Be more like the sky and welcome every kind of weather

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

11/10/24 : Moon Music - Coldplay

Our sixth visit with Coldplay and it's definitely the case that things have gone downhill since the first three albums - so let's just say that expectations are not exactly sky high for this (and they've not helped themselves by calling it fucking Moon Music).

But - I have to admit that I didn't find it actively annoying. Woo-hoo - RESULT! I'd even go as far as saying I liked "We Pray" and "Moon Music". I'd struggle to say it's exactly thrilling but at least I got the impression they're trying and I do feel like I could actually listen to it again and maybe even find new things I like about it. There is some somewhat kindergarten weather-related rhyming going on though - "snow/low", "sky/high" and, most heinously, "lightning/frightening". They've also called one of the tracks “🌈” which definitely feels very Coldplay. I do like the album cover though - apparently it's a moonbow.

We're at (of course) #1 with a new entry in the chart this week and the rest of the top five are Sabrina Carpenter (I don't understand how this is hanging around so long), Public Sector Broadcasting (a new entry), James Bay (another new entry) and Chappell Roan. And, like last week, we have quite the list of new entries to consider (quite briefly, in some cases)

Public Sector Broadcasting (#3)
Absolutely fine if you like that sort of thing - which I do, so all is good.

James Bay (#4)
Hmmm - it sounds like he’s been listening to his White Stripes albums and roughened the edges. And if I'm being honest, I didn’t particularly like it.

The Smile (#7)
Ah - it’s the Radiohead offshoot for Radiohead fans that don’t like Radiohead these days. And I fall squarely into that camp, so I didn’t mind it.

Alison Moyet (#8)
In theory this is an interesting one because it's reworked tracks to celebrate her 40 years in the business. However, personally I only recognised "All Cried Out" (which is done well) so I don't feel I can really comment - I would have liked to see some Yazoo tracks on there but I guess Vince said "No!". And yes - we've got five new entries in the top ten (and we're not halfway through them yet)

Jake Bugg (#14)
This is fine if you like Jake - but unfortunately I don’t.

Aphex Twin (#21)
This is an expanded version of a '94 release - and when I tell you the original was 2.5 hours long, you can probably guess this ain't a quick listen.

Finneas (#35)
Not at all what I'd expect from Billie's brother. It's surprisingly 70s - you can imagine Leo Sayer or David Essex singing these songs. It's all well done, but I'm not sure who's supposed to like it.

Orla Gartland (#46)
I quite liked this - they're decent tunes with decent lyrics. I was reminded of Billie Eilish, St Vincent, Regina Spektor and Haim in places, so it was always gonna do well with me - I listened to all of it and think this is probably my album of the week.

Caribou (#67)
Nice enough bleepy dance music - I was just thinking there was nothing new here and then I came across his reworked version of MARRS' "Pump Up The Volume" (which was nice to hear, if a somewhat odd choice). It’s all well done though.

Leon Bridges (#70)
This is a peculiar collection of 70s-ish country soul - again, it's well done but I'm not sure who's supposed to like it.

Sydnie Christmas (#71)
Well, this is an interesting one. She's actually got quite a nice voice but this is the most god-awful collection of cover versions. Truly, truly terrible. Ah, she won BGT - that explains a lot.

Geordie Greep (#81)
A name I recognised without knowing where from - he was the front man of black midi, so I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it. And I didn't, but it's not horrible and amusingly odd - and it's QUITE the album cover.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (#97)
This has the slightly political name of No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead, but the music isn't quite so confrontational - I quite liked it with Wikipedia telling me it's post-rock...

Last week I said that Shed Seven would drop to #78 but, for a change, I was too optimistic - I'm kinda sad that they've dropped out of the chart altogether. I don't think such a fate is awaiting Coldplay but I do imagine a large portion of their position is due to sales and they won't be getting too many repeat streams, so I reckon they'll drop to #20. And this week's Taylor stats are one in the top ten, two in the top thirty and seven in the entire chart (which is the lowest since records began - by me, at least).

Wikipedia has a huge amount for a new album (241 milliPeppers), although a lot of that is just listing the people involved (there are 22 strings players listed on "We Pray" alone). There's quite the celebtiry guestlist involved - Jon Hopkins, Max Martin, Nile Rodgers, Brian Eno, Little Simz, Burna Boy, HER, Jacob Collier and a load of other people I should probably know, but don't. The critics were mixed on it without hating it - it was either "their best work in some time" or "just more of the same", but commercially it's done pretty well for itself. As well as #1 here (outselling all the rest of the top 40 combined), it also hit the top in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the US - making them the first British artist to be #1 on both sides of the Atlantic since The 1975 in 2016.

"Customers also listened to" James Bay, Finneas, Lady Gaga and Snow Patrol - a somewhat curious mix, but I'm not in the slightest bit surprised to see Snow Patrol on there. I don't have a lot of time for Coldplay these days, but I found this album both a lot more interesting and bearable than most of our recent visits - but that doesn't mean I really remember any of it.

04/10/24 - Very well done
18/10/24 - Yeah, I liked this