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Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 11/02/96 :  The Boy With The X-Ray Eyes - Babylon Zoo I remember "Spaceman" from the Levi's advert and from the fact that most of the track sounded nothing like the ten seconds used in the advert.  I have absolutely no idea what the rest of the album is going to sound like though. Hmm - well it's fine, if a bit samey., I guess.   "Spaceman" is the stand out track (and I'm actually glad it doesn't all sound like the advert or this would be a challenging album indeed) - the rest of it isn't quite so good although  I quite liked "I'm Cracking Up I Need A Pill" as well.  But a whole album of it doesn't feel required to me - it's a bit slow and plodding mostly. We're at  #6 with a new entry this week - it managed six weeks in all before it, and he, disappeared from our lives forever (amusingly his last single was titled "All The Money's Gone").  The top fi...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 18/02/96 :  Don't Stop - Status Quo Who doesn't love a bit of Quo, eh? Well - quite a lot of people actually. But they opened Live Aid, so we can't be too harsh on the lads and I enjoy them ironically when I'm in the mood for rocking all over the world. However, I'm really not sure I need a whole album. Ach, what am I saying - there is absolutely no danger of me needing a whole album. I actually considered rejecting it because it's an album of covers but I had to subject myself to two Robson & Jerome albums so I think I have to go there - part of me feels it's wrong, but part of me is horribly fascinated as to what I'm going to find.  And, unsurprisingly, its a bit of a mixed bag - some expected and some not at all expected. "Fun Fun Fun" isn't nearly as terrible as I expected - especially where they try Beach Boy style harmonies. The attempted Steeleye Span harmonies on "All...

  Something slightly different here - an extract from Adam Buxton's podcast chat with Natalie Palamides considering how we worry about our children which I thought was just lovely and it  rang very true. The whole podcast episode is here  and if you want to watch Natalie's odd comedy special, it's here .  And when I say it's odd, I mean it - she's topless for a lot of it with a lot of chest hair glued on.  And a particularly fine moustache.  So it's possible you might not want to go there - and most of the thoughts below come from Adam anyway. Have you watched your kids make mistakes and held your tongue, thinking they have to learn this for themselves? Yeah, a certain amount And did they prove you wrong? Sure.   Often it's a case of your worst fears not coming true.   They're "It's fine - stop worrying".   And they're right. It starts when they're young - "Wear a jumper or you're going to get cold".   "IT'S F...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 25/02/96 :  Expecting To Fly - The Bluetones I know I should like The Bluetones - but I've never quite managed it, without really knowing why.  Maybe this album will convert me to a fan or make me understand what I don't like about them.  Probably not though, eh? Well - I can't say it's made me a fan, but it has potentially given me a theory as to what I object to.  I very much like all the ingredients - jangly guitars, jaunty rhythms, slightly self-aware vocals - and when they come together well, as they very much do on "Slight Return", it's undoubtedly a thing of beauty.  But.  On the rest of the songs, they (for me) don't come together so well - they just don't deliver the desired effect.  So it's not fair to say I dislike them -  I just feel a bit disappointed in them.  Come on lads, you can do so much better!  It's a lovely album cover though, even if it's yet another one we ...

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's  Top 50 TV Shows of 2021 .   #41 :  The Hunt For A Killer If you were worrying that Scandi noir was going to be outpaced by the dubious charms of the true crime fad, relax. This series about a real-life missing girl from the 1980s managed to combine the style and drama of Wallander with the queasy complicity of contemporary crime shows. I like a bit of Scandi noir (The Bridge in particular is really good, with The Tunnel actually doing a very reasonable job of updating it to be over here) so I am looking forward to this, although slightly perplexed because it didn't feel like the sort of thing The Guardian would go for.  I also have concerns whether a real-life case would have the kind of twists that tend to make these things so enjoyable - but let's see shall we? And it's not really just about the one real-life case - it acts as the basis for the season, but it weaves in other bits and pieces as well and i t tells a good s...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 03/03/96 :  Roots - Sepultura I can assure you I can tell you nothing about Sepultura - I'm guessing for either some kind of reggae nonsense or some kind of world music nonsense. And, oh lordy, am I wrong!  If you know what this is, then you're chuckling at me right now - if you don't, then you're probably in the best place you're gonna be with this.  It's heavy metal (complete with the shouty roar vocals I really don't like) with a slight world music tinge to it.  And, seriously, who wants that?  Well, I guess quite a few people did given where we are in the charts this week - but actually, from what I heard on #AOTD, it feels like this is also pretty up to date with what the people who like this sort of thing like these days.  But I'm really not the best person to comment on this - if you like it, then you like and, if you don't know it then just take my word for it that you won't like it...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 23/09/22 :  Born Pink - BLACKPINK Well, it's a bumper bundle of new entries for you this week, I can tell you.  And yes, I know that's totally against the rules but you'll just have to live with it. First up, straight in at #1 we have Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa - as I obviously know them because I'm SUCH a fan.  I was actually aware of them (which slightly surprised me), but had no idea what to expect from them - my one previous encounter with K-pop was BTS , which wasn't at all what I was expecting, so I was pretty much expecting the Spanish Inquisition here. And well - it's odd one.  I both quite liked it and found it quite annoying at the same time - it reminded me of Ava Max in that regard.  I also got hints of Zara Larsson as well, but I want to make it clear I don't find Zara annoying - I quite like her stuff.  Can I describe it any better than that?  Well - no, not really.  All ...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 10/03/96 :  Mercury Falling - Sting I love Ten Summoner's Tales (which is almost 30 years old now!) and hence always assumed I'd buy this - but then I seem to recall I heard it and that was the end of that assumption.  I've certainly never listened to it since, so let's see if it was quite as dull as I remember. Hmmm - not QUITE as dull, but still very musical wallpaper-ish.  I quite liked "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" and I did at least recognise "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot", but the rest of it just washed over me.  Compared to Ten Summoner's Tales, which is quite a subtle and tender album - this is, well, just not.  And, as you might have guessed, we never owned it - 12/43. We're at #4 with a new entry this week at the start of a 27 week run, which was considerably more than it deserved and the rest of the top five were  Oasis ,  Alanis , Mike And The Mechanics (a new en...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 17/03/96 :  Robson & Jerome - Robson & Jerome Well, I didn't expect these two fine gentlemen to be the first people I'd meet twice this year, I can tell you!  Something else I also wouldn't have expected to ever say was that I'm not expecting to hate this  (and please don't tell anyone I said that) .  I mean, I'm not expecting to LIKE it and I'm certain I'll find it all completely pointless - but their last effort wasn't hateful and this was the one that started it all off, so I can't imagine it's terrible. And yeah, it's (just about) "fine" - I actually thought "Unchained Melody" was ropier than I remembered (and that really was the one that kicked it all off after they sung it on Soldier Soldier) but the rest of it was somewhat bland but not hateful (although some of the songs towards the end were extremely inessential).  I didn't "enjoy" ...

