Buckle up, it's time to go

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

02/05/25 : Make 'Em Laugh, Make 'Em Cry, Make 'Em Wait - Stereophonics 

Our sixth visit with them 'phonics (and it's their NINTH #1 album, so we've still got a few more trips lined up) - the last one they released was fine, but pretty inessential and I'll be surprised if this strays too far from that path.

Actually, I'd upgrade this from "pretty inessential" to "worth a listen if you like that sort of thing" - high praise indeed. None of it particularly stood out for me, but it was all pretty well put together and perfectly listenable - I didn't mind it and it whizzed by at less than 30 minutes, but I can assure you I'll never listen to it again. I do feel they could have worked a bit harder on the album cover though.

As previously mentioned, we're at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week and the rest of the top five are Ghost, James Arthur, Sabrina and Self Esteem - all of whom are new entries except, of course, Sabrina. So let's check out them new entries, shall we?

- Ghost (#2)
I would usually have guessed this was some hippy-hop nonsense, but something in the back of my mind was telling me I'd heard them before and it was something weird. Ah yes, it's slower, classical infused, heavy metal - it's not horrible but I've absolutely no idea who would want to listen to it.

- James Arthur (#3)
This is pretty much as expected, if slightly weirder in places than usual. He's not sounding very happy either, which made me wonder if he'd split up with his girlfriend - and The Daily Fail says he has and they wouldn't lie to us now, would they?

- Self Esteem (#5)
Her last album was LOVED by the critics and even quite liked by me, without ever having been revisited. And this feels very much in the same visit, although I'm tempted to revisit it - it's a proper album, which is well put together both musically and lyrically, with a theme of self-worth running through it. Having said that, "69" stood out for me with some silly lyrics providing an amusing comparison of sexual positions ("the one thing I hate because I can't concentrate") over a great Robynesque beat.

- Jeff Goldblum And The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra (#10)
I assume this is decent jazz-ish stuff but I have no real idea how decent it is - I didn't mind it but it strays dangerously close to "Sunday jazz brunch" music for me. I had to Google to see if Mildred was a real person because it sounds like a name Jeff would have made up - apparently she's a friend of Jeff's parents and nothing to do with the band but he liked her name. Which feels very Jeff.

- Tide Lines (#11)
I guessed this was indie from the name and it's along those lines being Scottish indie-folk - obviously Scottish, but not overly so. It's got nice lyrics and is nostalgic without being dated - I liked it and for some reason it made me think of uni days without me really knowing why. Runrig is probably the closest touchpoint I've got to it, without it being quite so frantic.

- Simple Minds (#20)
From one Scottish band to another - this is fine, but I'm not sure anyone really needs another Simple Minds live album (this is their thirteenth).

- Viagra Boys (#44)
Just from the name, I was expecting to hate this but I actually didn't mind it at all - it's dangerously close to post-punk, but it's got decent lyrics and musicianship so they get away with it. 

- Machine Head (#71)
I was expecting this to be heavy and it's the growly kind that I've just got no time for, I'm afraid.

- Billy Idol (#79)
I had no idea what to expect from this, but feared it would be dreadful - but it's actually quite bearable. It's not something I feel the need for but it feels to satisfy the "aging rockers" groove (he's 69 now) nicely and is surprisingly decent musically.

And this week's weird re-entry is Gary Numan's Berserker (#61), which is an album from '84 that apparently people were crying out for a deluxe extended version.

Last week I said that Davido would drop to #55 and he's at #80, which I'm going to take as a half-win because it felt almost impossible to guess. Stereophonics is also a tricky one because they appeal to men of a certain age who buy vinyl, which always results in a massive drop-off after week one - but sometimes they recommend them to their mates which them buoys it up in future weeks. I don't think is quite as recommendable as it might be, so I'm going for #47. And this week's Taylor stats are her usual one in the top thirty and six in the entire chart.

Wikipedia tells us it's their thirteenth album - originally the plan was to just record a couple of new tracks for a compilation album but things got a bit out of hand and they ended up with a full (albeit quite short) album. The critics were nice enough about it although "most admitting that it did not "reinvent the wheel"" seems fair enough and it's also charted in Ireland, currently sitting at #24.

"Customers also listened to Manic Street Preachers, The Kooks,  Sam Fender and Amy McDonald - that list gets more surprising as it progresses. If you like that Stereophonics sound then I see absolutely no reason why you won't like this, but Self Esteem and Tide Lines have produced the albums of the week for me - they're very different but they're both well put together and enjoyable.

25/04/25 - Not my area of expertise
09/05/25 - Perfectly inoffensive