And I can't really describe it so I try to hide it

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

01/08/25 : Pretty On The Internet - The K's 

I saw The K's (with their weird apostrophe!) at Reading three years ago and quite enjoyed them, but haven't heard anything from them since - I'm expecting this to be decent enough.

Hmmm - yeah, it's decent enough. It's perfectly acceptable indie-pop which I'd particularly enjoy if I caught it at a festival, but there's nothing wrong just listening to the album. However, whilst I'm very pleased for the lads that they made it to #1, I can't, in any way, say that I feel it really deserved it - there's no way any of it stuck in my head. But there's plenty of worse stuff out there...

We're at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week, which feels like a pretty decent effort from the lads. The rest of the top five are Oasis, Oasis, Alex Warren and Paul Weller (a new entry) - and I'm very intrigued as to what Paul's chucked out this time around (his output has been somewhat variable recently) so let's look at all them new entries.

Paul Weller (#5)
Hmm - I guess it's fine but it's all rather pedestrian. I understand that he's growing old gracefully and lacking in the youthful righteousness and anger he once had - but if you've got nothing to say then I can't help but feel you might as well just say nothing. It also really doesn't feel like he spent a lot of time over this.

Alice Cooper (#9)
We move from a 67 year old to a 77 year old - although Wikipedia tells me this is officially a group album rather than a solo one, being their first one since '73. And I'm very pleased to report that while Paul is growing old gracefully, Alice is showing no interest in doing so - I can't say I hugely enjoyed this, but it's definitely amusingly bonkers.

Tim Minchin (#11)
He gets top marks for the title (Time Machine) before I even listen to it, although I was uncertain whether this was going to be a "comedy" album (which generally don't work so well with me, but I suspect Tim would do better than most) or played straight. Thankfully, it's mostly played pretty straight, with a surprisingly philosophical bent to it in places. It's got some great lyrics on it with "You Grew On Me" being particularly clever (including the line "I picked you up like a virus, like meningococcal meningitis"), "Rock And Roll Nerd" being amusingly self-deprecating ("He's not spent a single night in prison, he has no issues with nutrition, he has no drinking problem and no drug addiction - unless you count the drugs they put in chicken") and "It's Not Perfect" is just a lovely song about being happy with what you've got. There's also some very impressive musicianship here - it's not clear whether Tim plays all the instruments, but he certainly wrote all the songs. I liked this way more than I was expecting to and I listened to it all the way through, which is rare for the new entries. 

Madonna (#23)
We're back with the pensioners, although Madge is a mere 66 years old. I always think "I don't need any more Madonna in my life" but often quite enjoy whatever she gives us - and the title here (Veronica Electronica) made me think we might be revisiting her Ray Of Light era sound. And there's good news and bad news - we are revisiting that era, but only in the form of remixes, all of which are perfectly fine but also perfectly inessential and rarely an improvement on the original, Interesting enough for one listen, but I can't see too many people revisiting it. 

Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist (#28)
Five years ago, we met Alfredo by this pair and this is the (somewhat belated) follow-up Alfredo 2. And I get a similar world-weary feel to this - it's not my sort of thing, but I'm sure those that love it will love it.

Gary Numan (#34)
Another pensioner, with Gary being 67 and slightly older than Paul Weller (and also famously older than Gary Oldman). But he's a pensioner with some stamina though because this is a live album with 24 tracks on it, lasting a smidgen over two hours - although the only track I knew was the last one ("Are Friends Electric?"). I can't say I did more than dip into the odd track here and there but I got the impression that Numan fans will be happy enough with it. 

Alessi Rose (#42)
A name I recognised, but I had to resort to the internet to remind me my daughters mentioned her because she supported Noah Kahan on his '24 tour. And she's not unlike a female Noah, with similar relationship issues - but if she has problems with the booze, then she's not so keen to discuss it. It's not something I'll be going back to but she's got a decent voice and has turned in a good collection of tracks here. She also gets a shout-out for being the youngest person this week at the tender age of 22.

Booter Bee (#50)
Going on the name alone, I can't even being to imagine what this is going to sound like - hippy hop? Yeah, it's very hippy hop indeed - generally, I'd say it's not my thing at all but I listened to it for a longer than I was expecting to. He's certainly skilled at getting the words out and there are some decent backing tracks, so it's well done - hailing from Huddersfield, I'd say he's like a Northern Stormzy or Dave. 

Nick Drake (#85)
This is an interesting one - it's Five Leaves Left, which I think is probably my favourite album of his. Despite it being pretty well known and originally released in '69 (in the week I turned one year old) it really is a new entry because it's never charted before - his only other time spend in the album charts was 3 weeks for a compilation album in '04. If you like your folk and you don't know this album (which is unlikely) then check it out because there are some absolute gems on there. Nick died over 50 years ago (in '74) but if he was still with us, he'd still be younger than Alice Cooper - and I very much doubt they'd be making music together. 

We have two re-entries in the chart this week and I can assure you that neither of them are wild or wacky in the slightest - being best-ofs from The Killers (#97) and The Cure (#99). Last week I said that Tyler, The Creator would be at #7 and I was a bit optimistic, but not a million miles off because he's at #16. The Ks will not being doing that well - I have a suspicion they'll be "one and done", but I'm going to guess they're going to squeak in at #88. And this week's Taylor stats are her usual none in the top fifty and four in the entire chart, but they all climbed the chart this week so she's hanging in there!

Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for the album and their entry isn't exactly deep - they come from Earlestown and this is their second album, with their debut having hit #3 in April last year (before I gave all new entries a listen to). A quick review of the rest of the internet suggests it's been received well enough, but that's pretty much all I've got for you. 

discogs.com has all manner of interesting versions available - there are signed CDR versions (which are burnt rather than pressed copies) available for a mere five, CDs available for £12, vinyl albums for £25, limited edition pink vinyl albums for £60 and, my absolute favourite, a clear vinyl album with a magenta liquid filling for £150. I'd struggle to say it's worth that much though - it's done well enough, but doesn't really stand out in quite a crowded market. The album of the week is an easy choice being Nick Drake's masterpiece, but of the albums less than fifty years old, I'd go for Tim Minchin's offering - it was a lot better than I was expecting and unlike some other people (I'm looking at you, Paul & Madge) he's really put the effort in.

25/07/25 - Not for me
08/08/25 - All very meh