scaryblog

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 TV shows of 2024 #13 :    Arcane When Netflix announced they were teaming up with Riot Games and Fortiche to make a spin-off series based on MMORPG League Of Legends, let’s just say that Arcane had our curiosity more than our attention. But then the first season arrived boasting extraordinary animation, rich world-building, complex social commentaries and storytelling, and one of the all-time great screen sister relationships in the shape of Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx’s (Ella Purnell) and, well, yeah, that got our attention. Then, almost as soon as it began, Arcane reached its breathtaking climax this year with a three-act second season every bit as narratively audacious and dizzyingly beautiful as the first. If there’s an argument to be made that Season 2 at times feels overstuffed, the rebuttal is that everything it does cram in — from the one-shot multiversal stunner that is ‘Pretend Like It’s The First Time’ to the Jacksonia...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 28/03/25 : KOKO - The Lottery Winners  This is my second album visit with The Lottery Winners and I've also seen them live and both experiences were enjoyable, so I'm very much looking forward to this. Hmmm - it's quite a clever album because it manages to be both upbeat and downbeat at the same time, focussing, like their last album , very much on mental health. However, I enjoyed them so much when I saw them live because they were so much fun and that just doesn't come across here. So I both liked it and was disappointed by it - I think it's worth a listen, but I won't be checking it out again. They've got an interesting bunch of guest artists on here though - Reverend & The Makers, Chad Kroeger (lead singer of Nickelback), Frank Turner and Shed Sever. I also like the album cover - it's simple yet striking. We're at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week - their second chart-toppin...

Continuing my trip back through the 1959 album charts. 22/03/59 : Frank Sinatra Sings For Only For The Lonely -  Frank Sinatra Skipping over another four weeks brings us to this, but before we get there I need to mention an album we didn't do which was the Oh Boy! soundtrack - and the reason I missed it out  was that I just couldn't find it anywhere . Oh Boy! was the first teenage all-music show on British TV which aired in '58 and '59 - it was broadcast live on a Saturday night on ITV so I can imagine took quite some organisation. Forty shows went out, but only a couple of them survive - they're on YouTube and look endearingly of the era. I was intrigued to listen to the album even if I doubt the energy would have quite come across, but it just doesn't seem to be anywhere, so instead we have our FIFTEENTH visit with Frank. You know what? I actually quite liked this because it's not him in swingy or croony mode - it's all much more downbeat and so makes ...

Continuing my trip back through the 1959 album charts. 26/04/59 : Continental Encores -  Mantonvani Skipping over exactly three months of the charts (including four consecutive weeks which were EXACTLY the same) we come to this - I know the name Mantovani but don't really know what he did, so this will be intriguing. Ah - he did that old-fashioned string thing. They're all nicely arranged instrumental orchestral tracks, but I'd struggle to tell you how many tracks there were on the album because they all just blended into each other - there's nothing objectively wrong with them, but that doesn't make them alright. I love that album cover though - it's like a snapshot in our house when I come home from work. We're at #8 in the charts this week on his/their last week of an eleven week run, with #4 being as high as it got, in six of its first seven weeks. The top five this week still had  South Pacific ,  Gigi  and   My Fair  Lady  up at the top, wit...

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews... Backstroke : The Donmar Warehouse  When I was organised enough to remember to book Donmar tickets back in what now feels like the very dim and distant past, I booked two plays both based entirely upon the cast. Adrien Brody (the now double Oscar winner) didn't disappoint in this and I had high hopes for Celia Imrie (best known for her work with Victoria Wood for me) and Tamsin Greig (Green Wing and Black Books for me, but The Archers for the older generation and Friday Night Dinner for the kids) in this - but apart from that I knew absolutely nothing about it. And there were a distracting number of clues on stage as to what was coming up - I'm guessing not too many sets include a hospital bed and an Aga. But basically what we had here was a mother-daughter relationship under the microscope - Bo (short for Boadicea, played by Tamsin) is dealing with her mother Beth (never Mummy, played by Celia) who was unresponsive in ho...

Continuing my trip back through the 1959 album charts. 26/07/59 : Curtain Up -  Various Artists Skipping over three weeks with no new albums, we come to this that would certainly be ignored in a normal year because it's just a collection of random artists and tracks. And it nearly got ignored even though it's '59 - but there are a few interesting names on there, so I thought I'd give it the benefit of the doubt. And I'm glad I did, because what a peculiar album it is! It's basically a selection of cabaret-ish numbers with some of them being boringly normal, but some are really quite odd. Each track is performed by a different artist with the whole thing presented as a variety show compered by Bruce Forsyth - and boy does he build his part up! They were a surprising number of artists I'd actually heard of on there including Roy Castle, Petula Clark, Lonnie Donegan and Dickie Valentine - and plenty I'd no clue about, but I'm going to mention Lita Rosa,...

Continuing my trip back through the 1959 album charts. 23/08/59 : Songs To Sing In Your Bath -  Russ Conway Well this is somewhat unusual - I've actually rejected an album in 1959! And it's one I actually would have enjoyed as well, but we REALLY don't need to listen to an Elvis compilation. And so, instead, I'm going to subject myself to something that I'm going to absolutely hate - our FOURTH visit with Mr Conway. God, it even starts with "I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts" and also has "Coming Round The Mountain" and "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" on it. It's just truly, truly dreadful. But you'd never guess that from the album cover, would you? We're at #10 in the chart this week on his fourth week of a five week run, with him also having managed another five week run earlier in the year, but #8 was high as it ever got. The top five this week were  South Pacific ,  Gigi ,  My Fair  Lady ,  Peter Sellers  and Fra...

