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Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 29/03/24 :  Audio Vertigo -  Elbow I don't mind Elbow, but I haven't felt the need to listen to any of their new stuff more than once for many a long year - I'm sure I'll find it all perfectly pleasant, but nothing there to replace the Elbow tracks I already have in my life. Yeah - it is indeed all perfectly pleasant but, for me, inessential.  I own and like their first four albums and I think they're all interestingly different, whereas all the stuff since has been well-constructed wry observational material that just isn't going to displace anything from my Elbow greatest hits playlist (if I had one).  Do I have anything more to say about it?  Nope - I don't think I have! Normal service is resumed this week because we're back at #1 with a new entry and the rest of the top five are Future & Metro Boomin (another new entry which I'm perfectly fine avoiding),  Olivia Rodrigo  (up twelve p

Continuing my trip back through the 2005 album charts. 10/07/05 : Up All Night - Razorlight Another one I owned (the ratio has somehow got up to 33%) and I remember really liking some of the tracks and being less sure about the others, so let's see what we've got now - I have a suspicion it may have dated horribly. Hmmm - "horribly" feels a bit harsh, but it certainly has dated.  It's also weird because I assumed "Golden Touch" was the best track (it's OK, but no more than that) - instead it\s "Stumble And Fall" which is pretty catchy and has got some lovely intricate guitar work on it.  The rest of the album isn't terrible but it also isn't great - it's interesting that "Stumble And Fall" is so well put together because most of the other tracks feel very slapdash.  With hindsight it turns out they probably weren't the saviours of indie rock and roll that many proclaimed them to be.  They're still better than T

Continuing my trip back through the 2005 album charts. 17/07/05 : Tissues And Issues - Charlotte Church I vaguely seem to recall this was Charlotte flexing her musical power and recording stuff she wanted to and, whilst not being great, wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Yeah, it's not great but I think it was way better than it might have been - there's more variety on there than I was expecting with Girls Aloud, Joss Stone, Celine Dion and Alicia Keys all popping into my head as comparisons at various times.  One thing that did surprise me is that on some songs her voice doesn't sound nearly as strong as it obviously is - but it's definitely still way better than we hear on a lot of Spice Girl solo efforts!  On the slower numbers like "Fool No More", "Easy Way Out" and "Even God" it sounds pretty strong - I guess it was a case of her finding her thing.  I didn't mind the album, but I'm not quite sure who it was aimed

Continuing my trip back through the 2005 album charts. 24/07/05 : In Your Honor - Foo Fighters This is our fifth visit with them Foos - I don't mind them, but none of the previous visits have really hit the spot.  Let's see what we've got here, shall we? What we have is a definite game of two halves with the first being a load of rockier numbers and the second being slower acoustic almost ballads - and I'm not sure which one I preferred.  In general, I think I preferred the rockier numbers, but they got too much after the first five or so - which wasn't the case for the slower numbers, but none of them really stood out from the crowd and it was definitely a drag towards the end (and I struggle to imagine too many Foos fans were happy with them).  The more Foo Fighter stuff I hear, the more I feel they're a "best of" band - it looks like there will be a week in 2009 when I get the chance to break the rules and find out, but in the meantime I can assure

Continuing my trip back through the 2005 album charts. 31/07/05 : Hopes And Fears - Keane Another one we owned and I still check it out every so often - the best tracks on it are great and I seem to recall even the not best ones are still pretty good, but I need to remind myself... Yes, the best tracks are indeed great and it certainly starts strongly with "Somewhere Only We Know", "Bend & Break", "We Might As Well Be Strangers" and "Everybody's Changing" (probably my favourite).  But actually, the quality doesn't really drop after that and I also really like "Your Eyes Open", "She Has No Time", "Can't Stop Now" (another potential favourite) and "This Is The Last Time".  Yes, it's not rock and roll but it's all a very pleasant and slightly different sound - but I suspect you already know that. We're at #10 in the charts this week on their 64th week of a 73 week run, with it havin

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 TV of 2023 #17 :    Doctor Who Doctor Who’s longevity has always been attributed to its propensity for rebirth – the Doctor’s ability to regenerate offering endless potential for starting anew. And what a rebirth the latest edition of the show has already been – not only bringing the fearless Russell T Davies back at the helm, but reuniting fan-favourite Doctor-Donna combo David Tennant and Catherine Tate for three ambitious specials. But rather than looking solely to the past, it proved an emotional evolutionary leap forward – as the 14th Doctor (a distinct incarnation from Tennant’s original 10th) ruminated on the return of one of his familiar faces, and Donna got to move beyond one of the saddest companion farewells in the show’s history. With added budget courtesy of Disney+ and a trio of distinct stories (one funny, one eerily existential, one simply bonkers), the show’s hearts are undeniably beating again. A perfect launchpad for Ncuti

Continuing my trip back through the 2005 album charts. 07/08/05 : Lee Ryan - Lee Ryan The award for the stupidest member of Blue was hotly contested with plenty of evidence presented by all entrants, but I think it's generally accepted that Lee took it - I believe he's also in the running for the least talented award, so I can't say I'm exactly looking forward to this.   Bizarrely, it's not available on Amazon Prime, so I listened to a random version on YouTube but the inferior sound quality was the least of my problems with this.  To be fair , it's not nearly as bad as it could have been but it's all very average songs done by a very average talent - if it hadn't been "that guy from Blue" this would have gone absolutely nowhere.  I don't blame him, but I do blame the people that bought it - and that's all I have to say on the matter.  Except for the fact that I got my back and forward buttons mixed up, so initially listened to Supergra

