure that Paul Heaton and that should be more widely recognised - this is well worth a look if you've not seen it. I'm pleased to say we're at #1 with a new e...

My first festival day of the year! I missed all the BST Festival days this year (due to a very poorly timed holiday), there was obviously no Glastonbury to fail to get tickets for and my free tickets to see Jorja Smith at All Points East went mysteriously astray, so my final chance to pop along to a festival this year was the rescheduled Lido Festival (which is like APE, but smaller and (allegedly) more carefully curated). I can't say I'm a huge fan of Maribou State who were the headliners, but I felt the need to pop along to something this year and so I toddled off to Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets on a Bank Holiday Monday with somewhat uncertain weather prospects... The train journey in was interesting because there was a group of "young people" on the train who were, shall we say, in "high spirits" - and boy were they making a LOT of noise. Amusingly, you could tell that people disapproved of such behaviour, but at the same time they were all in such a go...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 23/05/71 : The Good Book - Melanie Two women in a row - is that even allowed in '71?!? This is our first visit with Melanie and, whilst I am vaguely aware of her, I don't know the slightest thing about her so I'm intrigued to see what we've got here. Hmmm - it's kinda campfire folk and I'm really not sure whether I like it or not. On first listen it sounds a bit too rough and ready for my liking (although I did like "Chords Of Fame") but I can see I might well get into it if I gave it a chance. Her voice reminded me of Joan Baez, but it's got more of an edge to it than Joan does - Marianne Faithful is another singer I was reminded of. It was certainly an interesting listen though and different from anything else from a woman this year. I'd say Leonard Cohen is probably the closest touchpoint we've seen, although this isn't as musically accomplished - which may or may not be your thi...