Continuing my trip back through the 1959 album charts. 30/08/59 : Frankie Vaughan At The Palladium -  Frankie Vaughan Frankie's one of those names that I know but I don't really have the faintest idea what he does - it's croony-cabaret stuff, isn't it?  Hmmm - it's more swingy-cabaret stuff really, although it comes close to descending into pub-singalong at times. The whole thing sounds massively chaotic and t he sound quality is also pretty poor - I'm guessing they hadn't really worked out how to record live stuff yet.  The tracks are OK I guess but feel pretty dated, but not as dated as the "banter" - "Hey there, how old are you?" "Sixteen" "Sixteen - mmmm!" (Frankie was 31 at this time).    All in all, this wasn't a pleasant experience. We're at #6 in the charts this week  with a new entry that spent one more week in the charts and then disappeared forever. The top five this week were  South Pacific ,  Gigi...

Continuing my trip back through the 1959 album charts. 06/09/59 : Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel - Duane Eddy Missing out a week because there were no new albums, we have our second album from Mr Eddy this year - our last visit was surprisingly decent, so here's hoping he continues in that vein. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with this although I didn't enjoy it as much as the last one - possibly just because it doesn't have Peter Gunn on it.  It does have some very groovy sax playing on it - I'd say the overall skill level feels pretty high. Yes, i t does get a bit repetitive but with 15 songs in 33 minutes, nothing hangs around long enough for you to get too bored with it - it's fine enough, I guess, but you do have to wonder about the font usage on the album cover. We're at #6 in the charts this week on the second of a two week run, with this being as high as it got. The top five this week were  South Pacific ,  Gigi ,  Peter Sellers ,  My Fair  La...

Continuing my trip back through the 1959 album charts. 20/09/59 : Strictly For Grownups - Paddy Roberts I've no idea what this could be so I'm a bit afraid it's some "comedy" or, even worse "comedy songs". Oh yes, we're in the land of "comedy songs" - they're all done in a cabaret piano player style and recount various amusing contemporary (for the time) tales. However, to my surprise, whilst it's obviously dated, it actually raised quite a few chuckles and some of it was quite clever and also surprisingly rude - I imagine it went down a storm in certain circles in 1959. There's no danger of me ever visiting it again, but it could have been a helluva lot worse - it's intriguing to see that this has dated reasonably well, unlike Peter Sellers. We're at #8 in the charts this week with a new entry on the start of an impressive one week run. He did come back for five more runs though, all of which were one week except for th...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2024 #6 :    Robot Dreams Based on Sara Varon’s wordless 2007 graphic novel, Pablo Berger’s virtuosic 2D animation Robot Dreams is so much more than the robot-and-his-dog buddy comedy audiences may have been expecting. Set in an anthropomorphised early ‘80s New York, Berger’s simply (but never simplistically) drawn movie introduces us to a lonely dog whose search for friendship leads him to order and build himself an ‘Amica 2000’ robot companion. But whilst a delightful Earth, Wind & Fire soundtracked montage revels in showing our inseparable bot-and-barker duo venturing out into the world together, tragedy strikes when a trip to Coney Island leaves a rusting Robot stranded on the beach. It’s from here that the film transcends itself, with Robot and Dog’s heartfelt yearning to be reunited — episodically chronicled in a series of gorgeously imaginative flights of fancy — augmenting a soulful exploration of the fragile be...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 2103/25 : Music - Playboi Carti Playboi has popped up as a guest artist on a couple of albums we've met recently, but we've yet to experience an offering from the man - I have a sneaking suspicion I'm not going to like it. Well - every so often these rappy types surprise me by coming up with something surprisingly tolerable! But, let me assure you, this is not one of those times - this is shouty-gabblerap over some bleepy static. Actually, to be fair, as a sound it's not dreadful - but it's completely indecipherable and the album has 30 tracks lasting 75 minutes, which is just waaaay too much. I'm happy for you if you like this, but if you don't think you're going to like it, then I can assure you that you won't. We're at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week and the rest of the top five are  Sabrina , Steven Wilson (a new entry), Lady Gaga (well, I got that wrong) and Tate McRae ...

Completing (for the time being) my journey across the output of The Bard Of Barking... Compilation Albums I wouldn't normally include compilation albums, but Billy's done some interestingly different things over the years with them so I've picked out some highlights from the ones listed on his Wikipedia discography Back To Basics (1987) This is more of a combination than a compilation - it's Life's A Riot , Brewing Up and The Between The Wars EP, which was released in '85 and got to #15 in the singles chart. And it's really rather good, so let's give it a track breakdown 1. Between The Wars This is possibly his best political track - it was inspired by the miner's strike, but it's wider than that considering the role of the state in a working man's life. I like it a lot because of its simple tune and great lyrics - "Theirs is a land of hope and glory - m ine is the green field and the factory floor.  Theirs are the skies all dark with b...