There's something come undone - an unreeling in the seaming, the stitching gone

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

17/01/25 : The Human Fear - Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand have made some interesting noises in their time and I've read some good reviews of this, so I'm interested to listen to this.

Yeah, I'd say this is pretty good. If you're not already a fan of FF's slightly angular art-school rock, then this isn't going to convince you of its merits - but if you're generally pre-disposed to that kinda sound, then this feels like a fine example. It all barrels along nicely and, at 35 minutes, doesn't outstay its welcome - I particularly liked the opening track "Audacious" which has some great lyrics. I also like the album title and it's a cool arty cover as well.

We're at #3 in the charts this week with a new entry and the rest of the top five are Chappell Roan (her second week at #1 and her 31st consecutive week in the top ten - it's a very decent album), Sabrina, SZA (also surprisingly decent, but it's flown under the radar somewhat) and Ed Sheeran. But how many other new entries do we have? Well, it's a curious combination, I can tell you!

Bad Bunny (#13)
Your man is one of the biggest recording artists in the world, but I think it's safe to say his output is not aimed at me (or you, probably). There's nothing wrong with it, but its appeal totally passes me by.

Lambrini Girls (#16)
I've never heard of this lot, but I really quite liked it. They're a bunch of noisy angry feminists who make a kinda 80s indie sound (think Fuzzbox) with some great lyrics - I particularly like "Big Dick Energy" - "Big dick energy - how big is that dick in reality? It's not that big". I also have to say that "C*ntology 101" has QUITE the set of lyrics on it as well. All in all, a breath of fresh air and I imagine they're a load of fun live.

Ringo Starr (#79)
Ah - bless him. He's a lovely old man (84 these days) and I'm happy for him to do whatever the hell he wants. However, transparency means I do have to say that this isn't very good - it's really not good at all.

Last week I said that Lil Baby would drop to #65 and I got it pretty wrong because he's at #28 - "vintage" groups like Franz Ferdinand tend not to do so well in their second week (although The Cure did very well last time I went down this path), but I think this should get some repeat listens so let's go for #47 for them. And this week's Taylor stats are a mere two in the top forty (but six in the top fifty) and seven in the entire chart.

Wikipedia tells us this is their sixth album and the first with a new drummer, with Audrey Tait replacing Paul Thomson (who is an original member of the group). The critics were mostly nice enough about it (but The Guardian weren't fans) and commercially it's done OK in some strange places getting to #11 in Germany and #31 in The Netherlands and Japan. 

"Customers also listened to" Lambrini Girls (really?), Forgotten Boys, The Hives and Ringo Starr - when Amazon says "customers" does it actually mean "me"? I really didn't mind Mr Ferdinand's offering at all, but Lambrini Girls take the award for the funnest album of the week - plenty of people would hate both of them though.

10/01/25 - Not nearly as bad as it could have been
24/01/25 - Not the lazy rip-off it might have been