Don't you miss the breathlessness - the wildness in the eye?

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

04/04/25 : Rushmere - Mumford & Sons 

I don't mind Mr Mumford and his relatives, but only in a 'if they're playing in a pub I happen to be in, I won't leave" kinda way - they're decent enough to listen to, but I wouldn't search them out and they're obviously never going to achieve anything. Except that, in case you missed it, the last part is 100% wrong. 

Yes, this is all perfectly pleasant and well put together - and Marcus has a surprisingly nice voice on some of it (I didn't think he had that much of a voice). It's not exactly memorable, but it's perfectly "nice" - but do I mean perfectly boring? That feels a bit harsh, but only a bit - I'm never going to listen to this again though.

We're at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week and the rest of the top five are The Darkness (a new entry), Ariana Grande, Sabrina and Lucy Dacus (another new entry). So let's take a look at them new entries

- The Darkness (#2)
I had no idea how many Darkness albums there have been - this is their EIGHTH! I had some concerns the "joke" (is it a joke?) would be wearing a bit too thin by this time, but I didn't mind this at all. It's quite ZZ Top like for most of it, with some liberal sprinklings of Queen - it goes weirdly country in some places, but it actually works surprisingly well. I've no idea who would listen to this on repeat, but whoever they are, I suspect they enjoy it a LOT. I also have to admit that the opening to "Cold Hearted Woman" made me giggle - "I had a feeling that you couldn't wait to stunt. Why do I love you? You are such a - cold hearted woman" (sung very earnestly).

- Lucy Dacus (#5)
I recognised the name, but thought she was an X Factor type - my youngest reminded me I was way off and she was one of boygenius (I was OBVIOUSLY thinking of Lucy Spraggan). I wasn't aware of any of her other work, but I really liked this. The songs are interesting and well-contstructed and they're played and sung well - Aimee Mann is probably the closest touchpoint I can think of. I'm going to make an effort to listen to this again - and there's no higher praise!

- Nemzzz (#6)
This is rap, so it's never gonna be my kind of thing - but it's certainly at the bearable end of the market - British, intelligible and intelligent. It could have been an awful lot worse.

- Lil Durk (#20)
This is rap by one of the Lil clan, so it's definitely never gonna be my kind of thing - but it surprised me by being actually tolerable. High praise indeed for one of the Lil clan.

- Stone Foundation (#84)
Going on the name, I guessed this was going to be indie or prog, but it surprised me by being soul/funk - not something you hear much of these days. I can't say I loved it, but it was nicely different and perfectly listenable.

The weird re-entry this week is obviously Ariana Grande at #3 - the deluxe version release is going to be responsible for that though. I've no idea what the Bee Gees best-of is doing reappeared at #98 though.

Last week I said that The Lottery Winners would hang in there at #67 and I was totally wrong because they've completely disappeared. I can't imagine Mumford & Sons disappearing, but I've no idea where they'll end up - let's randomly pick #46. And this week's Taylor stats are her usual one in the top forty and six in the entire chart, but five of them moved downwards - she's losing it, I tell you!

Wikipedia tells us this is their fifth album, seven years after the last one and their first as a trio after having lost their banjo player so he could freely make controversial statements on the internet - apparently it's named after a pond on Wimbledon Common. Somewhat bizarrely, there's no word on the critical reception (it feels like something they might be nice about) but it's done well commercially, getting to #10 in Ireland and #3 in Austria, Belgium and The Netherlands.

"Customers also listened to" The Lumineers, Caamp, Of Monsters And Men and Bob Iver - which isn't a selection that surprises me. This album is well done, but it doesn't go any way to explaining their popularity to me - but if you like them, then I can't see you won't like this.

28/03/25 - Good, but disappointing
11/04/25 - A very decent album


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