I like socks with sandals, she's more into scented candles

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

21/10/22 : Being Funny In A Foreign Language - The 1975


My second visit with The 1975 and my verdict on the last one was "OK, if annoying in places, and far too long" - so shall we see if they've listened to my criticism?  Well, this one is only 43 minutes long - so maybe, just maybe, they have.

And yeah, it's less annoying too - it's less clever-clever than previous experiences I've had with the band, whilst still being admirably complex musically.  At times there's a real 1980s US sound in there, but not overwhelmingly so - I thought it was all pretty well done.  And I also really liked "When We Are Together" - a fine song with even better lyrics.  So, all in all, I think we can quite safely say this is a vast improvement - I actually liked it quite a lot.  Wonders will never cease!

We're straight in at #1 this week (which isn't the biggest surprise ever) and the rest of the top five are The Red Hot Chili Peppers (a new entry, which I have a slight suspicion is a bit rubbish), Lil Baby (a new entry, which I have no doubt at all is utterly rubbish), Ed and Harry.  And there are a couple more new entries in the top ten - Alter Bridge (#6) and Big Moon (#9), neither of whom I can tell you the slightest thing about.  And I have to also mention Rimzee (#11) just so I can mention Dexy's Midnight Runners at #14 with Too-Rye-Ay, which first charted in 1982.  Although this version is called Too-Rye-Ay As It Should Have Sounded, because that's the sort of thing Kevin Rowland does - it's amazing the man still has friends.

Wikipedia has more than I'd expect for a new album but it's pretty light on content - however a critic nails it with his comment that the album "tames the group’s taste for excess and plays up their fundamentals: goopy ’80s guitars, pumping drums, schmaltzy saxophones, and infuriatingly good hooks" - I think he's got it spot on there.  The critics mostly liked it and it's doing well commercially as well - and, for once, I'm not mystified by the lads' success.

"Customers also listened to" YUNGBLUD, Rina Sawayama (still one of my contenders for album of the year) and Easy Life - all of whom are pretty listenable.  Which, to my surprise, this also is - if I'd known they were going to come out with something like this then maybe I'd have stayed and listened to them at Reading. 

14/10/22 - A bit of a mystery
28/10/22 - #justiceforlana

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