The highways of innocence have a strange way of making sense

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

18/04/25 : God Shaped Hole - Those Damn Crows 

I've heard of TDC (such a great name for a band!) and I know they're rocky types, but I'm not sure I've ever heard any of their stuff - but that's soon about to change!

Yeah, they are indeed rocky types - and i really quite like it. It's (relatively) melodic and not too heavy for my sensitive ears - yes, it's not going to change the world and conforms to cliché with its crescendoing choruses but it's enjoyable cliché and I imagine it works very well live. All of which leads me nicely to the fact that it reminded me of Live (Throwing Copper is a fine album if you're not heard it). I also think it's a great album title, although I'm not so convinced by the album cover.

We're at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week - their first #1, so well done them. The rest of the top five are Sabrina (34 continuous weeks in the top five), the Oasis best-of (up from #17 last week for no obvious reason), Bon Iver (a new entry) and the Ed Sheeran live album. And we've got quite the collection of new entries this week for you, quite a few of which are because last Saturday was Record Store Day (which is going to make things difficult)...

- Bon Iver (#4)
If you like Bon Iver, then I suspect you'll like this - I still find his voice slightly too annoying for my tastes though.

- Sam Fender (#14)
This is a six track vinyl pressing for Record Store Day which isn't available on streaming, so I can only imagine what it's like (and I have a suspicion that my imagination is accurate here).

- Charli XCX (#37)
This is another vinyl pressing for RSD, but it's of her '17 mixtape so I can listen to it - and if you like that Charli XCX sound then you'll like this.

- David Bowie (#44)
Yup - another one that RSD is responsible for which isn't available on streaming, but it is one I know something about. It's a collection of tracks from an '03 interactive event that David ran over satellite and beamed to cinemas in the run-up to his album Reality (which we were unlucky not to meet in '03) - it was a hugely ambitious enterprise which wasn't entirely successful but was certainly ahead of its time. And I know about it because it features in Moonage Daydream which is certainly worth a watch if you're a Bowie fan. But I've no idea what this release is like, I'm afraid.

- Ken Carson (#54)
What kind of name is Ken Carson - is he a 80s PE teacher? No, he's a US rappy type - not for me thank you. 

- Gracie Abrams (#74)
Another RSD release - this is a version of her latest album. And fair play to the lass for getting involved in a UK-ish kinda thang (but I'll be surprised if it doesn't pop up on streaming at some point).

- Gorillaz (#92)
Yup, RSD again - this is a live version of Demon Days. It's not a bad album, but I struggle to imagine the live version massively improves things (but I'll never know).

And, obviously, the weird re-entries this week are related to RSD - a Liam Gallagher acoustic sessions album (#33 - why would anyone want to subject themselves to this?) and Blur's The Magic Whip (#84 - not bad, but not great).

Last week I said that Elton would drop to #35 and I'm very pleased to say I was quite wrong because he's at #8 - it's kinda weird to see an album that deserves to do well actually doing so. Those Damn Crows will certainly not do that well - I fear they will drop out of the chart entirely but I'm going for a hopeful #85. And this week's Taylor stats are one in the top thirty and six in the entire chart. 

Wikipedia has no entry for the album - or, in fact, entries for any of their four albums, which seems harsh given they've had three top twenty albums. Their entry tells us they were formed in Bridgend in '14  and they've played some festivals. The most illuminating information is that their name comes from the drummer's father (who was a session musician in the 60s) who was shouting at some birds in the garden - can you guess what birds they are? Personally, I find pigeons and magpies to be much more annoying, but each to their own I guess...

"Customers also listened to" Moon Shot, These Wicked Rivers, Massive Wagons and South Of Salem - some fine names and we've even met one of them before because they, somewhat unexpectedly, have the most read post. And they're in the same vein as this, but TDC are a bit less rough-and-ready - I find it unlikely I'll ever revisit this, but I didn't mind it at all.

11/04/25 - A very decent album
25/04/25 - Not my area of expertise

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