Some days you're too set in your ways

Continuing my trip back through the 2005 album charts.

27/11/05 : Keep On - Will Young

Quite coincidentally, we move from the first winner of American Idol to the first winner of Pop Idol - I'm not Will's hugest fan, but I do have a lot of time for the lad and I'm pleased to see he's transitioned into the role of older statesman pretty well.  I must have heard this album because it's the first one from the year that "we" own, but obviously I don't remember the slightest thing about it.

It's actually quite a varied album with him trying his hand at various kinds of things - I mean he's not going for death metal or yodelling, but there's more there than I was expecting.  I don't think it helps the album hang together, but I did enjoy it when it works, particularly on "Old Time Love", "Ain't Such A Bad Place To Be" and "Who Am I".  The rest of it is perfectly pleasant, but it just doesn't really give you any clue what he's trying to do with the album as a whole.

We're at #2 with a new entry this week on the start of a 38 week run which showed quite a lot of movement up and down the chart.  The rest of the top five were Madonna, Take That, Robbie Williams and Westlife and the next highest new entry was Enya (#8) which surprised me because I thought this was after her time.  However, Wikipedia tells me she's had eight top ten albums (which is all of her albums) here between 1988 and 2015 - she's also had five top ten albums in the US with A Day Without Rain getting to #2 in 2000.  Which just goes to show how little I know about Enya.

Wikipedia doesn't have a lot on the album - it's his third album and despite being his first not to get to #1, is actually his second best-seller.  The critics were nice enough about it, but it didn't really do anything away from these shores - #33 in Ireland and #85 in The Netherlands is all that we're offered.

"Customers also listened to" Gareth Gates, Shayne Ward, Take That and Sugababes, which pretty much starts where I expected and then heads off the beaten path.  This album didn't really do anything about my opinion of Will - I was neither impressed or depressed by it.

20/11/05 - Somehow unsatisfactory
04/12/05 - Very enjoyable

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