Continuing my trip back through the 2005 album charts. 14/08/05 : Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds -  Jeff Lynne Another album I own, albeit one I'm somewhat surprised to meet in '05 - if I'd done this exercise linearly we'd have met in '78, at a very similar chart position.  I remember liking it, but very rarely listening to all of it - my memory is that it starts strongly and somewhat tails off, so it will be interesting to see what I think now. Well, it certainly starts strongly - I think most albums would be improved by a monologue from Richard Burton and "The Eve Of The War" is most definitely a very strong track.  "Forever Autumn" also still jumps out at me - it's a fine track filled with yearning.  And whilst I think it's harsh to say the album tails off, it certainly doesn't maintain the heady heights of those first four tracks - I can see why I rarely listened to all of it, but it was nice to do so fo

Another trip to the mothership, this time for an 80stastiic evening I can't claim to be a huge OMD fan, but they've released a few decent tracks over the years and when I recently visited their (somewhat surprising) #2 album , I quite enjoyed it - so when tickets came up through work to see them, I felt there were worse ways I could spend my Sunday evening.  And then I saw they were supported by Howard Jones, who I've always liked and it would be a first time visit for both of them - so count me in! Howard mostly rattled through the hits, making the most of his pretty generous support slot which enabled him to play eight songs which included "Pearl In The Shell", "New Song", "Like To Get To Know You Well", "Hide And Seek", "What Is Love?" and "Things Can Only Get Better" - there are more than you expect when you see them written down.  He did a good job in playing live versions of them though - they were different,

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 TV of 2023 #18 :    Foundation No show exemplifies the scope of Apple's ambition (or the depth of their pockets) quite like David S. Goyer's Foundation — a brilliantly uncompromising, millennia-spanning sci-fi epic that assaults the senses as readily as it boggles the mind. While the show came out of the gate strong in 2021, it really hit its stride this year, not only managing to condense Isaac Asmiov's bamboozling, idea-packed storyline into a palatable set of ten finely-tooled episodes but somehow making it even more epic and visually arresting than ever. As Empire begins to unravel (both the he and the hegemony) and the Foundation falls into crisis, we're treated to vast space battles, political intrigue, some dazzling character work and Lee Pace fending off a cadre of elite assassins with his manhood flapping in the wind. In short, everything a great show needs! This is hands-down the most ambitious, accomplished work of

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 22/03/24 :  Deeper Well -  Kacey Musgraves I'm pleasantly surprised to meet Kacey on our travels - I've liked her since her debut album .  It's hard to believe that was 11 years ago and she's put out a decent set of albums in the intervening period, so this was one I'd already checked out, so I can write it up straight away. And, somewhat disappointingly, it's merely perfectly fine.  She's still got a lovely voice and crafts a fine tune, but for me it's all a bit downplayed and unfocussed in comparison with previous albums - it just kinda slid by me without making much of an impression.  I liked the title track, "Jade Green" and "The Architect" but it doesn't feel like this is going to have too many revisits. We're at a pleasingly high #3 with a new entry this week (her highest placing here so far) with the rest of the top five being Ariana Grande (impressively holdi

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's  Top 50 TV Shows of 2023   #4 : Beef There were car chases, shootouts, deaths and kidnaps in this tale of two Los Angeles residents whose lives become consumed by a spiralling feud triggered by a road rage incident. But for all its high-octane, anger-fuelled action, there was humour, tenderness and – in Ali Wong and Steven Yeun’s outstanding performances – a tale of the ways deep, existential sadness can be overcome by the most unlikely of allies. I know this has got good write-ups and I might have got round to watching it, but I'm glad this gave me the push. The first episode starts with the road rage incident that kicks it all off and then it fleshes out the lives of Amy (Ali Wong) and Danny (Steven Yeun) - which tells us they both have their issues.  Unfortunately, I found it all a bit dull, so I was wondering how long I'd stick with it - and then, right at the end of the episode, Danny ups the beef and you think "they've b

Continuing my trip back through the 2005 album charts. 21/08/05 : Daniel Powter -  Daniel Powter A name I vaguely remember, but I'm not sure I've got much more than that - I'm assuming he's a somewhat unnecessary singer-songwriter, but I might be thinking about by Daniel Bedingfield here.  Let's find out, shall we? Oh yes - he's very unnecessary indeed.  He sings with a weird rock falsetto-ish voice on some very average tracks - Savage Garden are certainly a close touchpoint here.  I was surprised I actually knew one of his songs - "Bad Day" was everywhere for a bit and I remembered it being pretty catchy, but wasn't massively surprised to hear it was only really a good chorus.  None of it is dreadful, but I do think most of it would be improved if someone else was singing it - so somehow I don't think I'll be rushing back to it. This week we're #5 on his second week of a massively generous 23 week run (the Rolling Stones album is far

Continuing my trip back through the 2005 album charts. 28/08/05 : Supernature - Goldfrapp With the women having started the year so well, this is the first time we've met one in nine weeks, so it's safe to say 2005 has reverted to type.  This album is another one I've owned - I remember quite liking it but I've not listened to it in ages. Yeah, it's not bad at all - it's got a very glam sound to it with her vocal delivery being very reminiscent of T Rex (along with, obviously, a liberal sprinkling of Kate Bush in there) whilst the backing music is more 80s synth.  It all manages to be that interesting combination of retro and futuristic - somehow out of time, so it doesn't really date.   "Ooh La La", "Ride A White Horse" and "Number 1" are probably the tracks that were best known at the time and they did jump out for me on a relisten (quite possibly due to familiarity) but there are no obvious dud tracks on there - all in all, i