I'm gonna take mine of you with me

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

31/03/23 : Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd - Lana Del Rey

I never think I like Lana, but every so often I get reminded that I really quite liked Norman Fucking Rockwell (although our other visit, Chemtrails Over The Country Club, impressed me less).  Whatever the music's like here, she's outdone herself in terms of silly album titles - I mean, everyone knows there should be a question mark at the end of it...

In terms of the music, this starts really well with "The Grants" being a lovely track with some gorgeous harmonies on it.  After that, it felt like it moved more into the Lana territory I expect - a nice voice over some nice melody with some interesting sounds and lyrics involved.  But, when you actually stop and think about it, you have a teensy suspicion that, whilst they sound deep and meaningful, they're actually just a load of old nonsense (see also - Taylor Swift).  The other artist that springs to mind listening to this is Lorde and, for me, the Kiwi takes it in terms of content - but I can believe this could unveil hidden depths if given enough listens.  Which I won't.

Two other tracks are going to get a name check -  "Grandfather Please Stand on the Shoulders of My Father While He's Deep-Sea Fishing" just because it's got a very silly name and "Judah Smith Interlude" because I've got absolutely no idea why anyone thought this track was a good idea.  It's basically an excerpt from a sermon (from Judah Smith) with various audience comments audible - it's as though Lana pocket dialled the album from church and no-one thought to remove it.  And one more thought to finish up - it's a very 60s style album cover.

We're at #1 in the charts this week - I have a suspicion it will be around for some time (although maybe not, since her last album came in at #2 and only lasted 4 weeks).  The rest of the top five is a clean sweep of new entries - Depeche Mode (with their first album since the death of Andy Fletcher, which I might well check out), Fall Out Boy, Pink Floyd (a live version of DSOTM) and Luke Combs (which seems surprisingly high for a US country artist).  I'm going to mention the next couple of new entries as well at #32 & #33 because they're the amusing combination of Babymetal and Elton John's Honky Chateau from 51 years ago, swiftly followed by U2 at #34 with an album that's plummeted from #1 last week.

Wikipedia has a fair bit for a new album, but remarkably little of interest.  The critics liked it though, with some considering it to be her best work and it's done well commercially, getting to #1 in quite a few countries (it's her sixth chart topper over here).  Interestingly, the UK sales are given precisely as 41,925 and broken down by format and I'm not sure I'd have got them in the right order - 20,809 vinyl albums, 9,717 CDs, 7,819 units from sales-equivalent streams, 2,582 cassettes and 998 digital downloads.  And in case you're thinking "who buys cassettes these days?", I can answer that - one of my eldest daughter's friends bought three of them.  And no, she doesn't have a cassette player.

"Customers also listened to" Beach Weather, Beach House, Lizzy McAlpine and boygenius - I've actually heard Lizzy's album and it's OK.  Well, this has been a long entry for a recent album, hasn't it - and the whole thing could easily have been summarised as "it's fine, I guess". 

24/03/23 - Not good.  And far too long.
07/04/23 - Feels like it deserves a few more listens