Catch a falling star - you'll go far in the pageant of the bizarre

Continuing my trip back through the 2006 album charts.

04/06/06 : The Garden - Zero 7

I really liked Simple Things, their debut album but I either never listened to this or completely deleted it from my mind - my suspicion is that it's either not going to add anything or it's going to be worse, neither of which makes it entirely essential listening.  But I do agree that I should have listened to it to find out - I was young and foolish back then (well, I was 38 and foolish anyway).

Well, it doesn't really add loads, but it's slightly different, I guess.  Perfectly listenable though - it was a nice accompaniment to being, as I was, out in "The Garden".  There were also a couple of tracks that jumped out at me - "Futures" is pretty standard Zero 7 stuff, but "The Pageant Of The Bizarre" is a little bit different and nicely quirky.

We're all the way down at #7 in the charts this week on its second week of a seven week run - each of their albums spent less time in the charts than the previous one.  The top five this week were Orson (a new entry), RHCP, Feeder (a best-of), Snow Patrol and P!nk with the next highest new entry being The Futureheads (#12) - they did some interesting stuff at times.  

Wikipedia doesn't have a load on the album - it tells me its their third album (I just assumed it was their second, but Simple Things was all the way back in 2001, so they had time to put out When It Falls in 2004) and it says they "take a new, more upbeat musical direction, while still essentially maintaining their original sound" (different, but the same).  It also tells me that the vocals are mostly provided by José González, who I did recognise and Sia, who I didn't and had forgotten that they'd worked together.  She's done quite a bit over the years - I didn't realise she was quite as old as she is (at 47, she's positively ancient!)"

"Customers also listened to" Sophie Barker, Sia and José González - all of whom have provided vocals for Zero 7 at times.  I liked this album - I'd struggle to describe it as essential but it's a nice relaxing listen which is, at times, just what you need.

28/05/06 - Fine, I guess
11/06/06 - A somewhat dated album, even at time of release