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She cannot do the Smurf

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Third gig in a week! I first met Rilo Kiley on a very wet Sunday morning in 2004 at Glastonbury's Other Stage - there can't have been more than one hundred people in the crowd, but the band were VERY happy to be there and managed to impart a little Californian sunshine to an otherwise somewhat miserable situation. The following year the weather was even more miserable (Google "2005 Glastonbury") but they were at least playing under cover in the John Peel tent - and I never quite got round to seeing them live again before they split in 2010, so I assumed that was the end of that... ...but then last year, they announced they were getting back on the road and playing some dates in the US and a few dates in Europe, including one at the Roundhouse (which is one of my favourite London venues). And I heard about all this the day after the tickets sold out in no time, so I assumed that was the end of that... ...but then they kindly decided (just for me?) to add an extra date ...
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Just tell her that you love her, make sure you're thinkin' of her

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 18/08/63 : Bobby Vee's Golden Greats - Bobby Vee I've definitely heard of Bobby Vee because I know he did "Rubber Ball" which is properly cheesy (but in a good way), but I know nothing about him (I believe he's American, but that could be wrong) although I'm surprised to see this is our first ever mention for the lad. Well, he also did "Take Good Care Of My Baby" and "Run To Him" both of which I like, but all the tracks are pretty decent and there's a (relatively) reasonable amount of variety across the album. Yes, it 's still all very Buddy Holly-ish (and there's nothing wrong with that, although I'm not sure we needed his version of "Everyday") but we do at least get slower and faster Buddy style tracks. Overall, I'd say this is one the better offerings from the year - I enjoyed it. We're at rock bottom #20 in the charts this week on his last week of ...
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No use in holding other hands for I'd be holding only emptiness

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 25/08/63 : All Alone Am I - Brenda Lee So we've made it all the way to August and we've finally met an album by a woman - and it's only the second album this year to feature women in any major capacity. Such enlightened times - and talking of enlightened, I know Brenda was quite a big thing around this time but I can currently tell you absolutely nothing about her. So let's change that... Well, I'd say it's of its time - but we already know that's not true. Because she's an actual woman, making a record and people are buying it - so it's very much not of its time. I'd struggle to say there's anything exceptional about any of the tracks but they're all done well enough and she's got a nice voice (think an American Shirley Bassey) which jaunts along nicely and I'm never going to complain about "Fly Me To The Moon". But, quite frankly, it could have been a helluva lot w...
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But every day she grew unhappier

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 01/09/63 : Hats Off To Del Shannon - Del Shannon I know Del Shannon did "Runaway" (which I like in an amusing 60s cheesy fashion) and I believe he was American (which Google confirms) but apart from that, I've got nothing, so I'm intrigued as to where this takes us. Hmmm - I wasn't expecting to start with yet more bloody yodelling. Although the track in question, "The Swiss Maid", is actually quite funny because it describes a girl who lived on a mountain and was pining for love and you assume she'll get it sorted by the end of the song - but no, she just dies. I didn't mind the album though and even quite liked "Hats Off To Larry" - I think it's already sounding a bit dated by now, but they are decent enough tunes and with twelve tracks lasting 28 minutes, there's not enough time to get bored with it. He's a bit menacing on the album cover though! We've finally reac...
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This song saved my life

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From Marina to Nerina! For some artists, everything just comes together on one album - and for me, Nerina Pallot's second album Fires, which came out in '05 is just about perfect. I bought it without knowing anything about her and it turned out to be a lovely collection of songs performed well  with decent lyrics and tunes . I've dipped into a few of her other albums over the years, but none of them have stuck with me in the same way that Fires has (and it still gets a listen on a fairly regular basis). But I'd never seen her live, so when I saw she was appearing at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her debut album, I thought I'd pop along to see how she's bearing up after all this time - what's the worst that could happen?!? Well - I guess it could have been scheduled on the same date as railway engineering works and Arsenal's victory parade, which mean that my train stopped at St Pancras and I was forced to emerge into an absol...
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We were meant for each other, darling i know this is true

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Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts. 15/09/63 : Billy - Billy Fury Our first visit with Billy - I know he was very popular (only for a short-ish time?) but apart from that, I can tell you absolutely nothing about him. Interestingly, this album isn't available on Amazon Music but fortunately Spotify came to the rescue. And it is OK - I imagine it was starting to feel a bit dated by '63 because it's more like late 50's skiffle-ish rock'n'roll but it's got a decent beat and swing, daddy-o. This is the sort of thing that Cliff should have been doing when he was trying to convince us he was Elvis but maybe if he had, he'd had faded into obscurity like Billy did - and we couldn't have that now, could we? I can't say I loved it, but it was nice to finally get round to meeting the lad.  We're at #15 in the charts this week on his 20th week of a 21 week run, with it having peaked at #6 in its fifth, sixth and tenth weeks. The top fiv...
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My body's not a temple, more a bachelorette pad

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Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 29/05/26 : Florescence - Maisie Peters  Our third visit with Maisie (and somewhat surprisingly, I've also seen her live twice) and I've generally liked both her and her music, so here's hoping for more of the same. Well, it's not more of the same - she's switched from a poppy sound to a more folky kinda thang. And I like it - there's definitely a relationship theme going on but there are good relationship and bad relationship songs so it doesn't get too tiresome one way ("yay, men are the best!") or the other ("boo to all men!"). I was reminded of, and I mean this in a nice way, Ed Sheeran - back in the day when he used to just make decent songs with simple but heartfelt lyrics, so don't let that put you off. We're at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week - she's had three albums out and she's had two #1s and one #2, so well done her! The rest of the top five...
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