scaryblog

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 26/08/22 :  Close To Home - Aitch From young Master Aitch, I'm expecting lyrical skillz that I don't hate, but don't find particularly relatable.  But, before we get to that, we have a compilation to consider for either cultural or timely relevance. Yes - it's Steps' Platinum Collection.  Which is, unbelievably their SEVENTH "best of", with the first one having been released 21 years ago.  So, I think we don't need to invest too much time rejecting this - our time is much more usefully spent wondering WHO ON EARTH is "buying" this enough to get it to #1?  So let's move on from H to Aitch... And well - it was OK, I guess.  There are nice enough backing tracks over which he burbles on, most of which I didn't overly listen to but I did go "ewww" at some of the sexual imagery deployed.  I was quite surprised to see him including a voicemail from his manager or accountan

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 11/08/96 :  Bizarre Fruit -  M People I think I listened to Elegant Slumming, thought it was "OK" and never investigated anything further from those M People. And yeah, that was no great loss on my part.  It's all fine if you like that sort of thing, I guess - but it feels a bit clinical in a "let's make stuff people will love at dinner parties (or, as it turned out, The Olympics)" kinda way.  She does have a nice voice though - "Search For The Hero" is probably the high spot for me, although I don't mind their cover of "Itchycoo Park" (but I bet a load of people HATE it).  I do have a rare complaint though, about the album title - I assume it's a play on "Strange Fruit" which is a Billie Holiday song about KKK lynchings and I'm pretty certain that this kinda thing is a not what Billie was fighting for throughout her life.  And it was one we never owned - 8/21.

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's  Top 50 TV Shows of 2021 .   #23 :  Vigil How to create one of the most nail-biting televisual experiences of the year? Take a tense, twisty procedural plot, get Suranne Jones to fire on all cylinders as a trauma-racked action hero badass, then cram her into a ready-made environment for a claustrophobic whodunnit: a nuclear sub. I'd seen this on Gogglebox a few times and thought it looked OK - although because Gogglebox did its usual trick of giving away major plot points in its excerpts (which is always quite annoying) I never bothered watching it.  But by the time this came around I had, of course, completely forgotten all said plot points so was happy to revisit. So - errr, why did it take me so long to actually finish watching it?  I'm not entirely sure to be honest - but part of me decided it would be good to watch on the train, but then my wife did her back in which meant there were no train trips, so let's blame her, shall w

First, the music… Mallrat Nice enough for a Sunday morning slot - Lana del Reyesque but not quite to that level.  She looked like a kid and actually said "this song is dedicated to my dog".  She did manage to get into the Reading vibe by swearing once, but I'm sure she's apologised to her mother since. The Ks More 90s guitar indie or maybe 00s - I get so confused.  In a weekend of excessive swearing, the lead singer managed to top most people by using the C word - but did so in a way that was amusing and didn't feel forced, unlike a lot of other people.  This was followed by one of the band mooning the audience, to which he said "I told him not to get his arse out.  This is going out on the BBC and you say fuck or bugger and you definitely can't get your arse out".  The music was actually pretty good as well - the guitarist was on fire.  They also played "cover snippets" - just a verse of a couple of well known songs, which actually worked

First, the music… Thumper Beastie Boys lyrics over guitar solos - odd Wargasm A sordid collusion of euphoria and violence apparently.    It’s very cartoonish metal - the lead singer pretty much is Tank Girl and the drummer is Animal but it’s enjoyable enough (although I’d never to listen to it at any other time).    Some proper crowd surfing as well - I didn’t see any yesterday. The Sherlocks Some nicely crafted 90s guitar indie with some nice vocal harmonies - it grew on me as the set progressed. Dayglow  I’d never heard of them so had no idea what to expect.    But I wasn’t expecting them to open with the start of Lipps Inc’s “Funky Town”.    They were like a slightly funkier version of Hot Chip and they drew in the kids big time.    It was all excellent festival fun - apparently the lead singer grew up in Austin, Texas and always dreamt of playing Reading.    Chinny reckon! Madison Beer The kids were really excited about this one - there were a million of them squeezed into a tent a

Firstly, the music! Frank Carter He just didn’t seem very happy.    But maybe he’d just got the bill from his tattooist Beauty School Dropout Some fine rawk, watched by at most 100 people The Scratch Weird heavy Gaelic music, which somehow worked. Black Honey If you like Hole, then you’ll like Black Honey.    And I do, so I did. Wallows A not unpleasant generic festival summer noise.    But not great either. Queen Mills  I think this counts as garage, but I’m not 100% convinced.    Impressive rapping and high kicks, but most of it was backing tracks.    It certainly won the award for the gig that smelled strongest of weed though Sir Spyro Just a DJ set, but it deserves a mention for pulling a surprisingly large crowd.    And he OWNED that crowd! Griff Fine, but I was really just waiting for “Black Hole” Jay Crookes Nice mellow sound with a lovely voice    - deserved more sunshine than it got Circa Waves Identikit indie-pop which always sounds better at festivals than anywhere else All

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's  Top 50 TV Shows of 2021 .   #34 :  Ghosts The best all-round British sitcom in years, Ghosts’ third series mined slightly more heartfelt territory than before. Not only were the phantoms fleshed out more fully, but Charlotte Ritchie’s Alison found herself yearning for a family that couldn’t quite manifest itself. As beautiful as it was funny. I've heard this is good and I'm also aware that there's been a successful US version as well, which is a bit of a rarity across the years.  A swift bit of research turns up The Office as a successful example and the quite frankly astonishing information that they tried to translate The Young Ones - it's somewhat less astonishing that it was not a successful translation. I had to make a decision as to whether to start at season 1 or 3 - I went for season 3 because I feel like I'm running out of time this year, although I'm two thirds of the way through the list in two thirds of the

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 18/08/96 :  Everything Must Go -  Manic Street Preachers I liked this back in the day but always had the slight suspicion it just wasn't as cool as The Holy Bible, its predecessor (and the last album to feature Richey Edwards before his disappearance).  I've certainly not revisited either album in years though, so it will be interesting to see my thoughts on this after an extended break. Well, at first re-listen I really quite liked it - it's got a reasonable variety of music on it, which all still keeping to the overall slightly doom-tinged tone.  The singles were the tracks that stood out best for me with "A Design For Life", the title track and (particularly) "Kevin Carter" all bringing back fine memories.  So yeah, that was good!  And it was also one I owned - 8/20! Continuing the theme of the lower reaches of the top ten, we're at  #9 in the chart this week on their 13th week of a 78 week