I don't know what I'm doing wrong

Continuing my trip back through the 2006 album charts.

26/11/06 : Razorlight - Razorlight

I remember Razorlight's first album with some fondness, although I suspect if I listened to it again I might scratch my head wondering exactly what I enjoyed so much about it.  I'm not sure I remember this, their second album, at all - which isn't exactly a great sign now, is it?  Let's see if my fears are confirmed...

Well, it's OK but it doesn't feel like they spent an awful long time writing the songs.  I can imagine that if you heard them live, you'd think "yeah, these are great songs", buy the album and then wonder if they were the same songs when you put it on at home.  "America" is pretty much the highpoint with everything else just kinda sliding past me - it wasn't horrible but it wasn't exactly memorable.  There's no "Golden Touch" or "Stumble And Fall" certainly...

We're at #9 in the charts this week on its 19th week of a 63 week run - REALLY?  And it spent the first two weeks at #1 as well - 2006 was an odd time, wasn't it?  The top five this week were Westlife, Oasis, Beatles, U2 and George Michael - one cover and four best of albums, with positions 6-8 also taken up by best ofs as well!  And #10 was Angelis, a "classical singing group" made up of a load of kids put together by Simon Cowell.  That's not the most exciting top ten ever is it?  We do have some high new entries this week though - all of the top four!

Wikipedia only really talks about its critical and commercial reception - and it's fair to say the critics were mixed.  Some liked it, but the much more entertaining reviews were not so much in favour - "It's not so much that much of Razorlight is bad exactly, it's just very ordinary" rings true to me, as does someone else noting that it was never going to live up to people's expectations, but it REALLY didn't.  It is, however, supposed to be considerably better than their third album which basically sounded their death knell.  Amazingly, this one sold 1.5 million copies in the UK and was another one in the top ten of the year - #6.  Like, wow.

"Customers also listened to" The Zutons, The Kooks, The Coral and Jack Peñate (I really like Jack - I wonder if I'll get to see him at some point?) - they're all very similar to Razorlight in that they showed so much promise but never really delivered on it (although I didn't mind The Coral's album when I met it in 2021).  I'm quite tempted to listen to Razorlight's debut to see if it's quite as disappointing as this - I feel there has to be more to it than this (but wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't).

19/11/06 - A slightly different album from those we've previously seen
03/12/06 - In which I struggle to understand the fuss...