scaryblog

Continuing my trip back through the 2003 album charts. 23/02/03 : Simply Deep -  Kelly Rowland Our second album this year from a Destiny's Child graduate - I'm expecting this to be perfectly fine but not something I feel the need for in my life. And for some strange reason, I'm only allowed to listen to the clean version on my streaming service of choice - I struggle to imagine the original was littered with expletives... I was surprised to recognise "Dilemma" which has a nice chorus, but there's remarkably little else to it (and it underlines this by repeating the chorus about a million times). And that theme is repeated in a lot of the songs - they've got a decent enough hook to them but they just use it over and over. Across the album there actually feels to be enough variety, but it's just that I got bored with a lot of the songs - which isn't exactly a great situation to be in. If you like Destiny's Child then I can't see any reason wh...

Continuing my trip back through the 2003 album charts. 02/03/03 : Everything's Eventual -  Appleton This is the album the Appleton sisters recorded when they left All Saints - I don't mind their voices, but I can't help but feel we're going to be up there with Dannii Minogue for the absolute inessentialness (inessentiality?) of it all. Well, that's a surprise - it doesn't hit the heights of Dannii's superfluousness! Yeah, this is merely on the Melanie C upper plains of pointlessness - their voices are actually OK and the songs aren't dreadful, with the exception of "Ring A Ding Ding" which is absolutely awful. If you like a bit of All Saints then I struggle to imagine you'd hate this - I actually thought of it as a female Robbie Williams album (who Nicole was engaged to before she traded him for Liam Gallagher - what a taste in men that girl had!). Overall, I tolerated it a lot more than I expected to but I didn't need 50 minutes of it....

Continuing my trip back through the 2003 album charts. 09/03/03 : Ether Song -  Turin Brakes Turin Brakes were always one of those bands I wanted to like but, whilst I never hated them, I could never quite get into them. I'm not sure I've ever listened to a whole album of theirs though, so let's see if I experience a (somewhat late) Damascene conversion. Hmmm - no. It's got a lot of the ingredients of stuff I like - slightly fey (but not overly so) guitar-based indie with an interesting vocal style and decent enough lyrics. And I do quite like it, but it's just not clicking for me - maybe multiple listens would do the trick, but that ain't gonna happen. None of it's horrible, but it's also not that loveable for me - I do like the album cover though! We're at an amazingly high #4 in the charts this week with a new entry on the start of a surprisingly long 16 week run - well done lads! The rest of the top five were  Norah Jones ,,  Christina Aguilera ,...

Continuing my trip back through the 2003 album charts. 16/03/03 : Reason -  Melanie C This is a peculiar one because I loved Northern Star which is the only Spice Girl album I've ever owned - I still listen to it from time to time and it's stood the test of time pretty well. But as far as I know I've never ever listened to this, the follow up. I don't remember ever being scared off it - it just never happened, so I'm intrigued to see what we've got here. Well, it's not Northern Star and that's for sure. The songs seem to have the same set of ingredients so none of them are horrible, but they've all just less of everything - it's just not that interesting on first listen. It probably had enough for the hardcore Melanie C fans but I just don't see it wasn't going to convert anyone and is a disappointment after what came before. We're at #5 in the charts this week with a new entry on the start of a very short five week run - Northern Sta...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2023 #2 :    Killers Of The Flower Moon Every second of Scorsese’s latest opus thrums with purpose. His telling of the story of the Osage Murders – the 1920s killings that saw the oil-rich Native American Osage people systematically slaughtered by White Americans intent on inheriting their headrights – is a supremely powerful piece of work, unflinching in portraying the callous capitalistic history of the United States with clear resonances in the present day. While the headline event is Scorsese finally uniting Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in one of his features – as the cowardly Ernest Burkhart and his sinister scheming uncle ‘King’ Hale, respectively – it’s Lily Gladstone who looms largest. Her Mollie Burkhart – an Osage woman, wife of Ernest, watching her family members fall one-by-one around her – is a force of nature, Gladstone imbuing her with equal parts fight and fear. There’s undeniable care and conscienti...

