No introduction needed, but girls still ask what my name is

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

31/01/25 : CAN'T RUSH GREATNESS - Central Cee

Our second visit with Central Cee and last time my overriding comment was "I'm not the man to comment on this" and I suspect we're very much going to be in the same place here.

And, to no-one's surprise, that's exactly where we are. It's just not my kinda thing so I shouldn't comment. But...

...unlike an awful lot of (particularly US) hip-hop, this has understandable and (for UK youths, if not me) relatable lyrics so I'm perfectly happy for it to be successful. If you like this sort of thing, then you'll already have formed your opinion of it - and, if you don't, then nothing I say will convince you to listen to it and I won't be spending any time trying to tell you that you'll love it. But it's certainly not entirely without merit - and there are far worse things I've said about albums over the years. It's also quite the album cover!

We're at a pleasingly unusual (for the year so far) #1 in the chart with a new entry and the rest of the top five are a pleasingly unusual (for the year so far) new entry heavy Teddy Swims (a new entry), FKA Twigs (another new entry), Sabrina (her 23th week but first outside the top three) and Mogwai (ANOTHER new entry). So I'm guessing we need to investigate them new entries a bit closer

- I've Tried Everything But Therapy Part II - Teddy Swims (#2)
If you liked ITEDT Pt I then, as far as I can tell, there's absolutely no reason why you won't like this. I didn't hate it, but I'm fine without it.

- Eusexua - FKA Twigs (#3)
I'm a bit of a fan of FKA so I was looking forward to visiting it - and yeah, it's good. Skittery and shimmery electronica with some phat beats kicking in from time to time - I was reminded of Madonna's Ray Of Light, so if that's your sort of thing then check this out.

- The Bad Fire - Mogwai (#5)
I've met Mogwai twice and enjoyed them both times so was looking forward to this. And yeah, this was good - I'm not entirely sure how I'm describe it (Wikipedia tells me it's "post rock"), but it's a nice sound with a lot of skill involved.

- Heard Noises - Matt Berry (#24)
I'm obviously aware of Matt and I've heard his albums (this is his eleventh) are much better than you might expect - but I had absolutely no idea what to expect. And having listened to it, I'm still not entirely sure what we've got - it feels very retro, harking back to something like Scott Walker. I'm intrigued as to how seriously Matt takes it all because it sounds like the sort of thing either comedy-Matt or deadpan-Matt would produce - it's an interesting listen either way though.

- Roadrunner - Tom Meighan (#47)
It took me some time to remember who Tom was, but when I remembered he was the ex-frontman of Kasabian, I suspected I knew what I'd get here. And let's just say I was not surprised - it's fine if you're in the mood for such a thing.

- Bloom - Larkin Poe (#49)
I've never heard of Larkin, but one look at the album cover told me they'd be country-rawk. And once again I was not surprised by what I heard - it's done well enough, but it's not really my sort of thing.

- Rave Immortal - Alt Blk Era (#83)
I'd never heard of this lot - it's surprisingly early 90s rave-y. I didn't mind it, but I was surprised it has hit the dizzy heights of #83.

- The Acoustic Sessions - Thin Lizzy (#90)
Who was asking for this? And how have they been listening to it, because it's not available on my streaming platform of choice. I'm sure it's all bearable but utterly inessential - Thin Lizzy just doesn't feel like the sort of group that you need acoustic session output from.

Last week I said that Mac Miller would drop to #78 and, for the second week in a row, I was overly optimistic because he's completely disappeared from the charts. I really can't see Central Cee doing the same because I reckon he'll hold up quite well - let's go for #27. And this week's Taylor stats are one in the top twenty, three in the top forty and six in the entire chart which is her worst showing since I started my records in July '23 - a quick search suggests the last time she had a mere six albums in the chart was mid '22.

Back to Central Cee (after what feels like an age), Wikipedia tells us it's his debut album - which somewhat surprised me since we've already met him but apparently that was mixtape. There isn't an awful lot more on there apart from documenting the myriad ways in which he teased his audience about how close it was. The critics were generally nice enough about it, with The Guardian somewhat obliquely stating "there’s very little about Can’t Rush Greatness that suggests it’s likely to dent Central Cee’s remarkable progress". Commercially, it's stormed Europe getting to #1 in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland - which somewhat surprised me because I thought it had quite a UK kinda sound, but maybe that's what the EU are crying out for after Brexit.

"Customers also listened to" Nemzzz, ArtDee, Ice Spice and Dave - well I've heard of two of them, which is two more than I was expecting to. I'm the last person to comment on this album really, but I'm happy to settle on "certainly not entirely without merit" and I only hope Mr Cee will be happy enough with that. I'd also recommend the offerings from FKA Twigs, Mogwai and Matt Berry if you want something a little more conventional (without being too conventional).

24/01/25 - Not the lazy rip-off it might have been