scaryblog

So, was jumping back in time to 1983 a more enjoyable experience than 2020?   For me, generally, I'd say yes - it was a mix of nostalgia and some surprising first time listens.  I can't speak for all of "my audience" but the readership numbers on blog posts were definitely slightly higher - however, there were still some absolutely dreadful albums in there.   Looking at the best selling albums of the year, unsurprisingly Michael Jackson took the top spot - he didn't get written about because we'd already met him, but he was mentioned in passing a LOT given that he had a 19 week run in the top two and a 35 week run in the top 10.  #2 in the year-end list was Paul Young - of the 23 weeks available to him in the year, he only managed 22 in the top ten.  #3 is slightly more of a surprise being Culture Club , only because it had a mere 11 weeks available in the year, but it never left the top four in that time (and proceeded to stay in the charts for mos...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 02/01/83 :  Pearls II -  Elkie Brooks I am aware of Elkie Brooks, mostly from "Pearl's A Singer" (which I've just learned was written by Lieber and Stoller) and so I'm expecting this to be more of the same - reasonably unchallenging blues/rocky stuff.  But, before we get there, we've got another compilation album to judge on its relevance. You obviously already know my decision but Abba's The Singles - The First Ten Years actually came close to being judged as worthy.  Abba, like Lennon, are always going to be culturally relevant and given this covered the previous ten years, it was also timely.  But - I've already rejected one Abba compilation for not being Abba Gold and so I don't feel I can really consider this, even though this has "The Day Before You Came",  one of my Abba faves , which the original version of Gold didn't.  When I get to Gold, I promise it's going to g...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 09/01/83 :  Heartbreaker -  Dionne Warwick I am, of course, aware of Dionne Warwick and she's done some great stuff over the years - but I'm also aware of the title track of this album and would struggle to describe it as great.  Fair to middling would seem more accurate - and I'm struggling to imagine the rest of the album is a whole lot better. The title track is up first and I'd forgotten it was written by The Bee Gees, but it really doesn't take long to remind you (and I actually think their version is considerably better) - and in case you didn't get it from that one, the theme very much continues throughout.  At least one Gibb wrote all tracks but one and Barry produced the thing, so there's a definite Bee Gee feel to the whole album.  It's squarely aimed at US adult radio stations and it hits the target well - it's not at all my sort of thing but I can see it was probably the best option...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 16/01/83 :  The Art Of Falling Apart -  Soft Cell Marc Almond has been many things over his years, but he's very rarely been boring.  And in Soft Cell, he and Dave Ball managed to make art school/bedsit music which a lot of people actually liked and bought - I wasn't convinced by all of it and I've never heard this album, but I'm interested to hear it. And yeah, I didn't mind this at all - Marc delivers a strong vocal as expected, but Dave produces some really interesting synth-y sounds in the background.  I don't really know how to describe it other than saying if you like Soft Cell then I don't see why you won't like this.  The Human League would be another musical touchpoint I'd mention - they both emerged about the same time.  I was surprised the album was 75 minutes long but, upon checking, the original version was a tight 40 minutes which a re-release increased (of course) - by adding a m...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 23/01/83 :  Feline -  The Stranglers I'm aware of some of The Stranglers output and seem to recall it is, to put it mildly, inconsistent.  So I've got absolutely no idea what to expect of this - but before we get there, we have another compilation album to consider... ...which is t he appallingly titled Raiders Of The Pop Charts.  Complete with album cover featuring a man who looks nothing like Harrison Ford wearing an Indiana Jones hat.  Oh dear.  Yes, it's a Ronco special - amusingly not to be confusing with Australian K-tel version with exactly the same title.  It does have some decent tracks on there though - I'm feeling generous so I'd put the DTR at something like 70%, although there's some prime cheese in there including tracks from Toni Basil and Toto Coelo (you can probably guess which ones!).  It has some absolute dross on there as well though from Shakey, Tight Fit and Modern Roma...