Continuing my trip back through the 2003 album charts. 23/03/03 : Neon Nights -  Dannii Minogue I always thought Dannii was somewhat fortunate with her pop career - having a more talented sister doesn't really feel like it should be the basis for success. I'm expecting this to be tolerable but lacking in any obvious talent and absolutely inessential. Oh yes - and then some. Kylie's hardly a vocal powerhouse but Dannii's voice just sounds so weak and all the tracks are very unmemorable - you can quite imagine her only being given those that Kylie had already rejected. None of it's terrible but, for the avoidance of doubt, this is not an album anyone needs (and the version I listened to was 150 minutes long - I managed an hour of it!). As well as being lucky to have a career, she was also very lucky to get a write-up because we're all the way down at #8 with a new entry this week, having skipped over several other albums to get there. She managed an eight week run...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2024 #13 :    La Chimera When Greta Gerwig says that a film has made her 'euphorically happy', you’d better take note. Alice Rohrwacher’s sunbathed curio, set in ‘80s Tuscany, stars rakish man of the moment Josh O’Connor as a gifted tombaroli (tomb raider) who is mourning the loss of his girlfriend and lives hand to mouth, making money by stealing artefacts from neighbourhood land. It’s a delightful role for O’Connor, who, armed with just a filthy linen suit and a knack for speaking fluent Italian, showcases irresistible charm. Yet it’s Brazilian actor Carol Duarte as local mother Italia who gets the film’s defining moment — a dazzling, weird, freeing display of choreography that is truly captivating to behold. Around them, Rohrwacher builds a fantastical world full of off-kilter characters and strange, bucolic corners of rural Italy. Paired with one of the most sweet and sincere closing shots that you’ll see this year, you...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 21/02/25 : Critical Thinking - Manic Street Preachers Our fourth visit with the Manics and, whilst I like their earlier stuff, their '21 offering left me very cold, so my expectations are not high here. But, actually, I didn't mind this at all - it has all the general hallmarks of the Manics but, whilst it harks back to their earlier sound, it also takes a few more risks and does some surprisingly interesting stuff. I can't see it getting them any new fans, but if you at least tolerate them, then maybe this should be next for you - I might even listen to it again and that's considerably higher praise than I was expecting to give it.  We're at #2 with a new entry this week - they will have been gutted not to have hit the top spot. And what powerhouse of an album kept them off it? Yup, there's no stopping  Sabrina  as she takes her third week at #1, with the rest of the top five being PARTYNEXTDOOR/Drake...

Continuing my trip back through the 2003 album charts. 30/03/03 : Home -  Simply Red Our fourth visit with the lads and so far their offerings have been a mix of bad, bland and surprisingly enjoyable - looking at their timeline, it seems like bland is the mostly probably outcome here. Actually, it's much closer to surprisingly enjoyable - there's a lot more variety here than I was expecting and some nice surprises. "Sunrise" samples Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" and it's nicely done, even it it really made me want to stop the album and play that instead. I also wasn't expecting to hear them cover "You Make Me Feel Brand New" (originally by The Stylistics) but I have to admit they do it well. Don't get me wrong, no-one needs any of this in their lives but there's far worse musical wallpaper out there. We're at #2 in the charts with a new entry this week on the start of a 23 week run (with this being ...

Continuing my journey across the output of The Bard Of Barking... The Million Things That Never Happened (2021) This is one I've definitely listened to - I remember quite liking most of it. I also went to one of the shows on the tour and there were some nice stories attached to some of then - he sounded older, wiser and more mellow. I guess it had to happen sometime... 1. Should Have Seen It Coming Yeah, he's definitely older, wiser and more mellow on this one. It's a decent track without being great. 2. Mid-Century Modern He's definitely sounding older here but still trying to keep up - " the kids who pulled the statues down - they challenged me to see, t he gap between the man I am and the man I want to be". It's all got a nice folky-blues sound to it. 3. Lonesome Ocean A nicely mellow and melancholic track. 4. Good Days And Bad Days "Boring old normal - how attractive it seems" - I seem to remember from the gig that this was a post-lockdown...

Continuing my trip back through the 2003 album charts. 06/04/03 : Meteora -  Linkin Park I quite liked Hybrid Theory but never explored any further offerings from Linkin Park because I had a strong suspicion they weren't going to bring anything new to the party. I'm perfectly happy to listen to this, but am expecting it to be very inessential. Yeah - inessential is a fair enough comment. Provided you don't mind the general sound (which I don't, but I quite understand that others hate it) then all the tracks are fine, but a whole album of it gets very tiresome and there's absolutely no sign of any musical evolution. And that's about all I've got to say about it really. We're at #3 in the charts this week on their second week of a fully undeserved 35 week run, with it having peaked at a fully undeserved #1. Amazingly, it's also managed runs in '07, '08, '17, '21, '23 and '24 - I've absolutely no idea what's was going on...

Continuing my trip back through the 2003 album charts. 13/04/03 : Let Go -  Avril Lavigne I never listened to this because I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it - but I do have a soft spot for "Sk8ter Boi" which I believe is on this album. So maybe I won't hate it (but I bet I do). Nah - this is actually OK. It's not aimed at me in the slightest but there's nothing wrong with it - yes, it's a bit "oooh, I'm such a rebel" in places, but there's enough variety across the album that it doesn't get tiresome.  "Sk8ter Boi" really pushes all the buttons it aims to and, along with "Complicated" stands out form the pack for me, but none of it is dreadful,  She's definitely been listening to her Alanis Morrissette and P!nk albums - but there are far worse people she could have borrowed from. It's also a very well put together album cover for its market. We're at #4 in the charts this week on her 33rd week ...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 14/02/25 : Open Wide - Inhaler Somewhat surprisingly, this is our second visit with Inhaler and last time I noted that the musical apple didn't fall far from the tree with Baby Bono definitely sounding like his dad - and I strongly suspect they're not going to have massively changed things up here. Ah yes - it's very U2-ish, b ut in their "not really bringing anything new to the party" phase. There's certainly n othing hateful about it, but nothing essential either - it' s not such a common sound these days though so if it introduces the kids to it then it’s not such a bad thing.  A bit more variety across the album wouldn’t have hurt though. We're at #2 with a new entry on the chart this week and the rest of the top five are Taylor Swift (another new entry which we'll talk more about in a bit), Kendrick Lamar (it's fair to say the lad had a good week), The Weeknd and  Sabrina  (her...