Accidents happen strangest of places

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 Supergrass's Road To Rouen instead - and that was superior in every way to this mediocrity.

This week we're at #6 in the charts with a new entry at the start of a four week run, it then took five months off and came back for another four week run - unsurprisingly it never troubled these dizzy heights in any other week.  The top five this week were James Blunt, Coldplay, Faithless, Kaiser Chiefs and Jeff Wayne and the next highest new entry was Madness (#11).

Wikipedia tells us that Blue had their farewell tour all planned, but Lee was diagnosed with nodules on his throat which meant they had to cancel it.  Aaahhh - poor Lee.  Oh, what's that?  Three seconds later he's signed a £1.1 million solo record deal and the album is out in less than six months - apparently they wanted him to be the next Robbie Williams.  I'm no Robbie fan, but even I could have told you the Lee was never going to get anywhere near his heights.  Apparently he was also sponsored by Dolce & Gabbana in a fantastic deal which involved him not being paid - the boy's a genius, I tell you.

Apparently Lee wrote a load of songs for both this album and the next one - tellingly, all his compositions appear on the second half of the album which makes you think that maybe someone was having second thoughts.  The critic's comments were "mixed to negative" with some praising his singing voice (I've no idea why) but the songs were "a mixed bag of made-to-order drivetime ditties and flaccid shelf filler" and "ideal for dentist's waiting rooms and lifts".  And it didn't set the world alight commercially, although it did get to #3 in Italy - all of which meant he was dropped from the label and we never got to get a second album.  But we have had multiple Blue reunions though, so all is good with the world, right?

"Customers also listened to" - we'll never know because it's not on Amazon, but let's assume that solo efforts from Duncan James, Anthony Costa and Simon Webbe are involved.  Is it sad that I knew all their names without looking them up?  I also believe that some of Simon's stuff is supposed to be bearable - it won't surprise me if I get to find out some time.  But the good news is that I'll never have to experience another effort from Lee - although I have to admit it could have been a helluva lot worse.

31/07/05 - A fine album indeed
14/08/05 - Undoubtedly a classic