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's   Top 51 Films of 2021 #10 :  The Tragedy Of Macbeth Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand hit top form in Joel Coen’s austere reimagining of Shakespeare’s Scottish bloodbath And we're in to the top 10!  I've heard this is good, but must admit to having struggled with every Shakespearean film I've ever seen - with the exception of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet and I think most people would agree that some liberties were taken with the original script in that particular version.  I also quite liked 10 Things I Hate About You, but even more liberties are taken with that one!  I am however reasonably familiar with Macbeth having done it at school (a mere 40 years ago) and having helped my eldest revise for it (slightly more recently, given that it was last month). And, oh look - black and white AND a 4:3 aspect ratio.  I've got a  telly with a big screen and excellent colour - can we not, for once, just use its capabil...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 30/01/83 :  Richard Clayderman -  Richard Clayderman I remember my dad's parents really liking Richard and my dad (who is an accomplished pianist) despaired of them - "but he's not even any good!!".  I seem to recall it's pretty much musak of an Indian restaurant variety, but with a piano rather than a sitar - and I imagine I'm going to hate it. But.  What's this?!?   Oh, don't worry - it's not that I like it, it's just that I can't find it.  It's not on Amazon or Spotify - there's plenty of his stuff on there, but not this album.  I listened to a random "best of" album instead just to get a feel for it and I can confirm I very much don't like it - they're songs you recognise plinked out on the piano, with random notes put in the wrong place to make it "interesting".  It probably won't surprise you to hear that we've never owned this one - 1...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 06/02/83 :  Hello, I Must Be Going! - Phil Collins This is an odd one for me - I owned and really liked No Jacket Required, but I've never listened to this.  Why did I never venture further back?  Why have I never listened to half the albums from this year?  Seriously, I'm not the person to ask (so, err - who should we ask?).  At the time, I didn't like "You Can't Hurry Love" but now I think it's a well done version - different, but not too different.  So, if I'm being honest, I don't really know what I'm expecting from this one. And, having listened to it, I'm not entirely sure what I think.  It's surprisingly retro and was more ballad-y than I was expecting - and it also features some terrible accents from Phil in places (the second time he's been found guilty on that front this year).  But it's also surprisingly enjoyable and more variable than I was expecting.  It ...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 22/07/22 :  About Last Night... - Mabel I can't claim to be the biggest Mabel expert (I know she's Neneh's kid and that's about it), but I've quite liked the singles I've heard so have no concerns going into this. And yeah, it's not bad at all if you like that sort of thing (and I dol).  The way I look at it is, if you've got a successful formula, then why not stick with it?  Some people might quibble that it's Dua Lipa's successful formula (particularly on "Let Them Know") or Robyn's ("I Love Your Girl") but I think there's room for Mabel in that space as well.  Yes, I'm being slightly unfair - I liked this, although I did think the production was surprisingly flat in places and some tracks do sound like some auto-tuning has been going on which, as far as I'm aware, isn't required so I'm not sure what's going on.  I can't say the album...

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's   Top 51 Films of 2021 #11 :  The Father Anthony Hopkins is superb playing a man with dementia in Florian Zeller’s unbearably heartbreaking film full of intelligent performances, disorienting time slips and powerful theatrical effects. I've heard good things about this - and when was the last time Tony was terrible in anything?  Well, before this, Transformers - The Dark Knight from 2017 seems to be a reasonable answer - I've not seen it, but I've heard it's utter, utter shit.  But, the man won an Oscar for this film, so I'm guessing it was a slight improvement in quality - but let's see, shall we? And well - if I had to pick some words, I'd say this is a film " full of intelligent performances, disorienting time slips and powerful theatrical effects " - I think that pretty much covers it.  It basically follows our Tone as he doesn't really know who, where or when he is - and, as such, it's not exact...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 13/02/83 :  Porcupine - Echo & The Bunnymen I always thought I should like Echo & his bunny mates more than I ever actually did - I liked the singles enough and I think I checked out their other album (and yes, I'm sure there have been plenty others, but I mean that one I can't remember the name of) and thought it was "fine" but never bothered going back to it.  So I'm interested to see what I think of this... ...but before we do that, we have to consider where we should be listening to this or to The John Lennon Collection which is one place above it.  The argument I usually consider is cultural relevance at the time which is a tricky one here - yes, he'd been dead for a couple of years but this was the official posthumous tribute collection which had taken that long to get out because of legal issues around licensing.  But anyway - Lennon is always going to be culturally relevant, isn't he?...

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's   Top 51 Movies of 2021 #12 :  First Cow Meek’s Cutoff director Kelly Reichardt returns with a superbly chewy story about a pair of drifters in the old west trying to make money by stealing milk from a newly arrived cow. I've heard this is good and I suspect I'd like anything The Guardian described as "superbly chewy", so was looking forward to catching up with this... What?  Another 4:3 aspect ratio film?!?  Although, I guess if it's set in the old west that's probably fine.  But, hold on - if it's set in the old west, why is there a massive cargo ship sailing across the screen?  Hmm - and I probably shouldn't tell you what happens next but after that we finally find ourselves back in the old west.  And I know this to be true because everyone's got a beard. And what follows is a circumlocutory tale which very much ambles along at its own pace in whichever direction it feels like going.  It concentrates on C...