I just wanna give you my full attention
Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts
22/08/25 : Everywhere I Went, Led Me To Where I Didn't Want to Be - Tom Grennan
A somewhat late visit this week (due to a lovely holiday) but I've made it just before the next chart which is released later today. This is our third visit with Tom (and his third consecutive #1) and my opinion definitely improved over the course of the previous two visits, so let's see if he can keep up the trend.
He's definitely going for a Harry Styles kinda sound here with hints of Bruno Mars - I wouldn't say he scales the Harry Heights or the Mars Mountains, but it's certainly not dreadful and will probably be a grower for those in the market for such a thing. I did think it was lacking in lyrical content, but maybe the people of interest aren't in the market for radical stuff like that. It also felt like a long album, but it's only 45 minutes so I suspect it was struggling to hold my interest - but let's face it, he doesn't really care what I think of him. I quite like the album cover though.
We're at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week and the rest of the top five are Conan Gray (another new entry), Oasis, Oasis and Alex Warren and we have quite the selection of new entries to consider this week.
Conan Gray (#2)
A firm favourite with both daughters, I'm told I have to enjoy this one. Hmmm - he's one of those sensitive, in-touch-with-his-feelings types who plenty love and plenty consider irredeemably wet. But there's certainly some lyrical content here, so he gets points for that.
As December Falls (#8)
Their name sounds like they're going to be rocky, backed up by the album title - Everything's On Fire But I'm Fine. And yeah, it's very Paramore-style rock with a female vocalist - I could get into this big time.
Alison Goldfrapp (#13)
I like Alison when she doesn't go overboard with her weirdness - but unfortunately, she quite often goes overboard with her weirdness. However, the good news is that here she's reined it in (or been reined in) and it's got a nice chilled out vibe to it - this is another one I could get into.
Jordan Davis (#25)
Never heard of him - I'm guessing he's a singer/songwriter type (and also assuming he's a he). Yes, he's very much a he and he's also very much a country singer who's just had his heart broken - and he's written and performed a decent set of songs about it. He's got a nice voice - this is the sort of thing that I generally get bored with after a few tracks but I actually listened to all of this and I enjoyed it.
Onerepublic (#29)
These guys have been around for centuries, haven't they? Wow, they formed in '02 so I think we can allow them a best-of - "Counting Stars" is definitely their stand-out track, but this is fine if it's what you're looking for.
Black Honey (#31)
I imagined they could be female soul group and then I saw the album cover which is an eye with the eyelids clamped open, so I'm guessing we're probably in rawk territory. But it's actually more indie (albeit pretty rocky indie) - I was reminded of early Throwing Muses and there are Hole vibes as well, so it was very much up my street and I listened to all of this one as well. There's some cracking lyrics as well - "Have you ever kissed a psycho floating on a lilo?".
Jack Garratt (#43)
Jack is someone who's been mentioned in passing before as finishing last in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest - I was all ready to reject this as generic wet male singer-songwriter pap, but actually I really liked this as well. The lyrics aren't massively engaging but the music is a lot more interesting than I was expecting, reminding me of Jack Penate - I listened to all of this one as well.
Asco (#51)
No idea about this one and can't even guess from the name. Ah - a rappy type, but he was a lot more bearable than I was expecting. The lyrical content is most definitely not aimed at me (but I could at least understand some of it) but the backing tracks are actually pretty well put together.
We have some most peculiar re-entries this week - Niall Horan (#23 - not charted since '20), two from My Chemical Romance (#67 - released in '06 and not charted since '22 AND #86 - released in '14 and not charted since '22), Taylor Swift (#85 - and we'll be seeing more of her next week, I suspect) and Deep Purple (#90 - released in '73 and not charted since '14). I also noticed a couple of items of interest - Fontaines DC celebrate a year in the chart this week, which feels like a fabulous effort from the lads and, particularly bizarrely, the Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler best-ofs occupy #99 and #100 for the fourth time this year.
Last week I said that MGK would drop to #45 and I was overly optimistic for the lad because he's at #66 (which I'm certainly not complaining about) and this week's Taylor stats are three in the top forty and seven in the entire chart (including #41) - her news this week is unlikely to do her any harm either, I suspect.
Wikipedia tells us this is Tom's fourth album and apparently he's aiming for a George Michael/Prince/Freddie Mercury sound (and I think we can safely say they've influenced Harry and Bruno in their time). Critically, Tom's efforts have been well regarded but there is some disagreement as to whether the production is "sparkling" (good) or "maximalist" (bad) and commercially, it's made it to #30 in Ireland.
discogs.com tells us you can pick up a CD for £9, a standard LP for £24, a red vinyl LP for £26 (why wouldn't you spend the extra £2?), a signed red vinyl LP for £65 and a blue vinyl LP for £75 - such choices! There was nothing particularly wrong with this album, but it would have faded from my mind quickly even without the considerably more interesting new entries we have further down the chart. It's not really possible to compare them because they're all completely different genres but As December Falls, Alison Goldfrapp, Jordan Davis, Black Honey and Jack Garratt have all produced albums which are well worth checking out imho.
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