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's   Top 51 Movies of 2021   #5 :   Nomadland Frances McDormand delivers a wonderful performance as a boomer forced out of her home and on to the road in Chloé Zhao’s inspired Oscar-winning docufiction. Frances McDormand is an odd one - I like her, but I never get the impression she's really acting.  I was expecting this to be a bit of a grim watch but I've heard good things about it - and it won the  Best Director (Chloe Zhao becoming the first non-white woman to win) and  Best Picture and Best Actress Oscars (Frances McDourmand becoming the first person to win an actor and producer award for the same film), so I imagine it's no slouch in the general "good film" stakes. And it starts with a grim statistic - in 2011, after 88 years, US Gypsum shut its plant in Empire, Nevada. Then, within six months, the town's zip code was discontinued.  We then follow Fern (Frances McDormand) as she lives a nomadic life trying to fin...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 24/03/96 :  Lovelife - Lush I can't claim to be the world's biggest expert on Miki and the others (naming one of them is impressive though, right?) but I really liked "Ladykillers" and the other one (so much so, I can't remember the name of it at the minute) - I've no idea whether they're on this album though. Well, since the album opens with "Ladykillers" then I guess I'm in luck - and "the other one" is "500 (Shake Baby Shake)" - which I read is written about the Fiat 500 and (finally) the lyrics make some kind of sense to me.  Oh, there's another "other one" as well - "Single Girl" which I'd completely forgotten about.  All in all, there's a nice bit of variety across the album - I really like the guitars (yes, they're nice and jangly) and Miki's voice works well over them.  A nd it never hurts when Jarvis pops up anywhere, ...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 31/03/96 :  Golden Heart - Mark Knopfler I like Mark, the stuff he did with Dire Straits and his ace YouTube videos where he uses guitars to make the most amazing sounds.  And I even owned a copy of his soundtrack to Local Hero, which featured one great tune on it.  Repeated about ten times, which soon got more than a little bit dull.  So I'd be lying if I said my expectations were sky-high for this one (which I don't think I was aware even existed).  But, before we get into that, we have a compilation album for me to resoundingly reject. At   #4 (down from  #1 last week) we have The Beatles' Anthology 2 which features a load of out-takes and demo tracks from the late 60s - often in mono.  No, no no.  Just no.  Back to Mark and my low expectations. And, well - let's just say my expectations were well out of whack with reality.  However dull I feared it might turn out to be, I ...

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts 07/04/96 :  A Maximum High - Shed Seven Shed Seven always feel to me like they put out some decent stuff but never quite made the Britpop top table - I don't think I ever listened to this, so I'll be interested to see what I think of it. Yeah - I quite liked it.  Except for "Going For Gold" and "On Standby", which I REALLY liked - particularly the latter which I own on a 96 compilation album but had completely forgotten about.  Yes, the album has dated a bit but it's got some nice jangly guitars on it, so I can forgive it its sins (although the live tracks at the end of the extended deluxe super edition are pretty unforgivable).  But, unsurprisingly from the above, it's not one we've ever owned - 12/39 We're at #8 with a new entry this week on the start of a rather odd chart voyage - the first run was nine weeks, then it had two months off, then it was back for 14 weeks.  And then it a ...